From Israel: Apartheid kills Palestinians and class consciousness
The slaughter is the bosses’ doing. Those who would argue that we are “assuming symmetry between the occupier and the occupied” are missing the point. There is no symmetry between the big bosses – Chinese and American – and the exploited working classes of the Middle East. For them, we are all slaves to extract profit from and chess pieces in their struggles for geopolitical dominance. The Israeli worker is not the oppressor of the Palestinian worker – rather, the big businessmen oppress both.

Israel’s super-rich ruling class includes people such as Miriam Adelson – the world’s 30th richest person, with a net worth of 27.5 billion USD. This boss is well-involved in Israeli politics and is an adamant supporter of Israel’s corrupt and fascist prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. On the other side, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas – who considers themselves a “popular resistance movement” – lives safely and in luxury in Qatar, far from Gaza. He has a net worth of 4 billion USD, gained by extorting the Gazan population and by embezzling foreign aid given to the impoverished Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 65% of the people of Gaza live below the poverty line.
The big businessmen get away with their grisly crimes thanks to the toxic ideology of nationalism. This way of thinking posits that Israeli workers are on the same side as the billionaire Mrs. Adelson, and the oppressed Palestinian workers are on the same side as the ultra-rich Mr. Haniyeh. But the top bosses are the utter enemies of all working-class people. For them, we, the workers, are nothing but machines and tools to generate their profits and fight their wars.

The Chamas action last Saturday has helped to unify all walks of life here and the liberal demos against the so-called “Judicial reform” disappeared and wiped off the earth.
Gal Gadot (the Israeli actress -Wonder Woman) tweeted saying she is opposed to the killing of innocent Jews and Palestinians was labeled a “Traitor” for mentioning Palestinians and Jews in the same sentence.She deleted her tweet and apologized .

The so-called “left” is labeling Palestinians as “Human beasts” and calling to wipe Ghaza off the map. We are staying home most of the time - no schools (closed) and there are sporadic rockets aimed at the Tel Aviv area so we have to be able to enter a safe place - the sirens give you 90 seconds to do so.
The army is now engaged on 3 fronts and the killing of Palestinians continues in the north, the West Bank, and Ghaza under “moral” justification.

Unfortunately, there is no communist leadership among the Palestinians and Israelis, only nationalist and religious motivation. The interest of all working-class people in Israel-Palestine is to place the blame on their true oppressors and butchers: the bourgeoisie. The only way to cast away the poisonous ideology of nationalism and replace nationalist war with class war – is to organize a mass multi-ethnic communist party.

This way, we, the working class, can win a world free from the vicious cycle of slaughter. The only thing that deserves to die is the capitalist system!
*****

NY: in solidarity with UAW strikers
I recently visited a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line with some fellow union members to see first-hand the determination and bravery of fellow workers against the bosses. After stopping at the grocery store to pick up some solidarity grocery supplies, we arrived at the picket line.
The workers were from a small parts supplier, but we were impressed with the multiracial, cross-gender solidarity and their strength: the picket line is active 24-hours per day, 7-days per week!
While there, we heard stories from long-time workers about how they were forced to make concessions to bail out the auto companies during the Great Recession in 2008 and how the auto companies have never made good on their promise to restore the cuts. Typical bosses. We’re engaged in our own contract struggle, and while our union leadership does everything it can to quash any momentum toward striking, workers are more and more fed up and ready to take action. We can draw inspiration from the UAW workers and their ongoing fight.
*****

Haiti: a communist revolution is their only salvation
On October 2, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution approving the deployment of a force of 1,000 Kenyan policemen to Haiti. Their main stated objective is to combat the proliferation of gangs in the capital of Port-Au-Prince. Those gangs (really armed militias) are the results of decades of exploitation imposed by local and international bosses. The lack of a significant communist organization left unemployed workers with little choice but to join the gangs, many of them controlled by politicians and local businessmen.

As we already know, the real objective is to impose more miseries and exploitation on Haitian workers. In 2004, the UN came to Haiti to impose U.S. and European imperialist will on the workers. The mission objective was to stabilize the country and create a climate where the international and the local bosses could exploit the workers. After 17 years that mission failed miserably. This new mission is also bound for failure. Workers in Haiti and throughout the world don’t need the boss’s solution to solve their problem. Capitalism has no answers to humanity ‘s problems. It must be destroyed. Only a communist revolution can achieve this objective.
*****

Run in memory of comrade Fernando
October 1 marked the first (hopefully annual) Braga 5K Memorial Run at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The race was named after our fallen comrade Fernando Braga who died by suicide last year. (His obituary appeared in CHALLENGE ,July 20, 2023). Several members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP), friends, and family members participated in the race and others we know helped put on the event. The 5K run (and jwalk) acted as a fundraiser for Fernando’s daughter’s college fund and organizations dedicated to stopping veteran suicide.

While it was an emotional day for many, it was also an opportunity to honor Fernando by building relationships around the ideas he fought for. He “was not just a veteran but an Iraq veteran against the war,” I told several participants I met. These included high school and college students. The second place finisher even grew up near me in NYC!

“I think the two of you would’ve gotten along,” I told one of the lead organizers who is a professor at the college. He didn’t get to meet Fernando since he started teaching after Fernando graduated, but teaches a course on the school to military pipeline. I hope I can help with some of the organizing next year and get to know him (as well as others) better.

Fernando was my club leader some years ago, providing our collective in general, and me in particular, with advice and leadership. I always respected the way he put our line into practice as a student, soldier and worker. At one point when we were close, I struggled with a decision of whether or not to join the military or remain an industrial worker. Fernando’s experience, thoughtful application of our line, and objective considerations of my strengths and weaknesses provided rare guidance that meant the most.

Before the 5K race, there were two speeches. The PL’ers who went agreed that next year we’d make sure we get to make one. The first speech was by a school administrator and reflected some of the nationalist ties between the College and the military. The other, though, was by one of Fernando’s closest friends and fellow veterans at school. He spoke for many of us at the 5K when he said “support each other, tell each other how much you love each other, it really matters. If I could take anything back, I would’ve definitely told him what he meant to me.”
Rest in Power Fernando!
*****

Liberal racists evict workers from shelters
New York City, Oct 11-  Chanting “Fight, fight, fight, Housing is a human right!,” a coalition of housing groups protested at the New York governor’s office against Top kkkop Mayor Eric Adams’ vow, together with the liberal fascist state, to suspend the “right to shelter” law in NYC. As thousands are being evicted under the 30 day limit on shelter, the new proposal would put homeless workers, including migrants, onto the streets. Comrades joined the group, met up with friends and distributed 50 copies of CHALLENGE. The fight continues, and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) will be there to build communism one struggle at a time.

While workers around the world watch in horror, the escalating slaughter taking place in Gaza leaves many people feeling helpless. With the demise of the old communist movement, workers are increasingly being led to the slaughter by one group of nationalists, religious fundamentalists or another.

While we cannot control the outcome of events right now, we can affect the outlook of our coworkers and within our unions, and fight for the political leadership of the working class. What we do, where we are, is all-important. We can, if we are creative and bold, expose the hellish world the capitalists have built, and organize to destroy these bosses and their system with communist revolution.

Last week, the NYC Jewish Labor Committee hosted an online panel on the Gaza war, chaired by Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU) President Stuart Applebaum and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. It included Peter Lerner, Director General of International Relations at Histadrut (the Israeli General Federation) and a Lt. Colonel in the Israeli reserves, Rami Hod - Executive Director at Berl Katznelson Center, a Liberal Zionist think tank, and Congressman Dan Goldman of Brooklyn.
Fascism was on full display! The main point of the call was to rally progressive labor leaders to support the genocidal collective punishment the Israeli government, with U.S. support, is unleashing on Gaza.  

But the Jewish Labor Committee ironically got one thing right; war is union business. No imperialist can wage war for long without the active or passive support of their workers, and their willingness to sacrifice for the costly war effort. Our job is to win workers to oppose imperialist war and overthrow the bosses.

At the urgent request of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which has hundreds of members in Gaza, the leadership of the National Writers Union issued a statement that opposed the collective punishment, shed light on the journalists who have been targeted and murdered and the 50 media offices that were destroyed.

The statement called on the mainstream media, especially in the U.S. to not rely on unconfirmed statements from the Israeli and U.S. warmakers, and to defend any journalist or author being fired or threatened for daring to oppose the rush to war. It said that we should not repeat the post-9/11 story where the media led us to a 20-year war in Iraq and sanctioned the mass roundup and surveillance of Muslims in the U.S. There are numerous reports of writers and events being canceled and disciplined in the U.S. and across Europe.   

The current situation demands that Progressive Labor Party (PLP) be bold and speak out in our unions, and with our coworkers, in transit, in healthcare, in the schools and campuses. We should boldly oppose Randi Weingarten, who has been a spokesperson for U.S. imperialism in Ukraine and around the world.  There is no short-term solution to this endless nightmare. We must do our best to build the Party. Have lunchroom discussions, raise union resolutions, invite your coworkers for dinner for more discussions, and bring some coworkers to local anti-war actions. Getting CHALLENGE to workers is essential to countering fascist ideas.

Let’s do what we can, as limited as that may be, to oppose the current slaughter that is now underway. The answer in Israel/Palestine, and everywhere, must start with international solidarity, antiracism, and building the unity of Jews and Palestinians, which has been done before, yet today seems unimaginable. It ends with turning imperialist war into communist revolution, and the international working class coming to power.

The racists on Staten Island are not stopping their attacks on the asylum seekers being housed in shelters there, but the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and other antiracists are stepping up our efforts to support and defend them.

By order of New York City officials, St. John's Villa, a former private school that was the site of two previous pro-migrant vs anti-migrant demonstrations, is to be emptied of its residents by November 15th. The racists are now concentrating their attacks on migrants in the former Island Shores Senior Residence on Father Capodanno Blvd. Every night, the racists have been congregating in smaller or larger numbers to loudly spew their anti-immigrant filth to disturb the residents. Their continued presence has caused the NYPD to set up barricades on the streets surrounding the facility, ostensibly to prevent any confrontations.

When members of the coalition of antiracist organizations arrived at the facility for our planned demonstration, we found these barricades in place. Some of the racists were already there, and when we demanded that the cops allow us to demonstrate on the Island Shores side of the boulevard, we were told we had to cross to the other side. The racists were allowed to remain, showing once again on whose side are the police.

Undeterred, we used a bullhorn and our voices to chant support to the migrants. The police then forced us to stop using the bullhorn. To show their "impartiality," they also stopped the racists from using theirs. We then formed a picket line and continued chanting vigorously and loudly. Before we left, members of Peace Action Staten Island, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the PLP made speeches, stressing  the need for antiracist worker unity. The Party members who spoke made it clear that the only solution to workers' problems worldwide is communist revolution.

Prior to the rally, some of the Peace Action members had leafleted at the College of Staten Island and in the Port Richmond neighborhood, which is populated by many immigrant workers. The rain may have had some effect on discouraging students and workers from those areas from coming to the demonstration. Our rally still had double the number of the racists, but about half of us were from outside Staten Island.  We distributed CHALLENGE there and continued to talk afterwards about our plan to build the Party and fight for communism.
The racists have a fairly well-organized core in the community, backed by most of the politicians on the Island.

They attack the immigrants, but they also attack Democratic NYC Mayor Adams, blaming him, Governor Hochul, President Biden, and "white liberals" in general for the immigrant problem and all the other ills facing the working class. Just as did the Nazis in the early days, these racists claim to represent the interests of blue collar workers. Their racism is dangerous to the entire working class. The Democratic Party politicians agree with them about limiting immigration, cutting back  benefits to the poor and other workers, and supporting a bigger military to prepare for war.

It does present an obvious danger, but even more dangerous to workers are the "white liberals" that the openly racist "Small Fascists" decry.

Biden and his cohorts represent the interests of the dominant "Big Fascist'' capitalists. It is their vicious exploitation of workers in Central and South America that has led to the desperate increased migration to the United States from those countries. As the workers struggle across the border, “Small Fascist” governors ship them to cities in the North. Once there, supposedly liberal politicians  crowd our fellow workers into unhealthy shelters, tent cities and even throw them onto the streets. The Democratic Party liberals have no plan to help the migrants and are happy to see the racists attack them and divide the working class.

In NYC, and especially Staten Island, the PLP  and its antiracist allies must continue to build a movement against the open racists. At the same time, we must struggle to show our friends and other workers and students that fighting racism within the system is not enough. We must smash capitalism to destroy racism. THE ONLY SOLUTION IS COMMUNIST REVOLUTION!

This fall has started off with a bang at our Bronx colleges as we started classes facing closed cafeterias on two of our campuses, canceled classes, crumbling infrastructure, broken elevators, and a myriad of other issues.
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members are involved in many fightbacks on our campuses, including demanding fair wages for adjunct professors, supporting the struggle against the privatization of healthcare for retirees, and building solidarity with migrant workers and our working-class neighbors. We are involved in organizing fightbacks that bring students and faculty, staff together.

An attack on one is an attack on all!
“A victory for anyone of us is a victory for all of us.” An adjunct professor, who teaches at three different campuses, made this comment at a forum we organized last week, sponsored by Rank and File Action (RAFA) and the Bronx City University New York (CUNY) Action Committee. He made a number of points including that the intensification of capitalism was harming the ability of our working-class neighborhoods to secure decent housing, food, and medical care. Three retired municipal workers who have helped to lead the fightback against the privatization of medical care ( see CHALLENGE, 10/20/22) spoke eloquently about how racist Mayor Adams’ proposed change to retiree healthcare would lead to death of older workers. They explained how union leaders colluded with Adams to save the city almost $1 billion on the backs of these workers.

The purpose of the forum was really to educate ourselves about the struggle retirees have been waging, and to send the message that in fact this is the tip of the iceberg. If the city can do this to retired workers, what will stop them from trying to give healthcare on the cheap to those who are currently working?. The forum was attended by students, professors, union members, and the greater school community. The main takeaway was clear—be ready to be in this struggle for the working class for your whole life!

We must be in it to win it!
PLP members are active in our local union chapter as well as with students. We have a literature table where CHALLENGE is distributed and students stop by to talk. Most importantly, we are winning students to get active with us in various campaigns to meet with us, both in mass organizations and PLP study groups. We have seen how students are key to the struggle and that they are the ones who bear the brunt of CUNY’s racist austerity policies. Not surprisingly, they have played a key role in our struggles to get a working cafeteria open, to protest the lack of heat, and to stop early cancellation of classes.

We have also been involved with other union members in “observing”contract negotiation sessions. Along with RAFA members, we have forced union leadership to open the negotiating process to the members. While the point has been made that union members (and students) should be active participants, not observers,involvement in this process has given us the chance to talk with other union members about why, ultimately, nothing short of a strike could win us better working conditions and why capitalism will never provide us with the education our class needs. While “being at the table” with the CUNY administration is infuriating and eye opening, it gives us the chance to engage with others and make the point that the union’s strategy of trying to shame CUNY into offering us a better contract is a dead-end. CUNY’s racist bosses have no shame!  

Build the Progressive Labor Party
We have a lot of work to do as we continue to face the onslaught of racist austerity at CUNY, the lack of equity for part-time educators, and the reality that CUNY bosses plan to  continue to deny proper funding to students, staff, and faculty. As we face the war in the Middle East, we must step up our organizing with teach-ins and actions on the campus. We are already starting to have discussions about how Dominican and Haitian workers have been divided and the parallels to the Middle East situation.

We have a vibrant PLP Study Group, led by college students which meets regularly and analyzes and discusses both the historical foundations of our movement, along with looking at current events. We analyze the struggles we are involved in, look at how we can sharpen our understanding of the world and determine the best way to bring communist ideas into the reform movement. Our group is growing, to involve both college students and graduate students, and our Party’s ideas are so needed in these very dangerous times. We will continue to be in the reform campaigns, but always keep our eye on the ball that although this is the world we inherited, this capitalist nightmare is not the world we want to leave for generations to come!