There is an interesting documentary called College Behind Bars that explores a college program for incarcerated workers called the Bard Prison Initiative (BPI). The program illustrates the contradictions between reform and revolution in the criminal injustice system under capitalism.
This program is helpful to the incarcerated workers who can enroll but it also sends the message that they have to be rehabilitated so they can reenter society. As you listen to their stories, it’s clear that it was poverty, racism, lack of health care, lousy education, and all the evils of capitalism that led these young men and women to commit the “crimes” that are the reasons for their incarceration.
At the same time, capitalists commit crimes against the working class and go free. Recently there was a fire at an apartment building in New York City with numerous safety violations that the city and the owners ignored. Seventeen tenants died, including eight children. No one has been arrested or even charged for this racist crime. The real estate investors in this building included a member of Mayor Eric Adam’s transition team. That’s capitalism. The capitalists exploit and profit and the politicians serve and protect them. Crimes against property and the ruling class are prosecuted and punished, crimes against the working class are aided and abetted.
College Behind Bars= Prison Reform
The documentary shows how BPI aims to “educate” the incarcerated workers and then aim them toward working within the system to make improvements. As one participant said, “if we want a better world, then we must first change ourselves.” But in Progressive Labor Party (PLP) we say the rebels in Ferguson were more truthful when they said: “the whole damn system has to go.” If we want a better world, we need to organize and fight to overthrow the capitalist system. We need a communist revolution so that the working class can run the world. That’s what communism is, a world run by and for the working class.
From this four-part documentary, it is immediately clear that BPI is a traditional college program. The classes are rigorous. They read, analyze and write about Othello, Moby Dick, Plato, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The classes include Environmental Science, Calculus, Biology (genetics and evolution which requires three prior courses), Spanish, German, American Politics, Public Speaking, Art and Philosophy. They have a debate team that defeated Harvard. This shows the lie of capitalist education, that only some workers are hard working or smart enough to be college educated.
In New York State, there are 51,000 incarcerated men and 2,400 incarcerated women. BPI has 300 workers enrolled mostly in the Associate degree program and 37 in the Bachelor degree program. Nationwide almost 50 percent of incarcerated workers who are released get rearrested within three years. In the Bard program it’s four percent. This reform, though helpful to those fortunate enough to enter the program, reveals that it is a band-aid on a rotten system of racist mass incarceration.
The working class can and must run the world
Now, according to BPI, these incarcerated workers have reentered society. Some are working in nonprofits, in one case organizing for criminal justice reform. Some are finishing their Bachelor degrees and one is in a PhD program.
In PLP, we want more. These workers and millions around the world can and must run the world for the benefit of the working class. One of the incarcerated workers says that BPI “has great professors teaching you how smart you are” whereas right now we have a “dual education system, one for individuals who will rule and one for everyone else.” Under communism we will incorporate all workers’ skills and smarts to teach and learn from each other. Join PLP and help organize for a communist revolution. Power to the working class!

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 27—For more than three weeks, thousands of workers and subcontractors in the SONAPI (National Industrial Park Company) “free trade zone,” accompanied by workers from other sectors and students, have taken to the streets here to say that they can no longer live on the poverty wages paid by the bosses. The workers are demanding an increase to the minimum wage and better working conditions, including an end to the special exploitation of women workers. U.S. and local bosses—Dominican and Haitian alike—profit exponentially off of the national barriers that separate workers from uniting together against their unsustainable working conditions. Our Party, Progressive Labor Party (PLP), continues to support the workers in their immediate demands, marching alongside them in the streets and engaging in discussions about the need to build a revolutionary communist party that will lead workers around the world to throw off the chains of racist capitalist exploitation.
Women in the garment industry help lead the fight
The protesting workers are undeterred by the generalized wave of terror in Haiti unleashed by gangs and kidnappers paid by the bosses (far better than workers are paid). They are also undeterred by the police, armed agents of the State, with their tear gas, beatings, and bullets (a journalist was killed and three workers savagely beaten, including a pregnant woman on 2/23). Recently they disrupted traffic on the “airport road” (leading to the capital’s busy international airport) where the majority of subcontracting factories are concentrated—the center of exploitation of modern capitalism. More than 10,000 workers, mainly women, toil here in garment and small parts sweatshops owned by foreign capital and sustained by the Haitian bourgeoisie. Throughout Haiti, there are 50,000 – 80,000 workers in these sweatshops.
The workers are demanding an increase from 500 HTG (Haitian gourdes, US$4.17) per day to 1,500HTG (US$12.50) per day. Yet even this is insufficient. According to the U.S.-based Solidarity Center in 2019, a family of four (2 parents, 2 children) would need 1,750HTG (US$17.50) per day for the bare minimum. In 2021 money, that family would need 2,500HTG (US$21) per day (AyitiKonpeFache, chronicle #2). The government did offer a pittance this week; garment workers, for example, would receive 685HTG/day, (US$6.65) (Le Moniteur, 2/21). The workers won’t accept that and a sharper struggle is anticipated in the coming days.
According to Section 137 of the Labor Code, each time inflation increases by more than 10 percent, the minimum wage must also increase. The current inflation rate is over 20 percent, yet the law remains unenforced because, as everyone knows, the capitalists own the State. The gang-up by State inaction and CSS slowness (Superior Council of Salaries, which publishes the guide to wages for different job categories) to decide on an increase in the minimum wage, and violent police repression makes it clear to workers that these forces work for the capitalist class, the enemy of all workers.
In a glaring contradiction, however, Réginald Boulos, a major player in the Haitian bourgeoisie, is for an increase in the minimum wage because he sells commodities locally (groceries, cars, etc) and he wants people to have money to spend that will go directly into his pocket. In addition, the imperialists play a big role in keeping the workers’ wages low: a coup d’état against the Lavalas government in 1991 when it proposed adjusting the minimum wage; USAID spent a reported $26 million to block another increase in 1996, just to mention a few instances.
H.O.P.E. law starves Dominican and Haitian workers alike
Garment and assembly shops here function under the U.S. government’s HOPE (Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement) law, which benefits U.S. bosses by reducing or eliminating import and export taxes (raw materials and parts imported, finished goods exported). HOPE provides quotas for commodities produced, so when the bosses of Grupo M in neighboring Dominican Republic, for example, use up their quotas, they open factories in Haiti. Thus, low-wage Dominican workers (US$17/day) and even lower-wage Haitian workers (US$4.17/day) are exploited by the very same bosses—what better cause to build international solidarity!
This fight of the workers to improve their standard of living, essentially to take back from the bosses some of the value that they create through their labor, is unending. As soon as the bosses are forced by class struggle to give workers more, workers find that inflation has eaten up their increases. We have to raise workers’ class consciousness, to see themselves as part of an international class with the same interests as workers everywhere, from the Dominican Republic and beyond. Only when we get off this merry-go-round of intense fightback for paltry reforms can we really be liberated from capitalist misery. Workers of the world, unite: we have nothing to lose but our chains. Join us.

This is the second in the three-part series about Black communists in the Spanish Civil War. In the early 1930s the urban bourgeoisie (capitalists) of Spain, supported by most workers and many peasants, overthrew the violent, repressive monarchy to form a republic. In July 1936 the Spanish army, eventually commanded by Francisco Franco, later the fascist dictator, rebelled to re-establish the repressive monarchy. Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy gave Franco massive military aid. The Western imperialist countries and the United States refused to help the Republic. Only Mexico and the then-socialist Soviet Union came to the Republic’s aid, to try to stop fascism before it engulfed the world.
In 1936 the International Communist Movement, called the “Comintern,” headquartered in the Soviet Union and led by Joseph Stalin, organized volunteers—mainly workers—from more than 60 countries into the “International Brigades” (IBs) to go to Spain to defend the Republic. But, in defending the Republic, they were defending capitalists. This was part of the united front against fascism, where communists united with so-called liberal capitalists against the fascist capitalists.
In the Progressive Labor Party we are now against any unity with capitalists. They all have to go and the working class must rule: that’s communism.
If the working class is to seize and hold state power throughout the world, Black workers and their leadership is essential. Our class cannot destroy racism - the lifeblood of capitalism - without their leadership. The following continues that story.
Oliver Law was the first Black worker to lead an integrated military force in the history of the United States. Born in west Texas in 1900, he joined the Army in 1919, serving as a private in the Black 24th Infantry. After leaving the army, Law first worked in a cement plant, then moved to Chicago where he drove a cab. During the Great Depression he worked as a dockworker, became unemployed again, then eventually worked for the Works Project Administration. While unemployed, Law joined the International Labor Defense and in 1932, the Communist Party.
His political activities led to frequent run-ins with the Chicago Police Red Squad during one of which he was seriously beaten:
After several hours, ninety-nine of the prisoners were released. Fourteen were booked for “special questioning.” Among this group was … Oliver Law, a Negro leader of the unemployed ... The fourteen were left in the big room … Nels [Kjar, a Communist Party leader] said, “This is a setup for a beating. Those Red Squad rats’ll be here soon-…Just look out, don’t fall for any proposals they make… If they divide us it’ll be tougher for each of us.
Five days later, 75,000 unemployed workers marched, demanding relief and unemployment insurance.…Oliver Law missed it; he was in the hospital because of the beating.
Black military commander leading mostly white troops - a first
In 1937 Law was one of the earliest American volunteers to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigades and go fight against the fascists in Spain. Before leaving for Spain, Law was arrested while leading a rally protesting fascist Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia. In Spain, his leadership ability and military experience were highly prized. He first served as Section Leader in the machine-gun company. Law was quickly promoted to company commander, then to Adjutant to the Battalion Commander, and finally to Battalion commander with the rank of captain.
While commanding the Abraham Lincoln Battalion on the fourth day of the Brunete Offensive, July 10, 1937, he was mortally wounded while leading an assault on Mosquito Ridge.
Sam Walter saw Oliver Law, our Black commander, wave the Americans over the top.… Sam grabbed his camera just for an instant and got a snapshot of Commander Law leading a predominantly white battalion into battle—the first time such an event ever took place in American history.  
Oliver was in the U.S. Army for six years-talented, lots of courage, but a Negro, so he left the Army still a private -- but in Spain, in six months he became commander of the Battalion with the rank of Captain … His sober attitude had made him close to the boys, but in death the link tightened-all his qualities of honesty, reliability, selflessness were now discussed. His character was a model to everyone.
Thus Oliver had lived for seven years after the brutal beating at the hands of the Chicago Red Squad … While our fascists didn’t get him, Hitler’s friends got him. Someday, the working class of America will properly acknowledge the role this brave Negro Communist played in the fight for freedom.

[Sources: Steve Nelson, The Volunteers; alba-valb.org]

Planting seeds of communism in the Black Student Union
As an up-and-coming revolutionary communist, I've taken to heart the need to infuse discussions about problems within my Black community with a clear and direct sentiment: this  anti-gay, sexist, racist, system of capitalism is the true root of our problems. I managed to start that discussion within the Black Student Union (BSU) on my campus, which led to some interesting results.
We started our discussion with a current event, the sequence of bomb threats to HBCU's-no doubt intentional on the part of the racist perpetrators. One person, a young Black woman with a boisterous attitude, pointed out the obvious. It's no surprise to anyone, especially the Black community. She alluded to this country's history of othering [alienating] those responsible for its creation and "the white man's" cycle of hypocrisy in regards to slavery and freedom in the U.S. She ended by reaffirming that those in power will never truly have in mind the interests of Black, Latin, Asian, Indigenous, muslim, and immigrant workers.
This resonated with me so much that I asked the same question that I raised when I first joined BSU: Why do we, Black workers, subscribe to the electoral process when we know it was not built for us? Of course, multiple people chimed in with sentiments of civic duty and obligation to the sacrifices made during the Civil Rights Movement. I once again voiced my disapproval, which prompted another person to ask, "So what do you want? Communism?" which I responded to with an assured yes. This stirred the group for a moment, but I slowly managed to explain aspects of communism and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) that challenged their brainwashed notions.
I left the meeting with the same enthusiastic woman who expressed the most curiosity about communism. She clearly wanted to better understand how the concept of collectivity would be applied to those who commit crimes. Her dilemma was a final decision coming down to one person breaking a tie between two decisions. I told her that I appreciate her contemplation of such a serious issue and that I could not give her a set answer, as that would have to be dealt with in the moment in the higher phase of communism. We parted ways, and she left with a copy of CHALLENGE.
Since then, I've passed the paper around campus and have also discussed it with my roommate. I'm glad to say that I've become bolder in upholding the party's line when in political discussion, and I hope to continue including sharp, revolutionary concepts as a true alternative for the people around me that want real change.

*****

Demonte Ward-Blake – Say His Name!
I participated in a press conference and rally in Largo, Maryland of over 30 antiracists that announced a $75 million lawsuit against Prince George’s County (PG). The lawsuit was filed because cop Bryant Strong paralyzed Demonte Ward-Blake by slamming his head against the curb in 2019, making this former athlete a quadriplegic. Demonte, vulnerable in a wheelchair while outdoors, was later killed in a shooting. His family and lawyers spoke emotionally about the excessive murderous force used by cop Strong, who goes on trial in May for second degree assault and reckless endangerment. Members of Community Justice (CJ) also spoke of their horrid experiences with PG police, including a family member of William Green, shot and murdered by a cop while handcuffed and seated in a police car (CHALLENGE, 2/17/2019).
As a Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member and a CJ member, I was happy to see a strong turnout from CJ for this event. We promised each other to intensify our efforts around racist police brutality and fighting the system. The lawyers claimed that only these huge lawsuits can force change. I think, instead, that bold, mass, multiracial action can have a much bigger impact, and such actions can go beyond the limits of this vicious capitalist system. We must organize, organize, organize to build a revolutionary multiracial movement to end the capitalist system with its inherent racist and brutal character.
Union worsens; transit workers en route to multiracial unity
Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has always said that winning for the working class is winning more workers to communist ideas and to fight for the antiracist, egalitarian society that humanity deserves. The reform struggles that we engage in today give the Party and our working-class friends the experience and the vision to ultimately run society in our collective interests.
The struggle to win workers to vote and strike against the racist contracts pushed by the Democrat mayors of Chicago and liberal union misleaders (see editorial, page 2) -- both Black and white -- opens the doors for us to win workers to communist ideas.
Just this past month, the workers of the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) voted on and accepted one of its worst labor contracts ever. The CTA President (appointed by the Mayor) got a 33 percent raise while the workers got a 9.25 percent raise over four years broken up into 1 percent and up to 2.5 percent annually. Inflation is at its highest point in 40 years and even though workers were angry about the 33 percent raise given to the President of CTA, they voted to accept the contract. Out of 10,000 members only 3,253 voted. It was 2,432 for the contract and 1050 voted the contract down.
The antiracist Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century fought against Jim Crow and for Black workers to be hired in public transportation and the post office. As the workers at the CTA became a majority-Black workforce, the union members saw their wages, benefits and rights being taken away by the sellout union misleadership. The Black union officials in Chicago have done their job of selling the workers out to the CTA and Big Fascist Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
PLP has been involved in building the Chicago Transit Justice Coalition (CTJC). The CTJC is made up of members of Amalgamated Transit Union locals 241 and 308 as well as union members from other locals, and is building the fight against low-wage part time jobs and sellout unions. We have had Zoom meetings throughout the pandemic, some in-person meetings, a bowling party and close to a dozen rallies outside of bus garages, train terminals, and the union offices. Throughout, we are building stronger ties and friendships with each other.
CTJC led the fight against the latest contract, and has vowed to keep on fighting. Even though the voter turnout broke a record for being low and the contract has been accepted by the workers, more union members than ever have been calling for a strike and believe in the need for a strike!
In response to the contract fight, CTJC sent out the mass message, “There will be no progress without struggle,” a reference to a quote from Black abolitionist leader Fredrick Douglass. The CTJC also explained that “our struggle is part of a greater, worldwide struggle against the billionaire bloodsuckers of the poor” and detailed plans to intensify the struggle against the sellout unions.  
Members of PLP have been inspired by our friends in ATU Locals 241 and 308. We have faced racism from some union members, including Black nationalists and white racists who have tried to divide and silence the CTJC members on social media and during meetings.
CTCJ met and discussed how we will not allow racism to divide us. We will defend each other in words and deeds. Co-workers who do not belong to the CTJC spoke out against the racist posts and helped build more antiracist voices in our locals. The ATU does not want to build the fight against racism. Those of us in the Party and our friends do, and will fight for communist revolution as the only way to end racism and exploitation for good.

*****

Red on the Radio calls out  imperialism
On February 24, the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I got on the “What’s Going On” WBAI talk show at 7 a.m. to oppose their lies about how the U.S. was “isolationist” and that the Soviet Union supported Nazis before World War II.  
On U.S. isolation, I asked about the 800 U.S. military bases in over 100 countries, U.S. missile submarines to Australia, 30,000 U.S. troops and missiles in South Korea, 40,000 U.S. troops and air bases in Japan, U.S. forces in Taiwan and the Philippines training them for war with China and ringing Russia with NATO missile bases for over 50 years.
On the lie about Soviet Union support of Nazis because of their non-aggression pact before World War II, I said the Soviet Union begged the U.S., England and France to join an attack on Germany when they invaded more countries and all the so-called “allies” refused because they wanted Germany to destroy the Soviet Union, the first workers’ state.  Germany needed the pact to avoid a dangerous two-front war and the Soviet Union was forced to make the pact to buy time to build its war industry behind the Ural Mountains from which they defeated the expected German invasion and won World War II by inflicting 80 percent of German military casualties.
I said World War II was a fight between the U.S., Germany and Japan over who would become top imperialist and the coming World War III is to determine the top-dog imperialist among the U.S., China and Russia and that workers should not become body bags for capitalist wars.  There was also talk about how a World War III makes no sense, but I thought it made a lot of “cents” to the Wall Street military-industrial complex facing an economic crisis and the loss of U.S. world hegemony.  However, I didn’t get time to conclude “same enemy, same fight, workers of the world unite to smash imperialist war with communist revolution.”