"Hello comrades! I want to...start distributing Challenge around Steubenville. I want to try and advance communism in the area...This is a good way to start building the Party...Something good is bound to come from this."
This is the first fruit of the July 10 battle against the KKK and the cops in Steubenville, Ohio. Young PLP multi-racial Summer Project volunteers led 150 mostly white industrial workers in stopping the Klan rally, despite the presence of over 300 riot cops. When a black comrade was arrested, the 150 steel and construction workers led a march on the police station and confronted the cops until our comrade was released.
The Boeing Summer Project helped win and consolidate more Boeing workers to PLP. Over 2,000 Challenges and 9,000 PLP fliers were distributed inside and outside the Boeing plants, where we are trying to move the workers to strike when our contract expires September 1.
Boeing workers welcomed Summer Project volunteers into their homes, and regularly attended political economy study groups. What's more, they were bolder and more confident in giving leadership on the shop floor. In one area, workers had placed PLP literature on the break tables. When a union official came by, he dropped the PLP literature in the garbage and put union literature on the break tables. This clearly raised the question, "Whose department is this?" "Who is the leadership here?"
Before break time, the red workers came back to the break area and tossed the union literature in the can, and put the Party literature back where it belongs. When break time arrived, the union hack was shocked at the scene of Boeing workers reading the Party fliers and his stuff nowhere to be found.
At the strike sanction meeting held at the Kingdome, we distributed more than 3,000 PLP four-page fliers to 9,000 workers, as well as hundreds of Challenges. Entire rows of workers could be seen reading our stuff, line by line and page by page.
At the farewell BBQ for Summer Project volunteers, a Boeing worker who is a new comrade read the following original poem hoping it would inspire the volunteers when they go back to their home towns:
Whenever you're in doubt
Of what PLP's about
Look around
What have you found?
Cop's Brutality
School Fallacies
Friends are in distress
Lift your voice
The Party is the way
The summer of 1999
You stood out on the line
Is now part of history
Etched in your memory
Go forward and excel
Knowing Progressive Labor Party will help you do well.
"You guys should come around here more often...Revolution seems a lot closer than it used to," said one Inland Steel worker following the July 19 strike vote at the Local 1010 union hall. After voting to strike, he and 300 of his co-workers bought Challenge, while 60 of them gave their names and phone numbers to be visited by PLP members.
In a week-long, whirlwind Summer Project, volunteers focused their energy on the steel mills and auto plants in Gary and Detroit. Over 1,000 workers took Challenge, and 100 gave their names. In spite of contract agreements at Bethlehem, USX, LTV, and Inland, the door is open for building a mass PLP in the mills.
For the past three months, tens of thousands of college students have occupied UNAM (the National Autonomous University of Mexico). They are striking against privatization of the university and to keep it tuition-free. Some of our young comrades are active in this intense struggle. While the major political parties and the church are opposing the strike, the students have enjoyed the widespread support of workers and students.
When the government turned off the electricity to try to end the occupation, the maintenance workers turned it back on. Janitors have worked all summer, for no pay, to keep the school clean and safe for striking students. The heat of class struggle provides many opportunities for making communist ideas mass ideas. Some of the more militant working-class strikers are now meeting with the Party. We are raising the idea that communist revolution is the only way to have free education for all that tells the truth about history and science, and that teaches students to serve the workers. We are fighting to win students to reach out to industrial workers, who are under attack by the same World Bank and whose labor creates the profits upon which the World Bank rests. We are telling students that only by allying with the working class can we crush fascism and take power. In the coming month, we plan to strengthen our forces and be much bolder in putting forward our revolutionary communist party, by distributing thousands of Challenges among the strikers.
Over the Summer of 1999, the bosses appear to be having their way. They got away with the mass terror bombing of Yugoslavia; the police are getting away with racist murder; the stock market continues to soar; and the major industrial unions are rolling over to give the steel, auto and Boeing bosses what they need to compete and keep the profits rolling in.
But something else is happening here as well. Slowly but surely, PLP is emerging as more of a force in the mass movement, playing more of a role in the class struggle, and building a fighting party for the eventual seizure of power. Whether it was 2,000 Boeing workers or 1,000 steel workers buying Challenge, or 150 steel and construction workers surrounding a police station after stopping a KKK rally, the workers are telling us something; "We're open. If you want us, win us!"
In Steubenville and at Boeing, white industrial workers responded to communist ideas and took leadership from black workers and youth. This unbeatable combination shows that, when given the alternative, workers will follow the most militant, class conscious fighters for our class. These responses show that we can recruit industrial workers and their allies in limited numbers now (which we are doing), building the basis for a mass party in the future which is cemented in these key sections of the working class.
This is the course we have set for ourselves. Building a mass, international PLP is a year-round, lifelong task. Over the past year, we made a turn for the better, responding--in unions and other mass organizations--to imperialist war in Iraq and Yugoslavia, and to racist police terror. Teachers and oil workers voted to condemn the war in the Balkans, while NYC hospital and welfare workers took part in demonstrations against racist cop killings. Transit workers from LA to Oakland responded to our struggle against the racist murder of a Latin truck mechanic, and a group of transit workers marched against the Balkan war.
Everything from lunch-time discussions to union-meeting resolutions were utilized to spread the communist solution to the attacks on the working class. As a result, tens of thousands got a taste of communist ideas. We have a long way to go, and many weaknesses to overcome, but the road to revolution is getting clearer. By deepening our personal/political ties with workers, students, soldiers and youth, and more boldly fighting for our communist politics in the mass movement, in the class struggle and on the shop floor, we will gain the confidence in the masses and in the Party that we can win!
"Before the October Revolution bourgeois `thinkers'--politicians, sociologists, journalists--wrote of the Russian workman and peasant as being a most `uncultured,' hard-drinking and illiterate `people,' a people who possessed an infinite capacity for submissiveness and patience...But, `came the hour,' history ordered: `full steam ahead' and the people, who had once made you boil with indignation at their ignominiously passive attitude towards life, transformed themselves into the most active force of the workingmen's world."
A recent PLP cadre school in the NY/NJ area was an important step in the process of developing working class leaders. Though some were away during this hot July weekend, those attending found the emphasis on increasing the distribution of Challenge and developing Party leadership very useful.
In discussing Challenge, one issue involved the various internal obstacles to distribution. A youth in a workshop wrote: "After introducing ourselves we began to talk about how Challenge is received by our friends. One difficulty shared by many comrades is that many people getting the paper did not read it closely.
One solution was to mention an article that might interest them. A simple thing like telling someone about a specific article makes a big difference in how the paper is received. This was evident at one meeting. A participant felt that newspapers were a representation of the worst in humanity (understandable, with the cover stories that capitalist papers print to increase circulation) and had never thoroughly read Challenge. He was asked to read the article about the Party-led fight against the KKK in Ohio. He was surprised at how positive it was. That meeting gave us a better idea of how to get Challenge out.
Also, many comrades are not thinking big. They imagine that Challenge and communism are for a select few. Others said we should try to make Challenge the "paper of record" in our areas of concentration. Comrades were also asked to visualize the effects of an increased circulation in their area, be it a factory, school or neighborhood. Many proposals emerged. A main one was to get involved in union campaigns and class struggle, leading to new readers and to discussing the ideas with them--a vital step. This would inspire them to take extra papers to distribute. The development of such networks is crucial.
The youth workshop also talked about leadership. We took a short break for lunch and a little swim. Afterwards we discussed our roles as leaders. We were asked if we saw ourselves as leaders of the working class. Individuals felt they were in the process of learning to become just that.
One comrade had recently started taking a more active part in meetings, from leading discussions to helping win people to attend. But as the discussion continued, this comrade realized that, though he was acquiring the skills to be a leader, he was not a leader in his school. He understood the need to join a mass organization in school. That school has a leadership club; although it doesn't play a large role in school politics, it will put him in touch with people aspiring to be leaders in changing the world.
Everyone left the cadre school with a better idea of how he or she could help lead the working class toward communist revolution. It was an important step forward for our Party.
The contracts in the auto, steel and aerospace industries expire this year. The crisis of overproduction and the falling rate of profit are forcing the bosses to use out-sourcing (contracting work out to non-unions shops), to lay off hundreds of thousands and cut jobs, as well as force those who remain to work overtime, to speed-up, use a racist two-tier wage systems, and have increasingly unsafe working conditions.
The union leaders' response to these attacks is to merge the steel and auto workers unions (USWA and UAW) and promote the liberal fascist "Stand-Up-for-Steel" campaign. After the February explosion at the Ford Rouge plant in Detroit, which killed six workers and wounded dozens more, the UAW hacks praised Ford to the skies for "caring about workers' safety." (!) PLP's communist response is to struggle to win workers to understand that it's in our interest to unite with auto and steel workers from around the world in the struggle for a society organized for distribution according to need, not profit.
In preparation for our work at the factories, we studied political economy, gaining a better understanding of the worldwide crisis of overproduction, and what this means for auto and steel workers. At the factories, we distributed roughly 1,000 Challenges and 3,000 leaflets. We also had a rally protesting the pro-boss "Stand-up-for-Steel" patriotism outside the union meetings where the Inland Steel workers voted to strike.
We visited steelworkers to discuss communist ideas, and many welcomed our analysis. One worker strongly agreed with our line against the bosses, whom he called "parasites." He gave us his name and address and asked that we contact him again. In fact, about 100 steelworkers (and other workers from the Gary and East Chicago area) and 20 autoworkers gave us their names, phone numbers and addresses in order to maintain contact with PLP.
The week was overwhelmingly positive. Indeed, one steelworker and two high school students joined PLP. Many young comrades gained experience in giving leadership, in agitation--giving speeches at public rallies--in basebuilding and in class struggle. We also achieved our goal of obtaining 100 industrial worker contacts. Now the hard work begins. Comrades will need to continue to work at the steel and auto plants, and visit all the workers we met to strengthen our communist base inside the working class.
I am a soldier in the Reserves. I recently attended my two-week annual training. It was fun and productive. It gave me many opportunities to question the "humanitarian" bombing of Kosovo. Before going, I realized I also had to challenge the brass in some way, to combat the soldiers' cynicism.
Sometimes we think it's good workers constantly complain about their conditions. But if we don't lead fights against the system, workers think they have no power to change things. I feared that if I attacked the officers or the NCO's no one would back me up. However, I also realized it wasn't worth putting up with all the bullshit in the army unless I was going to build the Party.
My favorite story is about the time 12 of us were sitting on the stoop outside the barracks, waiting for some formation. The talk was about Haile Selassie, a rather intellectual discussion about his pros and cons. (For once we weren't talking about sex or alcohol.) Everyone spoke, but as we got more impassioned, voices got louder.
Then our fearless company commander stepped into the building doorway and yelled, "What do you think this is? The fucking ghetto?" He's black, as are most of the soldiers in my unit. It shows that no matter what color officers are, they're not in our class. They look down on the enlisted soldiers.
When he left, I quickly began to talk to the other soldiers about how disrespectful and racist he was. I was emboldened by their anger. I got my friend to go to the First Sergeant with me and demand an apology. When we got there, she said to me, "You talk," but she did go with me, which was good.
Since many of the soldiers had complained to the First Sergeant about the incident, he went to get the company commander (CO). The CO came out and got us all together. He apologized and then tried to justify his racist remark by saying "how hard" he works "for us" and that he "needs quiet to concentrate." I said, "What you said was racist, and we all work hard. Where are you from anyway?" And there wasn't a "sir" in there anywhere!
It wasn't my most brilliant statement but it made quite an impression. They told me I "had [guts] and was welcome on the male floor anytime." I was really proud when three people came up to me afterwards and gave me a pat on the back and said I "was all right."
I had to fight my own racism and sexism and realized if I stepped up to the plate they would take leadership from me. Combined with discussions of oil, Kosovo, imperialism and wage slavery, we can't lose. Soldiers are open to these ideas.
I told one soldier, "You're `freer' under capitalism than communism. You're free to starve." He said, "That's it. White people don't want to think of themselves as slaves but they are." I said, "Yes, that's wage slavery. Don't you see I just put a name to ideas you already had!"
A soldier who went to the Gulf War told me, "The only way to get through it is to just think about going home." When I explained that Iraqi children have no arms or legs now so the rich can control more oil, he couldn't disagree. But he did not take responsibility for his actions.
By being in the military we can get people to question what the bosses' wars are all about. Communists are not only about ideas but about action. When I talked to soldiers about Iraq, Kosovo and Bosnia, they know it's about money and oil. The real struggle is to get them to face their responsibility in allowing themselves to be used to kill other workers for bosses' profits. I said, "You should only fight for what you believe in." In Russia and China, soldiers fought for a better life for the working class.
That's a war I would fight in.
Red Soldier
Recently, several comrades and I had the opportunity to bring our literature to soldiers at a military base. While there is much to improve on, we were basically successful in our limited goals considering that we made two new contacts.
One thing that stuck out in my mind is the tremendous potential we have in the military. When I was first going up to soldiers I was attempting to explain the situation as I saw it from the outside--i.e. that the U.S. is basically an imperialist nation that engages in wars for profit by forcing working people, and especially black and Latin people, to fight against their class-interests. But what I quickly found out was that most of what I was telling them they already understood.
I underestimated the fact that they already knew many important pieces to the puzzle. For example, among the soldiers I spoke to, many agreed that these are not our wars, that the military leadership around the world rely on working people to fight these wars. They rely on workers who are drawn into the military to make a living in unstable circumstances. Overwhelmingly, despite these common observations, I got the reply that being in the military is simply a job, no more no less. And while this is not necessarily the most politically conscious situation, it shows that we have less false-consciousness to overcome and that until the time when we can exclaim, "Turn the guns around!" the road will not be as complicated as in years before.
Clearly it was my experience that the rank-and-file in the U.S. military is not entirely won to the bosses' lies. Even those who were in support of the U.S.'s recent imperialist endeavors made the analogy that Kosovo is basically Vietnam all over again. (Not exactly the words of soldiers committed to U.S. imperialism!) So to our soldiers both inside and outside the military--keep your head up, communist politics are not always as foreign as they sometimes seem. We must have confidence that, with persistent struggle and friendship, our friends are ready to hear them, accept them and act on them.
Red Agitator
This was a tale of two unions, just as surely as capitalism is a tale of two classes. The members had their union meeting in the parking lot; the hacks and delegates (some of whom were honest) had their caucus meeting in the union hall.
In a construction industry that is temporarily booming, carpenters found themselves with a concessionary contract that weakened the hiring hall and made Saturday a forced make-up day at straight-time pay. "We are building houses here [in the Bay Area]," said one carpenter, "but the ones we can afford are hours away."
Rank-and-file carpenters had been the leadership of the May 20 and 21 wildcats that rocked the two biggest construction sites in San Francisco--the massive airport extension and the new baseball stadium. The wildcats, like the Saturday rally, opposed the union leadership and the new contract. They were demanding, "One carpenter, one vote!"
Promoted as a civil rights fight for democracy, it is in reality a fight against the development of fascism. During expansion, capitalism hides behind a façade of democracy but as it enters a period of crisis the system finds it increasingly difficult to disguise its dictatorial nature, where one class (the bosses) dominates another (the workers).
This tightening grip of class dictatorship takes many forms. A key one is to marginalize workers in their own unions. A group from Laborers Local 270 were at the rally. They are fighting financially corrupt officials who are protected by the rising star of the new AFL-CIO, Amy Dean! Another group from an SEIU Local were fighting open collaboration between the union and the bosses. All these groups were preparing to protest at the October AFL-CIO Convention in Los Angeles.
As Saturday's rally and the earlier wildcats demonstrated, when capitalism moves toward fascism it weakens itself. It angers and mobilizes the working class. And workers in struggle are even more open to talking about revolution and communism. Workers' power takes on a powerful meaning to those who create astronomical wealth for real estate developers while being denied any input even in the details of their own exploitation.
In the last year four carpenters have been killed on Bay Area sites. How can a system like communism, which champions workers above profits, not have an appeal among these carpenters? Although we underestimated the potential, we all but sold out all of our Challenges and made many contacts.
Our PLP club decided to revamp the old "rent party" idea where workers short on cash throw a party to raise enough cash to hold off the landlord and his lawyers for another month. Instead we sold tickets to a "rice-and-beans party" to lend a hand as well as demonstrate the solidarity of workers helping workers. Comrades, many in similar or worse economic conditions, gave to assist their fellow worker in need. In addition, many of her co-workers in her shop contributed, even though they were unable to attend the party. One Party member, a garment who is struggling for the pennies he can earn in a dying industry, was offered a free admission ticket but refused, saying: "No, thank you. Times are hard but in these matters I am always willing to give."
Everyone brought a favorite dish or drink, and we danced and had a good time together. In addition to the money we raised as short-term assistance for this worker were the talks we had. Two comrades pointed out that this worker's problem is not unique under capitalism; millions of parents are likewise struggling today under the weight of poor medical care and insufficient money for food and rent. Only a communist revolution offers the solution to the ongoing barbarity of capitalism. And only the PLP offers us the opportunity to achieve that solution.
The workers have been fighting the bosses on this issue, meeting with them several times. These changes were made to suit the bosses' needs, not the workers' (many have been working their designated shifts for years). Many are single mothers with schoolchildren who need to be dropped off and picked up at certain times. The shift-changes will also affect these workers' other activities (like taking college classes, etc.). Now they would have to come to work half an hour earlier.
Since the bosses refused to back down, the workers decided to set up a picket line to inform all the hospital workers about the situation. The union workers at the hospital voted overwhelmingly for informational picketing.
A leaflet was distributed asking the community and patients to help the unit clerks in this struggle. On the picketing day, workers poured out from every hospital department. A few community people and patients' relatives also joined in.
A unit clerk's duties include the smooth running of each nursing unit; to ensure all supplies are available; to call the laboratory for blood results; keeping patients' charts up-to-date; to process all admissions and discharges in a timely fashion; and to ensure vacated beds are cleaned upon patient discharge.
The Party's influence has been here for many years. We've led class struggles, brought busloads of workers to May Day and built a wide distribution of Challenge (which can always be improved).
We've discussed capitalist and communist health care, racism, police terror and imperialist war and their relationship to the problems workers have on and off the job. All this has influenced how many of these workers respond to the hospital bosses.
What a difference a year makes! When 1998 began, U.S. rulers were whipping up war hysteria with talk about anthrax. But after strong reaction by Arab, French and Russian rulers against the U.S., the bosses backed off for a few months. Saddam Hussein saw an opening to break out of U.S.-imposed sanctions, so in August he kicked out UN weapons inspectors. The Clinton crew spent months figuring out what to do. The low point came in November, when--on Saddam's empty promise to cooperate with the weapon inspectors--Clinton called back planes already in the air to bomb Iraq.
PLP has repeatedly warned of the threat of war. U.S. bosses were gearing up to grab Iraq. What happened? Basically, U.S. imperialism decided to settle for half a loaf now, with the hope of grabbing the other half later. By settling for less, U.S. rulers have been able to make some progress, whereas when they were insisting on complete victory, they were facing growing international opposition.
The new strategy, spelled out by Clinton last December, is "regime change" in Iraq. That is diplomatic-speak for U.S. bosses encouraging Iraqis to overthrow Saddam. This differs from the previous strategy of the U.S. invading and occupying Iraq.
The new plan has several elements. The main one is to bomb Saddam regularly, pretending to enforce the long-standing no-fly zones. In fact, the U.S. changed the rules. Every time Iraq turns on radar, whether or not it targets U.S. planes, U.S. jets attack Iraqi command bunkers and communication centers, even though they are sometimes hundreds of miles from the radar.
In addition to stepped-up bombing, the U.S. is organizing covert opposition which has managed to pull off a weekly bombing or assassination for the past three months. The "exile opposition," with lots of U.S. help, is also becoming a more effective voice for U.S. propaganda. Recruitment to Saddam's Air Force is way down. And with his communications under regular attack, his storm troopers are having more difficulty crushing U.S.-backed riots. Saddam is on the defensive. For the first time in his 20-plus years in power, he is touring the country giving speeches warning about internal enemies.
The new plan is less ambitious about what to do inside Iraq--therefore it also requires less support from other ruling classes. In 1998, U.S. imperialism failed to get permission to use Turkey and Saudi Arabia to launch attacks against Iraq. At that time these two U.S. "allies" feared being sucked into an all-out war. Now, under the guise of enforcing the no-fly zones, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are being used by U.S. fighter jets. Also, now that these missions are off the front pages, Saudi and Turkish rulers face less nationalist pressure against being used as U.S. lapdogs.
The success of the new plan is based on its more limited goals. For instance, U.S. bosses know that the opposition cannot create a popular army to drive Saddam from power (Foreign Affairs calls this "a fantasy"), so they're not trying. They're giving the opposition enough support to weaken and harass Saddam, laying the basis for a pro-US military coup.
Similarly on the international front, the new plan recognizes that other rulers strongly oppose the U.S. plan to seize Iraqi oil. Rather than trying to hold together an international coalition, the new plan ignores the UN. Gone is the old fantasy that other imperialists would cheer as U.S. bosses gobbled up Iraq's oil reserves, 10% of the world total. Now U.S. rulers are facing increasingly sharp confrontations with China, France and other bosses in Europe, as well as Russia (before 1990, Moscow's largest foreign investment was the development of Iraq's largest oilfield).
Besides limiting its goals, the U.S. is also committing more resources. In 1998, the Clinton crew tried to terrorize Saddam. When he called their bluff, it took them months to work up to the December "Desert Fox" bombing, (the same name used by Nazi General Rommel when he fought for control of Mideast oil). Now they are carrying out regular bombing missions, and have committed $97 million to aid the Iraqi "opposition."
Has U.S. imperialism proven powerful and victorious in Iraq? No, it has temporarily had to settle for half a loaf, way short of its original goals. Plus, it has stirred up the bitter opposition of the world's other major imperialists, blunting U.S. hopes that its competitors would accept U.S. dominance over the Persian Gulf.
PLP's analysis in 1998 was essentially correct. However, we emphasized the danger of a major war, which did not occur. Our job is "not to warn of peace," but to warn the workers of the rulers' murderous aims. However, we must try to more accurately evaluate the trends and counter-trends at any given time. While we can't predict exact dates, imperialism makes war inevitable, and all the underlying contradictions leading to war are sharpening. We can take advantage of these sharpening contradictions to build a mass PLP, that will turn the guns around, and turn imperialist war into communist revolution.
In fact, in the last nine years, this unprecedented, prolonged series of wars in the "Greater Middle East" has resulted in the deaths of two million people and the uprooting of over six million refugees.
In 1991, the U.S.-led coalition launched Desert Storm in Iraq. The vicious bombing and land campaign saw the U.S. Army bury Iraqi troops alive and its air force massacre retreating troops on the "Highway of Death." This war resulted in some 1.5 million deaths. It was followed by the current sustained embargo and intermittent bombing campaign, causing still more millions of casualties.
In 1994, the Russian army attacked the rebels in Chechnya. A year and a half later, there were 13,000 dead Russian soldiers and 50,000 Chechnyan civilian deaths. Chechnya's capital Grozny had been reduced to rubble. The oil pipeline that runs through Grozny starts in Baku, Georgia, and was projected to go from Bulgaria to Greece. It is the same oil pipeline being fought over in Kosovo.
In Afghanistan, there has been a long and bloody civil war that has seen its capital, Kabul, reduced to rubble. Here, too, the stakes are the control of oil pipelines. Armenia, Turkey and Iran are all scenes in the sharpening, widening oil wars in the "Greater Middle East."
The inevitable crises of capitalism create situations where more goods are produced than can be bought. To make a profit, each capitalist must try to destroy the factories and workers of his rival. This happens through financial meltdowns, as in the Korean auto industry; through banking policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank; and through wars--the quickest way!
Overcapacity in the oil industry today is sharpening this fight with a vengeance. Recently, vast oil and gas reserves were discovered in the Caspian Sea area. This hasn't led to peace in the oil industry because the imperialist who controls the largest and cheapest sources of oil in the world has huge leverage over his competitors. It is a sign of the irrationality of capitalist production that the more oil is discovered, the more working class blood is spilled!
We live in a capitalist world in which the U.S. government bombed--and then put an embargo on--Iraq to keep Iraqi oil off the world market (especially Europe). At the same time, they bombed Yugoslavia to control oil pipelines to the European market, and destroy the pipelines of their competitors. The only way to end these deadly wars for profit is to get rid of the system of exploitation and crisis driven by profit. Only then can oil and all the world's resources be used to meet the needs of the international working class, rather than leading to more, larger and deadlier wars for profit.
The world is capable of producing enough food, shelter, and health care for every single person on the face of the earth. But the immense potential of the productive forces is held hostage by the owners of production. The producers--the workers--own nothing; the capitalists own the oil, the pipelines and everything else. Capitalist production and its wars are organized for private profit, not for social need. To meet our needs, to end imperialist wars, we have to destroy the profit system! And that is the huge task that faces us: building the communist revolution to put the productive forces in the hands of the workers of the world!
Montesinos said the force would consist of "120,000 men, two air divisions, two special forces of infantry, three divisions of marines and 200 planes, besides other military hardware. It would be a campaign that would last between 45 and 60 days." According to Montesinos, both the Peruvian and the Ecuadorian army would play major roles.
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Lima denied the existence of such a plan. Nevertheless, members of the U.S. Special Forces from Fort Bragg , North Carolina, are training a special 1,000-strong anti-drug force whose goal will be to stop the flow of money that the guerrillas supposedly get from taxing the drug traffic in areas under their control. "This is the army of the future in Colombia," said Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez, who had just returned from Washington seeking an increase in U.S. military aid. Clinton responded by granting Colombia $600 million and stating that "the U.S. views Colombia's struggle against the narco traffic as a question of national security."
Fujimori says he opposes U.S. intervention, but is preparing for war. He criticized Colombia's President Pastrana's peace negotiations with the guerrillas, calling the Colombian guerrillas a menace to the region's security. He is pushing for military intervention by other South American countries. Both Peru and Ecuador have reinforced their military forces at the Colombian border.
This U.S.-sponsored military build-up and possible invasion is being trumpeted as an anti-drug effort. This is a Big Lie. Drug trafficking mainly benefits the military brass, the police, government officials and big businessmen and bankers. General Barry McCaffrey, the U.S. anti-drug Czar, gives as an example of the worsening Colombian drug situation the fact that "ten years ago there was no opium in Colombia; today it produces six tons of heroin a year." By contrast, U.S. pal and NATO member Turkey produces 60-84 tons of heroin a year, and it supplies 75% of the heroin entering Europe. Closer to the U.S., 70% of all cocaine, heroin and marijuana entering the U.S. now passes through Mexico. Also, the biggest "money-laundering" machine in the world now is in Mexico, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (Hoy, NYC Spanish daily, 8/2).
Of course, the U.S. is not about to bomb Istanbul, Mexico City or attack the Kosovo Liberation Army or the Albanian government for their participation in this heroin traffic.
The Colombian guerrillas want a bigger share of this wealth and will side with whoever pays the most. Presently U.S. bosses are mainly offering bullets; the Europeans are offering money. The guerrillas are winning the war against the Colombian army. Their influence and the conflict will spread.
Venezuelan President Chavez, who has ties to Europe's bosses, proposes that the guerrillas be treated as a legitimate power, and promises them a haven in Venezuela. President Pastrana says the Colombian army will then pursue the guerrillas into Venezuelan territory. Chavez has replied that the Colombians will be viewed as an invading army and treated accordingly. Argentine President Menem is willing to participate in a regional army's invasion of Columbia. Brazil is against it. Brazil and Argentina are the biggest members of MERCOSUR, the huge South American trading bloc that deals mainly with the European Union.
As we can see, inter-imperialist rivalry for the control of oil, markets and cheap labor has the potential of igniting the whole Latin American continent. This rivalry will eventually explode into a wider conflict directly involving the imperialist powers. Capitalism makes war for profits inevitable. The role of communists is to organize workers and soldiers to turn the wars for profits into revolutionary struggles to smash capitalism.
Several of us wrote a letter of support to the family. We said that these police killings are racist, that the rulers use their police to control the working class with racist terror; we need to fight these attacks, as well as the attacks we face on the job.
When we took this letter to work, we got different reactions from workers. Many were pleased we were doing something about these attacks and gladly gave $2, $3 or $5. Some questioned why we were doing this if we didn't know the family, and some were afraid to sign because we weren't doing it "legally," meaning we hadn't gone to management for permission.
Several non-party workers were won to circulate the letter. We collected 60 signatures and $100. We then had to deliver all this to the family. After several failed attempts to organize the club members to go, a friend of ours asked, "I thought we were supposed to go visit the family; when are we going?"
A few days later, the two of us went and talked with the mother and brother. They were surprised we had taken the time and effort to do this. They already knew about the Party because several members had visited them shortly after the killings. We talked about the need to organize workers to take action when ANY workers are attacked by the police, about the role of the police and of management, and why we need communist revolution. The mother, having worked at the post office for years, was very clear about how the postal bosses uses mainly black supervisors to terrorize and control the mainly black workforce. They invited us to demonstrate with them at the Mayor's office the next week, and we invited them to a postal workers' picnic.
Self-critically, if we had acted sooner, we could have taken it to the union (which shuts down for the summer). We need to be much sharper on that point.
All in all, this was a very positive action for our club. It involved members and friends of the party, and it put us in action against racist police terror. When we gave the mother a few copies of Challenge, my coworker said, "We need to get these all over the post office."
Dear PLP member,
Hey, you have to send me a list of places where the KKK rallies are so we can go and protest against them. I got a package in the mail today with the PLP member's picture as he was taken away by the cops then with everyone who protested with our fists in the air. I know we met that day but it seemed like I knew you for years and you seemed like a brother because you and your friends accepted me and looked to me to help lead everyone in the march.
Your friend,
Ohio worker
Dear Comrades:
Well, I read your article on the KKK in Steubenville and I am impressed. We, the working class and communists took over our town and ran out the KKK. It was great to see all these people working together against that fascist, racist filth!
I am proud to work with an organization that doesn't just talk, but takes action. Too many people like to just talk. That won't change anything, only powerful action by the workers and the Party, together, can bring any real change! I hope you guys come back so we can work together again.
Your Comrade in Steubenville
PS I want to go about organizing a PLP group in Steubenville, but I don't really know how. Help me out and I'll do my part!
Below is a letter to Challenge written by one of the comrades trying to organize in a reform group that is aimed toward fighting health care cuts.
We joined a mass organization fighting for health care reform to basebuild for the Party. We recently led this group to join a strike of hospital workers against a large health system in Philadelphia. I persuaded several coworkers from my job to come to the strike and join this mass organization.
I talked to them, others from the mass organization, and strikers about capitalism and health care. In the future I hope to talk about communism and hand out Challenge. This will become easier as I get to know them better and I talk more in the mass organization.
My coworkers and others from the group saw a strike of committed and angry workers from many hospitals and unions. We united together with people from this Latin and black community who are losing important hospital services. We sang loudly about solidarity. Despite a few speeches attacking capitalism as the cause of this crisis in health care, only demands for reform were made, not for revolution.
But I gained more experience in class conflict, basebuilding, and talking about communism. The revolution starts there.
Comrade in Philadelphia
Again, Challenge has exposed a proclaimed "savior" of the working class as a goose-stepping servant of the bosses. Challenge (8/4,) discussed Cesar Chavez' attacks on undocumented workers. In doing so, the paper clarified an area where the true colors of liberal fascists often emerge--their behavior towards immigrant workers.
While the liberal section of the ruling class has used the "carrot" in its attempt to win documented workers to be patriotic and to send their children to fight and die in their army, they have had nothing but the "stick" for the so-called illegals. For instance, liberal fascists like former Labor Secretary Robert (Fourth) Reich support Clinton's "Operation Gate-keeper,"--a fascist crack-down on "illegal" immigration which has caused the death of hundreds of workers--and the deportation of hundreds of thousands more in the last two years.
Another way in which liberals attack immigrant workers, is in their denunciation of visas and other similar programs. One example of this can be found in the newsletter "Counterpunch," which is run by the leftist journalist guru Alexander Cockburn. In his article, "The Return of Bracero," on the internet at: www.counterpunch.org/bracero.html, an attempt is made to create anti-immigrant sentiment. It does this by using the threat of the return of the Bracero program. It begins with, "The agricultural lobby is poised to...allow American companies to import cheap immigrant labor."
In this article, like in all other attacks on immigrants, the fact that these extremely oppressed workers are paid less than U.S. workers is sighted. The article does not mention the cause of this problem, the racist system of imperialism. Imperialism forces workers from super-exploited regions of the world to accept far worse exploitation than those in imperialist countries.
Rather than discussing this, and laying the blame on the bosses and their borders where it belongs, the article blames the workers for their condition. Instead of calling on workers on both sides of the border to unite to smash capitalism, it calls on U.S. bosses to hire U.S. workers. By doing so, the article works to build nationalism to hide from workers the reality that they belong to an international class.
The article concludes by quoting a grower who raves about how cheap the immigrant workers are. In particular, he talks about how their children are not in the U.S. which saves him the expense of child-care. It is no accident that a main use Rockefeller forces have for immigrants is to make their children cannon fodder in their wars. Since these workers' children cannot fight in their army, Rockefeller Inc. does not hesitate in attacking them. By legitimizing and supporting borders, Cockburn's article aids the bosses in this racist and fascist aim. The fascism of these so-called leftists only further illustrates the need to distribute Challenge and build PLP to smash all borders with worldwide communist revolution!
Red Student
From July 12 to 23 I participated in a Planning, Owning, Welcoming Educational Reform (POWER) workshop, sponsored and paid for by the NYC Board of Education.
The "educational reformers" leading this workshop, from outside NYC, put on a very nice show promoting "emotional literacy." They wanted everyone to believe that positive change could occur within schools, if one had the correct emotional tools, such as effective listening and communication. One of their major beliefs was to trust everyone and everything (yes, the Board of Education). Otherwise, one was doomed to a life of chaos!
A book would be given out daily, usually related to school reform. POWER Bucks were our "rewards." (We all "looked good" on one particular day and received two Power Bucks for that). These Power Bucks could then "buy" more books. (Book prices were 1 to 4 POWER Bucks each.)
After our arrival, it was story time. For the first week, the facilitators of this group of 100 brought in stories about spiritual dreams, saints, etc. Some people were offended, but others claimed you must "believe in your dreams." On some days, people (most were administrators from the five boroughs) brought in books of their own to share. One black female administrator brought one entitled, Efficient Teaching for Minority Students. Some people immediately labeled this book inappropriate because it implied non-white students needed to be taught differently. Once again, the facilitators came to the rescue, saying that "in California, everyone is a minority, so perhaps this could be used there."
In addition, we were taught there are gender biases in the way males and females solve problems. Males, we were told, use logical reasoning to form their responses. Females use language to build relationships, but never solve the problem. (!)
The Chief Executive for School Programs and Support Services also appeared one day for a pep talk on how wonderful we were for welcoming school reform. She has committed $1 million to this POWER program because she believes ultimately it will make a difference in students' lives across the city.
This was a very elegantly-wrapped version of the bosses' lies about educating our youth. The Board of Education continues to believe that reform is the way to save a dying school system. The racist and sexist beliefs put forward only received verbal challenges from a few in the audience. That was truly an eye-opener.
It was obvious that these POWERS have no clue when it comes to the day-to-day struggles of a teacher in the classroom. I tried to imagine what it would be like if we really had the tools to teach every student equally in NYC. That would mean all students would have jobs upon graduation, something the Board of Ed doesn't want to happen.
The ONLY way students, teachers and parents will be able to work effectively together is under an egalitarian, communist system. All teachers would have the tools they need and all students would have equal access. Racism and sexism would be a thing of the past. We need to fight for this every day in our schools and classrooms. Let's make it a reality, not merely a "dream" we wish for!
NYC High School Teacher
The article "Inland Steel" (8/4), starts out good talking about Challenge being distributed and "workers talked about communist revolution and workers power!" And that's the last we hear in an article that runs a full half-page about workers' thoughts on these subjects. The rest of the article is mainly about job security, pensions, how bad bosses and union leaders are. But any involved worker, trade unionist or other left type party could talk/write about the same thing. That is not what the comrades are in the shops for or should be mainly writing about.
There is a basic conflict within the working class movement--reform or revolution. Whichever one of these is dominant, at the time, at the time, determines the direction the working class movement will take (not involving outside forces). Except for brief periods, the history of the U.S. working class shows the reform aspect has been overwhelmingly dominant and indeed history shows that a never-ending demand for more money, jobs, pensions, etc.
The PLP position, simply put, is that for communist revolution to succeed, communist politics, ideas, actions, etc., must not only be brought into the labor movement. They must also succeed in becoming an ever-growing, if not dominating, force! And one of the better ways of learning how to do that is when there is activity and talk about those things among the workers.
Along comes the Inland article that tells us the comrades have brought in just those communist doings and workers are involved with them. Why is the comrade so shy in telling us how? What are the workers saying (and disagreeing) about communism? What's our answer? What actions of our success or failures? Why? We need to know. Looking forward to more "red steel" than "reform steel."
NYC Reader
Although I am not a communist, per se, I do frequent your website for the latest news and developments. I agree with many of your opinions, but I think that I am more inclined toward the anarchist framework and, especially, Chomsky.
I would just like to thank you for your editorial on the Kennedys. Even at the age of 22, I learned a lot about the Kennedy "Klan." I learned long ago about Joseph and Rose Kennedy's extreme pro-Nazi behavior.
Kennedy and Rockefeller money went to make sure that Hitler's war machine was properly oiled. I don't care how "liberal" Ted, Bobby and JFK were. The sins of the father, so to speak, were unthinkable. As a Jewish American with some holocaust surviving family members, I feel only antipathy and hate towards the Kennedy bunch.
What did JFK do that was so great? If he wasn't assassinated, he wouldn't have been made into a martyr and remembered with such reverence. Remember, it was his liberal brother Bobby, who was active in the McCarthy trials, convicting many people for their political beliefs.
JFK also got us first involved with Vietnam. No one wants to remember that. His hatred for Communism, probably because of his father's fascist past, overcame his so-called "liberalism" to invade a sovereign country undergoing what could be essentially termed, a civil war. Yet, JFK had to destroy communism in all of its forms in order to protect U.S. profit interests.
Look at Ted Kennedy. Sure, now he's supposedly fighting the good fight and speaking up for the "common man"--all from his multi-million dollar home in an upper class suburban neighborhood. Isn't it just convenient? He doesn't have a clue what it means to struggle and work for an uncompromising money-hungry boss. He never had to--from the time he was born he was rich.
I don't have enough work experiences to include myself with those who struggled, but I remember well, all those years my parents struggled just to put food on the table and to make ends meet. I remember seeing my mother cry when times became unbearable.
Ted is also a drunk, a womanizer/misogynist (like all of the Kennedy men--another Nazi-like trait probably learned from their fascist father), and a murderer. Let's not forget that! He didn't rush to call the police to rescue the woman in the car with him. Some "compassionate liberal"!
JFK, Jr. was no hero. He was a spoiled rich kid who lived off his family's wealth, power and prestige. And, on the side, produced a silly mediocre magazine. If he would have run for President, I would not have voted for him. He doesn't know a thing about politics. Because he is a Kennedy doesn't mean that he has some kind of political gene in his body.
Every time I saw those brainless, pathetic people weeping over his "loss," I became nauseated. Hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent African-American children and adults get killed every day, yet, nary a word about their precious lives. Yet, when a rich white person dies or is killed, the world has to stop. If a poor African American girl gets killed, it's lucky if the incident is mentioned on a local news station. That is blatant racism, folks!
I'm so sorry for sounding off, but this whole JFK Jr. saga gets me so infuriated and sick. I thank you deeply for setting the record straight.
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