Challenge, May 13, 1998

Communism lives! The thousands of May Day marchers last week in Washington, Los Angeles, Mexico, Columbia, El Salvador, India and Ecuador, under the Progressive Labor Party’s leadership, prove that 150 years after The Communist Manifesto, the red specter of revolution has a long and healthy future. It still haunts the world’s rulers. Despite many obstacles, its eventual success and the foul profit system’s ultimate death are not in doubt.

But capitalism will not die of old age, or from illness. Communism will triumph when a mass PLP, leading millions more, succeeds in overthrowing the rulers and establishing the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!

This year’s May Day was a significant victory for the working class. The workers, students, and soldiers who marched with PLP did so despite apparently overwhelming odds. The bosses’ vicious propaganda machine of anti-communist lies is still turning out its filth. Fascist terror is growing by the day. The collapse of the old communist movement and the return of capitalism to Russia and China have made millions cynical. The sick, degenerate "culture" of modern capitalism promotes the worst kind of individualism and depravity. And yet the May Day marches for communism took place.

They took place under the leadership of working class youth—black, Latin, white, and Asian—who guided them from start to finish with energy, militancy, and skill. Youth led the political discussions on the buses. Youth organized and initiated the chants. Youth provided the backbone of the marches’ security. Older comrades helped, of course, but even more than at any May Day in memory, youth proved that they can become the next generation of the working class’s revolutionary general staff. Women played a particularly prominent role.

In the midst of the fascist rulers’ frantic efforts to split our class with racism, nationalism, "identity politics," and perversion, the PLP’s May Day gave the world a glimpse of the only possible alternativež revolutionary communist working class unity. The demonstrators marched and chanted as one. The only color that mattered was red. Spanish speakers chanted in English. English speakers chanted in Spanish. The marchers came from dozens of countries, but they had no nation, only one class, led by its Party.

Many thousands who didn’t attend the marches supported them and remain open to participate in time. Thousands more who heard about May Day gave some form of encouragement. We must never underestimate the significance of such responses. Communist politics strike a deep chord in the collective heart of the working class. Small as they were in the relative sense, these May Day events point the way forward for the workers of the entire world.

They also underscore the struggle we must wage to improve in the coming year, to become leaders of the working class. Too few of our members are actively engaged in mass movements. Those who are involved must better learn the art of making communist, rather than reformist politics primary. We remain too passive in the face of growing fascism. We do not yet take seriously enough the inevitability of war and world war. Our efforts to turn the guns around in the bosses’ armed forces are still too small and tentative.

Yet, despite these weaknesses, the May Day marches took place. Many of the marchers can and will join PLP. They can and will learn to become professional revolutionaries. Veteran members and leaders can and will use criticism-self-criticism, our greatest "secret weapon," to identify and correct our errors, and improve by putting our line into practice. We don’t fear mistakes. We refuse to hide our shortcomings, just as we refuse to conceal our revolutionary goals. The PLP was born in the struggle to break away from right opportunism. It grew despite the old communist movement’s collapse. It recently initiated a sharp internal struggle to overcome right opportunism and reformism within our own ranks. Our entire history has been one of moving toward the left—communist politics in word and deed.

May Day 1998 reflected this process. It was a victory. Forward, revolutionary motion was its main aspect. But continued forward motion and Party growth won’t happen by themselves. We have to make them happen! We live in a period of war and fascism. The murderous character of imperialism will become clearer between now and May Day 1999, as the worldwide crisis of capitalism intensifies. This is the immediate future the bosses have in store for our class. We have another future in mind. Capitalism produces crisis, terror and death. We can use all its horrors as opportunities to produce more communists. Everyone in PLP, veteran and new recruit, young and old, has the potential to build the Party. May Day 1998 was very good. As we learn to improve and carry out our line in the face of anything the bosses throw at us, May Day 1999 can be bigger and

May Day Stirs Old Memories and New Enthusiasm

Dear Comrades:

I’m very glad to have participated the May Day march in Washington, DC. The passion of all the comrades at the march had inspired me greatly. First, the activities were emotional to me—they reminded me of my childhood upbringing. I was born and brought up in Red China, the China that had gone through an enormous revolution, a country in which a mass communist party had mobilized hundreds of millions of people, and had seized state power by waging a heroic struggle against imperialism and the exploiting class, and had transformed an old corrupt society. The red flags, the spirited speeches, and the fiery calls for revolution on this march all echoed the passions and values instilled in my childhood. I haven’t seen such revolutionary passion for a very long time. Now everywhere, both here and in my home country, China, we see capitalists brutally exploiting the workers; we see workers feeling despair and being demoralized, and we see symbols of monopoly capitalist’s ideology and culture. So it’s an exhilarating experience to see the revolutionary passion still so alive and burning with PLP.

Besides reminding me of my childhood experience, there is another deeper reason this May Day march is emotional for me. I was deeply moved by the spirit of devotion of the PLP comrades. I see with my own eyes, even in this society dominated by capitalist ideology and commercial cultures, that there is a group of people who are devoted to the cause of eliminating the suffering of the poor, the weak, the oppressed people at society’s bottom, and to the cause of total liberation of the laboring people. This is truly sacred and spiritually uplifting. I feel in the deepest of my heart connected with you.

Revolutionary salute,

A Student in Chicago

El Nińo Can’t Stop May Day

WASHINGTON, May 2 — "It was a great march, we showed the world that communism is alive and well in our Party." "We have to fight back for us and for the future generations." "I am proud of marching today for communism, it was such an internationalist and integrated march that indeed we paid the best honor possible to the 150th anniversary of The Communist Manifesto." "It seems like Mother Nature told El Nińo to go to sleep because Red Flags will be flying high today, and it stopped raining when we started the May Day rally and the sun shone until after the march and the rally ended."

These were some of the comments of the almost 2,000 workers and students who marched under the red flags of PLP. Chanting "Workers United will never be defeated" and "Fight for communism, power to the workers," the marchers went from Malcolm X Park to the den of the racist warmaker rulers at the White House. Along the route of the march, the people in the streets of Washington, including the tourists visiting the White House, supported us buying over 2,000 copies of Challenge, and raising the clenched fist of solidarity.

The march represented the efforts our Party is making to build a mass revolutionary Party of workers, students and soldiers. It reflected our continuing efforts to build a mass communist movement by involving ourselves in the bosses’ mass organizations and putting forward communist politics while involved in reform struggles. Many came fresh from struggles against fascist Workfare, against police brutality, against union hacks, against the rulers’ plans for another Gulf War for Big Oil, and from the fight against the racist INS, etc.

And the march itself was only part of the celebration of May Day. Those coming on buses and cars from the Midwest, Newark, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. had good discussions, political struggles and just plain fun on their trips. Almost 100 workers and youth joined the Party or study groups. It was indeed a great way of celebrating May Day.

LOS ANGELES: Spirited May Day March

LOS ANGLES, May 2 ž "It was a great march!" "I want to join the Party!" "I feel at home with you people in PLP." These and other comments followed a spirited May Day march, led by youth, of over 400 workers and youth in downtown Los Angeles.

In the face of recent INS raids and plans to step up attacks on immigrant workers, a comrade said that the PLP is leading workers and youth, black, Latin and white, to fight for a world where only the bosses and their exploitation will be illegal. She called for workers to fight the bosses’ fascism in the mass organizations and to build the party. "There are no neutrals," she said. "Only communism will end capitalist terror." Many immigrant workers, including garment workers, marched with red flags to answer Migra attacks.

In the face of growing racist police terror, we marched to Parker Center, headquarters of the LAPD death squad. Here another comrade denounced the police murder of his son and the killing and imprisonment of more and more black youth, calling on every marcher to fight every day against the racist bosses and for communism. A teacher from the San Francisco Bay Area raised the urgent need to be where the masses are politically, inside the organizations led by the rulersž the unions, churches, community and immigration rights groups. We have to fight against the bosses’ line and put forward the Party’s line as the alternative. She explained that if we don’t do this, we leave the masses to follow the bosses’ fascism. By boldly organizing for our line, we’ll build a mass PLP. "Communism means life for the working class. Capitalism and its fascism mean death."

A high school student spoke about the fascist attacks in the high schools. She showed that the youth are standing up to fascism, and building the Party. She also called on them to organize for communism in the bosses’ army. Her enthusiasm reflected the struggle to have a more mass approach to organizing for May Day in the schools, which led to larger groups of black and Latin and white youth coming from several schools. A college student spoke about the responsibility we have to the working class to fight fascism, and build the Party. She invited everyone to join the LA Summer Project. At least five more college students joined PLP at the march.

The march ended with singing of The Internationale in English, Spanish, French and Turkish. It was a moving reminder of how many different languages this working class communist song is translated into, and how many people have looked to the communist movement for their future. Over 30 people joined the Party here this May Day. Others bought subscriptions to Challenge. Hundreds of Challenges were sold and thousands of leaflets distributed. This May Day was somewhat bigger than last year. The continuing struggle to take a more mass approach to building the Party lays the basis for a bigger, more aggressive PLP, and a bigger May Day next year.

PLP Cares About Workers

While marching towards the White House during the PLP May Day march, a black man watching us left the sidewalk to cross the street. Suddenly he collapsed. A cop came over and dragged the unconscious man by his feet back to the sidewalk and left him there. Two leaders from the PLP Security Squad went over immediately to assist the fallen worker who had a workplace ID card around his neck. A doctor who was in the march examined him and determined that the fallen man was a diabetic in shock. He was not "a drunk" as the cops had cynically assumed.

On the bus ride home, Bronx youth discussed this incident. It was clear to them that the cops don’t give a hoot about the workers, while the working class and PLP take care of our own.

PLP Raises Red Flag in the Midst of Fascist Terror

S.F. de BOGOTA, Colombia , May 1 — PLP members raised high the red flags of communism during the May Day march here. We also celebrated the 150 years of the Communist Manifesto as we distributed the PLP communist manifesto, Road to Revolution IV. Some 80,000 workers, housewives and students participated in the traditional May Day march in Colombia. When Senator Moreno de Caro came to ask workers to support his party’s candidate for president, he had to flee because angry demonstrators shouted him down with, "Down with elections! Organize for revolution! and All Fascists out!" During the march the PLP contingent gave out 1,000 leaflets, sold 150 Challenges and gave out many RRIV pamphlets.

Many workers came to ask for May Day stickers and other literature. A young man from London said that he knew Challenge and wanted a copy. Our contingent led chants like, "Down with capitalist exploitation, Down with imperialist invasions, Workers of the world unite, and Long live communism." During the march we also sang The Internationale and many other workers joined us.

PLP’s efforts this year were a small victory, even though we are small, we are the future of the working class, and in spite of the fascist terror in this country, we were able to bring communism to masses of workers. Our goal is to get stronger and have a larger May Day contingent next year.

May Day Marchers Break Government Ban

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, May 1 — Defying the government’s law changing the official May Day holiday from Friday, May 1st to Monday, May 4th, hundreds of workers and PLP communists marched today to celebrate this international working class holiday.

The rulers’ plan to stop May Day failed as at 9 AM workers began to arrive to join PLP members, chanting and carrying signs calling for working class unity. PLP members also called for the abolition of wage slavery and turning imperialist war into a war for communism.

We marched with a big banner that read, "For a Communist May Day" and had the PLP logo of a red star and a fist. We distributed 135 Challenges along with stickers and leaflets.

The May Day brigade that we organized to distribute Challenges and leaflets was not only welcomed by the marchers but by the people watching on the sidewalk. It was a correct decision for PLP to join this May Day march organized by workers. The big lesson of this May Day is that when we challenge the bosses and we join with rebellious workers, our forces are unbeatable.

May Day was a victory for our Party and the working class -- May Day Unites Muslim and Hindu Workers in Calcutta

CALCUTTA, May 1 —In the midst of fascist terror, PLP organized a public meeting on May Day attended by 200 jute mill workers and their families and 20 workers from a neighboring town, with a call for Hindu-Muslim unity. The meeting was attended by both Hindu and Muslim workers. The leadership explained the need for the Indian ruling class to divide workers in order to lower wages in the setting of worldwide economic crisis where the Indian ruling class could hope to compete only by destroying and terrorizing the workers ever more by fascist methods. The meeting was addressed by a Muslim professor with left leanings from a neighboring town.

It is a month since the revisionist Marxist party instigated riots in the outskirts of Calcutta between Hindu and Muslim workers following their defeat in recent elections. Four workers lost their lives. There were daily curfews until a few days ago. Assembly of more than four people in one place was prohibited until a week ago. The ruling class parties were unable to conduct a public meeting because the working class in the area hates them. The ministers in the state government of the Marxist party tried hard to conduct a meeting of workers in the area. It was clear to the class collaborators of the Marxist party that workers would not attend their public meeting, hence they dropped plans of having it.

PLP at Mexico City May Day:‘Smash capitalist wage slavery with communist revolution’

MEXICO CITY, May 3 —"Smash capitalist wage slavery with communist revolution, join PLP!" This was the clear, precise and hopeful message that the PLP contingent took to the gigantic May Day march here. Our small contingent became a revolutionary island in the sea of reformism and ideological confusion that is disarming millions of workers, making them vulnerable to the deadly attacks resulting from the crisis of overproduction and the sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry.

The ideological confusion and manipulation that the union leaders have developed made this year’s rally in the Zocalo a grotesque repetition of other years. The Workers Congress turned it into an endorsement of the official politics that have created the most poverty and unemployment in Mexico’s history. The recently organized Union of Workers put forward the concept of "participatory unionism" to make the corporations more productive. The First of May Union Coalition, consisting of unions and community organizations, criticized government policies, but did not mention capitalism. Old, new and wannabe union leaders all defend capitalism, making them enemies of the working class.

"There won’t be peace as long as capitalism exists," read another of our banners. Capitalism can only give us genocidal wars for the control of oil, from Chiapas to the Middle East. The bosses’ political parties negotiate peace while making war among themselves. The union leaders call for peace, while the workers catch hell. President Zedillo puts forward peace, while his army expels another Indian community from their land. Only communist revolution can end imperialist war and capitalist exploitation.

Our enthusiasm and constant chanting of communist slogans during the whole march, from Chapultepec to the Zocalo, moved dozens of workers who marched in other contingents, as they picked up our chants. Many workers put our communist May Day stickers on their backs. We distributed leaflets and hundreds of Challenges, for which we asked for donations.

Our May Day celebration continued the next day with a cadre school on dialectical materialism. The discussion helped deepen our understanding of our communist line and its ability to liberate the working class. This May Day was a step forward in the fight to build our Party and the fight for communist revolution.

PLP Like a Fish in a Sea of Workers in San Salvador May Day

SAN SALVADOR, May 1 ž More than 20,000 workers marched in the streets of San Salvador, commemorating International Workers’ Day, and remembering the martyrs of Chicago in 1886, as well as all those workers who have fallen in our struggle to achieve a world without exploitation.

This May Day took place at a crucial time in our history as a communist Party, since the capitalist system is in crisis, both in the "developed" countries and in the " underdeveloped" countries of the world. In El Salvador, which is one more arena of the struggle between the imperialists, the crisis has deepened for the working class.

As in other years, the PLP marched like a fish in the water, among the workers. Fifty members and friends of PLP distributed literature. Hundreds of workers came around to get one of the 400 International Challenges or one of the 665 local Challenges or our communist leaflet. One worker took a Challenge and said, "I know this paper. I read it in Los Angeles, and I’m very happy to see that you are working here too."

The ideas of fighting for a communist future was like a breath of fresh air for the workers, in the face of so much capitalist propaganda. For example, the unions were saying "no" to privatization of pension funds, as if the pensions controlled by the fascist government would have been better. There were over 100 doctor businessmen who own private hospitals, asking for the privatization of the social security hospital. Feminists demanded more divisions among the working class. The FMLN marched with its "Municipal Advisors" bragging about their "huge victories" like authorizing a new lottery for San Salvador, raising taxes, and removing the street vendors from the streets. Revisionists are asking for a more humane capitalism.

Self critically, we didn’t have enough communist literature for the masses looking for a real alternative to this capitalist hell. Many congratulated us and said that they’d like to join us. This May Day was an important step for the Salvadoran working class and the PLP. The fight for a communist society where we’ll all work according to our commitment and receive according to our need took big steps forward, in the development of new leaders, a more mass distribution of Challenge, and the ideological struggle inside the Party.

When Labor Dept. Supports Union Drive at Maquiladora, Watch Out!

WASHINGTON, DC-April 29 — The U.S. Labor Department just published a report accusing the Mexican government of showing favoritism towards pro-government unions. The report followed a six month review of a disputed union election at the Korean-owned Han Young auto parts factory in Tijuana. The Labor Department report was in response to a complaint filed by Han Young workers and other labor groups. The struggle was fueled by the AFL-CIO, and became a major focus of "cross border organizing" committees across the U.S., who see this as a victory for the right of Mexican workers to organize.

Last October, Han Young became the first of almost 3,000 border assembly plants in Mexico to vote for an "independent" union, by a 2-1 vote of the workers. The local labor panel refused to certify the election. When the workers, who make about 85˘ an hour, began organizing for the union, they found that the company already had a contract with a pro-government union. Clinton pressured Mexican president Zedillo, who intervened. In a second election in December, the "independent" union was certified.

Maybe Han Young workers will get a raise to $1.00 an hour. Maybe. Is that a victory? Is that what the AFL-CIO is after? The U.S. ruling class and the AFL-CIO is using the issue of "cross border organizing," to defend U.S. imperialism in Latin America. The U.S. ruling class pushed NAFTA to combat European and Asian penetration of what they consider to be their "backyard." The Mexican ruling class is not convinced. In fact, Mexico is a huge battlefield in the inter-imperialist rivalry that is shaping world events and leading to war. The worldwide capitalist crisis of over-production is only intensifying this rivalry, and deepening splits within all local ruling classes. Mexico is no exception.

Last March, AFL-CIO president Sweeney went to Mexico to meet and pay off leaders of the "independent" union movement. Numerous conferences have been held. The result has been to target Asian and U.S. New Money companies like NIKE. U.S. imperialism requires a pro-U.S. labor movement in Mexico. Sweeney is using the "cross border organizing" committees and "independent" unions as U.S. imperialism’s point men. Eventually, this could lead to a major struggle in Ford, GM, VW, and a split within the pro-government CTM union.

The U.S. Labor Department is no friend of the international working class. If they are supporting a union drive at Han Young, watch out! Sweeney is no friend either. He worked with the CIA through the AFL-CIO International Institutes when the Ford factory in Argentina was being used as a torture chamber during the military’s "dirty war" in the 1970’s. U.S. rulers smell the weakness of the ruling PRI and their labor movement. While they are not ready to abandon them, they can’t rely on them either. They are taking a more aggressive, direct approach to defending their interests. Union organizers today—soldiers tomorrow. The U.S. is making contingency plans to invade Mexico if they feel it is necessary to stave off their European and Asian competitors. They already invaded Haiti and Panama. Columbia and Peru are also on the list.

Even the best-intentioned reform movement can only end up serving one set of billionaires or another. There is no escaping the main contradiction in the world or the current period of crisis, fascism and war. Nothing is above the class struggle. The only way to meet the needs of the international working class is to build a mass communist movement, to smash all borders, with a PLP of millions. We need to be more involved in the cross border organizing movement, in our unions and community groups, to build a mass PLP from within the rulers’ mass organizations. Otherwise, they will win millions, on both sides of the border, to fight for them.

Somalia: U.S. peacekeeping means slaughter of black workers

Trapped American special forces fired on crowds of Somalis in Mogadishu in 1993, killing more than 1,000 Somali workers, five times the official numbers given by the U.S.

At a time when the biggest U.S. bosses are trying to portray the military as the most anti-racist institution in society, survivors of the Somalia invasion have exposed the true racist mission of the military. In what became the largest firefight since the Vietnam War, U.S. troops from the elite Delta team backed by 75 Rangers and 17 gunship helicopters shot down every Somali they saw including women and children. The bloody account of the massacre has come to light as journalists conducted interviews with survivors.

The U.S. invaded Somalia trying to gain control of the strategic horn of Africa, a shipping lane for Middle-Eastern oil and an undeveloped reserve of oil itself. A proxy war encouraged by the U.S. was used as an excuse for the U.S. "peacekeeping" mission. This became a slaughter as U.S. troops tried unsuccessfully to take over the streets of the capital, Mogadishu. Local bosses used Somali workers’ hatred of U.S. imperialism, to resist the U.S. invasion and keep control of the country.

The largest battle occurred when the elite forces of the U.S. military attempted to raid a house looking for local bosses, called "warlords" by the racist US bosses and the media. U.S. forces stormed the house with guns blazing and missiles launched from the gunships. Things backfired when U.S. troops attempted to leave the area with 24 prisoners and thousands of Somalis surrounded the soldiers. The panicked troops broke ranks and the gunships opened fire on the crowd killing indiscriminately.

In spite of the intense fire, the lightly armed Somalis managed to shoot down two helicopters and trap the Rangers and special forces soldiers, killing 18 U.S. troops. U.S. forces only managed to escape when Pakistani and Malaysian forces came to their rescue. The military defeat brought an end to the Somalia mission as Clinton and the U.S. bosses, haunted by the Vietnam syndrome, feared that their own troops would not be willing to take the casualties necessary to gain control of the city.

PLP Shows Which Side Sweeney Is Really On

CHICAGO, April 28 — "The attacks that workers face are caused by capitalism in crisis, and the battle between imperialists of the world for control of oil....The AFL-CIO has done nothing about the attacks on our lives by the ruling class....You’re lying to the workers about being on the ‘right track,’ when thousands of unionized jobs are being slashed and health care for the poor is being eliminated, all to pay for an oil war for the very section of the ruling class you are rounding us up to support....By organizing us to follow these politicians, you’re leading us into the gas chambers." That’s how a PLP member let AFL-CIO President John Sweeney have it, when he spoke at Cook County Hospital’s Hektoen Auditorium today.

The black woman comrade, a shop steward in SEIU Local 73 at County, also attacked Sweeney for supporting the fascist immigration raids, deporting hundreds of garment workers in LA and NYC. Her speech was greeted by applause several times, and workers came up to congratulate her afterwards. One worker came to May Day as a result.

Sweeney came to discuss "The Working Families Agenda," and "to talk to the rank-and-file about corporate attacks on our standard of living." The meeting was scheduled to run from 10:30 A.M. to noon, ending before most lunch breaks start. The unions did little or nothing to organize workers to attend. SEIU Local 73 actually discouraged workers from coming, saying it was by "invitation only." They even made up phony tickets to keep workers out.

In a futile attempt to silence the Party, the union vice president told the PLP steward to "use some discretion." She also told her that as a condition for the hospital director letting the union use the CCH auditorium to have the meeting, no issues about CCH could be raised. The VP also spoke with another comrade, a chief steward in the union, about her "hesitancy" to invite us, fearing we would "embarrass the union." Too late! The union is already an embarrassment.

Despite these efforts, a PLP flyer exposing Sweeney and the AFL-CIO as agents for war and fascism, was distributed around the hospital. Challenge and PLP flyers were distributed at the auditorium. Many CCH workers, concerned about their future as the hospital is "downsized," wanted to confront Sweeney. Workers have experienced increased harassment, suspensions and firings. Most recently, 25 workers were fired due to criminal background checks [More on this in future articles]. Out of a total of 150 at the meeting, about 50 were County workers.

When Sweeney was introduced, he mentioned issues like "affordable health care for all," "Universal Health Care," saving Social Security, fighting for a living wage and equal wages for women, all in less than a minute. His main goal was organizing workers to lobby to protect the right of unions to organize, and to support the Democratic Party. He blamed Gingrich and the Republicans for all our problems. But beneath this "thin gruel" lies a more sinister agenda; organizing workers to support a system in crisis lurching towards fascism and war. Today he got a small taste of what’s in store for him and his masters. From the shop floor, and deep within the AFL-CIO, we will lead struggles to expose the capitalist crisis to millions of workers, and win them to communist revolution as the only way out.

LETTERS

Manhattan Worker Writes About May Day
Dear Challenge:

"Some 400 of us work at a factory. I’m coming to May Day because I want to do something about what the bosses are doing to us. A lunchtime there’s only one oven to heat up lunch for 50 of us on my shift." With a very emotional voice this worker got up out of her seat on the bus to Washington to denounce the system in her hoarse voice. Her voice was hoarse because of the lack of ventilation while working with pepper and other condiments. "When I came to the U.S. 19 years ago, I came looking for a good job to help support my family. What a lie! The bosses just exploit and make you sick. I want to be part of the Party that fights for the well-being of our class."

When the bus captain said the mike was open for anyone who wanted to denounce the system, a young student said that she hated the system because her school was like a jail, with cops all over the place, harassing students like they were delinquents. Other youth in the bus denounced the racist harassment they face in Upper Manhattan.

We also had some good ideological struggle on the bus. One woman said that racism was suffered by those who were stupid and didn’t want to learn English. But people answered, saying that it isn’t that immigrants don’t want to learn English it’s just that after working 12 hours a day to barely survive what worker has the time, money or energy for something like that.

We also talked about many other things: war, how the communist PLP was different from fake left organizations. As we approached Washington, DC, we starting chanted, with youth leading the way, "Down with capitalism, Fight for communism." We practiced singing The Internationale. When we arrived, we got out of the bus ready to tell Clinton and the other bosses that there’s a movement here fighting for communism.

On the way back, five workers and several youth wanted to join PLP and all were very happy that they came to the May Day march in Washington, DC.

New Organizer in Upper Manhattan

May Day in the Dominican Republic

Dear Challenge:

We had good experience here in Dominican Republic building for May Day. We decided on winning young workers and students because they have more energy and are the future of the working class.

We formed a group to meet with workers in the textile maquiladores in the central Cibao region in the Dominican Republic, that has 12,000 super-exploited workers. Our first meeting was with 10 workers. We talked about the line of PLP and the role of Challenge in promoting communist ideas.

We planned another meeting to discuss building for May Day. Two Sundays ago 12 workers met with us. A comrade asked the workers what they think about the Party and seven said they wanted to join. This was a great victory for the Party and the best way to celebrate May Day. We are now organizing a cadre school to bringing these workers closer to the Party.

Comrades in Dominican Republic

Brooklyn Teacher and Former Students Organize for May Day

Dear Challenge:

About a month ago, I started meeting with some college students who had been my students in high school. A group of them had gone to May Day the previous year and they agreed to get together with me several times prior to this year’s May Day march. We met while they hung out with some friends during a break they had between classes.

Initially, much of the discussion was about communism. What is it? Can communism work? Can the working class build an egalitarian communist society or is it human nature to be greedy? Many of the questions came from the friends of my former students who were new to communist ideas. At the same time, several students who had not marched last year said they wanted to go to May Day this year.

During our second or third get together, I got into a major discussion with several of the young women about human nature, but in particular, the so-called "natural" inclinations of men. These women had a variety of experiences with men that "proved that men were not to be trusted." Men are "dogs" was their viewpoint. This leads to the cynical view that the working class can’t take power from the capitalists and can’t build a communist society. I struggled for the idea that capitalist society breeds selfishness and sexism. I also said that these young working class women could lead a communist society.

A few days before a May Day dinner that our club had planned, I called one of these young women. She always raises many questions about communism and I tell her that she is much more of a communist than she will admit. When I asked her about the dinner, she gave me a complete rundown of who was coming. We went over some of the details of transportation etc., and then she said, "You see, I’ve been organizing." Well, that stuck with me. Here was some of that untapped working class potential. With a little more help from me these women could become future communist leaders.

Brooklyn Teacher

N.J. Show Steward Fights Racist Cutbacks

Dear Challenge:

I have worked in a legal services office in New Jersey for 13 years.

I am known as a communist both in my office and in legal services offices statewide. I have been involved in a number of on-the-job reform struggles, movements against welfare cuts, and recently, in the fight against slave labor Workfare. I have never been great when it comes to connecting the specific issues of the reform struggle to broader political questions. However, the office’s contract negotiations gave me an opportunity which I did not pass up.

I am currently the union shop steward. The office where I work has recently become infested, first with mice, and now with rats. Several workers have seen rat feces, and a rat was also sighted a few weeks ago. The boss has hired an exterminator for the office, but the problem has gotten worse. The landlord has refused to spend the money to get at the root of the problem—the mice and rats are coming in through the abandoned building next door and through the basement of the building where we work. The boss has let the landlord get away with this. There are also leaks and electrical problems.

At the same time, contract negotiations have dealt with the issue of salary caps. Because of cuts in federal funds, legal services offices had to go hat in hand to the state bosses. The state gave up some money, but not without strings attached. The legal services statewide support center has now become the funding source for a lot of the money local offices get.

The support center director has used this to gain control over how local offices spend all the money that they get. It is the support center, which is not involved in local contract negotiations, which has imposed the salary caps, and other anti-worker provisions. The caps affect all job categories. But the director is using the caps to increase the differences between the pay of attorneys and traditionally lower paid paralegals and secretaries. The local boss followed suit by offering the attorneys $2,000 more than the support staff.

At a meeting called by the union to discuss and vote on recent contract proposals by the local boss, I connected the lousy working conditions and the salary caps to the issues of slave labor Workfare and fascism. I raised the issue of the 900 hospital workers in NYC being replaced by Workfare workers as an example of how the government is using force in an attempt to crush workers (for several months before the meeting I had been raising the issue of Workfare more vigorously with my co-workers). I compared that to the support center director dictating terms and conditions of the contract.

In addition, a mild confrontation with the boss ensued over his failure to keep on the landlord’s back about the rats. Eventually, the contract proposals were voted down by a close vote. That night, a group of workers went to the local office Board of Trustees’ meeting, in support of a co-worker with a grievance against the boss.

As a result of some of the discussions that took place both before and after the Board meeting, I was able to get Challenges out to more people. I plan to follow up by having more concrete discussions with my co-workers about the limitations of the reform struggle and why communism is the only solution to the bosses’ drive toward war and fascism.

New Jersey Comrade

Seinfeld: ‘Jerry Springer Lite’

Dear Challenge:

The Seinfeld show is coming to an end. To some it is the end of an era, the end of some kind of new cultural TV phenomenon. Not me, even if I liked the show (or used to like it until this season, when the shows have been mediocre with too many reruns in syndication). To call Seinfeld, or anything on commercial TV, culture is an oxymoron.

Seinfeld’s attraction is a morbid one. To me it is a too real reflection of the personal relations of many people who are alienated by a system preparing for war and fascism. Jerry Seinfeld himself said his show has not so much changed culture, but reflected it.

Seinfeld is really Jerry Springer Lite, showing the worst in people. While Jerry Springer portrays black workers in the worst racist stereotypes and white workers as white trash, Seinfeld ignores blacks even though it takes place in NYC, where most of the population is black and Latin, and white workers are presented as even worse (like Newman, the mean and manipulative postal worker) than the urban middle class characters of Seinfeld.

Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Cosmo Kramer and Elaine Benes reflect what some call the "age of Narcissism." Their characters think only of themselves and basically dislike their friends, relatives and everybody else. What could be more disgusting than the death of George’s fiancée after licking toxic envelopes to send the invitations for her and George’s wedding. George was rather pleased with her death since he wanted to get out of the wedding but couldn’t find a way of doing it.

And to top it off, the last episodes of Seinfeld have not been that funny. Good riddance!

Rex Red

A Debate: Should Millions of German Workers Be Blamed for Nazi Crimes?

Dear Challenge:

Our club recently discussed the April 15th editorial of Challenge about the apparent guilt of all the German people for the atrocities of WWII which I’ll try to summarize. In the name of opposing passivity and cynicism, the editorial disregards Stalin’s disclaimer about his "All Guilty!" comment and recklessly assigns blame to the entire German working class—not just the German ruling class and the Nazis who served them. Undoubtedly, the German ruling class won a large sector of its working class to either outright participation or silent complicity with the Nazi program of world domination and extermination of "inferior" peoples. No amount of exploitation of German workers will ever excuse this or make it comprehensible to victims of Nazi murder. But Nazi murder is not irrational; it’s one of the inevitable results of recurring international capitalist crisis. The German working class is not irrational and bloodthirsty. The analysis presented there is not a class-based analysis; it is dangerously unscientific and nationalist.

The editorial makes some claims about the Italian working class and the Communist Party of Italy that contradict the claims that Germans are "All Guilty!" What could explain the resistance of the Italian working class and peasantry to its own fascist government? Is there something intrinsically anti-fascist in Italian genes? Why aren’t all Italians equally guilty for Mussolini’s atrocities? The logic simply collapses. Blaming all Germans for the crimes of the Nazis is wrong-headed and teaches the wrong lessons for our own experience of U.S. fascism in the late 20th century.

The editorial correctly points to the perils of passivity and cynicism. If pressed, the ruling class, as you point out, will gladly settle for a politics and a culture that builds cynicism. But you ignore the internal weaknesses and strengths, respectively, of the German and Italian Communist movements. The German Communists were dead wrong to depend on community organizing and electoral politics. But as the editorial says, they stopped short of revolution. The Italian Communists, their partisan army, and their allies held state power in their hands at the end of WWII, but thought they could trust the Italian capitalists to share power in a coalition government. They surrendered their guns and any hope for the dictatorship of the working class. Not fighting consistently for revolution and a total egalitarian transformation of society is what builds cynicism. Not building a base for communist revolution is based on internal anti-communism, fear and mistrust of the working class. This is how cynicism, a bourgeois ideology that tells workers that nothing can or will ever change, works inside our own forces, inside our Party.

The U.S. working class is currently cynical and relatively inactive politically. Should our Party close up shop and go home? Are all U.S. workers guilty for the atrocities of U.S. imperialism in Vietnam or Iraq? To the degree that they foolishly supported the U.S. war effort, they were cutting their own throats. Any time a nation’s workers support their own rulers, they are committing class suicide. For example, many workers in New York City cannot see past the neo-fascism of that discount Mussolini, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Giuliani is using lies about improving the "quality of life" and "civility" to initiate policies that lay the path for fascists and racists to do their dirty work of saving capitalism in crisis. Workfare is fascist slavery. "Community policing" is a fascist code word for racist police murder. Calling falsely for "higher standards" in CUNY and for an end to Open Admissions is an egregiously racist attack on the whole working class, as the rulers prepare to restrict access to skilled, higher-paying jobs and send black and immigrant workers to fight for oil dollars in the Middle East and wherever else the U.S. is threatened around the globe.

We endorse the call to fight hard now against U.S. fascism. Bringing lots of people to PLP May Day Marches around the country is the best way to start a mass movement against fascism and imperialism. Blaming the entire working class of any nation for the sickening crimes of its fascist rulers will lead us down the wrong path. Joining and fighting alongside the revolutionary communist PLP can lay the foundation for the defeat of the U.S. fascist rulers. Let’s put the blame where it belongs—on the ruling class! That way we’ll be more certain to defeat cynicism and passivity.

New Jersey Comrade

CHALLENGE RESPONDS: Workers Must Fight Racism and Fascism Now

The letter creates a "straw man." The facts are that illusions, passivity and/or compliance with fascism is extremely dangerous for the world’s workers. World War II proves this as over 100 million workers around the world died. The Soviets alone lost 30 million. Not to point this out is wrong. This was the biggest lesson of WW II is that the only way to defeat fascism is with communism. Without a communist movement, the workers inevitably become cynical, passively supportive of fascism. Knowing this truth is an important start. Then communists must initiate a long, hard consistent struggle against fascism. This struggle must be political and military. Fascism can only be crushed when the capitalist system is defeated. Capitalism spawns fascism. PLP has always maintained that confidence in the working class is crucial. Workers are the primary ones to benefit from the defeat of fascism and the victory of communism. Isn’t it interesting that it is only PLP that organizes workers for a communist May Day and for communism?

The April 15th editorial said that the millions who helped the Nazis, those who ignored the concentration camps, those who drove the trains that took millions to the death camps, the millions in the Wermacht who became mass murderers for the Führer were all guilty. As the May 6th Challenge editorial shows, the passivity of many German workers, students and professionals, and the active support for anti-Semitism even before the holocaust and the war began, made it easier for the Nazis to murder the millions they considered to be "subhuman."

The May 6th editorial also clearly showed that if we workers and students in the U.S. don’t fight racism and fascist terror now, we will be making the same mistakes the German workers made. The errors made by the KPD (the German Communist Party) was not only their electoral and reformist politics but that they did not make the fight against anti-Semitism primary in the mass movement. And, in fact, there was a difference between the German and Italian workers. The Italian workers, in spite of all the weaknesses of the PCI (the Italian Communist Party), fought the fascists and the Nazis who invaded Italy to support Mussolini, and ended the war by hanging Il Duce by his toes from a tree in a public square. We are sure that the reason why fascism and the atrocities of the Italian fascists weren’t as horrendous (although they were horrible) as the Nazis, was because many Italian workers did not support the fascists.

The way to fight cynicism is to build our Party inside the mass movement and fight racism and fascism now.