Challenge, June 24 1998

Recent events from Jasper, Texas, to Flint, Michigan, show the burning need for the international working class to arm itself and seize political power. Only the leadership of a mass PLP, rooted among industrial workers, soldiers and youth, and influencing a base of millions more, can achieve this goal. The billionaires are at each others’ throats. Permanent instability is the essence of the "new world order." Yet capitalism can survive any crisis, economic collapse, or imperialist war, even nuclear war. The one thing it can’t survive is communist revolution.

The rulers’ temporary ability to avoid the working class’s wrath in the midst of mounting racist atrocities can be traced directly to the old communist movement’s demise. Capitalism’s success in staying afloat and maneuvering through today’s sharp inter-imperialist rivalries and deep over-production crisis is due to our own weaknesses as well. But appearances tell only one side of the story. The bosses do enjoy certain tactical and political advantages. But, in essence, they have feet of clay. As a Party, we still suffer from the old communist movement’s collapse, and we have many internal shortcomings to rectify. But we have a revolutionary line. We have the potential to act on it. We have the weapon of criticism-self-criticism and the ability to correct our errors. We are on a long and difficult road, but it is the correct one. The future of our Party and of communism remains bright.

TEXAS LYNCHING

The brutal racist murder of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas, two weeks ago, and two copycat attacks in Illinois and Louisiana, are cases in point. Because there is no clear mass revolutionary alternative to fascist terror, the bosses are able to mislead workers by pretending to oppose these unspeakable deeds. Clinton spills a few crocodile tears over the Byrd murder. But Clinton is the same racist commander-in-chief who has forced millions off the welfare rolls and into slave labor programs, put 100,000 nazi cops on the streets with shoot-to-kill orders, and presided over the mass imprisonment of black and latin youth. His "spiritual advisor," Jesse Jackson, is the first on the scene in Texas to throw cold water on the anger of the masses. This is the same Jesse Jackson whose Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH has opened an office on Wall Street and whose open courting of big business has earned him love letters from all of Clinton’s top economic advisors. Paid police informant Rev. Al Sharpton joins Jackson and Clinton, blowing hot air at the racist terror the system has raised to unprecedented heights.

A generation ago, in the midst of the Vietnam War and the Cultural Revolution in China, mass student strikes, hundreds of marches involving hundreds of thousands of workers and youth, and possible armed rebellions in the cities, would have followed an abomination like Mr. Byrd’s lynching. But with no revolutionary beacon for the working class, the rulers are getting away with racist mass murder. The relative strength of the weakening U.S. bosses comes from the absence of communist leadership. No Soviet Union. No Red China. No mass communist-led movement of workers. So rather than face a response to the Texas atrocity led by a mass PLP, the rulers can parachute in Jackson-Sharpton and retain class leadership. We would be foolish to ignore or deny the maneuverability they enjoy.

The weakness and small size of the communist movement have also allowed the rulers to give fascism a new look. Because they don’t have the threat of imminent revolution to worry about, they are able to keep the swastikas and jack boots in the closet. Today the main fascist danger comes dressed in a business suit and spouts Ivy League jargon, making it more accepted by the masses. In the fascist U.S., the "liberals" are the main danger to the working class and the revolutionary movement.

On the other hand, let’s not get carried away by the rulers’ strengths and our weaknesses, and let’s not cry over what would have happened 30 years ago. Workers around the world are more oppressed than ever. The potential for mass outrage exists today. Our Party is conscious of its responsibility to raise important political issues, like the Byrd atrocity, in the mass movements, the shops, and the military. We have started to improve our efforts on this score, and although we have a long way to go, we’re headed in the right direction.

ECONOMIC CRISIS AND GM STRIKE

Challenge has warned, at length, about the current world economic crisis of overproduction and the growing threat of war. While this is all true, U.S. rulers still make huge profits and continue to dodge bullets. This is a reflection of politics, more than of economic strength.

Take the current GM strike. GM had profits of $12 billion over the last two years, without gaining market share. But in order to compete in a saturated world market at 25% overcapacity, the company must relentlessly attack the workers, closing factories and slashing tens of thousands of jobs. GM’s ability to stay in the game is based mainly on the workers’ willingness to remain shackled by pro-capitalist union leaders, who offer token opposition to delay the inevitable. The union leaders are as anxious as the Board of Directors to save GM. They just want their cut.

GM has built 30 plants in Mexico, with over 100,000 workers. These workers make a fraction of stateside GM wages. As the number of auto workers rises, wages drop. Faced with no opposition, GM can make enormous profits that they can pour into new, highly automated plants, and cut even more jobs. They are building a $500 million engine plant in Flint that will use 1,400 workers. The plant they are replacing has 3,500 workers. They are investing half-a-billion dollars to cut 2,000 jobs. Their ability to run roughshod over the workers, with no opposition, defines their maneuverability in this crisis.

Here again, let’s not make a one-sided evaluation of the GM bosses’ strengths. All the above is true, but no amount of automation can eliminate the need for workers. Under red leadership, GM workers have been in the forefront of class struggle before and will return to it in the future. The steady injection of our Party’s politics can make a difference. The PLP’s long, slow, often seemingly thankless organizing in the international auto industry will eventually bear fruit. We must intensify our efforts and stay the course.

THE SEIZURE OF POWER IS THE PARTY’S ONLY PURPOSE

The sole task of our Party, our reason for being, is to lead the working class in armed struggle for communism under the dictatorship of the proletariat. This can’t be stressed enough. Disagreement on this vital issue has been and continues to be the main contradiction in the communist movement. The Bolshevik and the Chinese Communist parties fought for proletarian dictatorship. They ultimately lost it because they didn’t carry forward the fight for communism. Their temporary, partial success in seizing power through armed insurrection nonetheless remains an unforgettable lesson for us and others.

The leftwing parties that misunderstood the illegal essence of revolution paid in blood, as in Indonesia in 1965. In the 1960s, the PKI (the Indonesian Communist Party) led the unions and other mass organizations. They held government positions, including the number two office in the country after then President Sukarno.. But the capitalists and U.S. imperialism had other ideas. They got general Suharto to lead a fascist coup murdering over one communists and those they led, who were totally unprepared for illegal, armed struggle. Other communist parties, from Germany before Hitler came to power to Chile in 1973, met similar fates.

Whatever the issue, whatever the struggle, our goal is communist revolution and a mass PLP. Today’s cynicism and confusion among the workers is secondary and reversible. What is primary is that we stay clear about our revolutionary responsibility. Deep within the unions, the military and the mass movement, we must raise from every vantage point the need for the workers to run society. Communist political clarity and class struggle will turn cynicism into optimism, confusion into confidence. As the Party earns the leadership of significant sections of the working class, the rulers will have less room to maneuver, until they eventually have none.

Just like the racist murder in Texas or the GM strike in Flint, recent attacks against our Party by the bosses are no accident. They reveal a system in crisis, turning in desperation to fascism and war. The rulers are doing what they have to do. We’d better do what we need to fight to organize a communist revolution to seize state power.

Convention of UAW Local Condemns Racist Murder of James Byrd

CRISIS = DANGER OF FASCISM, OPPORTUNITY FOR REVOLUTION

BOSTON, MA, June 14 — This past weekend’s convention of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW) was a study in contrasts. On the one hand, union members were won en masse to openly endorsing Old Money politicians and union hacks. On the other hand, some of these same members were very open to PLP’s analysis about the rise of fascism, and the need for a revolutionary end to the capitalist system.

The NOLSW consists of 3,000 legal services and human services workers from all over the U.S. It is affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) as Local 2320. The local union leadership (tied to the old CP) left no stone unturned in getting the members to display their undying devotion to the UAW leadership, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. On Friday afternoon, Senator Kennedy gave the keynote address—the leadership led the standing ovation both before and after the speech. At the Friday night banquet, the leadership gave one AFL-CIO hack after another awards—then led the standing ovation for each one.

On Saturday, the tables turned a bit. In a workshop entitled "Human Rights and Undocumented Immigrants," workshop participants (mainly women) told of their own experiences as union organizers, law students interviewing immigrants, and legal services workers dealing with the many problems immigrants have. It became clear that the attacks on undocumented immigrants allowed the bosses to make super profits and opened the door to attacks on documented immigrants and citizen workers. One participant said, "We, as workers, must never go along if we are told that we must turn in undocumented immigrants to the INS," (a current food stamp regulation requires food stamp workers to do just that).

Another union member then said, "Attacks on immigrants, slave labor workfare, prison labor, and police terror are all part of the rise of fascism." He said that fascism had been beaten before with communist leadership and could be beaten again. He pointed out that "workers have to draw the line" and that political consciousness was necessary to overcome fear. Finally, he said, "we must act." He called for bringing a resolution to the floor of the convention condemning the racist murder of James Byrd in Texas. Workshop participants greeted this call with hearty applause. During Saturday evening, the resolution was written and discussed with several people from the workshop. The political discussion continued one-on-one about the issues of revolution and reform, and PLP’s role in fighting racism in the 1975 Boston Summer Project.

In Sunday morning’s session, as the union president’s speech droned on, people from the workshop urged one union on: "We want to get this thing heard before we have to leave." When he was recognized and asked to be heard on the resolution, the president said "after the bylaws discussion". But when one of the women from the workshop protested "this is important to us", the president said "I can be flexible". The resolution (see box) was unanimously adopted by the convention. The member was greeted with hugs from his new-found friends. The lesson of this convention is that, with political struggle and bold leadership, the working class can live up to its historic responsibility to defeat fascism with communist revolution.

RESOLUTION FROM THE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF NOLSW

The following resolution was unanimously adopted by the national convention of the National Organization of Legal Services Workers (NOLSW), UAW Local 2320 at the plenary session held June 15, 1998 at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts:

WHEREAS, fascism is growing in the U.S. and around the world, as evidenced by the growth of apartheid conditions for immigrants, slave labor

workfare, prison labor, police murders and brutality, and other forms of

racist terror; and

WHEREAS, the recent torture, murder, and mutilation of James Byrd by a

KKK/Nazi gang in Jasper County, Texas is an egregious violation of human

rights and one more atrocious example of the rise of fascism; and

WHEREAS, we, as legal services and human services workers have, and the working class has, a responsibility to draw the line, and not stand by while our brothers and sisters are attacked or murdered, but rather to fight fascism

by whatever means necessary;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the NOLSW, UAW Local 2320

hereby strongly condemns the brutal murder of James Byrd, and calls for

the swift and severe punishment of the racists involved; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we as legal services and human services workers rededicate ourselves to the cause of affirmative action and the fight against racism; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be distributed to local shops of the NOLSW, UAW Local 2320; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be sent to James Byrd’s family along with a letter of support and consolation from the NOLSW, UAW Local 2320.

Capitalism Failing! -- Won’t Fall By Itself; Needs Seizure of Power By Working Class

The global economy, hailed by the U.S., is a bust. Globalism can be best defined as the U.S. dominance of the world’s economy. At the moment Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Russia, among others, are headed for the economic junk heap. As these economies and others hit the skids, the U.S.-dominated IMF (International Monetary Fund) pours billions into these countries in order to stave off a total economic and political collapse.

For example, $118 billion has gone into Southeast Asia. Another $18 billion into Russia. Pakistan, one of the latest in the nuclear club, is on the verge of defaulting on its $32 billion debt. This is like pouring good money after bad. The bigger the un-paid debt, the harder they’ll fall—and fall on those at the bottom, us workers, who are really picking up the tab on the huge IMF loans to these countries (loans that will never be re-paid). It is workers’ tax dollars that are fundamentally being used for these bailouts.

But why are U.S. bosses pouring money into other countries? Take Russia for example. The U.S.-backed Yeltsin regime is a disaster. Everything from corruption to stupidity characterizes the Yeltsin gang. But if Yeltsin falls, the U.S. loses on at least two counts: (1) the Russian market dries up to most U.S. exports; and (2) the Yeltsin cabal may be replaced by a truculent anti-U.S. gang. U.S. corporations will lose an area for profitable investments, like oil.

Finally, all this limits the U.S. economy, as failing economies around the world are less able to buy U.S. merchandise. So, all the factors that apply to Russia exist relative to all other economies that are near total disaster.

In addition to sinking economies, there is the hellish competition from other big producers. The development of a new Euro currency, with its combined economic resources in most of Europe, is not a friendly gesture by the German and French ruling classes. The new European Union is aimed squarely at the U.S. The West Europeans and Japan are out to lessen, and if possible destroy, U.S. efforts to control the world’s markets.

Thus, the inevitably weakening U.S.—the "miracle" economy is slowly but surely headed for at least a cyclical crisis. This crisis won’t be the end of the U.S. bosses, but it will be the economic end of many of us. As long as the rulers can get away with it, they will make us pay for their troubles. Workers and others are learning that all the U.S. clichés about "prosperity" have very little to do with them.

So, as the economic crisis matures, many more U.S. and other workers will learn that the only way out of the rulers’ shell game is to make the bosses pay—meaning ultimately to seize political power and have the workers run society for their own benefit. It’s becoming clearer around the world that capitalism doesn’t work. It can never work for the benefit of workers. Only workers and their communist party can organize society in a rational way.

Imperialist Rivalry Behind Racist War in Chiapas

MEXICO CITY, June 9 — The army attack on the people of Chiapas is growing. The imperialists’ fight over Chiapas is sharpening. PLP urges workers, youth and soldiers from Mexico to Los Angeles, from New York to El Salvador to organize to denounce the U.S. imperialist’s and Mexican government’s invasion of Chiapas. An attack on Chiapas is an attack on all workers. The U.S. imperialists have trained Mexican Army officials at Ft. Bragg to train and pay for death squads and other counter-insurgency activity in Chiapas. Let this invasion become a rallying cry to build the PLP. That’s the way we will destroy imperialism once and for all with communist revolution.

The Vatican defends the political activism of the Church in Chiapas as a fight to maintain the Catholic religion in face of the threat of the U.S. Protestant sects. The Vatican criticizes the economic policies that have increased poverty and suffering among the indigenous people of Chiapas.

The violent invasion by the Mexican army in the Zapatista communities continues, destroying everything in their path, forcing the inhabitants to take refuge in the mountains. The cruel, racist war against the Chiapas Indians is accompanied by terror carried out by paramilitary death squads. There are 50,000 troops in the area. Their leaders were trained by the U.S. army. The army is using sophisticated counterinsurgency weapons from the U.S. This clearly shows that the reason the U.S. bosses are fighting is to wipe out the Zapatistas.

Samuel Ruiz, Bishop of San Cristobal whom the government fears more than Marcos, resigned from his post on the National Commission of Mediation. "It’s necessary, in the face of the official strategy of war and religious persecution unleashed by the government," declared the Bishop in explaining why he has resigned. "Theology of violence," accused President Zedillo of Ruiz, trying to turn the church against Samuel Ruiz. But the Bishop has the support of the local leadership of the church, of the representative of the Vatican, and of the Pope himself. Without wanting to, Zedillo has politically strengthened the rebels and has made the military solution that he desperately wants even more unpopular.

Pope John Paul II praised the role of the Diocese in the indigenous communities. "We must continue the work that carries forward the projects which confirm the Catholic faith that their predecessors adopted"; "the indigenous peoples deserve special attention. Their desires for a dignified life should be realized with respect for their own cultures," he said in his speech. The Pope’s activism has been against the interests of U.S. imperialism and in defense of European bosses. Some months ago he visited Cuba to help Cuba break out of its isolation, criticizing the U.S. position on Cuba. In Chiapas, he condemned the economic policies that keep the Indians in poverty. His coming visit will be to strengthen the position of the Catholic church in the Chiapas conflict.

Zedillo, pressured by these events, by sections of the ruling class and by the U.S. imperialists, is pushing the military build-up to end the conflict quickly. But the economic agreement that will be signed with the European Union includes respect for human rights and a negotiated settlement in Chiapas. In addition, the church has given much importance to the armed uprising, and this could force changes in the economic and political policies and influence the selection of the next president.

The church defends its hegemony over Mexico. Social democracy opens investments to the European imperialists. The U.S. imperialists control the area where the oil is, and the transportation corridor that will cross Mexico. The U.S. bosses keep the current government policies in force. The Mexican bosses and their electoral parties, the PRI, PAN, PRD and the Zapatista leadership are all allies of one or another of the imperialist rat pack. None of them are interested in improving the lives of the indigenous peoples, much less in their liberation from poverty and capitalist exploitation. The working class, including the Indians of Chiapas, must not fall in the perverse trap of the capitalists. Only communist revolution can free the indigenous peoples and the whole working class from capitalist oppression and war.

The imperialist dogfight for oil, markets and labor always leads to war. That’s the logic of this capitalist dog-eat-dog system. The indigenous people of Chiapas and all workers of Mexico don’t need any church or commercial agreements with either the U.S. or the European Union, or autonomous communities or the PRI-PAN-PRD-EZLN. What they need is communist revolution. This sharpening conflict gives PLP the opportunity to raise our line and fight to build a mass PLP in the face of the bosses’ fascist onslaught.

El Salvador Bosses Sharpen Fascist Attacks, NYC Style

SAN SALVADOR, June 17 — A few days ago, an "organization and beautification" plan came out for the streets in the main cities of El Salvador. The mayors and the central government, aping New York City Mayor Giuliani, have agreed to this fascist plan to evict the street vendors from their places. Some of them have been at these posts for 30 years, many times having to confront the police, and forced to pay taxes to whichever mayor was in office.

In the city of San Miguel, in the Eastern part of the country, the sellers were removed from their posts with the lie that they were going to be placed in better spots under better conditions, in a new market, etc. When the workers discovered that it was a lie, they wanted to return to their old posts, but the police had cordoned off the area and didn’t let anyone put out their crates or tables. The leaders of this movement tried to negotiate with the Mayor about the situation. Supposedly there would be a solution within a month. But when the month ended, the Mayor said he didn’t know anything about the agreement and that he would proceed to evict the sellers from their posts.

When they heard this, the workers were furious. They confronted the police in a demonstration which left a worker injured and a cop with a head injury. The next day all the street workers marched to the City Hall to demand their posts. When they got to City hall they waited for hours to talk to the Mayor, but this never happened. Instead, a cop attacked the workers with tear gas from a window where he was hiding. Then the workers fought the cops with all they had. The cops hid inside the building. City Hall was left partially destroyed. Many cops had to run from the workers’ wrath.

Some of the workers cried with happiness when they saw the police running like rats. They yelled, "That’s how we like to see these thugs—running away from us!" This moment was the result of years of suffering and humiliation by these workers. The only way the bosses could hold back the angry masses who were showing their hatred of the capitalist system was to send for reinforcements—the anti-riot National Civic Police. Ironically, among the anti-riot police, there were ex-guerrillas of the FMLN, and the whole anti-riot force was under the leadership of an ex-leader of the FMLN. They tried to capture and beat up the workers. Four anti-riot cops followed one worker. This worker was aided by another who took out his machete and put it in front of the police, telling them, "Come near me, dogs, and I’ll kill you right here." None of the cops came near him. Instead they fled.

Almost the same thing happened in the capital, San Salvador. This was the scene of eviction by the metropolitan police aided by the National Civic Police. In San Miguel the mayor is from the Arena party, but in the capital the mayor is from the FMLN, the party that claims to defend the poor, but that today, more than ever, has been exposed as being willing to "beautify" the city that is full of unemployed and the hungry, without caring whether their families are dying of hunger on these "beautiful streets."

We workers must be clear that the FMLN does not respond to the needs of the working class. On the contrary, they are allied with the bosses in imposing more fascism on the workers. We must be clear about their role and that the only solution to our problems is to build the Progressive Labor Party, the international workers’ party that fights for communism. PLP fights for a society controlled by the working class, where the basic needs of the workers—for food, housing, education, health—are resolved. The goal of communism is to meet the needs of the workers, not to enrich a few and impoverish all the workers. The revenge against these cops and their system must be to build a mass PLP.

How PLP Teacher Got Elected Chapter Chair: Communism Is The Talk Of The Town!

BROOKLYN, NYC, June 15 — Since last week’s union election, communism is the talk of the school where a PLP member won over 40% of the votes in an election for union chapter leader at a high school, on a platform that asked members to vote for her because she is a communist! How did this happen?

The comrade, who has been an active union delegate for several years, ran for this office after many members urged her to run. She is known as a communist and a fighter. She made it clear in discussions with her base that her primary goal was to build the Party at the school, and that she would work as a communist, not just doing union "work," but use the position to put forward the Party’s line in words and struggles.

A month before the election, the comrade drafted a statement explaining why she was running. It said, "I am a communist. I think you should vote for me because I am a communist, not despite the fact that I am. Communists see the working class as the most powerful force in society—creating all that is valuable, all that has worth. Communists know that only the struggle of the working class to create a better world will produce that world. That means that communists are committed to the working class, and fight for our fellow workers to the best of our ability. "

She invited friends to help her edit and sharpen the statement. Some urged her to make changes in the first paragraph and to soften the points about communism. The paragraph remained. Several friends edited parts of the statement, making the language bolder and stronger, and raising the issue of harassment of students and staff.

Up to the last minute it appeared that she would not have an opponent, but at the last minute, the school administration found one of its friends to run. His statement mainly claimed he was the best candidate because of his close ties to the administration! Think about that! Not something we’d brag about.

The campaign heated up, with an attack on the PLP’er from another teacher—accusing her of dividing students and staff. The administration actively campaigned for its candidate, using enough pressure so that at least one teacher called the union to complain he was being intimidated. A friend warned that the administration might try to steal the election; the PLP candidate recruited friends to watch the balloting and counting.

Did we lose? We don’t think so. An open communist ran on a platform promising to fight harder for communism and got over 40% of the votes, despite the principal’s pressure. That’s not the result of a quick leaflet—that’s the result of several years of basebuilding in the school, and among students and parents. Not all of those who voted for the candidate are for communism, but through her struggles they have come to recognize her as a fighter in their battles. And more and more of them have come to see that her commitment and her work exist because of the party. This teacher distributes at least 30 Challenges each week, and has developed a network of readers among teachers and friends.

Do we have a Party club at the school? No, not yet. There hasn’t been enough struggle to win both teachers and students at this school that communism and the defense of communism are theirs. This struggle can and must be carried out. In fact, that struggle has begun, because the post-election discussions have been to ask this teacher why she had to make communism primary in the election. And, in those discussions she’s had to learn the value of patience—that there’s no quick answer—winning people takes creativity and time.

Relating World Situation to Contract Meeting Widens Base of PLP

Imagine you’re a union representative conducting a meeting with fellow union members about the current contract negotiations. At the same time a section of the Old Money capitalists are beating the war drums for the U.S. military to attack Iraq to keep Iraqi oil off the world market. You’re on the negotiating team yourself and before the meeting even begins, some of the workers pepper you with eager questions: "How much of a raise are we getting?" "What’s gonna happen to the workers when the bosses close that one department?"

But instead of discussing the raise or the immediate contract concerns, you begin by talking about the world situation: the crisis of overproduction, the bosses’ drive toward war, splits in the ruling class, the need for fascism. You explain how these bigger problems shape and direct the trend of the contract negotiations. Then, knowing how desperate the workers are for negotiation news, you defensively apologize, "I know some of you may not want to discuss things like the coming of war." But then a woman worker replies, "I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to discuss the coming war, it’s all related!"

In the lively discussion that follows, the workers raise a surprising number of insights and illusions about the effects of capitalism in their lives. Since most of them are black women, racism and sexism are hot items. The need for communist revolution is introduced and the workers respond with agreements and disagreements.

What began as a routine meeting about contract negotiations became something more. True, most of the workers came because they wanted news about the negotiations. But when communist political leadership was put forward, the workers responded. Instead of arguments about whether the raise should be 2% or 3%, workers argued about what our world view should be. From that discussion several more workers became new Challenge readers and distributors. A few agreed to join PLP study-action groups. Through such meetings over the course of the contract negotiations, a small number of PLP members brought communist ideas to a much larger number of workers than we ever affected before in such an intense and concrete manner.

It’s experiences like this that make being a communist in a boss led mass movement worthwhile. No longer are we dealing with workers in just ones and twos. Now we can affect workers in groups. And these groups of Party-led workers in the mass movement have the potential to break the ideological chains on the workers held by the union leaders who serve the Old Money bosses. We have greater opportunities to develop and lead the class struggle to higher levels like strikes, both general strikes and political strikes. We should be involved up to our necks in these struggles. This probably means that we can’t avoid giving tactical leadership to these struggles. But we can’t forget that our primary role must be to give communist political leadership to growing masses of workers and win them to join PLP.

Bold Action by SEPTA Strikers Scare Hacks

PHILADELPHIA, June 17—Thousands of workers are striking General Motors and the transit authority in Philadelphia. Yes, these strikes are led by reformist ideas. But these strikes were provoked by the sharpening rivalry among the world’s bosses, the crisis of overproduction, and the never ending search for markets, resources, and cheap labor—all of which is pushing the world towards war. As these workers strike, they confront the state power of the bosses: the injunctions, the courts, the cops, and if necessary, the bosses’ military. Communists in the midst of these struggles can find very fertile ground for revolution.

Last week the union leaders of Local 234 of the striking Transit Workers Union in Philadelphia called for strikers to gather at the union hall at 3:30 in the morning. Hundreds of workers showed up. But the union leaders didn’t expect such a large turnout and they were actually scared when they saw the masses of workers gathering around. These workers then blocked the main section of railroad tracks for the Northeast corridor of the United States for hours. As trains approached, the strikers fraternized with railroad workers from other unions, and won them to slowing the trains. But when the injunction was served, the TWU strikers left the tracks. Obviously there are contradictions in these situations.

But there are profound opportunities for PLP members involved in the thick of such situations. As our practice in mass organizations develops and the class struggle sharpens, the revolutionary questions that may seem so distant come closer: How do we raise the call for communism in mass organizations under conditions of increasing fascism and war? Do we have a general or more specific idea of how our daily organizing in mass organizations will lead to the seizure of power?

Organizing for communism in the mass organizations led by the bosses’ agents clearly has its problems and contradictions. But masses of workers are in these organizations like prisoners in a rotting jail. Standing outside the prison yelling, "Fight for communism!" won’t do it. PLP members must be inside those "prisons" organizing the workers to break out of capitalism’s walls with communist revolution.

LETTERS

Action initiated by PLP channels anti-racist anger

Dear Challenge:

"I’m very upset about it and I’ve been thinking about it for days." That was the respnse of a staff member when I approached her about signing a letter to the family of James Byrd, Jr., the black man killed by racists in Jasper, TX. Part of the letter read, "We rededicate ourselves to the fight to defeat racism in all its aspects, in the community, on the job, and wherever it is found. As members of a diverse college community we know we are responsible for the well being of our brothers and sisters of all colors and creeds, and we extend this commitment to you as well."

Many of the 85 signers (gotten in two days as the term ended) expressed similar sentiments. Because PLP initiated this action, they were able to do something about this racist killing rather than accept it passively. A staff member who had helped organize a forum about Iraq circulated the letter and got 55 signatures. One student said she had been busy writing papers and studying for finals but her fiancé wanted to find out more about what we were doing.

This struggle will enable us to distribute Challenge-Desafio to more people on campus, and to discuss with them that to end racism they need to join our Party and help overthrow capitalism.

Southern Campus Red

‘Titanic’ Class Struggle Will Sink U.S. Army

Dear Challenge:

I am a red soldier in the U.S. Army. A few days ago what was some down time turned into a very left political discussion with two soldiers whom I have befriended here in camp. One was talking about the remnants in Germany from the Nazi era. She spoke fearfully about the gas chambers and mass murders. But she said she thinks fascism is a thing of the past.

I told her that modernized warfare like the actions of the U.S. have made it even easier to dispense with human life, either fast and from a distance, like Hiroshima, so that there is little time to build any resistance to it, or with the façade of "peacekeeping," like the recent sanctions, and in 1991, war in Iraq.

My other friend commented on how the discipline and obedience the German soldiers were taught is the exact same mentality we are taught in the U.S. Army. We are taught that there is a distinction between civilians and soldiers, Americans and other people, and that we are the "freedom fighters."

I replied that, while the German military was seen as an awesome, powerful force, the people in it were just like us. As long as people expose and oppose Army values, their organization is weaker. One of my friends then asked me to give an example, as I was "coming from way out in left field."

I related it to the movie Titanic, because it had popped into my head, and I knew that both my friends, like many other people, had seen it. I went on to say that while there were masses of poor people on the boat in relation to the number of rich people, they resisted very little when they were held back from the lifeboats. That is because they accepted the idea, as we are supposed to do towards higher-ranking officers, that these people are more privileged than we are. Under this system the few lifeboats here are reserved for the rich. The cops, like those on the ship, protect the rich.

However, if more people had resisted, like the one kid that got out, the poor in steerage would have been able to take over the boats, share them more equally, and save more lives.

Self-critically, I did not bring the discussion back to the military and I let that example stand on its own. However, I think it is a good example of how we can relate left ideas without standing out while we are in a fascist organization like the Army. More people are open to disputing the army’s values than we tend to think. The thing we must do, however, is be more planned about how we can engage others in discussion, rather than waiting for the "right moment" to occur.

Red Soldier

Propo 227 Protested by College Students

Dear Challenge:

About 60 students gathered for a protest today against Prop. 227. I had come prepared with a leaflet and Challenges. We milled around in the parking lot for awhile, anticipating the arrival of more supporters. Our group then went to a busy corner of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) campus and tried to get students to join our march.

I signed up to speak. I spoke about the necessity to break the law in the face of fascist attacks. Quoting the communist hero, Ricardo Flores Magon, "The freedoms won by the human species are the work of the illegals throughout the ages who took the law in their hands and smashed it to bits." I pointed out how 227 was part of the war effort to build patriotism and nationalism. I said that the other option was to follow the bosses all the way to the gas chambers. I said we had to get organized as a class and fight the real enemy and I capped off my speech by pointing to the cops behind the audience as an example of that enemy. I was able to lead the chanting of, "The cops, the courts, the KKK, all a part of the bosses plan," "Asian, latin, black and white, Workers of the world unite."

We put up with the racism of cowards driving by who were giving us the finger and shouting as they sped by. One of the marchers, finally got disgusted with one green car (that drove by three times) and threw a pine cone at it. One of the liberal leaders of the protest rushed to condemn this action and berated the young woman. I quickly stepped behind her and said that there were 60 of us and we should tolerate no racism from punks passing by in a car. Almost everybody in the march took a leaflet and I made new friends that helped pass them out. Many people in my base attended different phases of the march. The leadership I showed in giving the speech was well received by everyone, especially the members of my base. The weakness in all of this is that everything is I, I, I but with more action and boldness it will become We, We, We.

Santa Cruz Student

U.S. Rulers History of Racism Supports KKK

Dear Challenge:

The Jasper/Texas horror has upset me more and more. The denial by police officers of the evil of the KKK is a tacit endorsement of crimes past and present. A society with violence as a value of domestic and international management, with peacetime military recruitment drive on the campuses of high schools (as students are being solicited by phone at home!), cannot subsist without preaching hatred as patriotic, superior, and Christian. That Jim Crow never died in the U.S. has been proved times without number from one end of the land to the other. Institutional aggression against minorities is neatly covered up by enactments and "legality." Or, people of color would not be disproportionately in jails, in the army, in the lowest paying jobs, on the streets, on the run. Unless savagery is regularly inculcated by the establishment among the young and old as a desirable attribute of manhood, it cannot be practiced at home or abroad when ordered or desired.

The goal of justice cannot be met without boiling the criminals in cauldrons publicly for hours and days on end, with their friends and families watching as privileged guests in the front row. Capitalism needs slaves, imperialism needs colonies, hence bloodbaths are integral to their plans of dominance and control domestically as well as abroad. Those refusing to be slaves or colonies are, in the parlance of the corporate (concubine) media," rogues" or "terrorists". What the U.S. forces did in Vietnam and Iraq, was replicated in Texas. Right at this moment, U.S. troops, euphemistically called "advisers," are perpetrating horrors of this very kind in Colombia, among other places in Latin America. This imperialist fundamentalism remains the world’s biggest scourge. We must be very active in combating this evil, and pointing the way forward to revolution to end it.

Supporter of Challenge

Workers Have To Challenge The Premise Of Capitalism

Dear Challenge:

I am writing to give my two cents of approval to the Challenge article about Prop. 226 (6/3). Where I work I have a friend who is a Vietnam vet, a long time union activist, and a fighter against racism (he’s white and from the South). He's also a regular reader of Challenge, which he likes for its analysis of events and its uncompromising stand for the working class. We’ve had many discussions and we have disagreed about the possibility of mass communism and the usefulness of a Party such as ours.

When Proposition 226 hit the ballot he went right to work canvassing working class neighborhoods and got me involved in doing it. Since I’m in PL I had discussions with him and others about our view of the splits in the ruling class and the nature of unions as defenders of capitalism and other issues.

The combination of his life’s experience, what has been in Challenge and election literature, and what he learned from the issues stirred up by the election, led him to write a four-page paper detailing the issues between the various economic/political factions, the role of anti-immigrant racism, and globalism. This paper will be distributed to many people in our union and at our work site. He concludes his paper by saying, "The question of the 21st century is how can workers break out of this stifling cycle of small victories and huge losses? The first step, I think, is to define the issues and delineate the interests. It has led me to the conviction that workers have to Challenge the premise of capitalism."

Without the interaction of my friend, myself and Challenge around Proposition 226 and 227, neither my friend, nor I, nor our Party would have been able to grow and develop as we most certainly have in a few short months.

Worker in California

Collapse of Japan Currency Can Produce Yen to End Wage Slavery

Dear Challenge:

The metaphor melt-down used to describe severe crisis in Japan can no longer describe the impending evaporation of the Japanese economy. The yen can collapse anytime to a complete free fall and like a gigantic cyclone engulf the rest of the world. "Capital is vampire like, it can only survive by sucking the blood of the living," wrote Marx.

Imagine a scenario—due to tremendous pressure on the Chinese and Japanese currencies, the yen starts a slide to 300 yen to a US$, the Chinese will be forced to follow along with the wounded tigers. This downward spiral worldwide will cause massive business bankruptcies, super mega-mergers, enormous scarcity of everything on the one hand and mountains of commodities on the other, most of the world population with no work, hungry, homeless, angry and willing and eager to end the wage slavery for once and all.

No wonder then that the bosses in the U.S. are now spending 20% more on the nuclear weapons than ever before. Their pipe dream of maintaining capitalism with nuclear terror is as laughable as Greenspan saying that the U.S. economy was at its best in 50 years. The working class has risen and will rise to the Challenge again and again.. Passivity will turn into its opposite. The most important thing is to advance the line, fight for the line and defend the line under all conditions.

A sobering thought that not long ago a black man in a small town in rural Alabama, the illiterate peasants in the remote villages of Andhra Pradesh in India, the fearless partisans in the mountains of Italy, all looked at Stalin as a beacon of hope in the face of fascist terror. They were not alone, there were millions of them. They had not read anti-communist scribbler, Robert Conquest.

West Coat Observer

Exterminate greedy rats

Dear Challenge:

Recently I heard and read about a terrible rat problem in New York City. I don't live in NYC anymore, but I think I may be able to help fight the swarms of hundreds of disgusting rats that are seen all over town.

The most important thing, I think, is to get rid of the source of the rats.

So, why don't we simply destroy their homes?

Let's start with Wall Street, City Hall, all the police stations, and the newspaper and television offices?

After that, the few remaining rats can be cleaned out with the broom of the revolution.

Ex-New Yorker, Current Red

Foreman Teachers Fight Back

Dear Challenge:

As some people know, three PLP teachers at Chicago’s Foreman High School have come under sharp anti-communist attack. One was suspended for three days for bringing communist ideas to students. Then Chicago Sun-Times columnist Ray Coffey wrote two ugly articles and an editorial appeared calling for us to be fired. Anti-communist teachers have started a petition calling for our firing. Challenge has reported on how we have fought back, with a lot of support from students, parents and some teachers.

Now Congressman Rod Blagojevich has weighed in with an Op-Ed piece in the Sunday (6/14) Chicago Sun-Times, saying that more effort should be made to win young people to believe in, and participate actively in, this system. He calls it "American democracy," but a better name is "capitalist dictatorship."

Blagojevich argues for more "toleration" of communist beliefs, because this will encourage loyalty to the system. But he says the schools should discipline teachers who "use class time to impose their political beliefs on students." Clearly this means "communist beliefs" since his whole point is to more aggressively impose his capitalist beliefs on young people.

Some teachers have said that Blagojevich must be "less fascist" than Coffey or those who want the PLP teachers fired. We don’t think so.

Blagojevich brags that his father "fought communism in his homeland of Yugoslavia" and came to the U.S. as a political refugee. But who were the communists fighting in Yugoslavia? The pro-Nazi fascists! This son-of-a-fascist is also the son-in-law of an alderman who is a long-time supporter of the racist Mayors Daley.

The difference between liberal capitalism and fascism isn’t that one relies mainly on ideology and the other mainly on terror. When profound economic crisis forces the rulers into fascism, they intensify their use of both ideology and terror. That’s what’s happening at Foreman. And the fact that Blagojevich has gotten involved clearly shows that the Chicago ruling class is backing the anti-communist attack on the PLP teachers.

The three teachers have distributed an "open letter" answering some of the questions that teachers have asked us. This is leading to some very useful conversations, on a much higher level than before. For example, one teacher underlined the word "revolution" and said, "This is where you are going to have trouble." That led to a discussion of why our Party needs to be open with the working class about our aims and goals. Even though many don’t agree totally, one thing we’ve learned from history is that if we don’t struggle to win the working class to communism now, we’ll never be able to build communism later.

We have a lot of work to do before the anti-communist attack is turned around into recruitment to the Party. But that, too, will come.

Foreman Teachers

Schools Seek Control of Students Not Our Safety

Dear Challenge:

Paul Vallas, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools, used the killings in Oregon as an excuse to insist that every high school in the city use metal detectors on a daily basis. I have had many arguments with teachers and student friends about this. To me, it’s a perfect example of how the bosses get working class people to support fascism.

They want us to believe that metal detectors are about our safety. That’s a lie. The truth is more complicated. There is a worldwide crisis of overproduction, which means that capitalists can’t sell all the stuff they’re producing. They won’t stop producing, because they’ve invested lots of money and are driven to make the highest profits possible. So they have to produce stuff cheaper. They have to lower wages; they have to go to war. They expect opposition to these policies and so they develop fascism to keep down dissent and get us used to doing what we’re told.

They also try to convince us that they’re doing it for us—that the metal detectors are for our own protection. But since when do the bosses do anything for our benefit or protection? They don’t! The shootings in Oregon are a convenient excuse to step up the prison-ification of the schools. The schools are too out of the bosses’ control. Sections of the ruling class disagree on the direction the schools should take, but the Vallas-Daley forces in Chicago, generally allied with Old Money, provide a model for many school districts. This model includes a tightly-controlled curriculum, greater discipline of both students and teachers, accountability, preparation for war, and getting rid of students who don’t pass the tests. Metal detectors fit right in. They have nothing to do with safety and everything to do with fascism.

As one teacher put it, the metal detectors only show what’s in your pocket or your bag, they don’t show what’s in your head. What’s in a person’s head is what determines whether or not they’re going to go into a building and start shooting. The ruling class fills young people’s heads with images of senseless violence, and then acts surprised when some copy them. Communists win students to change the world by destroying the profit system and the racism and imperialism that go with it. The bosses don’t want communists telling students, among other things, that violence is good if it’s used for our liberation. Violence is good when it’s used to bring an end to the murderous capitalist system, which kills millions with war, starvation, and disease.

I can’t say for sure exactly how schools will be under communism. But I do know they’ll be about education, not indoctrination. They won’t have metal detectors and security guards. Students minds will not be filled with the garbage the capitalists now push on TV, in movies, and in computer games. It’s not a coincidence that the U.S., which is the most highly developed capitalist country in the world, is the only country experiencing a rash of random shootings like the ones in Oregon. The sooner we destroy this system with communist revolution the better.

Outraged in Chicago

GOOOAL!!!!

"Great shot!" João screamed along with 20 other Brazilian supporters draped in yellow and green.

"Yeah," replied Francisco, drinking a beer.

"Brazil’s gotta win again. It would make our country so great," exclaimed Joao. He sat back down on his stool after jumping up and down, singing and chanting with the others, celebrating the goal by Sampaío.

"Why would it make your country great?" Francisco yelled through the cheers that rose and fell from the replays being shown on the large screen TV.

"Because it would make us the best in the world. Don’t you want your country to be the best?"

"I don’t have a country."

"What do you mean you don’t have a country?" queried João. "Where were you born?"

"In Colombia".

"So that’s your country. They are in the Cup this year, too. You’ll be rooting for them, won’t you?"

"That’s where I was born, but I understand that Colombia is ruled by a rich capitalist class that uses all kinds of tricks to keep itself in power. They want us workers to forget about our problems and identify ourselves all as one. I don’t identify with those responsible for the death squads that murder thousands of workers and peasants, for the drug cartels, for mass unemployment." said Francisco.

"Yes, but what does that have to do with the World Cup?"

"Everything. Remember how the Nazis used the 1936 Olympic games to build fascism and prepare for war. Today, the rulers use sports to build reactionary patriotism. They have to win you and millions of other young workers to believe that you are Brazilian and not a member of the international working class who gets exploited by the bosses."

"I have noticed that many companies like Mastercard and Nike sponsor the World Cup. Hey, now that I’m thinking about it, you know what, the U.S. Army is one of those big sponsors!" João said pointing at the Army advertisement above the score.

"That’s what I mean. The U.S. Army knows who is going to be watching the World Cup—it’s going to be primarily working class young men and women. Nike superexploits workers in countries like Indonesia and Vietnam by putting them in slave-like conditions to make their sneakers. Nike and others not only use Michael Jordan, they also use Ronaldo and other soccer players to sugarcoat their use of slave labor," Francisco explained.

"But soccer is my favorite sport and the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world, who should I cheer for?"

"I don’t know. It’s hard to resist rooting for this or that team especially when the team is supposed to represent a country. I found myself jumping up and down when Nigeria beat Spain 3-2 the other day, particularly since I cannot forget the mass murder of Native People by Spanish colonialism in Latin America. But we have to remember the rulers of the world win a lot of workers to fascism this way. In England, Holland, Argentina, Spain, Italy and many other countries, they use the nationalism and support for a particular soccer team to promote racism against blacks and immigrants. Look at the violent racist fighting between English hooligans and Tunisian fans in Marseille before the game between the two countries. Some neo-Nazi groups even make soccer events their recruitment grounds because they know they can win workers to their nationalist and racist ideology. "

"Maybe they should have a team that represents the international working class?" exclaimed João.

"I don’t think the bosses would allow that, but when one gets organized, it’ll be the most powerful team in the world and they’ll not only win soccer games but will change history.

For more info: Bill Buford wrote a book called Among the Thugs that details his experience with the English supporters of a soccer team. In that book, Buford details how the neo-Nazis use soccer to recruit members.

Racist Research Part of Fascism

Since 1992, the National Institute of Mental Health has invested millions of dollars in a research project known as the "Violence Initiative," designed to prove that violent behavior is the result of variant brain chemisty. Those who are labeled "violent" are young black and latino men, and those being investigated for violent tendencies are black and latino boys from 3-10 years old. The researchers propose that these children are either born with faulty brain chemistry or that is irreversibly altered early in childhood by bad parenting.

The racist and scientifically bogus character of this "research" is really nothing new. For centuries, the ruling class has tried to justify slavery and genocide by "scientifically proving the inferiority of the victims." The behavior of the most oppressed, be it escape from slavery, rebellion in the inner cities, or drug dealing by youth in a setting of mass unemployment, is branded criminal and and supposedly caused by society’s "predators" to use George Kellings term (the racist researcher at Rutgers University). Meanwhile the ruling class wages wars killing millions under the flag of "preserving democracy" and kills millions more with unsafe factories and starvation wages under the banner of "economic development".

The worldwide crisis of capitalism, the competition from other imperialists and threats to their oil supplies, force U.S. bosses to attack workers in the U.S. even more with wage cuts, slave labor, cutbacks in services. The rise of fascism is seen in the rise of police terror and KKK like lynching like in Jasper, Texas. Neonazi scientists and racist academics provide the ideological justification for these attacks.

But most people are not fooled for long. In NYC, many have been outraged since publication by psychiatrists at the NY State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) and Columbia University of a study in which 34 exclusively black and latin boys under 10 were subjected to a day without food and then injected intravenously with fenfluramine. The response of the boys to this experiment is supposed to unmask abnormal brain chemistry and their predisposition to violence. These boys were selected because their older brothers were known to the NYC Probation Dept., and their parents were paid $150 and probably told their children would benefit in some way.

In response to this racist and illegal assault on children, approved by the Columbia University Review Committee, a coalition has formed to demand discontinuation of this "research." It involves members of community groups, several churches, groups supporting the rights of the mentally ill, doctors and others. The coalition has picketed the opening of the new NYSPI building and produced literature to be distributed in the community. On Wednesday, June 24th, they plan to picket a symposium on adolescent psychiatry where the main racist researchers, Gail Wasserman, and Daniel Pine, are speaking.

The movement is growing. PLP’ers must struggle with people to see that we cannot rely on politicians, congressional hearings, the media or academic oversight committees to win this struggle. All these forces are part of the same ruling class that needs to promote racism and racist ideology to insure its own survival. Instead, we must unite workers who need to protect their children from becoming racist guinea pigs, later to be controlled with Ritalin or Prozac, and professionals who need to side with workers against racist research. We must rely on workers, students and soldiers who, and win them in the heat of the struggle to see the need to build a mass PLP to put an end to this fascist system who murder our children.