Public healthcare worker unites with transit strikers
Today I joined the striking Metro Access transit workers on their picket line (see page 3). They are the “essential workers” who the bosses pretend to thank but then attack when it comes to wages, benefits, and safety. They have “served the people,” especially elderly and disabled residents during the pandemic. Their shop steward estimated that 50 percent of them have had at least one episode of Covid-19, most likely due to transmission on the job.
     The CDC initially required they stay home 10 days following a  Covid-19 infection but now has decided it is ok to return to work after five days, an unsafe practice with the Ba.5 variant sweeping the country. The change in CDC guidelines show that their capitalist bosses are happy to have workers get sick and die in the name of profit and “the economy.” Worse, the workers get only two sick days per year, so they have had to go without pay for the other days (unless they get workers’ compensation, which only a couple have managed to do).
     The bosses don’t require testing in order to return to work and there is no contact tracing or informing workers of exposures even though the bosses have data to do so, further threatening workers’ health. The drivers are issued N95 masks every morning, but riders – many of whom are going to doctor’s visits – are not required to wear them in the Metro Access vans. The bosses frequently require “ride sharing” – multiple riders in the van – which increases the risks of transmission. When I showed the strikers how easy it is to measure carbon dioxide levels in the van (which correlates with airborne risk of Covid-19 transmission), they were interested in doing it themselves. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members are fighting for masking, ventilation, testing and treatment. Bringing more public health workers into the fight into the fight will also strengthen our Party and sharpen the struggle for workers’ power, which is Communism.
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Workers are hungry for communism
At the recent Marxist Literary Group conference, I had the opportunity to talk with several food service workers in the building.
     On two occasions I offered a copy of CHALLENGE to the worker. One said: “I need this!” The other said: “Great! I’m going to read this at home.”
     CHALLENGE is an excellent way to bring communist ideas to workers hungry to understand their reality.
     Thanks to all of our comrades whose work produces the paper.
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Remembering Camacho’s words
I attended a summer project in the 1980s where I remember Epifanio Camacho. He was grounded, patient, wise and didn’t waste words (see obituary, page 8).   
     He was a striking man who commanded respect without talking, dimmed the lights on any youthful “know-it-all” chatter among summer project youth.  He carried his earned status with a gentle, kind air. He calmly talked about the inequalities & injustices in the San Joaquin Valley. He explained what fundamental problems would still exist for farmworkers if sellout Cesar Chavez only bargained for acceptable reforms instead of revolutionary change.
     Chavez was making a bargain that would result in trusting the very people that were literally pouring pesticides all over all of them from planes, obviously giving them cancer en masse and effectively treating the farmworkers as wage slaves. Whether they lived in labor camps or not, the farmworkers lived at the poverty line while working to the bone in Central California, the San Joaquin Valley, where 25 percent of U.S. food, including 40 percent fruits and nuts, is grown.
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NYC bosses worried about nuclear attacks
Here’s a link to their ridiculous message. https://youtu.be/N-5d7V4Sbqk
     Here’s the wording in case they’re smart enough to take it down.
It starts off with a siren. Then a young person, all in black, talks in front of a city residential building.

    “So there’s been a nuclear attack. Don’t ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit.”
    “Ok, so what do we do? There are three important steps that I want you to remember.”
    “Step one, get inside, fast. You, your friends, your family … get inside. And no, staying in the car is not an option. You need to get into a building and move away from the windows.”
    “Step two: Stay inside. Shut all doors and windows. Have a basement? Head there. If you don’t have one, get as far into the middle of the building as possible. If you were outside after the blast, get clean immediately. Remove and bag all outer clothing to keep radioactive dust or ash away from your body.”
    “Step three: stay tuned. Follow the media for more information. Don’t forget to sign up for Notify NYC for official alerts and updates. And don’t go outside, until officials say it’s safe. Alright? You’ve got this.”

They forgot to say take your “radiation pill.” You’re right; there isn’t any.
     One friend of mine told me about this and I was sure they were kidding and had made it up. This is obviously the result of the war in the Ukraine.
     In 1961, I was involved in a mass organization in my high school fighting against nuclear war when the U.S. attempted to invade Cuba. The U.S. government used Cuban refugees as cannon fodder. I realized then that the biggest danger of nuclear war was not proliferation of weapons but imperialism (the last and current stage of capitalism). That’s also when I decided to join a real communist party.
     Although already moving fast towards capitalism, the then Soviet Union put nuclear missiles into Cuba. In October, 1963, the threat of nuclear war seemed imminent. Back then we had “fallout shelter” signs on many buildings.
     The mass organization I’m currently working in has been debating this war. Many people are trying to figure out who to blame so they can pick a side.
     (A) The corrupt capitalist government of Ukraine which allies with fascist militias?
     (B) The imperialist capitalist governments of Europe and the U.S. which have been trying to build their N.A.T.O. alliance against Russia and China?
    (C) The imperialist capitalist fascist government of Russia?
  (D) None of the above!

We are the side of “ none of the above.” We don’t take the side of any of these ruling classes. Our side is the international working class in every country. Today inter-imperialist rivalry has caused the war in the Ukraine.
     The international working class are the ones who suffer the most from these wars. This is not history repeating itself as farce, but on the brink of tragedy.
     We have been having success in our local group raising these ideas. Our local group came together on a statement that doesn’t take the side of any of these governments. Unfortunately the state and national leadership of this organization, just as in the 1960s, sees itself as an arm of the Democratic party and has hardly had any demonstrations against this dangerous war.
     The ruling class thinks they can survive in their bunkers. We know where they are, because the working class built these bunkers!
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New NYT editor signals heating concerns of China
In April, the New York Times announced the appointment of a new executive editor of their paper, Joseph F. Kahn. Part of a very privileged, upper-class family, Kahn cut his journalistic teeth on reporting from China. At one time he was expelled from China. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his highly critical reporting on China.
     His appointment as executive editor of the leading mouthpiece of the main wing of the ruling class, the Big Fascist liberals, is significant. Many of the leading ruling class intellectuals who have been highly critical of the U.S./NATO proxy war in Ukraine have been pushing for U.S.imperialism to shift its attention to what they view as the main enemy, Chinese expansionism. They are upset that the war in Ukraine is cementing the alliance of Russia and China. The conflict within the main wing of the U.S. ruling class between those who emphasize the goal of isolating Russia and have been leading the charge of NATO towards the east and those who want a shift to China and the Pacific is serious. The appointment of Kahn suggests that the ruling class is beginning to realize that they miscalculated when they pushed the Ukrainians into a war in which the Russians had no choice but to intervene. This war is accelerating the decline of U.S. military and dollar hegemony in the world.
     The U.S. ruling class is not as strong as it appears. There are too many divisions and they do not have a unified leadership as contrasted with Russia and China. Several of their important European allies are also deeply divided internally, France and Germany in particular.
The opportunities for the Party to grow are increasing daily. Let’s do it!
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‘Thanks for book review!’
I especially liked the book review about the Chinese Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) in the July 20, CHALLENGE.  I was a student in London during this early period and although we didn’t have too much information about it, I was impressed by the GPCR having its start in cultural spheres. The Peking Opera, generally a stronghold of tradition and feudalism, with plenty of characterizations of women warriors who had died in battle and come back as angels, was a major venue for the class struggle.
The Legend Of The Red Lantern was such a revolutionary opera.  It is the fascinating, true story of an underground, communist woman railroad worker fighting the Japanese invaders.  Its revolutionary theme, in what was once the provenance of the capitalist roaders, became a victory for the workers with each performance.  
     As the  review points out,  the book gives“...clear signals that communist politics and principles were not leading China - capitalist politics were.” 
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