Little terrorist McVeigh murdered hundreds Big terrorist rulers murder millions

Will you trust fox to guard chicken coop?

Timothy McVeigh has been found guilty. But wait -- not so fast. The same U.S. bosses who cry about the horrible deaths of 19 children killed in Oklahoma are destroying medical care, breaking strikes, increasing racism, and expanding nuclear tests which will be used to destroy more lives.

U.S. imperialism' s actions in Africa have resulted in millions of deaths from Congo to Rw anda. Thousands are still dying in Iraq as a result of the murderous U.S. Desert Storm. Only recently have some foods been allowed into Iraq to feed starving people. The media has made much of the terrorists, but hundreds of thousands of children have bee n and are still being killed by the U.S. from Iraq to the Congo.

The ruling class used the trial to obscure its own mass terrorism. Hypocrisy was rampant as the bosses' media blathered about the evil McVeigh while the same bosses reduce the living standards of millions of workers. Many of these workers are being forced to live at poverty level, or below.

Some think that the justice system and the bosses' state apparatus (the government) will protect us against the militias and other terrorists. This is like asking the fox to guard the chicken coop. U.S. capitalists are the biggest terrorists of all. There is no question that terrorism is an attack on workers, but the ruling class condemns terrorists to divert attention from its worldwide mass murders. Ulti mately, the rulers use the issue of terrorism against communists.

McVeigh is tied to the openly fascist, racist militia movement. He was motivated by The Turner Diaries, the militia movement' s bible. Still, the Federal government treats McVeigh and his charged accomplice, Terry Nichols, as lone terrorists.

The militia movement is turning McVeigh into a cult folk- hero to recruit new members. The Feds will eventually attack the militia movement and its allies. The militias are the organized storm troopers o f New Money capitalists. New Money is challenging the Old Money interests that dominate Eastern finance and Wall Street. They oppose Old Money plans for another oil war in the Middle East. The struggle between these forces is profound and may lead to arme d conflict between them.

In this struggle it' s the big fascist killers (Old Money) against the smaller fascist killers (New Money). Both are vicious exploiters of the working class. Presently, the smaller more open fascists are on the defensive.Communist s reject terrorist attacks against workers by both large and small killers. Fascism can only be defeated building the PLP. A mass movement for the Dictatorship of the Proletariat -- a mass, armed revolution to establish a communist society -- that ` s the way to abolish terrorism.

Editorial Challenge, June 11, 1997

Bosses Will Make Nuclear War -- Organize to Make Revolution to Take Nukes from the Warmakers

Last week, the Pentagon revealed that it has a new nuclear bomb, the first additional nuke this decade. The B- 61 is a " bunker-buster." It is designed to explode after burrowing up to 50 feet underground. The bomb can knock down buildings a half-mile away and produce third-degree burns a mile away. Its radiation is lethal 15 miles away.

There is a dispute about whether the bomb' s targets are underground Russian command centers or secret nuclear, chemical or biological weapons factories in Libya, Iran, North Korea or Iraq. But whatever its target, this is a new, easier-way to deliver nuclear weapons, and the U.S. mil itary has plans to use it.

So much for the idea that nuclear weapons are obsolete! Or that the break-up of the Soviet Union meant the end of the arms race. So much for treaties and agreements. The capitalists will not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. They will not be deterred by fears of incinerating millions of people.

The bosses in Russia, France, the U.S., and others, are developing these weapons and absolutely will use them. Last year, French bosses, despite a huge storm of worldwide protests detonated a bomb in the Pacific Polynesian islands. This was the first kno wn nuclear test in several years. A few months ago, a top Russian general declared that the military leadership was adopting a " first strike" policy. This has been the policy of U.S. imperial ism for the last 50 years. This means initiating a nuclear war, not using nuclear weapons only in retaliation.

Two weeks ago, Russian president Yeltsin made big news when he pledged to disarm thousands of nuclear missiles aimed at Europe and the U.S. Turns out Yeltsin got a bit carried away. Maybe it was the vodka. Later, Yeltsin' s assistants came out with a correction. He meant to say only that Russia would re-direct the missiles away from their targets. This is a computer command, takes about five minutes and can be easily changed back. Actually it' s something the Russians had promised to do five years ago.

U.S. rulers talk about " weapons of mass destruction" falling into the wrong hands. They talk about terrorists or " rogue" states. By " the wrong hands" they mean anybody but their murdering selves. In spite of their platitudes about wanting nuclear disarma ment, U.S. rulers are the only bosses to murder masses with nuclear bombs. Even though the Japanese were ready to talk peace, the U.S. initiated the atomic age when it dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing hundreds of thousands.

Ninety-seven wars are being fought today amongst world capitalists. Even without nuclear weapons millions are dying. Nearly two million have died in the Central African wars in the last three years. The number of countries with nuclear capability has gro wn in the past few decades. More capitalist powers are competing, with growing ruthlessness and desperation. The number of wars for profits between small and medium capitalists has grown. It is only a matter of time before nukes are used against workers.

The sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry, re-entry of Russia into the competition among the imperialists, the need of U.S. imperialism to topple the Iraqi regime and other emerging conflicts bring the likelihood of nuclear war sooner than we think. Nucle ar war cannot be stopped from happening. It is the grim outgrowth of imperialist rivalry. Nor will it be the end of the world. That' s what the bosses want us to think. Those who wince from fear of the imperialists will never rise up to destroy them.

Building up our revolutionary forces in basic industry and in the military is the answer to the warmakers. Auto, steel, and aerospace workers make the tools of war. The military is made up of young workers, who the bosses use as cannon fodder. The capita lists can be smashed only from the inside, where workers load the bombs, where they are making and servicing the tools of war.

The Tsar' s army was taken out of Wor ld War I when communists won Russian soldiers to turn the guns around and join workers in making revolution. World War II ended when the Russian workers, under decisive communist leadership, beat back the Nazis and destroyed the mass murderers. The Chines e communists, along with the Soviet Red Army, put the murderous Japanese imperialists out of business as part of their revolutionary struggle during World War II. The current spate of wars of mass destruction which are spiraling into greater and greater d evastation will end when the working class turns the guns around and chops the bosses' hands off the nuclear trigger with communist revolution.

Workers Want to Know World Events

" It' s no surprise to me that the U.S. is behind all this killing. This is the most racist government there ever was. Any atrocity that happens anywhere in the world, you can bet they have a hand in it." That was one worker ` s response to the 200 PLP flyers that found their way into the hands of housekeeping, food service, clerical, and transportation workers at University of Chicago Hospitals. " Imperialism Kills Millions in Africa," was distributed hand-to-hand by workers in and around the Party, the same way Challenge is every week.

The worker' s response was eye-opening. Everyone we approached had been following events in the media, and was eager to talk about it. No one asked, " What' s this got to do with me?" A worker pointed to the part of the flyer explaining that Africa will soon be pumping millions of barrels of oil a day. " That' s what this is really all about," he said. " They' re all fighting over oil. " We talked about how the U.S. is poised for another invasion of the Middle East, how another world war is on the horizon, and how a mass communist movement can turn the guns around for communist revolution.

In one of the lunchrooms, the discussion touched on how deadly nationalism is for workers, and how the bosses use it to get us to kill each other for their profits. The discussion went from the wholesale slaughter of Hutus and Tu tsis in Africa, to the " ethnic cleansings" in Bosnia. We pointed out how only communism represents the best interests of all workers, and that only when our class seizes power can we truly defeat nationalism and smash all borders.

At one factory, a group of workers were sitting around on break, when a PLP worker asked if anyone had heard about what was going on in Africa. No one had, so he explained how 500,000 people had been killed in the civil war in Congo, and how the competin g armies were being backed by U.S. and French imperialists.

This led to several workers discussing how local wars can lead to bigger wars that will involve the U.S. directly. One guy said if the U.S. gets in a big war, he' s going back to Mexico. Then people talked about how the U.S. and Mexico are arguing over oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and how the U.S. is always fighting over oil. One guy then predicted that the U.S. would again go to war in the Persian Gulf.

This short discussion changed the atmosphere in a place where people usually talk about the Bulls, soccer, or how lousy the pay is. It even touched on how the lousy pay is caused by the same capitalist competition that is behind the war in Zaire.

Workers are paying attention to world events. They are eager to discuss them, and capable of grasping our line. If you don' t believe it, just ask them.

Only Workers Will Make Revolution

The following is an interview with a worker from the Guess garment factory in Los Angeles:

Challenge: What do you think of the union campaign that Unite has against the bosses at Guess?

Pete (garment worker): " I don' t have confidence in unions because of what I' ve seen with other unions. Many of us in the factory don' t know what the union is really after. They' ve never explained it to us. "

Challenge: What do you think of the bosses?

Pete: " The bosses have gotten us workers to fight each other...and they' re laughing in their offices. For example, last Wednesday, the workers who support the union tried to organize a meeting in the street, at lunch time. Many workers, together with the bosses, went to yell at them to leave. Look, the truth is that we workers have to have work so we can feed our families. Many think they have a good job here with benefits \making $6.50 an hour\ and this is the best they can get."

Challenge: What do you think of life in general and anti-immigrant racism in particular? What do you think about the conditions here and in Mexico?

Pete: " I think that there' s going to be a war. And the situation for immigrants is getting worse and worse. Its getting worse in Mexico too. That' s why, before doing anything that puts your job in jeopardy, the workers have to think hard about it."

Challenge: That' s true, but the boss has moved most of the work to Mexico and he fires workers continuously, so its certain that there' s no security with him! What do you think about communist revolution?

Pete: " That' s an intense struggle. Its going to take time. When there are changes, there are civil wars. And the only ones who will make a revolution are the workers."

Challenge: Can you talk to your friends about communist ideas and about Challenge?

Pete: " I can try. Because many workers, at this point, are only on the side lines, watching what will happen."

We told Pete that both the boss and the union really agree that working at top speed for $6.50 an hour is as good as it gets. They both think that' s all workers can fight for and look forward to. PLP knows that workers will fight for much, much, more than $6.50 or $10.50 an hour. Workers will fight for a world without exploitation, borders and wars for profit. They' ll fight for an end to wage slavery. Pete agreed.

That' s how the discussion developed with a worker about distributing Challenge to his friends and seeing the role of communist ideas and of the party. He works in a key factory and there are many obstacles to his development, mainly ideological obstacles . A few meetings, Challenges read, and visits with him are only the beginning of developing a more political relationship with him, and of making more concrete plans at work.

The appearance of the unions, community organizations, churches, etc. is that they are helping those who need it, fighting for their " rights" . But these organizations are not independent. Many are funded by the government to maintain the appearance that capitalism is the best there can be. However, their essence is that the bosses use them to control the workers ideologically so these same top bosses can continue their plans for fascism and imperialist wars.

The appearance of the friends and members of PLP who work in these organizations is that we' ll be absorbed in reformism, or into dedicating our time to building these reform organizations. But the essence is that we' re going to win workers to communist ideas. W e want to be there because the majority of honest workers look to these organizations to fight for something better and to defend them against attacks. Our job is to convince them that the sharpening fight between the bosses and the attacks on workers can o nly be ended with communist revolution. There will be a world without wage slavery, where workers produce and distribute everything according to the needs of our class. A mass Progressive Labor Party is the organization that will guarantee that those of u s who produce everything also produce a world without exploitation!

A Mass Base for Communism Grows in Brooklyn Hospitals

This article is the first in a series dealing with the process of developing communist work on the job, and our recent May Day efforts.

Our Party hospital club was formed a few years ago with two members. Currently we have six members. Initially we decided to concentrate on two hospitals, since two of our comrades had been there for a number of years.

At first, our strategy to build a communist base relied on open agitation outside the hospital. This included Challenge sales and distribution of a newsletter. At my hospital, our first newsletter attacked the training program for nursing techs as racist , for not recruiting many black workers. The workers' response was overwhelming. One remarked, " Yes, these bosses are racist and they think we can' t see what they' re doing." This agitation was useful because, in a limited way, it brought our ideas to the workers. But it did not help develop close ties with the workers. While we made contact with a few, we remained politically isolated from most.

We needed to bring the Party closer to the workers. One question was, could we develop a communist base without getting involved in the day-to-day battles on the job? I became a union Delegate, to lead workers against the enemy at the front lines. As a Delegate, I was expected to put forward the union line, and occasionally fight for some reforms. But as communists, we must carefully plan out how to raise communist ideas within the reform struggle, and build the Party.

I was able to use the Delegate position to meet many more workers in the heat of struggle, win their respect and mass support, and then offer them Challenge. This led to political disc ussions about articles in the paper. For example, recently I raised the issue of the bosses' mass murder in the Congo which stirred a lot of interest among the workers. I was able to point out how, (1) workers here have absolutely no interest in supportin g one or another group of bosses in exploiting our brother and sister workers in the Congo; and, (2) that these U.S. bosses investing in the Congo are the same ones laying us off and killing us right here in the hospitals of New York. The insurance compan y/HMO' s are controlled by the same interests vying for power over profits in Africa. This linked imperialist war abroad with class war at home.

I had been working here for a number of years, and made many friends, but few were of a political nature. Being involved in day-to-day struggles helped change this. Challenge sales increased to about 30 an issue, sold hand to hand on the job. Many more w orkers have bought one or more issues at various times. We still sell the paper outside the hospital, although not regularly enough, to another 20-30 workers.

In my first year as a Delegate, I made many mistakes. My first hurdle was to " serve the workers" with Challenge. But fear developed. I wondered if I could trust the workers to not go to the bosses or the union about my communist ideas. This fear was over come by building closer personal/political ties with the workers. In part, this grew out of leading groups of workers into the bosses' offices to demand more staffing.

At union meetings I always attack the bosses for their assaults on patient care, but recently I raised that to another level. When the union leader, reporting on contract demands, announced what the bosses wanted and then what the union wanted, I rose to say what the workers wanted -- " to take over and run the hospitals without the bosses." The union weaseled out of that by saying I was " talking about the future," but a lot of workers came up to me and said " that was a good idea. "

I devote my lunch breaks to visiting with my co- workers, taking part in fighting their grievances, and having them to my home for barbecues, etc. While involving myself in these struggles, more Challenges should have been distributed. Now I am concentrating more on the workers close to the Party, and those who marched on M ay Day.

(Next: A profile of the Party' s base and its relation to our May Day organizing efforts.

Picnic Celebrates PLP Growth

NEWARK, NJ, May 26 -- Eighty people attended the annual post May Day barbecue here today. More than 40 of the people there were hi gh school students and other youth. This was the largest post-May Day event PLP has ever had in New Jersey. We had recruited five new members to the Party on May Day.

The barbecue was also a celebration of the important decision made by the new comrades. We had a short ceremony in which several of the new members and a number of the more experienced comrades spoke about what it means to join the PLP.

Members spoke about the twin dangers of war and fascism, the horrors of capitalist exploitation, the need for class hatred of the enemy and class love for the workers, the need to smash racism and why communism should be advanced boldly to our friends. During this discussion, a friend of PLP whose son was brutalized by the University Hospital police got up an d announced that she was ready to join the Party!

It was pointed out that all of us, members and friends, can lead. The bosses teach us that only a few have the capacity to be the rulers. Communism, on the other hand, tries to develop the leadership quali ties that we all have to one degree or another.

It was a great day for the Party and the working class. We have our work cut out for us in the coming period. Fight for communism!

Immigrants Beware:AFL-CIO -- Liberals Frontmen For Fascist Bosses

New York City, May 29 -- Today a group of comrades attended a union-sponsored rally in support of " immigrant rights." The AFL-CIO is having a major drive to sign up thousands of new members in NYC, especially immigrants and WEP (workfare) workers, thereby drawing them into their " kinder and gentler" fascist holding pens. In declaring themselves the keepers of " immigrants' rights" and " workers' rights," the unions are lining workers up behind the Democratic Party and the Eastern Establishment Old Money wing of the ruling class. This is the same Old Money Democratic Party that passed the Welfare and Immigration " Reform" Acts in the first place. Various Democratic NYC politicians addressed the rally, symbolically held with the Statue of Liberty in the background, while the unions staged their membership drive.

The air was festive, with music and entertainment, like tap dancers from Ireland. Little was heard about fighting the racist attacks on immigrants, such as cutting off SSI benefits to elderly legal residents, eliminating food stamps and medical care for families, and deportations; not to mention, the below survival wages for which most immigrants, documented or undocumented, work.

About 700 people, mostly union affiliated, were at the event. Among them were contingent s of well-meaning, but mis-informed college students, who are not working in the fields, or operating sewing machines, but are employed by the AFL-CIO, UFW and UNITE to recruit union members.

Some PLP comrades held signs saying, " Smash All Borders" and " Citizens and Immigrants Unite." Another distributed a leaflet entitled " Death Squads or La Migra - - You Can' t Escape Capitalism" calling on workers to join PLP, which was well received. However, we must not underestimate the importance of digging into the uni ons and immigrant organizations to expose the liberal fascists and to convince workers and students that potentially we do have power, but only if we understand how fascism is deepening. It is a fatal error to rely on the liberal Democratic Party/AFL-CIO/ academic connection. As difficult as this task is, only communism can defeat fascism.

Palestinian Authority -- Enemy of Workers

Challenge has regularly reported on the situation in the Middle East, describing how the U.S. big oil bosses need to control th e oil in that region to assure their hegemony over the other imperialists. While the contradictions among imperialists and their local stooges have caused many wars in the region, and which may lead to another oil war; internal class contradictions have a lso sharpened.

An example of this is the strike by 19,000 teachers in the West Bank, an area controlled by the Palestinian Authority (Al Fatah). The strike shows that workers will fight back. But the strike also shows the desperate need for a revolutionary communist Party. We in the PLP learn from these struggles how to better fight the bosses and the need to speed up the building of an international communist movement to destroy all the bosses. Without communist leadership, the workers' desire for a better life will be used by religious fundamentalists, such as Hamas, to build a base for their brand of fascism.

The strike was primarily a fight for higher wages. Originally the strikers, who make $300 to $500 a month (which is one-third of what teachers earn in Israel), demanded a 100% increase in their wages, better health insurance, increased pensions and more schools and classrooms.

The Palestinian government rejected these demands, saying the economic crisis did not allow for meeting them. The strike was led by a Teachers' Coordinating Committee. The officially recognized Teachers' Union, which includes officials in the Education Ministry, opposed the strike. The government accused the Coordinating Committee of being politically influenced by enemies of the Oslo Peace Accord, that is, by the religious fascists in Hamas.

The Palestinian government tried to end the strike by forming a committee to negotiate with the teachers. Twice the strike was suspended, only to be resumed again. The government twice arrested the teachers' leadership, based on an old Jordanian law prohibiting strikes by public workers. But all these efforts failed.

The government tried to turn the students against the teachers, claiming the 800,000 students were the main victims. When a government official asked teachers to make sacrifices for the well-being of the students and the Palestinian people, a teacher interrupted him and told him: " There are two classes. One has nothing, and the other one has a very high standard of living and eats everything we have in the country." (Ha-retz newspaper, April 25).

The strikers were not alone. They were supported by the students' union, by non-teaching workers at Bir Zeit University and by the parents of the 800,000 students.

The teachers broke the ban on strikes by public sector workers and exposed the role of the nationalist Palestinian Authority as enemies of the Palestinian workers and agents of the rich bosses (like businessman Khalid Salem, Arafat' s economic adviser, and those who have bui lt mansions in a fancy neighborhood of Gaza and others linked to the Israeli Secret Service, Shin Bet). The strike showed how the Palestinian Authority is now a loyal servant of U.S. imperialism, which wants social peace in the region so as not to interfe re with their plans for another oil war.

Fundamentalism: Other Side of Capitalist Coin

If the political authority of the Palestine Authority was weakened in the strike, who benefited? There are many forces behind the rank-and-file teachers. The main beneficiaries may be the right-wing Islamic Hamas (pro-Iranian fundamentalists). Groups lik e Hamas are deadly for teachers and all workers. They represent another side of the fascist capitalist coin.Only a revolutionary communist movement, with a clear line again st Al Fatah, Zionism, imperialism and fundamentalism, can provide all Middle East workers with the kind of leadership that is needed to take advantage of the coming oil war and turn it into a revolutionary war to smash capitalism and imperialism. That is why PLP must be built from Gaza to Tel Aviv.

Iran/Iraq: U.S. Imperialism' s Worst Nightmare

Oil and wars for oil have guided capitalist politics for decades. Don' t be fooled by Clinton' s friendly overtures to the new " liberal" Iranian president Hatami. Pea ce is nowhere near ready to break out in the Middle East. Quite the contrary: Another Gulf war looms, probably against Iraq. At any one time, the Gulf is crowded with 20 to 35 warships flying the Stars and Stripes. This costs $60 billion a year, which is created out of savings made by workfare, prison labor, slashing food stamps and cutting mass transit and healthcare in the U.S. As U.S. workers pay for war preparations, millions of workers in the Middle East are threatened with ever more deadly bombs tar geted at them.

U.S. policy toward Iran has been a fiasco. U.S. rulers are desperately casting about for a way to neutralize Iranian bosses and at the same time prepare another " Desert Storm" against Saddam Hussein & Co. An eventual U.S.-Iran war is likely as well.

U.S. imperialism has created a monster. The holy rollers who ousted the U.S.-backed fascist Shah in 1979 also removed Iranian oil and military muscle from the Rockefeller orbit. Since then, U.S. policy-makers have been trying to reverse this key defeat. They armed both Iran and Iraq against each other and cynically contributed to the mass slaughter of workers on both sides during that eight-year war. Meanwhile, their own hold on Middle Eastern oil weakened.

Saddam Hussein: U.S. Imperialism' s Friday the 13th

Saddam Hussein' s political survival and re-entry into the world oil market, despite murderous U.S. sanctions, is an ongoing nightmare for Rockefeller & Co. The Clinton administration is gearing up for another military adventure to remove Hussei n and install a pro-U.S. regime in Iraq. The U.S. can' t take on the Iranians in the same fight as the Iraqis. So Clinton/Rockefeller are banking on a combination of bribery and the ancient Iran-Iraq rivalry to keep the Iranians on the sidelines.

A former Iranian specialist in the CIA' s Directorate of Operations reveals this tactical about-face in an anonymous article published in the May 23rd Wall Street Journal. After debunking the U.S. Iran embargo as " Swiss cheese, " he calls for resuming trade and for exploiting Iran' s contradiction with Iraq: " Iranians fear Saddam Hussein more than Americans do. He started the Iran-Iraq war, and the Iraqi army remains far more powerful than the Iranian armed forces. Like Washington, Tehran wants Saddam caged and eventu ally ousted. Washington can use the Saddam issue as both carrot and stick with Tehran." Maybe and maybe not.

Rockefeller and Co. Shoots Themselves in the Foot

They killed half a million Iraqis during their own 1991 Desert Genocide adventure, and their cont rol of Middle Eastern oil slipped further still. They demanded international trade sanctions against Iran, hoping to isolate the Iranian bosses. Result: the Iranians made a strategic (including nuclear) alliance with Russia last December, have maintained their business relationship with the German imperialists despite recent problems, and are buying massive quantities of Chinese arms.

In 1995, Clinton forced the U.S. oil company Conoco to pull out of a billion dollar contract for offshore fields with the National Iranian Oil Co. The Iranians were so humbled by this " punishment" that they gave the deal to Rockefeller' s French rival Total. Now Total and Royal Dutch/Shell are competing to develop Iran' s South Pars gas field, the world' s largest. U.S. Big Oil firms are out of the Iranian picture, with a political strategy that has produced one boomerang after another.

No wonder Rockefeller & Co. are telling Clinton to change his tune. Their situation appears even more desperate in the light of the dog-eat-dog s cramble to dominate the oil of the Caspian region and Central Asia, where U.S. oil giants have invested heavily. In order to sell it, they urgently require Iranian pipeline routes not controlled by Russia. Even though the necessary pipelines haven' t yet b een built, the Kazakh consortium, to which Chevron and Mobil both belong, just started shipping oil through Iran. The trick is a swap scam wherein Kazakh oil goes to Iran for domestic consumption and Iran then exports its own oil under a Kazakh label.

U.S. Imperialism Not Likely to Break Iran' s Strategic Alliance With Russia

The joker in the deck here is Clinton/Rockefeller' s need to pry Iran away from Russia. The U.S. imperialists are dreaming if they think they can do this. Sure, the Iranians need U.S.-level technology to develop their industries, and the Russians can' t su pply it yet. Former Iranian president Rafsanjani probably wanted to make the 1995 Conoco deal for that reason. But as events later proved, the U.S. isn' t the only source for industrial te chnology. Perhaps the new Hatami government will strike a few bargains with U.S. companies. But they won' t change the lay of the land or the fundamental contradictions. The Russians are poised to become a major imperialist once again. They have oil, nuclear weapons, and geography on their side as far as Iran is concerned.

The Iranians have no reason to do any more than flirt with the U.S., make a quick buck when they can, and imitate their new Chinese pals by taking advantage of the technology transfers they will be able to demand as the price of doing business.

Imperialist War: An Opportunity for Communist Revolution

The Iranians and Iraqis have lately made some overtures to each other. U.S. imperialism has a way of uniting even the bitterest enemies against it. But another U.S. war in the Middle East is certain. It will make the casualties of Desert Storm pale in co mparison. It will further isolate the U.S. imperialists from their main competitors and all the local forces in the Middle East, including U.S . pals Israel and Saudi Arabia. It will sharpen internal contradictions between the Rockefeller interests and upstart Oil Patch billionaires. As the costs mount, the domestic oil barons will become increasingly belligerent about subsidizing Rockefeller oi l companies' Middle Eastern investments to the tune of $70 a barrel.

This process will not unfold overnight. But unfold it will. Its logic is an eventual third world war, probably pitting U.S. imperialism against everyone else. Workers must have no illusio ns about local, regional, and world war as the deadly logic of capitalism.

On the other hand, we should not fear war. It will give our class the opportunity to make communist revolution and speed up the process that will enable us to rid the world once and for all of mass murder for profit. Even though these events seem far awa y, the sharpening imperialist conflict will dominate our lives. Its an " either or" situation. Either the needs of the imperialists are met, which results in fascism and more wars. Or the needs of the international working class are met, which means communist revolution. Building a mass party is a question of life and death for all of us. Choose life -- build the PLP!

Mark Fuhrman Racist Cop Award -- Atlanta Cops Beat Black Worker

A special Mark Fuhrman award goes to Sgt. William Myers along with the four Atlanta cops who beat and arrested 27 year old Timmie Sinclair. The incident took place during the black college students' spring break known as " Freaknik." Sinclair was drivinghis car with his wife and two children on April 19th. He reached one of several roadblocks the Atlanta cops set up especially for " Freaknik." Cop Michael Sequerth told Sinclair to get back on I-85. Sinclair explained that he needed to get off at this exit because he had to go to the pharmacy to get a prescription filled for his sick daughter in the back seat. Cop Erica Shields told him to drive on to the pharmacy, but then later testified that Sinclair broke through the road- block attempting to run her down. When S in clair reached the parking lot, Sgt. Myers was videotaped beating Sinclair with a nightstick and dousing him with pepper spray Rodney King style. Cop Byron Rainey then turned to the student who was videotaping his racist buddies, cursed at him, and told hi m to turn the camera off. Sinclair was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and two counts of obstructing an officer.

Atlanta police chief Beverly Harvard said I " believe only one of the five police officers who participated in the arrest and beating of Timmie Sinclair used 'unauthorized force' .... Myers should not have struck when Sinclair was falling backward.....Also, Myers violated policy by holding the night stick with two hands over his head." (Atlanta Constitution)

All the videotape in the world will not stop these racist cops from doing their job -- that is, to terrorize the working class. As capitalism deteriorates, the bosses, through their cops, have to use more force to maintain their system. Only communist revolution will destroy their system of terror.

Anti-working class terror and racism go with the badge. If you have a candidate for the Fuhrman award, send it to us.

Letters Page

Slavery returns to U.S.

Dear Challenge:

On April 23rd and 24th, In-' n-Out Burger interviewed for 48 positions at a new restaurant opening in Alhambra, CA. One thousand young adults and high school students lined up over the two days for the $6.50/hr jobs.

Finish this sentence correctly: The other 952 youths will get work as:

a) County hospital custodians.

b) MTA service attendants.

c) LA General Services Dept. laborers.

d) Santa Monica College maintenance workers.

e) None of the above

The correct answer is e) None of the above.

All these jobs are now done by workfare or prison labor. In the late 20th century, this is the name U.S. capitalism has given the new slavery. Under the Nazis in the 1930' s, the workers of the world came to know this evil as fascism. Workers fought against it with a passion and millions died to stop it during World War II. But capitalism is in crisi s again. It needs slavery because it must compete all over the globe to protect its profits!

Can war be far behind? Many, if not most of these 952 young workers will wind up unemployed or on welfare. They become prime targets for workfare jobs at sub-minimum wage or cannon fodder for the big bosses' next war, probably bleeding for Rockefeller oil in the Middle East. Workfare and jail labor will finance the enormous cost of modern war preparations.

In Pasadena, one in five residents (24,000 total) is on welfa re. There is no gainful employment for them. These jobless workers are being pushed into the slave labor workfare program at $2/hr below minimum wage. This is a done deal in the Trees and Parks Division. These workers, who are our friends and allies, have been turned into slaves.

LA Comrade

Uninspired by AFL-CIO

Dear Challenge:

At the end of last week' s article about the AFL-CIO festival, it says " We should go to these events and oppose the patriotism and anti-communism of the AFL-CIO, while exposing their real plans." Exactly. But how can we do this if we are taken in by their slick propaganda? The first half of the article is all about how " inspiring" and " anti-sexist" the festival was: " The politics went further than what the AFL-CIO fossils would normally allow." As evidenced by what? Pictures of Malcolm X? Since when is he a communist?

We' ve had a lot of struggle lately over the idea that the path to communism and the path to reforming capitalism go in opposite directions. The article seems to say that the AFL-CIO festival started along the correct path, but just didn ` t go far enough. They " left out" too much. That' s beside the point. It' s not that the message of the festival was one we want workers to follow, but it just didn' t go far enough. The festival wa s aimed at recruiting workers to rebuild the dwindling AFL- CIO. That' s exactly the opposite of what workers need: a communist revolution led by PLP.

Red

What does our base think?

Dear Challenge:

I thought the articles about Kaiser in Los Angeles and the AFL-CIO festival in Seattle were right on target. The Old Money/AFL- CIO Rockefeller-led section of the ruling class is moving decisively to win workers and others ideologically to support them as the " only benign super power" that has the " moral and ethical responsibility" to " save humanity." I hear this message in some form or another at every activity and sermon at the church I attend.

As the Old Money section of the ruling class proceeds with plans for war from Congo to Iraq, they must convince workers and others that war is compatible with their ideology: Anyone or any section of the U.S. ruling class (like the New Money/Christian Right) or any country that doesn' t goose- step behind the Rockefeller-led super-power are " devils" and must be taken out.

I think what was missing from the articles was some indication of our ideological struggle to win workers and others to our communist analysis of what' s going on in the world and to communist ideas and goals. What was the nature of the ideological struggle we had with workers at L.A. Kaiser and AFL-CIO members in Seattle relative to the events reported in Challenge? What role does Challenge play?

We aim to win communist leadership of the workers, which means to build a base for communism with a small group, then larger groups of workers, within ruling-class led unions and organizations. In so doing, we build and strengthen the PLP which enables us to mobilize larger numbers of workers under our leadership. I think this process should be spelled out more in our Challenge articles.

NYC Comrade

AFL-CIO means business

Dear Challenge:

In relation to the upcoming AFL-CIO (or is it AFL-CIA?) march in Detroit, our club had a provocative discussion. It centered on the issue: Why is the AFL-CIO calling for this march (and similar marches, like the one for 5 cents an hour more for strawberry pickers in Watsonville) now? For years, they have called for strikes only as a last resort, and avoided bringing large groups of workers together like the plague.

We discussed the idea, put forward in a letter about the Watsonville march, that they are doing this to help the Rockefeller faction of the U.S. rulers prepare for war in the Middle East. The AFL-CIO is allied with that wing of the rulers, as evidenced by their overwhelming support for Democr atic Party politicians. And we could see how getting workers to rely on them for leadership now, will put them in a better position to sell the false claim later that a war in the Middle East helps U.S. workers. But we rejected the idea that the main reas on for these marches is to win workers to support a war. There was no mention of war in any of their literature or by any of their speakers. No one on the march thought they were there to support an imperialist war.

Union membership has dropped from about 35% of the workers in the 1960' s to about 10% of the workers now. Many workers believe that they' re not any better off financially with the union than without. We think the marches are part of an effort to increase union membership (another is organizing work fare workers) by building confidence and enthusiasm for the AFL-CIO. We know that these capitalist unions hurt the working class. Our main point should be: follow the communist PLP, don' t follow the AFL-CIO.

Historically, rulers in fascist countries have outlawed unions. That' s because unions in the past were organized by communists and were therefore a threat to the bosses. In the case of 1990' s fascist USA, this is not the case. Here, unions serve the function of organizing workers to support one section o f rulers against the other. The unions are potentially fascist organizations, which is why the ruling class approves of events like Watsonville and Detroit. The interests of the AFL-CIO leaders and the interests of the ruling class are the same -- they both want to do everything they can to keep U.S. capitalism going. But the unions are not just conspiratorial puppets of the bosses, they have their own agenda which springs from capitalist ideology and coincides with what the main section of the ruling class wants.

PLP Club

Editorial failed to provide leadership

Dear Challenge:

In the last week' s Challenge, a letter raises the point who should articles in Challenge be aimed at. The writer believes that they should be aimed at left-wing workers and not at " all workers" as some suggest. Last week ` s editorial, by what it doesn' t say, is not helpful to any group of workers.

The editorial begins with certain obvious facts about today' s class struggle that:

1) Resistance, strikes and membership in unions are at an all-time low which is mainly caused by,

2) Bad unions and bad union leadership.

Add to this is a,

3) Ruling class that, even with " fierce" working class struggle, would resist even the most meager of reforms. And even if reforms were " given,"

4) Reforms won in the past have not solved the bad conditions of the working class.

This situation shrieks for answers. None are given! Specifically, the editorial should have given PLP' s strategy for our work in unions.

Well, Challenge represents the PLP and the paper' s readership is overwhelmingly members of PLP and left-wingers. Also, PLP has been debating and discussing precisely these issues for the past months. Add to this is that the editorial was written by the leadership of PLP. Given these circumstances it would naturally, if not necessarily, follow that now the writer(s) would give an explanation of PL' s position on the apparent dilemma their editorial presented. It almost seems like the editorial was written for that purpose. Doing this would help fulfill and further the r ole Challenge is meant to play. That is, to provide immediate and widespread leadership by offering clarity to and posing problems a revolutionary movement must face and overcome. Unfortunately, no such explanations were given or even hinted at.

What did follow was some vague prophecy that workers' " passivity won' t last forever" and " when striking workers defy court injunctions and attack scabs and strike breakers" PLP will then (but apparently not before) arise and lead these workers into the Valhalla of " schools for communism." Well, that scenario comes from Hollywood, not from PLP, USA. The editorial concludes with oft-repeated clich\'e9 s and generalities.

Let' s assume that the formulations and conclusions of the editorial are not as bad as they seem. My point is that if the writer(s) had in mind that they were writing mainly aimed at a particular group -- an involved communist/left -- then the answers to the dilemma posed by their editorial would by necessity be included, amplified and emphasized.

Such pertinent articles will definitely enhance both the role of Challenge and the motive to distribute it.

A NYC Reader

Spontaneity

Dear Challenge:

The June 4th editorial was right to attack the AFL- CIO for leading workers into Clinton/Rockefeller-style fascism. But it made a prediction that history doesn' t uphold, saying: " Workers will resist, both spontaneously and because of communist organizing, pointing out that we do not have to live in capitalist slavery," it read. " Struggles for reforms will take place in the midst of in tensified imperialist competition and developing fascism."

Workers in Germany in the 1930' s and 1940' s faced world war and full-blown Nazism. But, in the absence of serious communist base-building, they did not spontaneously resist. In fact, they became Hitler' s willing executioners. U.S. bosses hope to make the same thing happen here today. Warring factions of established and emerging capitalists are trying to win workers to two distinct, but equally deadly, brands of fascism. Through the AFL-CIO, the envir onmentalists, the pro-choice movement and the campaign to integrate the armed forces, the Rockefeller camp sucks millions of workers into its strategy for a genocidal oil war. The upstart bosses use the Christian Coalition, the National Rifle Association, the anti-abortion movement, and the militia movement to rally workers to their side for the domestic oil barons. Timothy McVeigh is but one of their many working class storm troopers.

Communist organizing is not just one way to fight fascism; it' s the only way. Materialists long ago recognized that nothing comes from nothing. Let' s not rely on spontaneity. Let' s carry out the PLP' s line and build a militant base of communist activists and supporters in the working class.

A Regular Reader

Mass strikes don' t lead to revolution

Dear Challenge:

The editorial in last week' s Challenge (June 4) made a point that could be misleading. The last few paragraphs created the impression that when workers begin to resist the bosses' fascist onslaught with massive militant strike s, and our Party intervenes, that tens of thousands of workers will join PLP " to take power from the bosses."

This gives the impression that mass strikes will turn into revolution. This is wrong. No revolution has taken place that way. Revolutions usually takes place through armed insurrections of workers, soldiers and youth fighting the bosses in the streets. Al so, the scenario presented in the editorial ignored the whole question of imperialist war. The Russian and Chinese revolutions took place during or just after World Wars. The revolution PLP will lead will take place in the middle of another imperialist world war, when workers and soldiers turn the guns around against the bosses and their bunkers.

Joe Red

Can' t underestimate capitalism and revisionism

Dear Challenge:

Last week' s Challenge editorial on unions paving the way for fascism included a point that could use more discussion.

The editorial says, " In this period.\'85 Capitalists just cannot give up that much today." If this refers to international capital ist competition preventing concessions, it should be recalled that most concessions to U.S. labor occurred during the heart of the 1930' s world wide depression. I think that capitalists could make more concessions today if they were faced with the threat of more militant strikes and takeovers of their factories. This is why communists must plant themselves in workers' struggles today to explain why only communism can serve their needs and why only revolution is the solution.

A Comrade

How we produce is inter-connected to what we produce

Dear Challenge:

The back-page article of May 28th entitled " Workers Can Run the World" was interesting -- especially to a factory worker like myself. I thought, however, it didn' t go far enough.

During the Cultural Revolution, the article stated, the left-led Chinese Communist Party tried to eliminate the separation between mental and manual labor by having engineers run machines and machine operators design machines. " Not only did this make the process more efficient, and eliminate some of the \lquote back to the drawing board' that happens when plans didn' t quite work, it also created greater camaraderie and unity among the workers," said the article. Who could complain about that?!

I think I' m going to have to. The bosses are borrowing bits and pieces of this approach in their teamwork/lean/partnership plans. For instance, Boeing brings workers, engineers and managers together in special Accelerated Improvement Workshops (AIWs). The company also hopes to eliminate some of the " back to the drawing board" foul-ups, but, more sinisterly, wants to develop camaraderie between workers, engineers and management. The company states -- point blank -- the experience of solving problems together will make workers more " sympathetic" to the bosses' point of view.

And what is the bosses' point of view? Why, the need to make more profits than the next guy -- of course! In Boeing' s case, there is the additional responsibility of being an efficient war producer to protect the profits of the Rockefeller Klan that rule Boeing' s Board of Directors.

For a communist, eliminating the separation between mental and manual labor can' t be separated from the political content of that unity. When we talk about doing away with the division between mental and manual labor, we have to talk about the political questions of what to produce and why to meet the needs of the working class -- not just how to produce those goods. Our struggle to make politics primary in our work on the job rises from our confidence that masses of workers are capable of making those political decisions and joining our Party to lead a communist world.

Boeing worker

Abolish Wage Slavery! Liberate Human Labor!

Under communism, everyone will work without pay. Many people doubt that this is possible. Others think it isn' t necessary. This week, COMMUNISM WILL WIN! begins a series of articles about work without pay. Today' s article is taken from the PLP document Road to Revolution IV. It explains the Party' s policy about the need to eliminate wages. Future articles will be about historical examples of people working without wages. You will see why we say that is the most liberating form of work. Not only can it be successful, but it is absolutely necessary to prevent classes from returning.

In this series, you will read about the ninety percent of human existence in which people lived in communist-style hunter-gatherer groups, about how former slaves and poor white farmers created societies without money in the time just after the U.S. Civil War, about people growing up in rural communities in the 20th century where there was little or no money, as well as about examples of work without pay under the communist-led governments of Russia and China.

Labor Makes Us Human

Work is what makes us human beings. It is the basis of our creativity. It has been corrupted by class society in order to make profit for the rulers. When the working class takes power with the leadership of its communist party, the Progressive Labor Part y, we will eliminate all forms of money and wages. People will once again be free to work and create for the benefit of their whole class and society. Here is what the Party had to say in Road to Revolution IV:

The revolutions in Russia and China were great advances for the working class. But these revolutions set up socialism, not communism, and now Russia and China are capitalist societies again, with new bosses. Marx and Lenin thought socialism would be the f irst stage of communism. These great revolutionaries doubted that the working class could move directly from capitalism to communism. They and others believed that important concessions to capitalism and capitalist ideas were necessary to win enough people to socialist revolution. They thought socialism would eventually lead to communism.

Abolish Wage Slavery

Keeping the wage system was the greatest concession to capitalism . Under socialism, every worker got a wage. Your work determined your wage. Professionals made a lot more than those who worked with their hands. Among manual workers, the so-called skilled made m ore than the unskilled. Does this sound familiar? The motive for these inequalities was the mistaken belief that many workers had to be bribed to produce.

Wage differences reinforced commodity production\endash that is, production for sale, for profit rather than for society' s use or need. Goods could not be distributed according to where they were needed the most, because some workers had more money to buy things than others.

No matter how much well-intentioned planning society does, the wage system forces each worker to think of his or her work in selfish terms. Only communism can change that. Communism will abolish the wage system. In communist society, the principle " to each according to need" will be as basic as the principle " every man for himself" is to capitalism. Children will understand this from the moment their senses awaken.

" From Each According to Commitment, to Each According to Need"

Under communism, the principle of work will be: " from each according to commitment." People will work because they want to and because their class brothers and sisters around the world need their work\endash just like people fight in revolutionary wars not just for themselves but for their class. They will share in decision- making, including how to distribute goods and services according to society' s needs. They will share shortage along with abundance. If there is selfishness\endash and their must be some\endash the party will struggle politically to overcome it, or, if necessary, punish it. However, the day-in, day-out basis of individualism \endash the wage system\endash will have been abolished.

For the first time in history, workers will receive a fair share of society' s wealth, regardless of the work they do.

The immediate establishment of a communist distribution system makes possible a new kind of party and a new relationship between the party and the rest of the population.

Communist distribution eliminates the material incentive for the emergence of new bosses corrupted by all sorts of privilege. Government or party officials, special workers, or artists will no longer receive more money for work that is supposedly " more important." The measure of work will have nothing to do with what people receive . People should and will get what they need, within the limits of what everyone can produce. Measuring work to set pay directly contradicts communism. By eliminating wages, we will make the social basis for privileges and a new class of bosses disappear. For the first time in history, workers will receive a fair share of society' s wealth, regardless of what work they do.