Challenge February 18

Unless they can force an unlikely short-term deal, U.S. bosses are very soon going to launch their next Middle East butchery for oil. It may have started by the time you read these lines. But bombing Iraq will not solve anything for the rulers. In fact, as Challenge has written since the end of Gulf War I, every one of U.S. imperialism’s "solutions" to its present crisis will end up as a boomerang and will lead to deeper crisis and wider war.

The Eastern Establishment (led by Rockefeller, Inc.) and their military are like a muscle-bound giant lurching on clay feet over a cliff. They slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in Bush’s 1991 "Desert Storm" just to keep Iraqi oil off the market. That war appeared to be a big U.S. victory. But appearances don’t tell the whole story. In essence, it was a crucial strategic defeat. Saddam Hussein continues to rule Iraq. The so-called "coalition" the U.S. patched together in 1991 is in tatters. U.S. imperialism is more isolated than ever. Not even the Saudi princes are willing to let U.S. planes use their air strips for Gulf War II. Divided internally, they fear that mass demonstrations may drive them from power if they contribute openly to the murder of Iraqi workers. U.S., European and Asian rivals are increasingly bold in making oil deals with Iranian and Iraqi bosses. Most seriously of all, Russia has begun to re-emerge as U.S. imperialism’s main antagonist in the Middle East. In 1991, the former Soviet Union was in disarray. Russian bosses had to go along with Bush’s war. But the worm has turned.

It wasn’t just the vodka talking last week when Russian president Yeltsin said that by starting to bomb Iraq, Clinton might find himself stumbling into a world war. Russian bosses’ interests are fundamentally opposed to those of Exxon’s. Russia has made strategic economic and military deals with Iran and has the muscle to protect its major oil investments in Iraq. Therefore, bombing Iraq now is mainly a tactic to delay the inevitable development of an economic and military alliance between the Russians and Iraqis.

It’s a desperate tactic, because Gulf War II will only make things worse for U.S. rulers, and yet the contradictions they face are making them start it anyway. This dilemma has led to a lot of infighting among the leading forces of the U.S. Establishment. One argument concerns whether to bomb Iraq all the way to Saturn or just to Mars. "Deep divisions are opening between the White House and the Pentagon on the type of offensive to be waged against Baghdad," writes Patrick Cockburn in the London Independent (2/9). The argument is really over U.S. policy objectives. The bosses can’t agree on whether to twist Saddam Hussein’s arm or drive him out altogether. Of course, either way, many thousands of Iraqi workers will die in the process to satisfy Rockefeller’s greed. But the U.S. ruling class is on the horns of a dilemma.

As many leading capitalist political "experts" point out, air power has never settled a strategic military conflict, and it never will. At best, it can temporarily destroy installations and terrorize populations. It can also turn the mad bombers into objects of mass hatred. U.S. bosses know that once their air assaults start, they will have to face an outpouring of working class hatred throughout the Arab world, with consequences that aren’t fully clear. New York Times (2/9) analyst R. W. Apple warns : "History’s Moral for U.S.—Goliath Can Lose, Too."

Trent Lott, Gingrich, and other pro-Establishment Republicans are demanding that Clinton go "all the way" in Iraq, i.e. bomb Saddam Hussein out of office and replace him with a pro-U.S. "democracy." But bombs won’t do the trick. As Challenge has pointed out many times, oil comes from the ground. It can be controlled only from the ground. Political power comes from the ground as well. So U.S. bosses will eventually have to re-invade. The Times’s Apple quotes a "senior State Department official" as saying that the best bombing raids can do "is reduce (Saddam’s) stock of weapons...for a while."

The bombs about to fall on Iraq are at best a stalling ploy calculated to buy U.S. Rulers some time to keep large quantities of Iraqi oil off the market and get their own house in order. The house of U.S. imperialism is a mess, and most of the rulers know it. "Bombs Can’t Make Up for a Bankrupt Mideast Policy," warns a Business Week (2/16) article. The article goes on to mention that U.S. Arab clients are angry about Clinton’s pro-Israel tilt, and yet at the same time, that Clinton can’t get Netanyahu to do his bidding. Everyone in the U.S. Establishment is now clamoring for Clinton to climb into bed with Iran, whose Holy Rollers have an interest in keeping Iraqi bosses weak. But the bottom line is that U.S. imperialism will once again have to send hundreds of thousands of ground troops to the Middle East. Winning the U.S. working class to this invasion has become a key political task facing the bosses. The Times’s A.M. Rosenthal estimates that the Clinton presidency isn’t up to the job and predicts that the invasion will have to await the next elections. Note, however, that the question is merely over timing, not whether the invasion will become necessary.

Also keep in mind that the Russian imperialism’s rising threat to U.S.dominance looms ever larger in the background. "Preventing the emergence of a rival (super-power) in Europe" is one of U.S. imperialism’s "vital interests," as defined by a 1996 report to the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund Project on World Security. Yeltsin’s threat to Clinton must be interpreted as a look into the not-too distant future. The bombs about to fall on Iraq will sharpen every one of today’s inter-imperialist rivalries and deepen the already severe crisis of global capitalism. Yet this is the nature of the profit system. The bosses are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Bombing Iraq will only lead to more trouble for U.S. rulers, and yet they must and will do it.

Our Party must continue to do its revolutionary work in the shops, the communities, the schools and colleges and, above all, in the bosses’ armed forces. We must continue to arm the working class with a communist understanding of world events and to prove, in both word and deed, that the imperialists can all eventually be taken. They may have "weapons of mass destruction," but in reality, they are weak! Our Party may appear weak today, but in reality, it and the working class are strong. Under any and all circumstances, we have the ability to fight for our line. Every bomb that falls on Baghdad can be turned into its political opposite. Today and in the near future, this means sharper struggle against the bosses, a mass May Day, and the growth of the PLP. These will become the seeds of an ultimately unstoppable Red harvest!

Between Asia and Iraq: Between a Rock and a Hard Place for U.S. Rulers.

Going to war in the Middle East and countering the rise of Russian imperialism are only two of the U.S. rulers’ major headaches. There’s also the recent collapse of Asian financial markets, which none of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) economic wizards had predicted. Now Rockefeller guru Henry Kissinger has joined the "experts" attacking the IMF traditional "medicine."

The IMF’s usual plan for debt crisis is to push exports, devalue currency, and drastically reduce government services in the debtor countries. In short: make life even more miserable for workers. Both Kissinger and the IMF have been happy as clams with this blood-sucking strategy in the past. But now the bosses worry that further economic attacks on Asian workers will backfire into a huge wave of class struggle. "The crisis," writes Kissinger (LA Times, 2/9) "is essentially political." He goes on to propose a "crisis management mechanism that relates economic remedies to political and social conditions." What he really means is increasing government intervention in both the debtor and creditor countries, i.e. state capitalism, i.e. fascism. And he clearly connects the Asian crisis to the current U.S. bosses’ impending Middle Eastern military adventure: "With military action in Iraq looming, the Clinton administration must not neglect the equally important crisis in Asia...its outcome can crucially affect the shape of the future..."

In plain English, this means two things:

• U.S. imperialism is desperate to avoid hostile mass struggle in Asia at the same time it is provoking millions of Arab workers to take to the streets;
• it can’t risk pushing Asian bosses into bed with Chinese imperialism at the same time it is sharpening its rivalry with the Russians.

But wanting to avoid these dilemmas and avoiding them aren’t the same. U.S. imperialism’s need to rule the world and amass maximum profit is driving it to make enemies everywhere. The outcome of the Asian financial meltdown will be the same as that of the current Middle Eastern turmoil—the increased isolation of U.S. bosses and their speed-up drive toward world war.

KKK Rally and Liberal Politicians: Two Sides of Racist Capitalism

ANNAPOLIS, MD, Feb. 7 — Over 1,000 people turned out to oppose a KKK march and rally at Maryland’s state capitol. The ruling class used two tactics to defend the vile Klan. First, they persuaded the majority of the opponents to the Klan to attend an alternative "unity" rally inside St. Ann’s Church. Second, they paid over $150,000 for about 500 cops in riot gear to defend them against the 300 people who were determined to confront the Klan. They also barricaded all streets near the Klan with city buses parked nose-to-tail, making it practically impossible, without a full insurrection, for opponents to come anywhere near them. Heck, you couldn’t even see the Klan! But they were relying on the bosses’ media to get their message out, and the newspapers and TV cameras gave them full coverage.

Suckering people to follow the liberal democratic opposition, and coercing people who are more militant by using cops, metal detectors and arrests, are two sides of the efforts of the ruling class to promote a fascist movement as they get ready to slaughter tens of thousands in another war. The ruling class needs these prospective storm troopers and their ideology to divide, confuse, and intimidate various sections of the working class.

An ominous sign of the growing boldness of the fascist movement was the cop-assisted provocation of three Klansmen marching right into the anti-Klan demonstration with a large Confederate flag. Of course, the demonstrators seized and tore up the racist flag, chased the Klansmen, and got in a few good punches, but the very boldness of the Klansmen in this setting should demonstrate their potential as terrorist intimidators of the working class.

The PLP brought some workers and students to this event from a variety of workplaces and schools. But it was clear that we had failed to mobilize, during the two-weeks before the rally, adequate forces from the mass organizations in which we participate. As we map out our plans to build a revolutionary movement in response to the looming war in the Middle East, we need much bolder struggle with our fellow workers and students on our jobs and in our schools to understand the need for militant action and revolutionary communist consciousness, by building for their coming with us to march May Day.

Talking in Detention Leads to Making Ties that Build PLP

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9 —Last Saturday, February 7th, PLP held a demonstration against Gulf War II. The demonstration was a great experience for a 9th grader who is a new member of our high school student PLP club. He was invited to the to the demonstration by students at Manual Arts. It was the first one that he has attended with us. As a matter of fact, it was the first demonstration in which he has ever participated, period. We were a small contingent of Party members, but as we all know a small group can be very powerful when we have revolutionary communist ideas in the forefront.

This friend has read Challenge before and a couple of our leaflets at school. One day I really got into a long conversation about the Party while we were doing our detention time after school. I remember telling him so much about this rotten capitalist system that I was even amazed that he had put up with me. I remember even walking him to his house, telling him that communism is the only solution. I even learned that he lives just walking distance from my house.

The demonstration that we had, really helped put the words that I told him into real practice. I began speaking on the bullhorn and explaining the situation in Iraq and how this incident will escalate into a world war. I went on to say that all workers belong to one working class and we must oppose the capitalist ideology of "races." I called for the working class to unite and I stressed the importance of organizing a mass movement to eventually seize power and establish a communist system.

After I finished talking in the bullhorn my friend approached me. He told me, "I was listening to what you were saying on the bullhorn, and I really agree." He then proceeded to shake my hand and we exchanged that old fashioned hand salute [which we must find a name for cause it’s so popular.] From then on, I knew I had established a firm base with this friend. Hopefully, he will now attend our future club meetings, and developing him as a member and a communist is a must.

Our friend is not the only one. We have been talking to many students at Manual Arts and many are angry and ready for action against the bombing of Iraq and imperialist war. The growth of our Party depends on our commitment to actually talk to people about our ideas, and struggle, struggle, struggle to develop them as Party members, and eventually as communists. Our commitment will guarantee a mass Party of students, workers and soldiers. Organizing a mass May Day march is where our line comes to practice. And the only way we’ll get people to come and join PLP is to talk to them and build solid relationships. This is how we will build a solid Progressive Labor Party!

Dinner Builds fos a Massive May Day

CHICAGO, Feb. 7 — Fifty workers, soldiers, students, and youth gathered tonight to kick off our May Day organizing drive. The rulers are about to unleash another slaughter in the Middle East to defend U.S. oil profits, and we are facing increased terror on and off the job. But the black, latin and white men and women at the May Day dinner exhibited confidence and optimism in our ability to overthrow the rulers and build a communist future. And with good reason!

Some had come fresh from a struggle against racist terror at Cook County Hospital. Others had come from their National Guard unit, where soldiers are open to our Party’s ideas and organizing and have shown no loyalty to the war effort. Some had come from a rally of 175 workers in the United Steel Workers, United Food and Commercial Workers and other unions, that faced off against the cops in a struggle in Indiana. Some came from a small factory where workers are taking their fight against unsafe conditions and slave wages inside the company union. In short, we are involved in more struggle against the bosses, and more political struggle with our co-workers to win them to understand the current period of war and fascism, and the opportunities it holds for building a mass PLP. This is the basis for our growing confidence.

The dinner was addressed by a soldier, a worker recently fired by the State of Illinois, a postal worker, and a worker recruited at University of Chicago Hospital. The main Party speaker explained the current crisis of overproduction that is giving rise to war and fascism. He spoke of his experiences organizing soldiers during Desert Slaughter I, and how soldiers responded by the thousands to our Party’s call for turning the guns against the warmakers, for communist revolution. He said that the outcome of this current crisis will be determined by what we do, or don’t do, and that by relying on the workers, and their ability to grasp communist ideas and make them their own, we can make the next world war, the last one.

The dinner ended with spirits and fists held high, singing the Internationale. Our numbers could have and should have been bigger. The challenge to us now, is to organize the political struggle to overcome our weaknesses, build on our strengths, and bring busloads of marchers to May Day at the White House and into the PLP!

How Will We Change an Imperialist War Into Communist Revolution?

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 — "Hey Ron, did you hear that the President of Russia told Clinton "that an attack against Iraq can be the beginning of World War III?"

"I hope there’s a war. That way they’ll be more jobs," answered Ron.

"But haven’t you thought that your kids might be some of those who will go kill or die to defend the oil profits of the Rockefellers?" asked Geronimo.

"My kids can’t go, one is only 16 years old and the other is only 15. They’re too little!"

"Look Ron, that’s the age the bosses are looking at. If we look at history, the big wars have lasted more than four years. The Vietnam war lasted more than 10 years."

"OK, maybe you’re right, but what can we do to stop the war?"

"We are in a period of war and fascism. You can see that the order of the day is to kill—both mass, in war, and individual, by police terror, deportations, fascist laws and speed up and lay offs. This war for oil in the Middle East is a serious danger for millions of workers and youth like your kids.

"We workers are millions and we can change the direction of these wars of plunder and convert them into revolutionary wars for communism. For example, we who work producing war material, can convert these factories from sources of war production for the imperialist armies into sources of production for the Red Army of the working class.

"Our solution is to be organized, to help organize our families, friends and fellow workers into a campaign against the war and the capitalist system that creates wars for profit. We need to spread communist ideas to defeat the wrong ideas that the bosses have won many workers to. Imperialist war in no way benefits any worker. It only means death, hunger, fascism, poverty and destruction, whether as targets for their bombs or having to work night and day to produce for their war.

"A bold step will be the participation of workers in different industries in the May Day March on Saturday, May 2nd, celebrating International Workers’ Day. Year after year the members of PLP celebrate on May Day to show that the fight for communism is alive and that the future belongs to the workers and their allies among the soldiers, farmworkers and revolutionary students. By being part of this march, we are helping build the mass communist party that we need to end these wars and build a communist society. How many people do you think you can bring to the march, Ron?"

Newark PLP and Workers Confront Mayor

NEWARK, NJ, Feb. 4 — The PLP and the working class went on the attack here tonight against Mayor Sharpe James and the local bosses who are supporting his campaign for re-election. James spoke at the Mt. Vernon School at an event billed as a "community meeting" that was really a campaign rally for him.

James is almost certain to be re-elected to his fourth term as Mayor. He has the full backing of Prudential Insurance Company, among other bosses. James likes to say he is "110%" behind the "renaissance" of Newark. This "renaissance" is a code-word for handing huge tax abatements to downtown developers and corporations, while bleeding the working class taxpayers dry and kicking homeless people out of the downtown area. James’ latest claim to fame is the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (PAC), which took $100,000,000 in taxes out of the pockets of the working class.

Speaking to a crowd of about 60 (half of whom were cops or department heads from City Hall) for almost an hour, James patted himself on the back: about how many jobs he has created; about what a wonderful thing the PAC is; and about how many more police he is going to put on the streets. Then he got something he wasn’t expecting. The working class residents of Ivy Hill, one by one, got up and sharply questioned James about jobs, education, police brutality, and his ties to the rich bosses in Newark. James was exposed completely when he praised racist Gov. Whitman’s education plan and called her a "friend" of Newark.

One Ivy Hill resident, a member of PLP, pointed out that Newark’s child poverty rate was its highest since James became mayor. The speaker attacked James’ support for slave labor Workfare "training" programs. Finally, James’ call for "quality of life" policing was exposed as a cover for the expansion of police terror. It was pointed out that George Kelling and James Q. Wilson, both racist professors, are behind the call for "quality of life," and that this program in NYC has resulted in 5,000 more police brutality complaints. As if to verify the speaker’s accusation of fascism, James had one of his cops stop our speech before the call for marching on May Day.

Altogether, 16 Challenges were sold at this meeting, and we got the name of one person who is interested in the PLP. This was a small, but important, step in winning our base here to march on May Day and move a little closer to the Party.

Rutgers Students Bring Communist Ideas To the Classroom

NEWARK, NJ. February 11 — Rutgers’ PLP members were invited to speak to an African-American Literature class about organizing against fascism and the impending war in Iraq. We spoke to the class, 20 students in all, about the rise of fascism and police murder in the United States. The primary way this is taking place is by the "quality of life" and "community policing" strategies put forward by Rutgers’ Nazi professor, George Kelling. These Nazi policies, as Challenge reported (1/14), have unleashed the cops to attack anyone they think might be a criminal.

We explained that a major reason that the ruling class needs these policies is to prepare workers to be cannon fodder in Iraq. The latest events about the realities of war starting in the Middle East have hit many of these students in the face.

At the end of our presentation, we struggled with people to support Challenge by making a donation and most of them did. We distributed two leaflets about Kelling’s fascism and one on the impending war in Iraq along with copies of Challenge.

On Monday, we followed up with four of our fellow classmates. Three of them promised to attend a forum about the war in Iraq, which we will be organizing with the Filipino Students Association. In the next few days we plan to meet with our entire base in an effort to organize working class students in actions against the slaughter the U.S. bosses will unleash in Iraq. We must show that any war the bosses push is not in the interests of our class, and when the war starts we have to turn the guns around and fight for communism.

Ecuador: Workers Learn All Political Puppets made Out of the Same Cloth

QUITO, Ecuador — Again, the working class here has seen that to side with one group of bosses against another is to make a deadly mistake. As PLP has explained with thousands of leaflets and through Challenge, capitalism cannot be reformed to serve workers. On February 5th, the union federation (FUT) organized a national strike to demand the resignation of President Alarcon for his anti-working class policies. A year ago, these same union leaders joined the general strike organized by local bosses and the U.S. embassy to depose then President Bucaram. The union hacks misled workers to believe that deposing Bucaram was the way to stop the price hikes and other attacks on the working class his government had imposed. Now Alarcon is doing the same.

During this period of capitalist crisis of overproduction and oil wars (Ecuador is a big oil producer for the U.S.), workers have only one solution—winning workers and others away from traitors like union hacks and the leaders of mass organizations (there are thousands of Non-Governmental Organizations in Ecuador, many of them funded by European and Japanese bosses who want to get their hands on Ecuador oil). We need to build a mass PLP to fight for a society without any bosses, communism.

Capitalism Stench Is Dangerous to NYC Students

QUEENS, NY, Feb. 10 — A terrible odor greeted the working class, mostly black and latin, teachers and students, at P.S. 127 as they entered this public school on February 2nd. Some people began coughing, others vomited, many had headaches and/or felt dizzy; others went home. The school was evacuated after three hours. The fire department and the Board of Health determined that high levels of carbon monoxide and other gases had somehow filled the school. Over 60 people were treated in local hospitals.

P.S. 127, along with 16 other schools in District 30, is still heated with an antiquated, coal burning system. The heating systems have not been maintained adequately nor upgraded for years. The system was supposedly inspected and found to be in good working order last October. However, big breaks were now found in the back wall of at least one of the school’s three furnaces. So carbon monoxide had been slowly leaking into the school building for some time. Additionally, an untrained worker was directed to fire the boiler on this day. He may have made an error contributing to the problem. The maintenance company had increased the workload of this in-house, untrained worker instead of paying for a substitute trained for this work.

At a meeting three days later, representatives of the Board of Education and a local politician tried to blame the worker and/or the private company which does the school’s maintenance. The maintenance company apologized and promised to do a better job in the future, while making it clear that they have only had the maintenance contract since 1996 and cannot be blamed for years of neglect by the Bd. of Ed. Parents, often loudly, expressed their anger at the Bd. of Ed.’s buildings’ managers, demanding that the system be replaced immediately and that NYC Schools Chancellor Crew come to meet with the parents. Members of the Parents’ Association said they have been actively fighting and trying to improve the school for years.

Three years ago a commission created by the Chancellor issued a report on the physical condition of NYC public schools. "It warned that the public schools were ‘on the verge of a serious calamity’ and credited ‘simple dumb luck’ for the fact that there hadn’t been more fatalities." (NY Times, 2/9) The commission’s key finding was that the horrible conditions of the schools were the direct result of the fact that funds devoted to the routine maintenance of the schools were "grossly and devastatingly inadequate." In the three years since this report there has been virtually no change in policy (NY Times).

Other serious accidents have occurred very recently, including the collapse of the brick façade of a Brooklyn high school and a cinder block falling off the roof of a Brooklyn elementary school, hitting and killing a teen-age girl.

That is why PLP teachers and students are calling Crew, Mayor Giuliani and all the bosses racist murderers. They all cut services to workers and their families in order to help the bosses pay for their economic crisis and their war efforts. And now that they are preparing for Gulf War II, they will not only kill our children with rotten conditions, but will send them to die and kill other youth in the Middle East to serve Big Oil. If you believe that a system that lives off the murder of workers and their children deserves to be smashed, you need to join PLP and march on May Day. Help us fight for a society without any bosses, a society the will share what we produce according to our needs—communism.

Mark Fuhrman Racist Cop Award

The Fuhrman award goes to the 15 Austin District cops that invaded the Wilson family home on the West Side of Chicago on January 26th. Cop Johnson, known for stopping in neighborhood liquor stores like they were Dunkin’ Doughnuts shops, entered the Wilson’s foyer. He said they were looking for two friends of Wilson’s grandson, alleged "suspects in a car robbery" who were seen running into the house.

The family’s dog began barking from the basement and Johnson drew his gun. Ms. Wilson discovered that the dog was not locked up and was making his way up the stairs. Cop Johnson, still standing with his gun drawn, tripped over his own feet when he saw the dog. He fell and let off one shot from his gun, hitting the dog. After regaining his balance, he shot the dog two more times. Ms. Wilson’s daughter smacked the gun out of Johnson’s hand, so he could not empty it and kill everyone in the house.

"Get your hands off me! Get out of my way!" Johnson, ordered, raising his hand to hit her. "I wish you would hit me," she dared him to his face. By this time the rest of the cops out on the porch were in the Wilson’s house, calling for more back-up. Austin police sergeant Richard Schak was called in and after an hour-long search of the house, the Gestapo said he didn’t see what all the to do was about. "I don’t know what you’re fussing about. The dog was a mutt. It’s not as if we shot a baby."

Austin District cops made national news last year for their rabid corruption, drug-dealing and robbery. However, the slap on the hand they received had nothing to do with these Nazi cops attacking black workers on the West Side. It had everything to do with Clinton & Co.’s plans for war and fascism. Capitalism’s current economic and political crises demand that the ruling class have tighter discipline of their police force. These cops must know to which class to pledge their allegiance, so they can carry out brute force—one of many faces of fascism—against the working class; just as Clinton prepares to show his allegiance to his bosses by bombing Iraq to protect the Rockefeller Eastern Establishment oil interests in the Middle East. These bosses view workers as dogs to be shot down in the street.

Progressive Labor Party is marching for communist revolution on May Day in Washington DC. We are fighting to bring a busload of workers from the West Side neighborhood where the Wilson family lives. That’s right bosses, we will have our day! Yours will end with the building of a mass communist Party to take state power away from you and the rabid cops that protect you. March On May Day!

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

Capitalist Economic ‘Miracles’ Fall One by One

MEXICO — Just a short while ago, the imperialist financial centers used the economies of Mexico and South Korea as examples of the viability of capitalism. The economic "miracle" of these countries turned into another capitalist mirage that has impoverished millions of workers. The Korean bosses intend to get out of this crisis by introducing into the U.S. market merchandise at lower price less due to the devaluation of the Korean currency. The Mexican bosses, devaluing the peso more, are doing the same thing. The war for markets is sharpening. The possibilities of a recession in the U.S. is increasing. The worldwide financial system is out of control. Everything indicates that worse disasters for the working class are coming. The crisis is political and is leading to war.

The capitalist solutions do not work for the working class. Reducing inflation condemns the majority of the population to underconsumption and unemployment (worsening the crisis of overproduction). Devaluing the money and lowering wages helps the capitalists increase their exports. Readjusting the budget, because of the decline in oil prices, generates more unemployment and poverty. All the while, the U.S. is hardening its immigration policy, closing a traditional escape valve for the unemployed in Mexico.

The rivalry among the imperialists is sharpening. There is no economic growth. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in 1997 was the same as 1996. The neoliberal orthodoxy doesn’t support industrial expansion, except for that sector which produces for export. More national wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite. The old rules among the capitalists are being broken. The different bourgeois factions are stiffening.

The PRD, EZLN and some sectors of the PRI are launching an attack against neoliberalism, looking to save their businesses by allying themselves with the European and Japanese imperialists. In this fight there is no room for compromise or balance. Dangerous times are coming. Chiapas could be only the beginning of what is coming, as the bosses who have been removed from power seek alliances with European capitalists and the U.S. imperialists increase their military presence to prevent this. From the Middle East to Mexico, the imperialists are in a life and death fight, at the expense of the world’s workers.

Zedillo has consolidated a cabinet that represents the big financial interests of the U.S. His key man is Gurria, the recently elected Secretary of Housing. Gurria has promised the imperialists that the current economic model will be extended for 24 more years. That’s why Wall Street adores him, confirming that a group of pro-U.S. technocrats has taken control of Mexican politics and economy. To accomplish this, they had to remove the nationalist groups of the old guard PRI known as the dinosaurs. (This group will not go down without fighting back.) The PRD, in exchange for winning the governorship of the capital of the country, helped the technocrats remove the dinosaurs. The Cardenas Administration’s policies are not so different from the PRI. It has raised taxes and transportation costs. And now he says that it will take time to fulfill his campaign promise of fighting crime and corruption.

We workers must not support any capitalist party. As the rivalry between the world’s imperialists breaks out into open warfare, we should take advantage of the divisions and fight to destroy this genocidal capitalist system. Communist revolution is the solution. It will do away with all the bosses, the imperialists, the profits, the market and the wage system. All the wealth produced by the working class will be distributed according to the needs of the workers. That’s the way that we will free ourselves from this capitalist hell.

Dogfight in the FMLN to consolidate the Oligarchy in Power in El Salvador

SAN SALVADOR —Recently the FMLN (a former guerrilla group but now the second largest electoral party) elected Facundo Guardado as its new leader. The politics of Facundo continues to protect the exploitation and poverty created by capitalism. Within this movement of the FMLN, the traditional oligarchy is fighting to consolidate its power.

Facundo continues to be an instrument of Arena, the ruling party. Behind the supporters of Facundo is Orlando de Sola, ex-superintendent of communications, and Mr. Altamirano, owner of the paper El Diario de Hoy, the most anti-worker and anti-communist paper in El Salvador.

Former members of the FMLN leadership (known as the General Command) say the Facundo’s victory, and the deposing of Shafik Handal (head of the "Communist" Party) as the top leader of the FMLN, mean that the U.S. bosses and their local allies are now able to impose their free market program without any real opposition. But the fact is that the sellout by the FMLN top leadership happened way before Facundo’s election. It began when the leaders of the FMLN, including Handal, signed the peace treaty ending the guerrilla war. Each commander received five million colones to do this.

But the U.S. bosses didn’t trust Handal and his group since they are anti-U.S. The U.S. imperialists don’t want in their backyard anyone considered anti-U.S., like the Handal group. They prefer a pro-U.S. group of sellouts like Facundo, particularly during this period of sharpening imperialist rivalry with their European and Asian competitors, which is leading to an oil war and even world war.

Salvador Samayoa, a member of the Facundo group, made statements to the press that incriminate Shafik Handal, tying him to the kidnappings in El Salvador after the guerrilla war ended. This is laying the groundwork for the possible imprisonment of Shafik and a witchhunt against the anti-Facundo members of the FMLN.

Inside the FMLN there is a group called the Revolutionary Tendency (TR), some of whom believe honestly, but mistakenly, that the FMLN has been anti-capitalist and that it can change its course by voting. But the FMLN, since its inception, has always had the germ of capitalism. It’s not a question of personalities but of political line. The line of the FMLN has never been for communism, but rather has been on how to give a better face to rotten capitalism.

The PLP is taking an aggressive role in these times of uncertainty and crisis for the working class. We are exposing these pseudo-leftists and showing the true revolutionary communist alternative. The working class, through PLP, is learning that elections, neo-liberalism, privatization, trade treaties, etc. only bring more poverty and hunger for us and our children. Our goal is to build a mass Party which organizes a communist revolution. Our goal is a communist society without money, exploitation, or bosses.

The PLP recently had a cadre school in which we deepened our political understanding through political discussions, analyzing the fight inside the FMLN and the government, and its impact on the working class, as well as discussing our role in organizing a communist revolution. After the school the comrades left with more commitment and enthusiasm to build PLP and advance to communist revolution.

LETTERS

Challenge: Best weapon to fight against hopelessness of GI’s

Dear Challenge:

Many latin youth are joining the Army because they are told by the military recruiters that they can get good training there.

A youth from South America that I know was offered all kinds of guarantees by the Army recruiter, who told him he would be able to continue his education in the Army. He believed that by joining the Army he would realize his dream of becoming a mechanical engineer.

His dream became a nightmare from the first day he joined the Army. His main job was to do cleaning, painting and other things that had nothing to do with what the recruiter promised. When he asked about when he would begin training to become a mechanical engineer, he just got the run around and more empty promises.

He became more and more frustrated and began to rebel and demand what he was promised. He was punished for his insubordination and sent to the stockade. Now, his friends tell me that he is a young man without any hope who spends all his time drinking and using drugs waiting to get out of the Army.

Another Latin-Caribbean youth was less lucky. He became so desperate after joining the Army and finding out that all the promises were lies, that he committed suicide.

The dreams of these youth were shattered because they fell for the false promises of the Army. They are discriminated against, don’t get any respect and are denied the right to the education they were promised.

Upper West Side Comrade

Challenge Responds: What you described happens to most young men and women who join the bosses’ armed forces. The best way to fight their disillusionment and desperation is to help them to understand the real nature of the bosses’ army. An army organized to protect the rulers’ empire all over the world. Today the Eastern Establishment (the main section of the U.S. ruling class) is preparing for Gulf War II. Many of these demoralized soldiers will eventually rebel against the warmakers, as many did during the Vietnam War, fragging their officers, deserting, etc. The best way to prepare them for the coming imperialist war and to channel their rebellion against the warmakers is by winning them to PLP. We need to get them Challenge now.

Talking about imperialism

Dear Challenge:

When I was 17, I joined the Navy to see the world. There is even a song that has that refrain. Well, I did see the world: from the Mediterranean to the Scandinavian countries to the Caribbean. We were involved in the Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. Almost every country we visited had some U.S. military bases, and some had bases for all three branches of the service.

At one point in my six-year-stay in the Navy, I asked myself, "Why don’t these countries have bases in the U.S.?" I couldn’t answer because I didn’t understand what imperialism meant even though I was a living, active participant in its most obvious form—military might all over the world. The only thing I knew about the word ‘Imperial’-ism was that it was the brand name of a margarine, a Chrysler car, or a singing group—"Little Anthony and the Imperials."

After I got out of the Navy, I went to the City College of NY (CCNY) and ran into PLP. It was during the Vietnam War. PLP put out a pamphlet, The Vietnam War & U.S. Imperialism. It was then that I really began to understand the causes of that war, and the meaning of imperialism began to change for me. I hated the Navy while I was in it. After this change, I hated capitalism as a whole system partly because of the way it used me and my shipmates. It exploited our ignorance and made us tools of imperialism.

Recently, I told one of my co-workers about my Navy experience. He said "You’re right! Why do we have those bases all over the world and other countries don’t have bases here." After I explained the economic and political analysis that PLP has about imperialism, he replied, "I never understood it that way." He had been in Vietnam. Long before we had this conversation, his analysis of the Vietnam War was that it was a mistake. Now I want to give him the PLP pamphlet to fully explain how Vietnam was one example of U.S. imperialism, and why today, capitalism in crisis puts the U.S. in a fight to the death over oil in the Middle East.

We use the word, imperialism extensively in Challenge and in many conversations with our coworkers. We need to investigate what this word means to people who grow up in the "belly of the monster." We can’t suppose that others understand imperialism the same way we do. When Challenge uses such terms, can we have a box with some kind of definition? Last issue’s editorial gives a very clear explanation of what we think is going on in the fight over oil. Here’s a chance to give a general explanation of the economic source of imperialism, as a stage of capitalism and why imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism. This would help in the process of convincing our friends that we must change the whole system, not just change the individuals who make foreign policy.

Navy Vet and Red Transit Worker, Bay Area

U.S. killers used anthrax in Korean War

Dear Challenge:

Last week a PLP leaflet which spoke about the imminent bombing of Iraq and invited people to the May Day dinner was distributed at the school where I teach in LA. In the teachers’ cafeteria, someone whom I rarely talk to, and to whom I have never given Challenge, sat down next to me. "I am so angry about the U.S. plan to bomb Iraq," he said to an entire table of teachers. "What a liar Clinton is, talking about weapons of mass destruction! The U.S. is the country that has used weapons of mass destruction! Not only in Hiroshima, but in the Korean War! The U.S. used anthrax in North Korea—they’ve never admitted it, but a UN investigation concluded that it was likely they had. Your May Day dinner is on my birthday, and I’m coming. What better way to celebrate my birthday than to go to a dinner protesting this!" This started a debate among a group of teachers about U.S. imperialism, which we plan to continue informally and formally in the union.

I can see that I should have been talking to him before now. He’s obviously been reading our leaflets—but I should have been giving him Challenge. I need to have a broader approach to distributing our paper. As war and fascism unfold, more people will be angry, and will look for explanations of why this is happening and opportunities to fight it, as well as a solution. Our newspaper, Challenge, offers the only explanation that makes sense and a plan to end imperialist war and fascism once and for all. My colleague needs us, and we need him and people like him. This crisis can bring out the best in thousands of people.

Red Teacher

Students see need for communism to get rid of teachers who spread capitalist lies

Dear Challenge:

The teaching of capitalism in our schools has come to light. At South Shore Academy during our 5th period English class, the teacher asked what was the difference between Nazi Germany and bringing blacks over to work on plantations. As soon as she said that, there was a big argument.

I told her that they were the same; she told me they weren’t. She said she supported the slave trade (this is a black teacher) and I told her she was crazy and how could she support slavery. She told us that she was glad that they brought us over because now we know more and have a little education. Then one student told her she was a psycho to believe in our system.

Basically, the whole class said the system didn’t work and will never work.

That’s why we need communism to end this terrible system and get rid of these people who spread capitalist lies in our schools.

Chicago Comrade

‘Tragedy...is a rich-poor issue’

Dear Challenge:

The horrific ravages of capitalism were thrust upon one of my coworkers last week. His 15-year-old nephew, Robert Owens, and a 14-year-old friend were shot dead by a 12-year-old who had recently joined a gang. According to a newspaper account, the 12-year-old was trying to impress older gang members.

My children remember meeting Robert at my co-workers birthday party. My 15-year-old daughter suggested that we take up a collection at tonight’s May Day dinner, to help with funeral expenses.

The Owens family also suffered the loss of five family members in a West Side fire a few years ago. A relative said, "Tragedy just seems to be around to me, it’s a rich-poor issue." These words hit the nail on the head. Gang violence is another manifestation of capitalist oppression and exploitation, like racism, poverty, and unemployment. The bosses and cops allow gangs to terrorize workers and are gratified when working class youth use guns to kill each other instead of directing their efforts at overthrowing this rotten system.

I will give my condolences and the money raised to my coworker, but the best thing we can do to endure a brighter future is to join the Red Liberation Army. It will be the PLP leading millions of workers into a brighter tomorrow. I hope the Owens family will march with us on May Day and help forge the steel that will build a communist future.

Chicago Hospital Worker

Why would you steal a baby?

Dear Challenge:

Challenge recently described a young woman walking out of Cook County Hospital with somebody else’s baby. The article focused on the bosses’ Nazi style response—cops everywhere, the building "on lockdown." As it turns out, the following week a second infant was taken, this time by his own mother. She had been waiting for several hours for the child’s discharge, and finally got fed up and left. She walked right past the security guards with the infant in her arms, while the cops were busy checking ID’s of all the visitors. Meanwhile, at the other end of the hospital complex, a prisoner being brought from Cook County Jail to the clinic, got on a city bus and disappeared. So much for security.

Short of a total ban on visitors, there will always be a way a determined individual can leave the building with a baby. But why would you want to? Why would anyone steal a baby? How can awful things like this be stopped?

In this society, everything is a commodity. Babies are often stolen and sold like hot TVs. In this particular case, the mother had a drug problem. Maybe the young "kidnapper" thought she was saving the baby by taking him home. The point is this sick system makes people steal babies, sell them, abandon them, even kill them. Capitalism is a murderous system. The billionaires who sit on top murder millions of children each year all over the world through hunger, lack of health care and wars like Gulf War II.

When workers in Russia and China eliminated capitalism, it was possible to change how people lived, thought and acted. When socialism turned back into capitalism, all the problems returned. Much can be learned from the Soviet and Chinese revolutions.

There were tens of millions of poor workers and farmers addicted to opium in China before the communist-led revolution in 1949. The Communists eliminated the drug problem in less than five years by doing two things. First, the revolution gave every worker a future full of hope. The workers and their Communist Party were running society. Second, the Communist Party shot several thousand drug pushers. The number of opium pushers killed may seem high, but it was less than the number of addicts who were dying before the revolution. It was the right thing to do, and it worked. Opium addiction was completely eliminated.

But what about people who just want to get rich? Isn’t greed human nature? No, it’s not. Greed is the highest ideal in a capitalist society. We are all supposed to look up to the rich and famous. But in a communist society sharing and equality are the most respected traits. An American returned from a trip to China amazed by one experience he had. It seems a Chinese man had followed him, going to great trouble and even riding the train to the next city to catch up with him, in order to return his wallet, which had accidentally been left on a store counter. The American, who had never witnessed behavior like this, suddenly questioned whether greed was really natural to humans—or just to humans raised under capitalism.

In this period of war and fascism, workers confront more chaos and violence every day. All the bosses and their politicians have to offer are more cops and jails, with 1.6 million people in jail and millions more on parole, awaiting trial, etc. As many workers and youth already know, the cops aren’t there for our well being. Their job is to protect the racist rulers. As the rulers step up their plans for another Gulf War and more fascism, the cops will be more and more like the Nazi Gestapo, terrorizing all workers. Understanding the role of the cops and the entire bosses’ state apparatus is needed to fight for a communist society where crime, drugs and greed will be bad memories from the past.

Cook County Red

Capitalism Inevitably Leads to Imperialist War

William Greider, author of "One World Ready, or Not," is a noted economist and writer. His primary contribution has been to show the development of the "crisis of overproduction." Greider predicts that if this crisis goes unchecked there will be dire repercussions for the world’s rulers. They include depression and wars.

One of Greider’s pet ideas is that today’s rulers are too smart to let this happen. He suggests that the imperialists get together and straighten out matters before the situations gets out-of-hand. One of his important proposals to the bosses is that they pay workers more so that workers will be in a better position to buy back what they make.

This smacks of what Lenin called "ultra-imperialism" when he attacked Karl Kautsky, a so-called "communist." Ironically Greider, the non-communist, projects similar ideas as Kautsky. Both Greider and Kautsky don’t see the need for wars to solve economic problems. Writing in, The War and the Second International," Lenin made many points that showed that war was inevitably the result of imperialism and couldn’t be avoided by sleight of hand. "Capitalism internationally interlocked does splendid business in armaments and wars. To deduce any economic tendency towards disarmament from the combining and interlocking of various national capitals into one international whole, means to offer kindhearted philistine prayers that class antagonisms should become dulled where class antagonisms are actually being sharpened."

Lenin, further rejecting the pacifist influence of Kautsky and others says, "Now that armed conflict for the privileges of a great nation is a fact, Kautsky begins to persuade the capitalists and the petty bourgeoisie that war is a terrible thing, while disarmament is a good thing...Kautsky’s economic tendencies towards ‘ultra imperialism’ is in reality that of a petty bourgeois address to the financiers, a humble request that they refrain from evil."

Once again Lenin in On War and Peace lays bare the actual nature of capitalism. He said: "Militarism is now permeating the whole of social life. Imperialism is a fierce struggle of the great powers for the division and redivision of the world—therefore it must inevitably lead to further militarism in all countries, even in the neutral and small countries."

Then dashing all illusions about imperialism, Lenin wrote: "The "epoch of imperialism’ made the present war an imperialist war and it inevitably engenders more imperialist wars (until the triumph of socialism)."—"The Junius Pamphlet, 1916 [note: this article is sometimes appended to editions of Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism], Collected Works, 22, 311.

"We must not allow ourselves to be blinded by the present imperialist war. Such wars between ‘great’ powers are typical of the imperialist epoch..." (The Disarmament Slogan, Collected Works, 23, 95).

Well, we don’t have a crystal ball, but we do have an understanding of the nature of the beast, to know that war and capitalism go hand-in-hand. As a matter of fact, what has separated revolutionary communists from liberals and other apologists of capitalism since World War I is exactly this understanding. The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Stalin, were the first ones to understand this. We offer some quotes from the past:

Stalin, in his last work written in 1952 (just after World War II and during the Korean War), Economic Problems of Socialism, in criticizing those who said a peace movement can stop war, wrote "It is said that Lenin’s thesis that imperialism inevitably generates war must now be regarded as obsolete…That is not true …for all the successes of the peace movement, imperialism will remain, continue in force—and consequently, the inevitability of wars will also continue in force. To eliminate the inevitability of war, it is necessary to abolish imperialism." (pp. 36-37).

The VI Congress of the Third International (representing the world communist movement) held in 1928, summed up the experiences of communists during World War I and prepared them for the coming war stating: "The Communist Parties must bend all their work to the central task of preparing, winning over and organizing the masses for the struggle against imperialist war. The struggles of the proletariat and toilers against the intensification of exploitation and oppression—in matters of wages, the working day, taxes, rent, social services, political disenfranchisement, victimization and the intensification of the Fascist menace—must not be confined to the demands arising out of these struggles, but must be linked up with the determined struggle against imperialist war policy…‘Transform the imperialist war into civil war’ means primarily, revolutionary mass action….The communists must advise the workers and poor peasants to reject the refusal of the military service slogan, to avail themselves of the opportunity to learn to use arms, to carry on revolutionary work in the army and, at the proper moment, to turn their weapons against the bourgeoisie…[communists] must speak out quite frankly about the inadequacy of refusal of military service as a mean of combating war, and make it clear to the masses that the only correct way of combating the imperialist war is to transform it into civil war."

While there are changes from Lenin’s time the circumstances that we live in today, are more alike than different. This is still the epoch of imperialism. U.S. imperialism has emerged as the primary power. But, things change. Noting the contradictions in the present U.S.-Iraq confrontation, The New York Times (2/10) made this observation: "History’s Moral for U.S.—Goliath Can Lose, Too." Lenin, usually clear sighted, refuted the appearance of the "obvious" when he said: "And whoever said that the appearance of strength coincides with actual strength?"

The issue of our time: Workers Debate Cause and Answer to War

SEATTLE, Feb. 10 — The reaction of Boeing workers to the Challenge article (2/11) on S.A.D. (maybe we should spell out what S.A.D. is for readers who didn’t read last weeks issue or who don’t remember)Wednesday ran the gamut. It’s "too extreme" to lay the blame for management harassment on the doorstep of the crisis of global capitalism and Rockefeller’s need for an oil war in the Middle East said one worker. The article wasn’t sharp enough on the question of war said another.

The following are the first(why not just say exerpts, rather than "the first" excerpts from three discussions generated by the Challenge article:

"I can’t imagine how I can do the work of five people," lamented one inspector.

"As bad as that may be," answered a red mechanic. "The really bad part is that the imperialists want you to kill five other workers so Rocky & Co. can maintain their bottom line."

"Now, that’s what you should have said in the article," interjected a third. "I know you didn’t mean it, but you could get the impression that it would be all right to bomb Iraq as long as we get paid well."

"I don’t even know how they get off calling it a war," said a burr hand. "It’s not a real war!"

"What do you mean by that," said the mechanic. "It will be real enough for the Iraqi’s getting the bombs dropped on them."

"My point," answered the burr hand, patiently, "is that it’s a cowards’ war. You drop 1,000-pound bombs on workers that you can’t see. It’s disgusting."

Another discussion strayed to Clinton’s State of the Union speech:

"You can’t say Clinton is all bad," said a machine operator. "He had some good proposals in the State of the Union the other night. He wanted to spend money on good things like health care and day care."

"What has he got for the Iraqi children?," shot back the mechanic.

"Oh! for them!" said the burr hand, unable to resist. "For them, he’s got bombs!.…And you know why?…because of a three letter curse word."

"What’s that?"

"O-I-L!"

"Yeah, oil and capitalism—a lethal mixture."

The third discussion took place somewhere on the freeway towards home:

"We should have got Saddam when we had the chance," said the last holdout in this group of friends.

"I told you before," said a union delegate. "It ain’t Saddam, it’s the U.S." [We have been discussing the prospects for an oil war for months now.]

"But what about the weapons of mass destruction."

"You want to see weapons of mass destruction?!" said a third rider. "Just look in the Boeing News! They brag about the biggest weapons of mass destruction every week!"

"Saddam’s a capitalist just like our bosses. I’m sure he’ll kill workers at the drop of a hat if it means he can control that oil. But Clinton and the U.S. bosses have the bigger weapons of mass destruction so they can do more damage."

(The next day this rider announced that she had reconsidered her opinion. "You guys were right. You’ve finally convinced me. It is U.S. imperialism and the three letter curse word—oil." That makes it unanimous on the bus to work.)

Bosses’ Oil War Opens the Door to Revolution

We can’t be fooled by the bosses’ media which constantly proclaims everybody wants to attack Iraq. Like the rider on our bus, those workers that might get caught up in the patriotic hoopla generated by the bosses’ press often can be won away from imperialism’s goals with principled struggle. Support for the bosses’ war plans, such as it exists, is very weak.

Where we have won groups of workers to a principled anti-imperialist position, we must make plans to move on the offensive. Those workers that know better cannot remain passive. In answer to our friend that thought the Challenge article too extreme, we say: extreme times require extreme resolutions on behalf of the working class.

Last week we saw the bosses go to great extremes to push nationalism. The energy that generates these debates translates directly into political actions—like the wearing of black T-shirts to counter the Boeing T-shirt campaign. Argument, debate, learning, resolve, action: that’s how class consciousness is formed. It’s a process that develops committed agitators, Challenge distributors, organizers and May Day marchers.

The workers at the Putilov armaments factory showed such revolutionary determination during the Bolshevik revolution of 1917:

"The workers of the different factory and mills vied with each other in heroism.…I myself went to the forward positions with a worker’s unit 200 strong and remained there five days and five nights. Very often mechanics were sent to repair guns. Over 500 Putilov workers and 50 carpenters went to the trenches with all the tools they needed. About half of the youth employed at the Putilov works joined the Red Guard."

The Bolsheviks turned World War I into the first revolution for a socialist state. As the bosses plot World War III, we are making our plans for communist revolution to put an end to the bosses’ wars once and for all. When you read John Reed’s Ten Days That Shook The World," you realize that politically conscious Russian workers changed the world. Listen to the debates on the shop floor here and you realize we are following in that tradition. into the PLP!