On August 24, I rode with hospital workers attending the 50th anniversary of the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The bus ride seemed to be shortened for us by watching Salt of the Earth. I have seen this film many times, but this group of mainly black women hospital workers, who are fighting their hospital shutdowns, was simply the best audience I have watched it with.
As the film plot developed, Ramon and other men’s sexism were greeted with jeers in the bus. As the men stopped work, ignored their bosses’ demand that they return to work and set up their picket line, cheers of approval rocked the bus. Hoots of anger greeted the injunction to limit the strikers’ picket line. As Esperanza and the women took over picket duty and showed their ability to lead the struggle, approval was heard over and over. In fact the movie hadn’t ended as we reached RFK stadium and groans were heard as the bus captain started making announcements. On the ride back to NYC, a tired group watched the end of the movie and took a well-deserved rest after a grueling day.
One reason we showed this film was to help overcome the divisions in the three hospital struggles in Brooklyn. Workers are looking at their “own” hospital as most important. Each union acts as if the struggle affects only their members and makes deals allowing for layoffs, service cuts and closings. They urge workers to rely on politicians to “save” us rather than using the power of our class to fight back.
Although seemingly dated in its black-and-white format and old cars, Salt of the Earth is powerful as it shows workers fighting sexism, the need to fight racism and nationalism, the role of the police and courts, the limitation of simple bread-and-butter trade unionism, and much, much more. Directed by one of the blacklisted pro-communist Hollywood Ten and banned for years in the U.S., this film offers many opportunities for us to discuss with our friends the wide-ranging reasons why capitalism needs to be overthrown with communist revolution.
Red Glasses

This is my first political action since moving to Indianapolis from Minnesota. I went to the Indianapolis celebration of the historic March on Washington. This “celebration” was a farce since in it was tightly controlled by open supporters and flunkies of the local bosses (Al Sharpton’s National Action Indiana chapter officiated) along with Mayor Greg Ballard who just came back from meeting President Obama. Ballard gave us capitalism’s idea of “antiracism,” saying,  “when I went to see President Obama there were mayors of other races there too and it showed how far America had come.”
This is the same Mayor whose cops were hassling black homeless workers in the park. Also, Ballard walked into the event with an entourage of city and county cops to let everyone know the Indianapolis bosses were in “control” of this gathering.
I did not give out CHALLENGE but I met an organization that I can get involved in to raise the Party’s communist ideas. They are needed now more than ever as the international working class is under increasing racist attack. From Indiana to Syria communist revolution lead by PLP!
Indiana Red

CHICAGO — This September marks the third anniversary of the 49-day sit-in to hold onto La Casita. For years there had been an on-going struggle between Whittier Elementary School parents and the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education (CPS) to have a library.
The struggle came to a head when, by accident, some members of Whittier’s Local School Council (LSC) found a work order to demolish La Casita. A sit-in began on September 15.  On its second day, police cordoned off the entire block, trapping mothers and supporters inside and keeping the rest of us out. The police threatened to arrest and even deport the moms if they didn’t vacate La Casita.  There was no food or water inside.
The sit-in would have ended there had it not been for a Progressive Labor Party member, a mother as well, who shouted that the moms inside LA CASITA were fighting for all of us, and that they needed support.  She called for everyone to follow her and they did!   The multitude of parents and kids marched under the yellow police tape.  They jumped over the front fence and headed straight to La Casita.  We all held our ground and the police were forced to end their threats of jail and deportation. Working-class solidarity made its presence known in the city of Chicago!
 Since then, there were a few meetings with CPS and the existing parent group, La Casita Parent Youth Center.  The parents’ pleas for the renovation of La Casita fell on deaf ears, and there ended communication with CPS.  Three leadership bodies came and left. The few parents remaining were left to fend for themselves.  The PLP mom stayed with La Casita’s parents all this time.
But CPS had the power to shut down La Casita anytime, and so they did, this August 16. Parents and neighbors responded with anger, and there were three arrests that night.  The PLP mom organized supporters to form a chain around the paddy wagon holding the arrested, chanting, “Let them go!” But we had to step aside or be run down.  The following day, a few supporters were able to get inside the grounds to form a human chain to keep the bulldozers at bay.  Some were moms but they were pulled out and finally seven more supporters were arrested.   La Casita was demolished. CPS and Chicago’s politicians won out that weekend.
There are lots of divisions among workers here.   Some neighbors, Whittier School parents included, wanted to be rid of La Casita because it was an “eyesore.”  But the fact is that all the poor working-class areas in Chicago are “eyesores” to the city politicians and the banks they serve.
There are many lessons to be learned from that Saturday morning, particularly the question of state power under capitalism.  Who do the cops defend?   And what is the role of the courts? (This will be exposed more clearly September 9, when 10 of the arrested go to court.)
For Progressive Labor Party, the crucial element is that ten parents get CHALLENGE. While some communist politics surfaced at the weekly La Casita meetings, and some parents have come to May Day and other PLP events, they have yet to join a PL study group. What has been lacking is a collective plan to win these parents and many more to joining the Party and becoming communists.
Breaking traditional sexist roles is one key obstacle.  The parents’ trust in liberal politicians’ promises is another one. The mothers and fathers are struggling to make ends meet. Many lack documents and fear reprisals from La Migra, the immigration polices.  Now, more than ever, our Party must win these friends to join PLP and fight for communism, an undertaking worth every breath we take.

BROOKLYN, NY, August 31 — Another black woman has been murdered by racist New York City cops in the ruling class’s continuing terror campaign against black and Latino working-class people.
On July 22, reports circulated in the bosses’ media about Kyam Livingston, a 37-year-old African American woman who died while in police custody. According to the NYPD, Kyam had violated an order of protection by “attacking her grandmother in a drunken rage.” They claimed they were “rescuing” the grandmother by whisking the alcoholic and physically violent Kyam in handcuffs off to the 70th Precinct and then to Brooklyn Central Bookings Jail. While awaiting arraignment, they say, Kyam suffered from “sudden seizures” and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
But anyone who has dealt with the NYPD knows there’s another side to this story. According to the family of the deceased security guard, Kyam was arrested on July 20, being accused of violating a limited order of protection issued by the Kings County Family Court on behalf of her grandmother. The order stated that Kyam could not be intoxicated or argue with her grandmother in the home they shared.
Although there was no physical violence and Kyam had just left the shower when police arrived, the cops claimed she “smelled of alcohol” and took her into custody. Shortly afterwards, Kyam was taken to the hospital but instead of being held for a 24-hour detox, she was released after only a few hours. Police then took her to the 70th Precinct for processing, and then held her at Brooklyn Central Bookings Jail.
According to witnesses who’ve come forward to the news media and to the family’s lawyer, Kyam began to complain of suffering severe stomach pain and diarrhea shortly after her arrival in the jail. Over a period of 20 hours she repeatedly begged for medical attention.
Others in the cell with Kyam saw that she was very ill and cleared a bench for her so she could lie down, tied her hair back and tended to her, while continuing to plead with the guards for medical help. The guards threatened to “lose the paperwork” of those who were complaining, stating that Kyam was an “alcoholic” and therefore her condition was not serious enough for a call to the medical team, which was right downstairs.
Finally, Kyam went into convulsions. Her cellmates began banging on the bars to demand that the cell attendant bring a doctor. The cop in charge came to the cell, observed Kyam convulsing on the bench, and said that everyone should “just let it play out,” saying her grandson also suffered from seizures.
By the morning of July 21, Kyam was dead. She was blue and had been dead for at least 20 minutes before EMS arrived. Rather than being rushed to the hospital as the police claimed happened, witnesses with her at the time say she was taken from Brooklyn Central Booking Jail in a body bag. Her case had been ready for calling several hours before her death, but the paperwork (as threatened) was “temporarily misplaced.”
The police and the mainstream media did their work of covering up their murder by smearing the character of Kyam and her family. As if having a dispute with a family member somehow means that Kyam deserved to die, covered with vomit and feces, in a filthy holding cell prior to even being arraigned by a judge.
This is the reality of being a working-class person in New York. The police can stop and frisk you at any time, for any reason, just because you “look suspicious” or pull on your waistband or are engaging in what they define as “furtive movements.” They can plant something on you or arrest you for the smallest infraction and then lock you up in a filthy, unsanitary, unbearably hot, overcrowded cell full of rodents and waterbugs, serving you spoiled food and drink, for at least 24 hours. And this is before a judge has even heard your story and made a decision as to whether you’ve even committed a crime.
Nobody’s immune. Something as simple as forgetting to pay a parking ticket could land you in Central Booking Jail and suffer such treatment.
But that’s not the end of this story. Kyam Livingston’s family is organizing for systemic change. At 6:00 p.m. on August 21 they were joined by their friends and neighbors at a Vigil and Rally in front of Brooklyn Central Booking, where they remembered Kyam, mourned her loss and demanded justice. The family is asking that the cops responsible for Kyam’s death be held fully accountable and that conditions at the prison be improved immediately. They’re demanding that the NYPD hand over the video surveillance tapes from the night of Kyam’s death (which the City claim’s doesn’t exist), and that they divulge the names of the cops on duty responsible for Kyam’s murder.
Kyam’s mother has vowed that there will be an action every month until justice is served. The next one will be on Saturday, September 21, at 1 p.m. on the corner of Church Avenue and East 18th Street, where Kyam Livingston grew up. All those outraged by her murder and are tired of the cruel treatment meted out on the community by fascist cops should join these actions to raise our voices and demand the indictment of the NYPD.
But we must also understand that a society based on profits and racism can never realize full justice for workers. Capitalism reaps huge profits from the super-exploitation of black and Latino workers, which drags down, and divides, the whole working class. This hellish system must be destroyed.