The month-long lockout of electric and natural gas utility workers at Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) ended April 28th. Where before, political struggle on the job was minimal, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) leaflets, CHALLENGES, and discussions were fairly strong on the picket line. NIPSCO workers saw the Party in action. It was multiracial, men and women. Contacts were made, tamales shared. People visited. After many years on the job, more people are connecting with communist ideas and the knowledge that the working class can run society for itself!

Workers need the Party

NIPSCO, one of the largest utility companies in the U.S., provides natural gas and electricity across six states including Indiana. When they locked us out, they had scabs ready to take our jobs. Their demands included forced overtime and other attacks on our working conditions. Clerical workers at NIPSCO had already written about how their jobs were being eliminated — handed off to AI systems and call centers, their livelihoods wiped out.

NIPSCO is widely hated by the working class for its outrageously high bills. Workers in Northwest Indiana have protested staggering rate increases, much of the company’s profits flowing into the pockets of Blackstone — the notoriously racist private equity giant (Chicago Tribune, 2/28) and one of the largest in the country, largely responsible for the displacement of working-class communities nationwide. Blackstone profits from the enslavement of migrant children forced to labor in slaughterhouse plants (Time, 2/17/2023), as well as being a major investor in the genocide of mostly women and children in Gaza — owning defense technology companies Cobham and Ultra Electronics whose components are embedded in the F-35 fighter jets used by the Israeli military to bomb Gaza (Private Equity Stakeholder Project, 2/5/2024), showing that the hand that raises utility bills and attacks utility workers also displaces, bombs, and enslaves our working-class children.

The Party moved into action quickly, both inside the plant and on the outside. Young Party leadership pushed us forward — making contacts, spreading the word about the bosses’ fascist attacks.

A Party member inside was moved to take the bullhorn and speak before everyone as we filed into the union hall to vote on the contract. We had been out for two weeks, and the sellout union had brought us back with essentially the same contract we had already rejected. We were faced with a choice: vote yes, or risk sitting out for months like our fellow USW (United Steelworkers) members at BP Amoco in nearby Whiting.

A comrade speaks out

The comrade did speak to “VOTE NO” on the contract, to fight back against the company’s attacks on the working class. The comrade himself was a little surprised at the co-workers who complimented him for standing up to the sell-out contract. The vote was 708 to 486 to accept the contract, probably closer than the leaders expected.

One particular moment was especially powerful. A woman comrade from Mexico came to the picket line. After a couple of hours of carrying a sign, she wanted to speak. She spoke in Spanish (and was translated). She told of how her father, in the little town in Mexico where she grew up, was like us workers on the picket line. We were sticking up for others like her dad had done. I am sure we all felt the international solidarity circulating through our lives that night. It won’t be forgotten.

The struggle goes on. Energy has to be maintained. There is a lot to do. Do more to support the BP workers locked out. Keep plugging away to win as many workers as possible to Progressive Labor Party.

This month, workers in the U.S. will be reminded that the bosses’ racist system of chattel slavery officially ended in 1865 — but racist attacks and slavery continue today in other forms. The following is a reprint of a Challenge article originally published June 29, 2018, titled “Juneteenth Perpetuates Racist Myth” — published three years before racist crime bill architect Joe Biden signed it into law as an official federal holiday.

June 19, or “Juneteenth,” commemorates the end of chattel slavery. Juneteenth has been pushed on the working class with the sponsorship of major banks like Wells Fargo. Juneteenth perpetuates many racist myths about the U.S., including the myth that the images we’re given of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama supposedly represent the ‘real’ U.S., and Donald Trump is something different.  

While the bosses promote their bank-sponsored Juneteenth holiday, they obscure the fact that racism and slavery never truly ended — and just as deliberately, they erase the long history of anti-racist struggle waged by Black and white workers together. These same bosses keep racism alive and entrenched in the 21st century, using it to divide Black workers from white workers, and to condition the U.S. working class to accept the bigger and deadlier wars already taking shape on the horizon.

Origins of Juneteenth

Two years before June 19, 1865 came Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which excluded slave states that were not in rebellion against the Union – Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and Missouri – and Texas, which was not a battleground. Many planters and other slaveholders moved to Texas with over 150,000 slaves in order to escape the raging Civil War. In June, 1865, after the surrender of General Robert E. Lee and the Union victory in New Orleans, word finally came to Galveston, Texas that the slaves were free. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, officially ending slavery throughout the country, was not passed until December, 1865.

Abraham Lincoln, the so-called “Great Emancipator” of slaves, was no believer in the equality of Black workers. His main motive for fighting the Civil War was preservation of the unity of the United States, not abolishing slavery. In 1858, Lincoln said, “I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races…”

Lincoln favored setting up colonies for Black former slaves in Africa and Central America, and requested funds from Congress to deport freed slaves.

Another history we do not learn about or celebrate is that of the multitude of rebellions against slavery, many of them multiracial, from the 1600s to the 1800s.  In their book The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic, Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker document many of these. Among them are:

• The Barbados rebellions in 1649, which united Irish and African slaves;
• Bacon’s rebellion in Virginia in 1676, which united slaves and white indentured servants;
• The ‘New York City Conspiracy’ of 1741, which united African workers, white indentured servants, sailors, and Irish immigrants;
• Nat Turner’s slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831;
• John Brown’s multiracial antislavery campaign culminating at Harper’s Ferry.  
• The most successful was the Haitian rebellion, which abolished slavery and colonization on that island by 1804.

Racism never ended

At the end of the Civil War, freed slaves became wage laborers on former plantations, sharecroppers, or domestic workers. For a short time, their well-being was protected by federal troops during Reconstruction from 1865-77. Once this protection was withdrawn, white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan flourished, often made up of local law enforcement. This Jim Crow era was characterized by the open murder of thousands of Black workers, rampant imprisonment, impoverishment and indebtedness of former slaves and total segregation. 

Although many of these abuses were gradually mitigated through the Great Migration of Black workers to the North, landmark court decisions, and ultimately the Civil Rights Movement, racism has continued to flourish in all parts of the United States. Today, there are five times more workers trapped in modern slavery — through sex trafficking, forced prison labor, forced marriage, labor camps, and domestic servitude via the kafala system — than there were Black workers enslaved under chattel slavery in the 19th century (ILO, Walk Free Foundation, and the International Organization for Migration, Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, 2022). Racial wage differentials between white men and Black and Latino workers amount to nearly $800 billion a year, approaching half of total annual corporate profits. Disparities in social spending on education, health care, and housing add hundreds of billions more to that toll. The conclusion is inescapable: U.S. capitalism could not survive without racism. 

Black workers continue to be incarcerated at five times the rate of white workers and are killed by police at a sharply disproportionate rate — at roughly two to three times the frequency of white workers, despite comprising just 13 percent of the population. Officers are almost never convicted for the killing of Black workers. Schools, hospitals, and neighborhoods remain as segregated today as they were fifty years ago. And just as under Jim Crow, migrant workers are routinely rounded up, deported, or imprisoned in detention camps — where adults are compelled to perform forced labor for as little as one dollar a day, and children have been held in metal cages, separated from their parents. As of mid-2018, the federal government had separated and detained more than 2,000 children, housing many of them in chain-link enclosures in temporary border facilities; in total, more than 5,400 children were ultimately torn from their families under the zero-tolerance policy (Southern Poverty Law Center, Family Separation: A Timeline, 2019; Susan Terrio, Whose Child Am I?, UC Press, 2020). These racist attacks have flourished under both Democrats and Republicans alike.

All workers are hurt by racism

Other ideas pushed on workers today include “white privilege”, as if white workers created racism, benefitted from it, or should be paralyzed or separate themselves because of guilt. While many white workers may temporarily hold racist views, anti-Black racism was purposely and methodically created by the U.S. bosses of the 1600-1700s to justify slavery and separate white indentured servants and poor farmers from Black slaves. Before that, there had been social mixing and intermarriage between whites and non-whites.

What the ruling class fears is us recognizing that the lowered standards and super-exploitation for one sector of the working class brings down the standards for all sectors.

Racism serves capitalism well to maximize profits and minimize rebellion. Separation into different schools, neighborhoods, job titles, unions, and neighborhoods keeps us divided when only multiracial mass action would enable us to fight back effectively. U.S. rulers also rely on racism to win workers, white, Black and immigrant, to fight imperialist wars for markets and resources by painting Muslim, Arab, Asian and other workers as enemies.

It is heartening to witness the mass uprising against the separation and incarceration of immigrant children, which has actually forced a minimal change in Trump’s policies. We must use this power of the unity of millions of workers to destroy this racist system once and for all and build an egalitarian worker-run society: communism.

It’s already been three months since our historic four-day strike in February, the first since 1979! There were many political victories, but we saw some representatives who were clearly sellouts (read CHALLENGE, 3/11 issue).

Punishing us for striking, the school district extended our school calendar to “make-up” for the lost instructional days. The union leadership said they “had” to agree to the plan. Our unity between credentialed teachers, therapists, nurses, and non-credentialed instructional aides, security guards, et al got stronger as we approached the end of the school year. Soon, we will be rejuvenating ourselves and preparing for the next full year of struggles AND education.

Our strike and everything leading up to it was not revolutionary, but 100 percent reformist. However, the struggle consisted of workers acting in solidarity and without individual incentive, which is a communist concept. We have a long way to go, but being present in the struggle helps us fight towards revolution.

This is the perfect time to analyze what we learned and what our next steps should be. Our party club had a meeting to discuss some of these issues:

Lessons Learned

Clearly, rank-and-file workers are ready for escalated action. We need to maintain and build on this momentum.
It is possible to expand struggles in our contracts beyond our working conditions to include “common good” demands such as housing for our unhoused students and their families and protection from ICE.

Workers were receptive to our line that the liberals are the main danger, especially in San Francisco where illusions of being “progressive” among city leadership are used to quell dissent. Working people did not go for this and responded with anger and disgust at the powers-that-be for not prioritizing a fairer contract for educators. One chant openly criticized the superintendent’s $385,000 salary (“Listen up, Maria Siu. You need us, we don’t need you. Please tell us why—-your salary is so damn high!”)

Youth are leaders in educational struggles and often have a stronger line than adults. One student spoke at a rally directly criticizing the state. She asked why there is always money for bombing Palestine and parts of Asia, but not enough for schools and workers.

In our huge bargaining team under the guise of our size being more “democratic,” there were examples of the leadership trying to dispel critical thinking and dissent from the rank-and-file. For example, the bargaining team was told that they were “not allowed to offer objections” to the union’s counter proposals. They were also told to “temper” our expectations and to be “realistic” about the budget.

That is what we learned. Our club also came up with a few important next steps for our work.

More to do

We need to work with youth organizations and clubs. We also need to consider our role within the unions. Would it be enough to focus on teacher-student communication and base-building?

We need to consistently put out the party line and study former labor struggles and even local labor history and make connections with non-unionized sectors.

Onward, educators and students! We have a world to win!

International Workers’ Day, observed each year on May 1, remains one of the most enduring symbols of proletarian struggle. In Pakistan, May Day 2026 was officially recognized as a public holiday. State institutions, banks, and markets remained closed, while rallies, seminars, and political gatherings took place in various cities. Yet beneath this formal recognition lies a fundamental contradiction: the gap between symbolic acknowledgment of workers and the harsh realities of their everyday lives.

May Day activities 

Across the country, May Day was marked by a mixture of official rhetoric and organized activity. State representatives issued statements praising workers as the “backbone of society,” projecting an image of recognition and respect. Political parties and their affiliated labor wings held rallies and seminars, attempting to position themselves as defenders of workers’ rights. At the same time, different political forces prepared protests and mobilizations, reflecting a degree of political engagement around the day.

However, alongside these formal activities, real struggles of workers continued uninterrupted. In places like Peshawar, workers protested against unpaid wages and delayed pensions, highlighting the persistent neglect they face. Sanitation workers and contract laborers raised demands for regularization, job security, and basic rights—issues that remain unresolved year after year. This coexistence of ceremonial celebration at the top and ongoing exploitation at the base captures the true character of May Day in Pakistan today.

The May Day in Pakistan is increasingly reduced to a symbolic holiday rather than a day of militant working-class struggle. The radical spirit that once defined May Day has been diluted into routine observance.

These protests were not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of unrest. Workers demanded higher wages, improved working conditions, and social justice, signaling a growing dissatisfaction with the existing order. This global wave of resistance reflects a systemic crisis of capitalism—one that is also acutely felt in Pakistan through inflation, unemployment, and austerity measures imposed on the masses.

PLP has consistently argued that trade unions operating within capitalism are structurally limited in their capacity to bring about fundamental change. While they may win temporary economic concessions, they cannot abolish the system of exploitation itself. Economic struggles, when confined to demands for higher wages or better conditions, do not challenge the underlying relations of production.

Reform won't liberate workers

In Pakistan, May Day activities largely reflected this reformist orientation. Many speeches and mobilizations focused on demands for wage increases rather than questioning wage labor itself. Appeals for legal protections were emphasized, but without confronting the capitalist system that necessitates exploitation. Moreover, reliance on political parties tied to ruling-class interests further restricted the scope of struggle. As a result, the working class was mobilized, but within limits acceptable to capital.

Another key contradiction lies in the role of the state. On the one hand, the Pakistani state declares May Day a holiday in honor of workers, projecting itself as a guardian of labor rights. On the other hand, it continues to implement policies that perpetuate exploitation, including privatization, austerity, and precarious employment practices.

Many May Day events in Pakistan were framed within nationalist narratives, emphasizing development, national progress, and state-centered solutions. While such rhetoric may appear unifying, it ultimately serves to divide workers along national lines and obscure their common interests.

Perhaps the most significant weakness revealed by May Day 2026 in Pakistan is the absence of a mass revolutionary communist movement capable of providing direction and leadership. Without such leadership, worker struggles remain fragmented and confined to immediate demands.

PLP stresses the necessity of building an international communist party deeply rooted in the working class. This involves transforming economic struggles into political struggles aimed at seizing power and dismantling capitalist relations. It also requires developing class consciousness that goes beyond immediate grievances to a broader understanding of systemic exploitation.

Fightback must continue to grow

May Day 2026 brought into sharp focus several contradictions within Pakistani capitalism. Workers are publicly praised and symbolically recognized, yet continue to face wage theft, insecure employment, and relentless inflation. Mobilizations and rallies take place, but they are often contained within boundaries that do not challenge the system itself. At the same time, while workers around the world are increasingly resisting capitalist exploitation, Pakistani workers remain divided along sectoral lines, political affiliations, and ethnic or regional identities, weakening their collective strength.

PLP is striving to unite the working-class people against capitalist exploitation, imperialist aggression, nationalism, fascism, racism, poverty, illiteracy, religious fundamentalism and oppression.