LOS ANGELES, September 26—A multiracial group of 50 women and men marched up the Venice Beach Boardwalk for the second time in two months to demand justice for homeless workers Brendon Glenn and Jason Davis, killed by LAPD cops—and for one of the latest local victims, Jascent-Jamal Lee “Shakespeare” Warren, slain on August 30 by a Cadillac Hotel security guard.
Shakespeare was killed when he went to the aid of homeless friends being harassed by the hotel owner, Sris Sinnathamby, who used a racial epithet as he ordered guard Francisco Guzman to shoot Shakespeare. Charged with murder, Sinnathamby has been released on $1 million bail. Guzman, a felon, ran away but was captured six days later. He is charged with murder, attempted murder (he shot another man in the leg), and firearms possession.
As Google and other tech firms transform Santa Monica, Venice, Marina del Rey and other Westside neighborhoods into “Silicon Beach,” they are accelerating these neighborhoods’ gentrification and pushing to rid the boardwalk of homeless workers. The racist Los Angeles City Council has declared a homeless state of emergency and pledged $100 million to address the problem, with no known source for the funding or a plan to spend it. Of a previous $100 million the city earmarked to combat homelessness, $87 million went to “law enforcement.” Currently, there are police-escorted sanitation sweeps every Friday morning to run homeless workers off the beach, but no plans to provide housing or even bathroom facilities. As L.A. continues to plan for a 2024 Olympic bid, these crackdowns will only increase. L.A. bosses are eliminating homeless people, not homelessness.
One speaker at the rally raised the issue of racism and recent efforts to integrate police forces throughout the U.S. He concluded that having Black, Latin, and Asian cops, whether rank and file or top brass, does nothing to change the racist, brutal essence of the job. Capitalist bosses in every country use the police to terrorize the working class, he explained, as can be seen with the 43 disappeared students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico, and the striking miners murdered in the Marikana Massacre in South Africa. The cops in those countries are the same color as the workers they slaughter, but they’re on the opposite side of the class war.
We are meeting new faces and groups who are cosponsoring these protests. The two Unitarian Universalist church contingents were larger this time. PLP distributed CHALLENGE to marchers and passersby. We identified capitalism as the root cause of the problems of homelessness, racism, and police brutality, and communist revolution as the solution. We are inspired by reading in CHALLENGE about the ongoing protests PLP has helped build in New York City around the murders of Kyam Livingston, Shantel Davis, and others. We will be marching in Venice again on Sunday, October 25.

NEW YORK CITY, October 16—Seventy five professors, students from CUNY, and workers from other unions were recently organized by the Progressive Labor Party and the International Committee of the Professional Staff Congress to see the documentary film, Miners Shot Down. It is a gripping depiction of the slaughter of 34 striking platinum miners on August 16, 2012 at Marikana, South Africa. We were fortunate to have the film’s director and activist, Rehad Desai, answer questions and describe the many current struggles of workers there.
As poverty and inequality grow in South Africa, workers are rapidly moving to the left, opposing the ANC government, and debating how to end capitalism. PL’ers pointed out that miners in Mexico and other countries are fighting against what’s shown in the film: company officials working hand-in-hand with the repressive apparatus of the capitalist state to stop workers fighting for a living wage. Militant strikes are powerful and necessary, and the Marikana miners set the example for workers around the world by fighting back with machetes and spears. But as long as the capitalists maintain state power, there will be more disappearances like Aytozinapa, more massacres like Marikana, and more Black Lung disease for the miners who live long enough to retire (see letter on page 6). What’s missing right now is a revolutionary party. Without a revolutionary communist party the workers will continue to struggle but also continue to suffer, never obtaining what they need – a society where they share the fruits of their labor and decide their own futures.
People who came to the event contributed money towards the work of the Marikana Support Committee, which continues to demand reparations for the families of those killed and that those responsible pay for their crimes. Audience members asked tough questions—such as “How did the African National Congress, which fought hard against apartheid, come to betray the workers in South Africa?” Part of the answer to that question is that the African National Congress was led by the South African Communist Party, which fought for reforms. While SACP members displayed tremendous courage and dedication in the struggle against apartheid, they did not have a revolutionary program.
When the ANC came to power in 1994, they were now in charge of running a capitalist economy. The need to maintain corporate profitability outweighed other considerations, and the government was soon acting on behalf of the business class, which meant imposing austerity and suppressing workers strikes, as in Marikana. Moreover, some of the ANC leaders — like Cyril Ramaphosa, the former leader of the National Miners Union—were given high-ranking corporate positions and became very wealthy. Ramaphosa is personally worth $675 million, and sits on the board of directors of Lonmin—the very company the miners at Marikana were striking against! Lonmin, one of the world’s largest platinum companies, worked closely with the police who murdered the 34 workers, many shot in the back while fleeing.
Less than two years later, 70,000 mine workers shut down all three SA platinum companies for five months, until the company agreed to pay salary increases (though less than the 12,500 rand the workers were demanding as a minimum salary). In 2013, hundreds of thousands of workers in auto, construction, airport and other industries shut down their workplaces. The working class in South Africa has refused to be cowed. Someday they will take power and build an egalitarian communist society, inspiring and aiding workers in all of Africa — and the rest of the world — to do the same.

SIDEBAR

Campus Worker-Student Alliance Needed

On October 6, professors, students and campus workers at the Universities of Johannesburg, Witwatersrand and Cape Town held demonstrations demanding no outsourcing of work to private contractors, which has cost many their jobs and lowered wages. This developing campus worker-student alliance on behalf of the lowest paid workers at the universities is also demanding free university education and ending the repression of student activists.
Here in NYC, CUNY faculty and staff have been without a contract for more than five years. The union is planning a strike authorization vote, though not for a few more months. Our leadership stresses that “we don’t want to strike” and emphasizes the penalties for striking under the Taylor Law. However, there are also penalties for not striking, namely having to accept concessionary contracts that have long lasting effects, including continuing the poverty wages of adjuncts, who teach more than half the classes at CUNY. When unions like the transit union (TWU) have struck in the past, they did so in order to avoid painful givebacks, knowing full well they would be hit with fines and the loss of dues check off. There are also 10,000 CUNY workers in DC 37 who have also been without contracts and salary increases for years. If both unions shut down all 23 campuses and organized thousands of students to demand no tuition hikes, more money for CUNY and no concessionary contracts, it would have a powerful galvanizing effect on the city, energizing workers and students to stand up and fight back, as they’ve courageously done in South Africa.

COLOMBIA, October 18 —The capitalist class of Colombia has had a 205-year liberal-conservative dictatorship over the working class. The result is a deepening “dependency” on imperialism, especially U.S. imperialism, which robs Colombia of its natural resources. The monopolies are the ones who are really in charge. They decide and order who will govern us, and how they will govern us, with the approval of worldwide imperialism.
The working class can never take power through the ballot box. A few real life examples prove this: Nelson Mandela of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison; Lula Dasilva, a metal worker who governed Brazil for 8 years; Luís Eduardo Garzón, a union leader and ex-mayor of Bogotá and current minister of labor; Michelle Bachelet of Chile, who survived the fascist dictatorship of Pinochet; or most recently Gustavo Petro, ex-guerrilla of the M19 movement and current mayor of Bogotá. These leaders came from the working class but are now instruments of the bosses to oppress workers and maintain capitalism. These examples only reinforce the concept of a bosses’ dictatorship.
The capitalists need elections to convince workers of the fairy tale that says voting can force the profit system to respond to workers’ needs. But that’s not the only reason. They also help to find candidates who are successful at misleading and pacifying millions of workers. For the working class there will be no difference if the candidate is liberal, conservative, or leftist. It does not matter what political party is in power. We don’t need the bosses nor do we need their electoral democracy in power; we say:
Don’t vote, let’s distribute CHALLENGE!
Don’t vote, let’s fight for workers’ power!
Don’t vote, let’s make a revolution and build communism!

ANKARA, October 10 — “Workers will revenge the murderers!” Autoworkers declared from their factory in Izmir. Students and workers across Turkey have called for a two-day general strike and boycott to protest the bombing deaths of over 100 workers and students at an anti-war rally in Ankara on October 10, 2015.  The protestors are denouncing the government for the murders of the protestors. Students and faculty shut down major universities, both public and private. The streets of almost all cities are filled with marches and protests.
On the day of the attack, thousands came to Ankara from throughout Turkey in response to a call to “Stand Up to War; Demand Peace Now!” The rally was called by a variety of unions, including, the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK), the Confederation of Public Sector Workers (KESK), the national Chamber of Architects and Engineers, and the Medical Association.  
As people assembled, two bombs went off, killing over 100 people of all ages. Those killed included teachers, students, nurses, lawyers, construction workers, and at least fourteen railroad workers, members of the United Transportation Workers (BTS), who had come to protest with their children.  
The slaughtered include students in the liberal Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (the acronym in Turkish is HDP), and Kurdish workers. Racism in Turkey has meant that many low-wage construction jobs go to the Kurdish men. This rally was a multi-ethnic gathering of workers and students from around Turkey protesting President Erdogan’s decision to join with the U.S. imperialist’s attack on Syria’s workers and to return to war against the Kurdish regions of Turkey itself.
Workers Reject Imperialist Blame Game
After the blasts, Ankara police attacked protestors with clubs and tear gas. Ambulances could not initially get through, leading many more to die. The government laid blame on the protesters themselves and on the small capitalist-terrorist Islamic State (ISIS). But most of the working class in Turkey this insult to injury and instead expose the long history of violent attacks by the Turkish government against protesters. They realize both ISIS and the Turkish government operate to terrorize the working class.
In addition, the U.S. press repeatedly misrepresents the Ankara protest and those who were killed.  This is just part of the traditional racist effort to divide and conquer. The New York Times described the rally as a rally of Kurdish people, and has only interviewed the leaders of the HDP. The HDP has significant political clout, and garnered enough votes in the last election to prevent president Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP in Turkish) party from achieving a majority in parliament.  
Turkey is an important NATO member for the U.S. imperialists. According to Chuck Hagel, the past U.S. Secretary of “Defense” (read: war), Turkey, like Israel (see page 3) is one of the Middle East’s military counterweights to Russia and China in the coming age of global war. The mass demonstrations across Turkey today show how workers have no stake in either side of any imperialist rivalry!
Strike Builds Workers’ Unity vs. Imperialism
Municipal workers in Kadiköy (the Asian section of Istanbul) have joined the strike. Doctors and hospital workers are protesting, with a large group rallying outside an Istanbul hospital and then walking in the funeral procession for a worker killed in the Ankara terrorist attack.  Lawyers vowed not to appear in court during the general strike.  In Izmir, lawyers protested in front of a courthouse with a banner calling on all to prevent fascism from passing through the doors; lawyers staged a sit-in at Istanbul’s Çağlayan courthouse, the largest courthouse in Europe.
Others are protesting in their factories, including those in other auto parts plants; in an Istanbul factory making cooling units for buses and trucks; in an a Epla refrigerator factory in the Corlu European Free Trade Zone; in a machine parts plant in Mersin; and at Istanbul’s airport.
Working Class Revenge Means Building PLP
As the general strike ends, workers and students will need to decide what to do next.  The anti-Erdogan politicians call on workers to seek justice by voting against Erdogan in the upcoming November 1 election. Many protesters call for “peace.” But the autoworkers in Izmir have a better idea. They said, only the working class could revenge the murderers of our brothers and sisters. Capitalism can never be peaceful because it’s an inherently violent system.
The working class worldwide is suffering from the death and destruction brought by capitalism in its imperialist stage.  Inter-imperialist rivalries are behind the aerial bombings of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.  These same rivalries fuel terrorist attacks such as that in Ankara. We will end these attacks by smashing the capitalism with communist revolution. PLP will replace the dictatorship of the international capitalists—whether Turkish, U.S., Russian, or Chinese—with the dictatorship of a united international working class, and we invite our working class sisters and brothers fighting in Turkey to join us!