NEWARK, NJ, October 2 — Workers in Newark are clapping back against Mayor Ras Baraka’s liberal fascist politricks and the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) is participating in the crusade. At a State of the Water Town Hall event, workers blasted the mayor’s team of panelists for dodging questions around whether or not the lead-infested water is currently safe enough to drink. As a result, workers sent in letters to CHALLENGE exposing how the ruling class attempts to make workers feel shamed for challenging politicians’ inadequate attention to the world’s aging infrastructure and its effect on working class people’s living conditions.
Nationalism divides workers
Instead of apologizing for his administration’s negligence and outright lies, Baraka staged a dog and pony show at the event. “Don’t come for my wife, don’t come for my city! Talk about me! Talk about my shoes! The pants I’m wearing,” he preached as the crowd roared in applause. This is the role of these fake “radical” politicians. Rather than organize workers to fight capitalism and the capitalist class that forces workers to be poisoned with lead, Baraka and other liberal politicians will take the bullets for the rulers. He then deflected attention from himself but drew hatred to the Newark Water Coalition, one of the working class movements in the city, claiming their allegations were merely a smear campaign against the city. But workers who eventually joined the Newark Water Coalition were the first to flag the lead in Newark’s public schools originally in 2014. Yet, when members of the coalition spoke out at the meeting, the room booed, some yelling “take your check and go” as if they were simply paid agitators. It was evident that Baraka’s goal was to amplify the tension in the room and maximize the spirit of nationalism in Newark when he shouted out as protestors were being escorted by police that one of the leading organizers of The Newark Water Coalition wasn’t from Newark but the surrounding town, West Orange. Yet, regional nationalism in Newark isn’t strong enough to guarantee workers’ faith in Baraka.
The bosses’ politicians pick and choose when to rally workers behind nationalism. Newark is one of the largest hubs in the state of New Jersey for education, jobs, health care, and other vital necessities. Our needs as workers, regardless of where we lay to bed, demands that we are interconnected with workers in Newark. Baraka sees the involvement of workers in the greater Newark region as a threat. We as communists see solidarity between workers regardless of where we live as a growing necessity over time.
Beware of opportunists
“We have no confidence in this administration to provide us with our basic human right to clean water. Their negligence has already harmed us” (Star Ledger, 9/18).
With the major capitalists putting Ras Baraka on blast through news channel mouthpieces like The Star Ledger and The New York Times, Baraka needs to prove that he can win the working class in Newark to carry out the demands of the ruling class - gentrification and nationalism. Still he knows that some of his rivals are using the water crisis in Newark to get themselves on the bid.
Liberals lies a toxic poison
In the way the phony Baraka called a stop to protests against charter schools on his first day in office, he’s now practicing a more sophisticated tactic to simmer down the fiery spirit of working class people today. This time through billion dollar grants from the state, press releases on the day of major protests and high class Town Hall events.
Communism is the formula, PLP is the key ingredient
This water situation in Newark is a case study for the limits of politicians and why we need a communist revolution led by PLP, not another cycle of voting out the next Democrat or Republican both sets of traitors will never own up to their deceit and it’s in the best interest of workers to stop expecting them to. What’s driving this fight against Ras is people’s criticism of his leadership but we must remember that Baraka is not the root of our problems; he is only the face representing the profits he works to protect. In order for workers internationally to truly grow and thrive, systems upheld by capitalism need to be smashed completely.
Although he is only the face, we must call out liberal fascist politicians like Baraka for leading working class people down a road of poverty, criminalization, displacement and further divisions. Yet, we must also acknowledge that a new breed of opportunists will run against Ras and try out the same tricks liberal politicians use once they’re elected into office. Rather than bowing to the belief that politicians who make their claim to fame through grassroots campaigns are here to save us, join a study group and fight with PLP today!

NEW YORK CITY— Over 100 transit workers and supporters rallied today in a show of unity and opposition to the racist MTA bosses and the givebacks in their contract proposal. Working over five months without a contract, this rally was also a criticism of the do-nothing union leaders. They tell the members nothing about the contract except that negotiations are ongoing. Many workers are fed up.
With this rally we exerted a little working class power. Mainly rank and file members led it from several different departments. They spoke about the deplorable working conditions on the job. They spoke of plantation justice which means heavy punishments for the smallest infractions, mostly caused by the bosses’ speed up of train service. They spoke of the need to build rider and MTA worker unity against the MTA bosses and Governor Cuomo. After the rally, over 50 workers marched into the ongoing board meeting of the bosses and the room of suits became very uncomfortable. They started shuffling papers and fidgeting in their seats, and all their talks ended with how they have respect for the workforce. One worked yelled LIES! As they continued their presentation it was met with workers openly responding, “That’s a LIE!, which company?” There were jeers, boos and laughter.
We need frequent and bigger actions like this, not only to win our demands, but also to get off the capitalist treadmill of constantly fighting just to keep afloat. The MTA bosses are after our pay and benefits again. Their contract demands attack our health benefits, our sick and vacation time, and our job security. This further angered workers.  As we fight for a better contract, we must also fight to get rid of this capitalist system once and for all. Workers cannot only organize rallies and strikes; we can run all of society. That’s communism. Join the fight.
This rally originated at departmental union meetings. A proposal was passed to have a rally and action on September 25 in front of the MTA headquarters and attend their monthly board meeting after. However, the union leadership rejected the proposal and countered with a rally on October 30th at 5pm, citing the need for more time to organize the entire union. Many members questioned this move, since the MTA  headquarters is empty by 5pm, and so the opportunity to confront the people who drafted the contract demands and sit in on the negotiations would be lost. What is clear to many members is that TWU Local 100 is not a fighting union. So, workers decided to stick with the September 25 rally and confrontation.
At the rally one speaker made a key point that workers’ wages are always up for negotiation but the MTA bosses always pay the debt service to the banks. It’s the banks and bondholders who control both the MTA and politicians like Cuomo. The MTA will raise fares, demand more from the workers, skimp on upkeep, and cut services in mainly Black and Latin neighborhoods, all so they can pay the banks. That’s capitalism and it has to go. The rally also had politicians who are running for local offices. They pledged to support the MTA workers, but as one worker said, “they seem fake and this what they always do to build for their campaigns.” Rank and file workers are already disgusted with liberal governor Cuomo— even though the union leadership refused to criticize him one bit—as they see him as the guiding hand behind the racist attacks on the work force.
We see the boss together not alone
 One thing that was even clearer to us is that everything boils down to dollars and cents. As MTA workers we regularly joke about just being a number to the bosses, but in the board meeting the actual cost was fitted perfectly on a PowerPoint. You slip, trip or fall?  You went out on comp, got assaulted at work, leave; all of it had the dollar amount and arrows going up or down explaining whether cost was going up, down, or neutral. The idea is to keep costs down, while keeping productivity and profits up.
The takeaway message from the day was that these guys are coming for blood and we have to prepare ourselves for that fight. Progressive Labor Party comrades in the workforce are pushing for more actions around the contract, and a fight against the racist scapegoating fare-beater campaign and the increased police presence on the subways and buses. Coworkers are open to talk more about the contract and what it would take for transit workers to get a better deal. More and more people are bringing up the idea of a strike. Building workers confidence in the working class is a long necessary fight and will continue during contract negotiations and after. It is an opportunity to win leadership for the working class, and to build for a communist society.

The New York Times recently presented the dramatic contrast of a huge choreographed show of Chinese nationalism in Beijing and pitched battles between protesters and police in the streets of Hong Kong. The Beijing spectacle, marking the 70th anniversary of the communist-led revolution in China that established the People’s Republic, was presented by the US capitalist press as a rising danger to be taken seriously. The bosses want to prepare us to fight against the Chinese to save U.S. capitalist domination. Few workers are won to that degree of blind nationalism, at least in the US. What lessons should workers of the world, including Chinese workers, take from this public display of political and military power?
It is important for workers outside China to understand that there are still communists in China. They just don’t run the government anymore. Challenge readers know that the Chinese “Communist” Party (CCP) turned away from communism and socialism and took a sharp turn toward capitalism in the 1970s. China now has the largest economy in the world. It also has a level of inequality on par with the US.
But inside China, Mao Zedong is still an important symbol. Although PLP’s assessment of Mao includes criticisms of some of his decisions, by any measure he was an important revolutionary leader. His death in 1976 gave the “capitalist roaders” inside the CCP the green light to get rich by building their economy along capitalist lines, including openly exploiting workers. To this day when workers go on strike or invade a government office or shut down traffic to protest the latest abuse by Chinese billionaires, these workers carry big pictures of Mao.
Chinese students and intellectuals have joined forces with protesting workers and the Chinese government has responded with a wave of repression of leftist activists not seen in China for decades. The CCP is clearly worried about there being actual communists in the country, especially when they include a growing number of industrial workers. So when the CCP pulls out all the stops to show everyone – in China and outside China – that they are strong and unified, the CCP rulers are also trying to reassure themselves that there won’t be another communist revolution.
So, is Hong Kong some sort of revolutionary upsurge? The NYT would have us believe that Hong Kong protests are about “democracy.” They say Hong Kong citizens are fighting for an alternative to the repressive power of Beijing. Challenge correctly poked a hole in that simplistic bit of wishful thinking by the US billionaires. But is the increasingly intense conflict really “a reactionary, antiworker movement” as the Challenge editorial stated?
I discussed the Challenge article about the Hong Kong protests with a communist friend who has lived and worked in China and in the US for many years. He was surprised at the way our paper called these huge protests “reactionary.” He asked “is any protest that doesn’t call for communism reactionary?”
After seeing the political outcome of the “color revolutions” of Eastern Europe or of the uprisings of the Arab Spring, it is clear that the politics leading any struggle are key. However, I think my friend also has a point. He made this suggestion about analyzing mass uprisings:
“One needs to address the issue of [whether] the movement is making the working class better organized. Did it further raise their class consciousness? Did it make them more militant? These 3 points are my criterion in judging any people's movement. Sometime the 3 are in contradictions, more organized but less militant, or more militant but less class conscious, etc. It's this type of analysis that is more useful than just one dimensional analysis.”Workers in every country should be glad to learn that there are still communists in China. It is very hard to know the size or potential strength of the pro-communist forces inside China today, and there is probably no unified, organized revolutionary party. If there were it would have to be deep underground. In particular, we know very little about the various political factions involved in the Hong Kong rebellion. But there are tens of millions of Chinese who consider themselves communists, many of whom understand that China has become an imperialist country and needs another revolution. Despite many capitalist influences, there must be a range of political groups active in Hong Kong. Unfortunately what gets translated into English is a tiny and biased sample of the reality there.
So while the leadership of the Hong Kong  protests is still overwhelmingy reactionary, there is still potential for the blossoming of a communist workers movement.
Communists in all countries should try to learn from the revolutionary advances made by our class brothers and sisters in other countries. As the billionaires of various capitalist countries make their preparations for the next big war, we need to build our ties with other workers and activists , reaching across the borders the imperialists have drawn on our one world.

In the 2000s, many countries in Latin America had a wave of democratic socialist governments, called the “Pink Tide.” They bought workers’ allegiance and cycnicsm about change, introduced reforms,  and kept the working class tied to the hamster wheel of capitalism. Now, capitalist wars, exploitation, racism, and sexism continue. To eliminate these horrors, workers must overthrow the capitalist class and its government, and replace it with a government dedicated to the working class. That’s communism.    
Rise of Pink Tide
During the 1970s and 1980s, Latin American governments accepted loans from the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund (IMF). When they couldn’t repay the loans, the U.S. forced them to adopt neoliberal austerity, which means deregulation, reduced government spending, layoffs, and privatization of services. Massive demonstrations got Pink Tide politicians elected, promising reforms.  
These politicians espoused “democratic socialism”, or reforming capitalism when in reality they played into the imperialist rivals’ hands. While giving some welfare to workers, they made deals with various capitalists. They demanded more revenues from petrochemical and mining imperialists, either from nationalization or restructured deals with foreign investors.
All Pink Tide countries increased trade and investments with Russia and China. Commodity sales funded cash payments to workers, briefly elevating income.  When prices fell, these payments were cut off, restoring poverty. Workers turned against the Pink Tide politicians.
Venezuela
Venezuela is dependent on oil export income to buy food and manufactured goods abroad.  President Hugo Chavez promised a Bolivarian Revolution.  His reforms included: cash payments to workers, land reform, free medical care, free housing, literacy, etc.  He criticized capitalism, but his government included military leaders and capitalists. Chavez railed against U.S. imperialism, but implemented the IMF’s austerity policies, and maintained the U.S. as Venezuela’s main trading partner.  During 2017, under Chavez’s successor Maduro, inflation reached 1,698,488 percent (Reuters, 2/21/18).
Brazil
The democratic socialist Workers’ Party (PT) had an anti-capitalist platform: cancel international debt, nationalize business, redistribute land, and abolish capitalism.But PT president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva did the exact opposite. He implemented IMF austerity on workers, but invested $343 billion to boost local capitalists.  In contrast, his welfare program cost $10.13 billion a year (Guardian, Dec 17, 2013). Briefly Lula was immensely popular. Lula’s social programs were paid for by exports. When commodity prices dropped causing a recession, payments to workers were cancelled and finally his successor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached.
Bolivia
Evo Morales of Bolivia led a popular movement against imperialism.   Morales nationalized petrochemical industries to give  $5 billion a year to workers.  As the economy grew, local capitalists benefitted. He simply distributed some export proceeds to buy votes, while assisting the mining industry to encroach on indigenous lands.
Ecuador
 Rafael Correa was elected in the context of mass movements against austerity and mining encroachment on indigenous lands. Correa kicked the U.S. Air Base and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency out of Ecuador, reduced foreign debt by 60 percent, and restructured oil deals.  These revenues allowed payments to workers of $30 per month. By 2009 he openly accepted neoliberal austerity and sided with the mining industry.  Popular protests drove him out of the country in 2017.
Argentina
Nestor Kirchner and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner came to power as “left-wing” Peronists.  Argentina had been the most industrialized country in Latin America. Neoliberal austerity in the 1990’s ended trade barriers, destroying industries and leading to mass unemployment and poverty. A mass piquetero movement of unemployed workers blockaded highways throughout Argentina in 2001-2.  
While promising reforms and restructuring foreign debt, Fernandez cut many social programs.  
Lasting change requires communist revolution
Without ending capitalism, working class reforms are soon lost. The Pink Tide took over existing capitalist governments and gave some crumbs to workers. But workers did not run society; they controlled nothing. Capitalists still controlled the economy, the courts, the parliament, the police, and the army. The capitalists ended the reforms ASAP.
These Pink Tide governments temporarily masked some of capitalism’s ugliness, helping local capitalists stay in power during mass rebellions. They cooperated with local capitalists and supported financial ties with Russian and Chinese imperialists. Reform promotes capitalism.
Progressive Labor Party wants to overthrow capitalism and organize a system of workers’ power dedicated to the betterment of the worldwide working class.  That’s communism.
Learning from history
Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez are wooing the working class in the U.S. They promise a $15/hour minimum wage, Medicare for all, free public college, and a Green New Deal. Some workers might benefit. But capitalist reforms are temporary, and more exploitation and profiteering wars are coming. As we fight for reforms, let’s not be distracted from the ultimate goal: a world free of war, racism, sexism, exploitation, and inequality.
We can build a world with housing, jobs, healthcare, education, and more, all run for and by the working class. But not by voting. The bosses won’t let us vote away their money and power. We must destroy capitalism with an organized movement for communist revolution. Join us.