On January 27, a drone attack by an Iran-backed militia killed three U.S soldiers and wounded more than 30 at an outpost in Jordan, near the border with both Iraq and Syria. It marked the first killings of U.S. troops since Israel’s mass murder and ethnic cleansing in Gaza began last October. “Genocide Joe” Biden promptly promised retribution. Two days earlier, the United Nations’ World Court cowardly failed to call for a ceasefire in Gaza while warning Israel to “prevent” the genocide already happening (aljazeera.com, 1/26). It’s a ruling the Israeli Zionist bosses and U.S. imperialists will simply ignore. And six days earlier, the U.S. and UK launched the eighth missile attack on Yemen in the last two weeks, in retaliation for the Iran-backed Houthis’ attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
The bloodbath in Gaza is no longer a contained proxy battle between Israel and the nationalist misleaders of Hamas, with the U.S. and Iran funneling arms from the sidelines. The U.S. and British militaries are now directly involved in an expanding regional war, and the risk of more armies jumping in grows higher by the day. As inter-imperialist competition intensifies, war and more war continues to slaughter workers in the Middle East. As history has shown, only war can solve the capitalists’ contradictions. As the rulers scramble to protect their profits over workers’ dead and mangled bodies, the Progressive Labor Party calls on the international working class to join us and fight for a communist future.
Benefits and crisis for Iran’s callous bosses
So far, over 26,000 have been murdered in Gaza to date (barrons.com, 1/30). Besides Hamas, Iran’s opportunist rulers are backing Hezbollah in Lebanon. They also stand behind Yemen’s Houthis, the small-time war criminals striving to assert control over Red Sea shipping routes. The Houthis started as an opposition group to Yemeni bosses allied with Saudi Arabia, Iran’s most powerful regional enemy. Over the last 10 years, as the Houthis won control over Yemen’s capital, more than 300,000 people have been killed and millions are suffering from starvation (CFR.com, 1/12). The Houthi leaders’ anti-Zionist cover aside, they are no friends of the working class.
All things considered, Iran is the biggest beneficiary of the current Middle East conflict. The war has stalled a pending U.S- brokered deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia to form an anti-Iran alliance–a huge victory for Iran’s bosses. Israel’s genocidal response to Hamas’s October 7 massacre has moved millions across the globe to march against the Zionists’ savagery and oppression. It may also hurt Biden’s re-election chances, as young U.S. workers–and Black workers in particular–are repulsed by the Democrats’ blank check for Israeli genocide (New York Times, 1/28). Our class gains nothing by electing candidates who represent one set of bosses or another. Only communist revolution to smash the capitalists’ state will allow workers to free themselves from wage slavery, racism, sexism, and imperialist war.
Meanwhile, imperialists on all sides are adding fuel to a fire that none of them completely controls. The Chinese bosses are complaining to their Iranian allies that the Houthis are menacing Chinese ships (Reuters, 1/25) And like all capitalists, the bosses in Iran have pressing internal problems. Last year, hundreds of thousands of young people there, encouraged by the U.S. bosses, joined anti-government demonstrations after security forces killed a young woman for wearing her hijab improperly (Congressional Research Service Rports, 1/26).
War is coming, and U.S. bosses aren’t ready
Since the formation of Israel in 1948, the Middle East has seen almost constant war over oil and control of critical shipping routes. But today we are living in a different period. The collapse of U.S. dominance, the rise of imperialist China, and the worldwide crisis of capitalism is triggering massive instability. With the U.S. bosses now directly involved in the latest imperialist bloodbath, and China and Russia perhaps not far behind, the world is on the edge of a far broader conflict. The U.S. may soon face a three-front war it cannot win: in the Middle East, against an Iran backed by both Russia and China; in Eastern Europe, with the Ukraine-Russia war; and in the South China Sea and Taiwan, in a battle over shipping routes, naval dominance, and semiconductors.
As the world's capitalists reshuffle their alliances and prepare to redivide the globe, internal divisions in the U.S. ruling class are undercutting a credible army. Over the last few years, the U.S. Army has tried to promote more Black and Latin officers and shut down some of the open white nationalism that mushroomed during the Donald Trump administration. As a result, the U.S. Army can’t find enough bodies. New white recruits have dropped by over 20 percent, and there aren’t enough additional Black and Latin recruits to compensate (Military.com, 1/10). In a sign of just how weak the U.S. has become, Biden has admitted the bombings of Yemen won’t stop the Houthis’ maritime attacks– but vowed to keep bombing all the same. This volatile tit for tat could be the prelude to World War Three, where the bosses will force workers to kill their class sisters and brothers on a sickening scale.
In the face of this insanity, it’s a positive development that so many workers have taken to the streets. At the same time, the weaknesses of the Palestinian national liberation struggle are many and deep. Today’s mass movement is at best soft on the brutal, anti-worker Hamas leadership. If they succeeded in winning real power, these Islamist nationalists would betray the heroic armed resistance in Palestine with a state modeled after the workers’ hell in Iran. But there is another, brighter future before us. If our class harnesses our righteous anger, we can turn the bosses’ wars into the fight for communism. Put your confidence in the international working class! Now is the time to build a revolutionary communist movement. Now is the time to choose between the rising fascist tide and a world where everything is shared to meet workers’ needs. The bosses are parasites who create nothing but misery for the international working class. Join us in the final conflict to build a new world without them!
NEW YORK CITY, January 20—Another spirited march – there are many every week - about the genocide in Gaza was held in uptown Manhattan involving over 500 demonstrators. It was organized by a coalition of groups demanding an immediate ceasefire. The police brutally attacked marchers, arresting 10 people for things as minor as assembling in a park or carrying a bullhorn and leading chants, which has now become their general practice citywide. This included a public health student, who in response to the first arrests, led the chant “NYPD, KKK, IDF, All the Same.”
Planting seeds for revolutionary communism from Bronx to Uptown, NYC
In a sea of nationalist, Palestinian flags, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) had a small but spirited group with a communist, red flag. We led chants calling for “Arab, Jewish, Black and white” unity, “Israel, racista, asesina y fascista” and “Shut this capitalist system down.” (see more chants on page 6) We distributed over 130 copies of CHALLENGE that were, as always at these protests, eagerly taken from our hands. Many told us they had seen previous issues at other demos. We had several in depth conversations, including one with a different healthcare student before the first police attack. She expressed her disillusionment with the racist healthcare system, and we talked about how sanitation workers are the backbone of public health and actually the ones keeping us safe (not racist cops or hospital administrators).
One of us has become active on the chat of a group of over 500 young health care workers met at demonstrations, and out of this has been able to start a study group about capitalism and communism. Others have become active in groups active in Uptown and the Bronx, with more and more interest shown in PLP’s revolutionary politics.
Nationalism is deadly for the working class
The genocide in Gaza has exposed the barbarism of the Israeli and U.S. ruling classes. It also shows the degree to which racism and nationalism have won Zionists and others to support mass murder. Worldwide, millions are protesting in the streets, angry as hell and looking for an alternative. But a Palestinian state or territory led by Hamas, the Palestinian Authority (PA), or some other nationalist group would never be able to provide a safe and fruitful life for workers in Palestine.
The PA and Hamas have long cooperated with Israel to oppress and repress Palestinians; the UN and its World Court represent the ruling classes of the world. So-called victorious“progressive” nationalists around the world, from South Africa to El Salvador, have done nothing but empower new ruling classes who act as junior partners to imperialists.
Let’s continue to march and struggle with protestors against genocide as we raise the need for an international working class movement for communism.
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100th anniversary Lenin’s Death: Stand on the shoulders of revolutionary giant
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- 03 February 2024 638 hits
January 21, 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the death of the great revolutionary Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. “Lenin” was his revolutionary name. He dedicated his life to the exploited and oppressed of the world: workers, peasants, women, and those especially exploited by colonialism and racism. He dedicated his life to the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of an egalitarian world without racism and sexism. As capitalism ravages the world with wars (see editorial, page 2), let us all make a contribution to the fight for communism.
Lenin: a trailblazer for communist thought
Lenin represented a whole movement, and an entire historical epoch. He did nothing by himself. At the same time, he pushed the working-class struggle for communism ahead by his tireless efforts.
Lenin, one of the giants, along with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, are trailblazers of communist thought. They exposed the basic contradictions between capitalism and the working class. We still have a great deal to learn from them.
Other great revolutionaries have come from the working class. Stalin was one of these. Lenin, like Marx and Mao Zedong, came from the petty bourgeoisie. They showed that, in the last analysis, what counts for every individual is not birth but his or her ideology, and what he or she decides to dedicate their lives to.
Like Marx and Engels, his great teachers and models, Lenin dedicated his life to the exploited and oppressed of the world. To the working class first of all, but also the peasantry and those super-exploited by colonialism and racism. He was a brilliant and innovative student of Marx and Engels.
Lenin: theory & practice
Lenin was a great revolutionary theorist. In his early work "What Is To Be Done? " he laid out and fought for the principle: “Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” By revolutionary theory, he meant the need to expose opportunism, reformism, ultra-leftism, and all ideas that opposed the complete abolition of capitalism and the need for violent revolution to do it.
Lenin invented the concept of the revolutionary party composed of what he called “professional revolutionaries” – workers and others who were devoted to revolution, not to reforming capitalism. This was completely different from the other parties in the Socialist International (the “Second International”). Most of their members were in trade unions. Lenin showed that unions, which are designed to fight for reforms under capitalism, cannot be converted into revolutionary organizations.
But, under the leadership of a revolutionary communist party, unionized workers can be schooled in struggle by strikes, including mass strikes. At the same time, these struggles will show in practice how capitalism cannot be reformed to serve the interests of workers but must be overthrown.
Lenin showed that the revolutionary communist party must be primarily clandestine, illegal. Its legal activities, though important as long as they are permitted by the ruling class, can never be its main form.
Lenin advanced our understanding of imperialism, which he called the “highest stage of capitalism.” Imperialism is the control by multinational corporations in the major industrialized countries, whether by military force, financial control, or ownership, of most of the land and people in the world.
Leading the world
In Lenin’s time this control was mainly through actual colonies, where the ruling classes of the imperialist countries ruled and exploited “their” colonies directly. The competition between these imperialist countries – the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Japan – led to both the First and Second World Wars, and to many other wars since.
Under Lenin’s leadership the Soviet Union formed the Communist International (Comintern), which trained and organized workers and others from all the colonies in the world to fight for both national independence and then for socialism. This was both successful in winning national independence – there are virtually no more traditional “colonies” ruled directly by imperialist countries – and spectacularly unsuccessful, in that national independence did not lead to communism.
The implications of the revolutionary opposition to imperialism were deeply anti-racist. Lenin’s anti-imperialism helped to inspire millions of the globe's darker-skinned peoples to rise up in rebellion against their colonial "masters."
We need to appreciate his revolutionary imagination—seeing that, given the alignment of forces, it was necessary to take a leap into the future—since otherwise the transition might never take place. We in PLP need to keep that constantly before us: no matter how bleak things may appear today, they will change. The future is ours but only if we stick by our revolutionary line and actions as Lenin did and as he taught us to do.
We should study Lenin’s works — critically, of course. But respectfully too since we have much to learn.
We, and class-conscious workers, intellectuals, students, and others everywhere, owe him an immense debt. The best way to acknowledge that debt is by working for communist revolution the best we can.
Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) , including college professors in the Bronx, joined with coworkers, students and community organizers in rallying against NYC’s Mayor Eric Adams last week. Adams came to the South Bronx to deliver his State of the City address to a campus which had been transformed into what looked like a military occupation. We were able to hold a successful rally in a nearby park, with high school and college students and led a short but militant march. We then joined a larger rally.
As we gathered our forces in the park, we heard speeches about Adams’ policies that have resulted in migrant families being thrown out in the cold, his barbaric budget cuts to schools, libraries, and the CUNY system, his pro-KKKop policies and, of course, his support of genocide in Gaza.
Liberal politicians: the main enemy of the working class
Speakers highlighted the systemic racist austerity in our local colleges and how important it was to continue fighting for the services and staff/faculty our students need. A community organizer gave a rousing speech about the Adams administration and their abusive policies towards migrant families. “There is no migrant crisis. There is a housing crisis!” She pointed out how the city ‘s “State of Emergency” has led to intolerable conditions, such as flimsy tents, overcrowded conditions, and tragically, the recent death of a baby in Queens (Eyewitness News, 1/22). A PLP member made the point that Adams and Biden, both Democrats, have launched genocidal attacks on our class and that turning to them as the “lesser-evil” option is a deadly mistake. She finished with a message of hope: when the working class runs society we will put an end to imperialist war and all forms of oppression.
Our contingent then marched through the neighborhood to join the larger rally. Hundreds of people were packed on the sidewalk and over a hundred copies of CHALLENGE were distributed. Members of our collective were able to give speeches to the mass rally about connecting the genocide in Gaza to the budget cuts in the Bronx, as well as calling out various NGO’s (Non Government Organizations) who have not answered the call when migrant families have been so vulnerable.
Seeing through the bosses’ identity politics
This rally highlighted the mass anger at Adams’ and Biden’s racist attacks on workers. Adams’ identity as a Black man did not stop hundreds of mostly Black and Latin youth and workers from seeing him as an enemy of workers and students. This mass consciousness, combined with communist politics can produce a militant, fighting working class army, capable of cutting through the bosses’ attempts to divide us. The presence of PLP members and CHALLENGE brought that message to the South Bronx.
There has been a lot of organizing among workers and students against the U.S. backed Israeli bombing of Gaza. At the November Boston Teachers’ Union membership meeting a friend of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire over Gaza and for the basic civil and human rights of those living in Gaza to be restored. The motion was adopted from the UFCW3000UE, (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America), which was passed by several other union locals and areas around the U.S. - including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, (MTA). The motion is both antiracist and anti-war and humanitarian but doesn’t address the imperialist nature of the conflict.
Educators demand a ceasefire, now!
When the motion was made it was toward the end of the meeting. The membership was asked if they wanted to speak for or against the resolution. Two people spoke for it and no one spoke against it. One person called “quorum,”which means if there are not enough people at the meeting the vote won’t count. But no one seconded that call. One Palestinian man who had lived in Gaza spoke of the conditions there. The room was silent. The motion passed unanimously! Several teachers thanked our friend for making the motion and new connections were forged.
Out of the meeting, a group of Boston Public Schools (BPS) staff, mostly teachers, formed to organize for the truth around this conflict to be taught in the schools. A teach-in was held and attended by approximately 60 staff and friends. The strengths were that the presenters and audience were multiracial. The panelists were from diverse backgrounds and two had lived in Gaza. One panelist mentioned the existence of a large natural gas reserve right off Gaza's shore.
Student-worker unity: a sharp weapon against fascist attacks
The following week there were walkouts by students in two different high schools. Some of these students faced disciplinary actions, but this was called off when a parent and staff spoke out. This shows the importance of building unity between students, families and educators.
At another school, students were brought in to speak to an Israeli studies professor, presumably to be intimidated and indoctrinated. These same students courageously led a rally and march at a school committee meeting demanding that the pro Palestinian position be heard. BTU members and friends, including PLP members rallied in support. We distributed a leaflet supporting the students, calling for Jewish and Arab workers to unite against Israeli fascism and Hamas’ terrorism.
The friend of PLP, reconnected with the daughter of an old friend, who had biked down to the rally herself to join. A friend led a chant with students: Black, Latin, Asian, white - against genocide we must unite!
Capitalism, not religion, is the root cause of the genocide and Apartheid
Although Zionism was brought out as the racist ideology of the ruling elite of Israel —it wasn't brought out as an aspect of Israeli and U.S. supported dominance of the Middle East. Capitalism and the striving for profits and the necessary control of natural resources, such as oil and gas are the root cause of the conflict. We need to bring this out in educational activities and demonstrations otherwise people are easily manipulated into seeing it as a religious conflict or a clash of civilizations. It has to be understood that the same capitalist system that created the Warsaw Ghetto, the Holocaust, South African Apartheid, the oppression and genocide of Palestinian workers in Gaza, creates racism, misery and death worldwide. We need a movement that unites all of us, breaks down borders to create a new system that doesn't exist for profit but for betterment of the lives of all workers - an egalitarian society - a communist society.
