NEW YORK CITY, November 4—Strikes and struggle marked this year’s 104th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, the first time the working class seized state power and freed millions of workers from capitalism and imperialism. On Thursday, November 4, hundreds of workers, miners, members of the communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP), and friends demonstrated in solidarity with the multiracial Alabama miners who continue their nearly eight month  strike. On November 6, PL’ers and friends held an anniversary event in honor of the Bolshevik (revolutionary communists in Russia) Revolution, while also applauding the ongoing miners’ strike. This was a  multiracial social event connecting  revolutionary history to  present day reform struggles that displays our resolve to fight back amidst the growing imperialist threat of World War III.
These rallies and events were led by new comrades. They celebrate that even as capitalists try to keep their boots on the necks of the working class we are always preparing for a communist revolution. Sustained strikes and fightbacks are schools for communism and they teach us how to lead, organize, and support our fellow brothers and sisters. While the Alabama miners’ strike is not the Bolshevik Revolution, in this dark night it reminds us that our fighting spirit is still burning.
Miners’ rally: Union misleaders show their true colors
The November 4  rally in support of striking Alabama miners was called by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) president, Cecil Roberts, in front of the Manhattan headquarters of  Warrior Met Coal’s largest shareholder, BlackRock, a key capitalist asset management firm overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments. BlackRock is financially interlocked with top ruling class banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase and is one of the largest shareholders in ExxonMobil. It owns billions of dollars in real estate in working class neighborhoods, and rounding out its portfolio are major investors in top U.S. and Israeli weapons makers.
On October 27 the courts issued a temporary restraining order on pickets at Warrior Met mines until November 15. The company released highly edited videos of strikers defending themselves and their jobs on the picket line to make it look like they attacked unprovoked. In reality, Warrior Met has been attacking strikers with vehicles and sending scabs across the picket line with KKKop escorts.
Members of unions such as CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress, the National Writers Union, airline and hotel workers’ unions also attended and with them a group of PL’ers and friends. While PL’ers sold CHALLENGE and spoke with miners about revolution, the UMWA president tried whipping up nationalism saying miners are “real American patriots.” He explained that the UMWA’s strategy to win the strike hinges on convincing Warrior Met and BlackRock to ‘also be patriots' and ‘do the right thing’ by agreeing to their contract demands. Finally, he asked the crowd to face the U.S. flag hanging from BlackRock’s headquarters and recite the U.S. pledge of allegiance. Following that, he led the crowd in a round of cheers for the killer KKKops in the NYPD. Members of PLP turn their backs on the U.S. flag and all that it stands for. Patriotism
continues to be used to exploit and manipulate working people who have given their lives for the bosses’ profit system. PLP only salutes the red flag of international working class solidarity!
This gross display of U.S. patriotism and the strategy behind it reveals the UMWA leadership as the class traitors that they are. They said nothing connecting the recent court injunctions against the miners to the capitalist state. If they had, the need to break the bosses’ laws would have become crystal clear. The Alabama miners’ strike is an example of  the international working class struggle and how the fightback of workers in one place inspires fightback in others. The union leadership not only spits on the memory of the proud history of miners’ fightback, their nationalist, pro-KKKop rant pits miners in the U.S. against miners from around the world, who in recent years have fought violent struggles against their own bosses. PL’ers offer the only alternative that is in the miners’ and every workers’ interest: smashing the bosses’ laws and their cops, while fighting back and building PLP!
‘Bolshevik Striketober Fest’ celebrates workers’ power, history
On a mild sunny afternoon two days later, a group of  PL’ers and friends held a Bolshevik anniversary event at a public beach in Brooklyn. Two new, young comrades, including a comrade who visited Alabama in August, kicked off the afternoon with a rousing speech connecting the miners’ strike in Alabama with the “Striketober'' strike wave around the U.S. and the world.
The PL’ers saluted and gave a roll call to the recent October strike wave of miners across Mexico and Colombia over safety, wages, and the environmental destruction and attacks on workers in these countries and all over the world.
 In Colombia, miners halted the exports of over 200,000 tons of coal and cost the bosses $80 billion in profits. These workers and their sisters and brothers in Alabama were joined with strikes, strike authorizations, walk-outs and work stoppages of tens of thousands of workers from Massachusetts to New York, West Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, Nevada, California, Oregon and Hawaii in industries including steel, agricultural machinery, telecommunications, transit, healthcare, bakeries and whiskey distilleries.
Despite the darkness of the current period, these strike waves show us that every dark night must have its end. In 1917, amid the dark night of the imperialist slaughterhouse called World War I, communists ended the war in Russia and toppled their capitalist government in revolution.  Communist workers led by their party waged a multiracial, integrated, revolution of workers from all over the world spreading communist politics in over 135 languages.
As the world’s first workers’ state, these pioneering communists made many errors which PLP has analyzed elsewhere. However, 104 years after workers first proved victory over capitalism is possible, PLP proudly carries the torch of their legacy into the class  struggle against capitalism today. We fight to smash racism, sexism, nationalism, profit systems, and racist borders with a communist world run by and for the international working class. FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM and JOIN US!

LOS ANGELES, November 17—After two years of being immersed in the mass movement against police terror, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) here has been connected  with lots of people interested in abolishing the police. The kkkops, used to uphold and defend capitalism, will never be abolished under capitalism. We will need our Party to lead a violent revolution to overthrow this system. Only then can we abolish the police. At the suggestion of an impacted family member, we brought this understanding to 20 members of our base through an engaging forum.
PLP from its inception has been involved in the mass work against police terror. Over the decades, we have seen calls for reforms like more Black cops and mayors, more training for police, the need for body cameras, and more. Over that same period of time, workers have seen these various reforms implemented yet have no impact on the brutal nature of the killer cops. It has become harder and harder for the bosses to fool the working class into having confidence in reforming the police or the system. After the last year and a half of struggle, if someone tried to call for a basic reform like those mentioned above, they would be laughed off the street. People know changes that address the root of the problem are long overdue.
When the ideology of the working class shifts to the left, as it has since George Floyd was killed, it is no surprise that misleaders have attempted to co-opt the ideology and language of the masses. We see this especially with the liberal Democrats who remain the main danger to our class. To distinguish ourselves from these fake leftists and opportunists, we have to be able to combat their ideas.
Red book club
Our mass organization is starting a book club with the book “Becoming Abolitionists—Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom” by Derecka Purnell. The author, a Harvard Law School graduate, advocates for so-called "non-reformist reforms" and purports that these reforms over time can lead to the abolition of the police.  Some abolitionists recognize the root cause of capitalism, but have a distorted view of the state. They claim that with these "radical" reforms, ultimately the bosses' state would "wither away."    
What Purnell and other activists who are being used to mislead the working class are missing is the inescapable class antagonism that exists between bosses and workers. This very antagonism led to the creation of the bosses state and their police in the first place. The state is not neutral nor can we win power within their institutions. This class antagonism can only be resolved through communist revolution and a complete destruction of their state. It will then be supplanted with the dictatorship of the working class led by the international Progressive Labor Party.  
Deep dive into abolition
To prepare to raise these ideas skillfully in our mass organization book club, we read and discussed excerpts from the book in one of our Party club meetings. This club includes impacted family members and other friends. It was clear to all who attended that not only was Purnell’s path a dead end, but that we needed to present the Party’s perspective on this to our broader base.
One seasoned comrade, one new comrade, and a close base member (a young Black healthcare worker) volunteered to plan the forum. We settled on presenting three parts to the forum - history and role of the police, historical examples of the shortcomings of abolition, and the Party’s plan for how to abolish the police. We created folders with readings, guiding questions, and graphic organizers for attendees to use in their small group discussions and whole group share outs. Of the 20 base members who attended, almost all came from the mass organization that comrades have been active in or their on-the-job work that has successfully been connected to the anti-police violence work.
There were rich discussions guided by questions like “are abolitionists reformers or revolutionaries?”, “how can revolution succeed where reforms and abolition cannot?”, and “what do we need for the successful overthrow of capitalism?”
Participants recognized the shortcomings of abolition movements and gave numerous examples of where this has turned into its opposite. We read excerpts from an article that highlighted the rise in the treacherous convict lease system to guarantee free labor after the abolition of slavery.
Even if the mass movement put enough pressure to “abolish” the police, the capitalist class would just reinstate them under a different name.
So what’s the plan? Build PLP!
During the third segment where we focused on the Party’s plan for abolishing the police—a revolutionary party to overthrow capitalism and create a communist world in its place — one base member raised doubts that the working class could shed its selfish nature for this new society to thrive. Another base member jumped right in and reminded him that so-called human nature is determined by the capitalist class, but when we have state power, workers would be that driving force.
Everyone who attended thoroughly enjoyed the rich discussions. Many asked for a part two where we could dive deeper into a vision for communism. We will also follow up with a Party retreat that will call for those close to us to step up their commitment and join. Through our commitment to working in mass organizations and being active in the mass movement, our base of the Party in LA has grown both quantitatively and qualitatively. While there is still a ways to go to recruit and consolidate those closest to us, the potential absolutely exists and can be actualized if we all redouble our efforts and tighten our focus. Onward!

WASHINGTON, DC, November 15— After a 34-day occupation that turned Howard University’s Blackburn Center into a “tent city,” Howard students forced the administration to “plan to find a resolution” to the campus’s horrid, racist living and learning conditions.
It remains to be seen if the administration will fulfill its promises. When one of the organizers returned to her dorm, she found  flooding from a broken pipe! Even in victory, reforms are limited under a nightmare system called capitalism! These deplorable conditions are “normal” because this system is built on profit, not working-class needs. At Howard, we have a Black President, Wayne A.I. Frederick, subjecting mainly Black students to deplorable housing conditions in a historically Black campus (HBCU).
Only communist revolution can create a society that meets the needs of workers and working class students.
Racist conditions at an HBCU
Students were fed up with mold, broken pipes, intermittent WIFI, and roaches in their dorms, and were also incensed at the administration’s indifference to their plight (see CHALLENGE, October 23). Just last month, the university’s own report listed 34 concerns related to “suspected fungal growth, across more than 5,050 beds-- 0.67% of all on-campus beds” (ABC News, 11/17).
The students demanded what would have never been an issue in the first place under a needs-based system—a) an in-person town hall with Howard's president, b) a meeting with university leaders about housing and legal, disciplinary and academic immunity for protesters, c) student voice in Howard's new housing plan, and more.
Support from faculty
Faculty and alumni rallied in support of the students during the occupation, which has come to be known as #BlackburnTakeover . On Friday, November 5, the adjunct faculty members organized in the SEIU union sponsored a support rally, linking their working conditions to the students’ learning conditions.
Tenured faculty also spoke, one noting that their participation in negotiations with the adjunct faculty union was summarily canceled when the administration hired a union-busting lawyer to represent the university in these negotiations instead.
A Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member spoke of the need for revolution against the entire capitalist system, since the horrendous conditions facing students are a trickle-down from the entire racist exploitative system of which Howard University is a part. Alumni speakers recounted their own negative experiences with the administration, and set up a tent to join the protesters in their 24/7 occupation and tent city.
What was the victory?
After 20 whole days of negotiations with the administration, students felt their concerns had been met, on paper. “We came, we saw, we declared, and we won,” claimed one of the organizers of the University’s Blackburn Center occupation. What was the victory?  What have we won? President  Frederick “plans to make improvements throughout the campus, and is committed to maintaining ‘safe and high-end housing’” (ABC News, 11/17). While they may make some improvements in housing, it remains locked in a process of gentrification as it sells off its properties to developers, forcing Black workers out of the city. There is no escaping the capitalist system, with profits primary, as long as we limit our vision to reforming our immediate circumstances.
Jesse Jackson and Ras Baraka visited the protesting students. The former is a historically Black misleader who functions as a pacifier against antiracist fightback. The latter is a leader of student rebellion at Howard in 1989 and current mayor of Newark responsible for racist policies! But these liberal reformers lead us to accept a system in decay. No matter how hard we try, we can’t expect a tree with rotten roots to bear fruit.
Real victory against rotten daily conditions, racism, and capitalism can only come with the building of a revolutionary organization. Step up to fight in the class struggle today to build the long-term struggle for communism, the abolition of all forms of exploitation, and join the PLP!

PAKISTAN, November 17—The working class is under severe attack in Pakistan. This crisis is a crisis of capitalism, a system that will not save our class, only communist revolution will.
The Pakistani bosses were sinking in 2019 as their profits from exports dropped because of competition from even lower wage countries (The Diplomat, 4/18/2019). They begged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to save them. Now the Pakistani bosses are making the working class pay their debt.
The desperation is widespread. Fuel prices have increased 47 percent  in the last year as part of a deal the Pakistani bosses cut with the IMF to raise prices in exchange for a massive bailout of the Pakistani ruling class (DW.com, 11/15).
The gas price increase has driven up prices of basic food items as well as most necessities. The official inflation rate is twice what it was in 2018, but the actual rate is much higher as businesses are closing and wages for the poorest workers are less than they were in 1991 (Tribune.com.pk, 11/16).
Yet, the working class continues to fight back. People are on the streets chanting against the ruling class and the capitalist system. There have been large demonstrations against the deteriorating conditions. A dynamic contingent of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members have joined the fightback, countering dead-end electoral politics and nationalism with communist politics.
Capitalist crisis leads to rising fascism
As the crisis deepens, the ruling class is increasing fascist attacks against both their enemies from competing factions and against the working class. State oppression is the worst it’s been in the history of this country. Social media and the mainstream media are under tight control. People are being tortured, kidnapped and killed in various parts of the country if they speak out against state oppression or exploitation.
Communists or others with radical ideas against capitalism are declared to be enemies of the State. Talking against exploitation, inequality, injustice, fundamentalism and poverty is considered anti-state, which means many workers risk  imprisonment or disappearance. Truth has to be fought for and we are struggling to prevail. The Judiciary, Parliament and other institutions of the state are focused on jailing political organizers.
Pakistani bosses sell working class to IMF
Price hikes are making the lives of the working class miserable but bosses are giving a nonsense excuse that prices are going up all over the world because of Covid-19 and restrictions on air traffic. When capitalism is in crisis, it is workers that bear the brunt of exploitation. The annual inflation rate is at its highest this decade,  almost 20 percent, which results in  increased prices all over the country. The bosses’ political parties are not organizing demonstrations against these price hikes, but rather are just maneuvering to try to get themselves to the table with the IMF.
Political parties in Pakistan are led by capitalist lackeys,  so they are not concerned about inflation but they desperately want to get power by any means. Bourgeois parties are just talking about inflation and trying to mislead the masses by blaming only the party in power. These misleaders are hiding the fact that capitalism is to blame. These capitalist parties are not allowing workers  to participate in strikes or sit-ins organized by students and workers.
The official and self-proclaimed left wing in Pakistan  is just serving the bosses while praising  socialism. They pretend to be progressive but in fact they are not. They are reactionary and reformist. They use every backward idea i.e, tribalism, racism, ethnicity, sectarianism and nationalism to bring people close to them, just as we would expect from bosses.
The future is in fighting back and communist revolution
Workers, students, and professional organizations are demonstrating all over the country against inflation and ruling class lies and crimes. Comrades and friends of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are participating in the demonstrations with anti-imperialist, pro-worker and communist chants and politics. Our comrades are condemning the capitalist system publicly by recounting its cruelties and holding the bosses accountable. Comrades are fighting for a  system based on "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” That is communism! Our communist thoughts are being criticized  by so-called progressives as well as liberals and capitalists because they know that our line is a true threat to capitalist society.
We are involved in organizing protests, strikes and sit-ins against poverty, homelessness, exploitation and unemployment. Our young comrades are leading the demonstrations in  some places. Our comrades involved in professional organizations are trying to unite the struggle of the different segments of society against the capitalist evils. We are striving in difficult situations to bring more people under the red flag of our international revolutionary communist party—PLP!