In an ominous sign of coming imperialist carnage, long-time pacifist Japan scrapped its decade-long ban on the export of lethal weapons abroad. Over the 80 years that followed World War II, Japan’s constitution limited its military to self-defense. But the current period is marked by extreme volatility—and an unpredictable U.S. empire that can no longer be counted on by its traditional allies. Japan’s ruling class is busy building up its arms industry to counter looming threats from fast-rising China and an armed-to-the-teeth North Korea (pbs.org, 4/21). At this point, they’ve signed off on channeling warships, combat drones, and other lethal weaponry to 17 countries (AP News, 4/21). 

From east to west, from north to south, other capitalist rulers are following suit, eager to join a ballooning arms race that will send millions of workers to early graves. Last year alone, the world’s capitalist bosses set a military spending record of nearly $3 trillion (CNBC, 4/27), enough to feed all the hungry people on Earth for 75 years (UN World Food Programme). 

Workers have no stake in this imperialist dogfight. We must prepare to turn the guns around by organizing and fighting with the revolutionary Progressive Labor Party (PLP).  In the class war to come, a united and politically conscious international working class will be the deadliest weapon on Earth. Under the leadership of PLP, we will build a Red Army and march on to communist revolution.

Imperialists prep for WWIII

Today’s rapid militarization shows that World War III is on the horizon. The bosses know this all too well, even if they aren’t ready for an all-out confrontation and aren’t sure how the fatal game will play out. Last year, Germany and India joined the top imperialist gangsters--the U.S., China, and Russia--as the biggest military spenders. Prompted by Russia’s war with Ukraine and U.S. Commander-in-Thief Donald Trump’s threats to leave NATO, European nations shelled out a whopping $559 billion. Not to be outdone, Russia raised its military expenditures to $190 billion, up six percent from the year before (SIPRI, 4/27). 

Meanwhile, China showed no signs of halting its own massive military buildup. Its rise as an economic superpower has allowed it to funnel more than $400 billion per year into expanding its army, navy, and air forces (CSIS, 9/2). Feeding its imperialist ambitions in Asia, China now commands a growing arsenal of nuclear, maritime, long-range strike, cyber, and space systems that rivals that of the United States.  

Going hand-in-hand with these massive investments are renewed efforts to force our working-class brothers and sisters to the frontlines. Germany recently voted to allow 18-year-olds to opt into the military, while Croatia and Latvia reintroduced compulsory service (BBC, 12/5/2025). Cambodia and Myanmar passed stricter conscription laws. And beginning this December, the U.S. will automatically register all eligible men, a potential step toward a wartime draft (CNN, 4/9.

As the rulers compete for resources and markets, and bloat their military budgets in the runup to world war, they are cutting social services, ignoring aging infrastructures, and fueling inflation that impoverishes the working class. Trump wants to finance a mammoth $1.5 trillion defense budget by slashing healthcare, education, and housing (CNN 4/3). Europe’s colossal military spending will come from cutting “butter” for more guns (New York Times, 3/31). The bosses have nothing to offer us but misery and death.

U.S decline drives scramble

U.S. decline is accelerating the drive to world war. From their debacle in Vietnam in the 1970s through more recent defeats in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. death machine has plunged into a downward spiral. Ruthless infighting between its liberal imperialist and Fortress America factions, made even more chaotic by Commander-in-Thief Donald Trump, is pushing the failing empire to the edge—and making it even more dangerous.  

The grinding stalemates in Iran and Ukraine paint a bleak picture for the U. S. bosses’ future. Despite its status as the world’s leading military power and merchant of death, with more than 750 bases in more than 80 countries, the U.S. is unprepared for modern warfare. It can’t produce enough weapons and is being stymied by smaller regional powers like Iran with cheap drone technology (New York Times, 4/30). Even if Congress were to pass Trump’s exorbitant $1.5 trillion defense budget proposal, a 42 percent increase over current levels, the U.S. bosses currently lack the unity and political will for a ground war. Their only choice will be more open fascism —both to impose discipline on their own ranks and to enlist workers into their next blood-soaked nationalist crusade. 

Turn the guns around

The vicious capitalist bosses are slaughtering workers en masse from Gaza to Ukraine, from Sudan to Iran. In 2025 alone, imperialist violence killed an estimated 240,000 workers and children (Washington Post, 1/1). This number will no doubt rise as our class faces the economic, social, and environmental consequences of the bosses’ ever-widening wars.

The international working class is the world’s mightiest army by far. But to win a better world free of capitalist butchery, we must push our limits and win masses of workers to revolutionary communism. Lenin and the Bolsheviks demonstrated how imperialist war can be transformed into communist revolution. Let’s turn the guns around by joining and fighting with Progressive Labor Party for communism, a world run by and for the working class!

"Que viva, que viva, que viva el comunismo!" rang through the streets of Flatbush, Brooklyn as the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) continued our tradition of bringing communist ideas to the masses during our annual May Day march. Behind the backdrop of intensified imperialist war and the rise of fascist attacks on migrant workers around the world, almost 200 members and friends of PLP marched loudly to show that a communist world is the future for millions around the world. This year's theme was "ICE in the streets, bombs in the air - fight for communism everywhere!"

Internationalism essential to building revolutionary movement 

Workers and students gathered on foot, trains, and buses from around the NYC area. On one of the buses, members practiced chants with first timers. Then passengers shared what they love about May Day. One person spoke about the support from the workers watching the march and waving in solidarity. The students, as young as seven, talked about how they hate racism and are glad to see workers fighting back. One veteran comrade mentioned how PLP members used their belts to beat up the racists at the 1975 May Day in Boston. Another comrade gave us a short history about how PLP brought back May Day marches in 1972 after the sell-out Communist Party USA and other groups abandoned the workers' holiday decades before. On a second bus, participants discussed the history of early communist movements, the birth of May Day, and the origins of "The Internationale."

After arriving at the march start location, the PLP truck pulled up with our red flags, Our emcees immediately began to get the crowd pumped up. Recognizing the history of May Day, they recalled how the original May Day demands were for better working conditions and the eight-hour workday. We in PLP carry on the tradition of fightback, but the history of our movement has taught us that reforms, regardless of how hard they are fought for, are always temporary. The bosses will always find a way to take them back. That is why the only solution is the fight for a communist world run by the working class. 

We heard international greetings from East Africa, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Brazil, and Haiti, an inspiring reminder that our fight is far, far larger than Flatbush Avenue. These speeches also show the progress that our Party has made over the years in our commitment to one international, revolutionary communist Party. While the exact conditions of the class struggle might differ, our comrades around the world are testing the line of the Party and using it to guide their work.

Then, a health care worker from Haiti gave a rousing speech about her fightback on the job and ways that workers are standing in solidarity with their fellow workers around the world rather than happily going along with the bosses' bidding. The speech was filled with the revolutionary optimism necessary to defeat this dark night (read it on page 8). She highlighted the role of soldiers and sailors in leading the fight to shoot this racist profit system down.

March for workers! March for communism! 

After the speech, we took the streets and brought our revolutionary line to the workers of Brooklyn. From chants that recognized the significance of the Haitian Revolution "Koupe Tet, Boule Kay" to the classic "Whose Day? Our Day! What Day? May Day!" and "Raise Your Red Flags High - The Communists Are Marching By," our line, accompanied by new beats, resonated with many workers.  Young people showed their love by dancing along and making videos, while workers on the sidewalk eagerly took CHALLENGE. We distributed over 2200 papers. One first-time May Day marcher who sold CHALLENGE during the march said afterwards, "This is the closest I've come to joining the Party." While he hasn't joined yet, he did take 12 Challenges to distribute at work.  

On the buses back from the march, passengers shared their favorite moments from this year's May Day. One comrade realized that this was his 40th May Day celebration. A very young student shared his favorite chant: "When the working class is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!" At least three new people committed to joining the Party.

Fight! Grow! Build a movement!

This is the way we are going to bury the bosses once and for all. Although we always struggle to bring more workers and students to May Day, how we move forward with confidence inspires our base to have confidence that a communist future is possible. We look forward to working with these new recruits during our annual summer project and helping prepare them to lead future May Days and class struggle in their jobs, schools, and neighborhoods. If this year's May Day inspired you, commit or recommit to fighting for a  more just future world without exploitation, racism, or sexism. Join Progressive Labor Party!

Comrades, workers, siblings of the working class, immigrant and native-born, documented and undocumented, union and nonunion, we gather today not just for celebration, but for clarity, for strength, and to celebrate the international working class. We are the ones who keep society running. Our hands build the cities. Our hands heal the sick. Our labor harvests the food, drives the trucks, cleans the buildings, teaches the children, and keeps the lights on. It is our sweat that creates the wealth of the world, wealth that is stolen by the parasitic, capitalist ruling class.

And it is our sweat that will build the Progressive Labor Party (PLP).  We will organize the working class until the day comes when we wipe out that parasitic class forever. We will free the international working class from the chains of capitalism.

May Day, International Workers’ Day, is not a decoration on the calendar. It is a living memory of repression, imprisonment and sacrifice. But more importantly, May Day is a reminder that when workers fight back, our power is unbeatable. It is a reminder of strikes, solidarity, antiracism, anti-sexism, smashing borders, and communist victory!

I am a healthcare worker and CUNY student who comes from Haiti. I have been a member of Progressive Labor Party for six years and have been part of many struggles on campus and on the job since then. Most recently, along with thousands of New Yorkers, I supported the nurses during their strike against the hospital bosses. On the picket line I gave out CHALLENGE and spoke with many of my coworkers about the nature of healthcare under capitalism. I spoke about how workers, especially Black and Latin workers, will always suffer under this racist system. I struggled with them to see that healthcare workers and patients are being squeezed to compensate for capitalism’s fascist decay! As workers, we are being attacked so that we cannot serve our mentally ill or unhoused siblings. Healthcare workers are being attacked in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, and around the world! It is because care itself is under attack. But as the heroic nurses of New York showed, workers will always fight back! And with CHALLENGE as our ideological weapon, we fight for a communist world where everyone has access to good health and healthcare. 

The racist, sexist capitalist bosses attack and divide us. They tell native-born workers that immigrants are the problem. They tell white workers that Black workers are the problem. They tell documented workers that undocumented workers are a threat. They want us to fear each other so we don’t focus our attention on the ones truly profiting from our division. Division is the weapon of the capitalist system. Our unity is our revolution—that unity is expressed in this May Day crowd! 

Asian, Latin, Black, and White, Workers of the world unite! 

But we understand something deeper. The system that exploits one worker exploits all workers. The same capitalist system that exploits workers in Haiti, is the same system that exploits workers in Mexico, workers in Venezuela, workers in the Congo, and workers in the U.S. The same corporations that outsource jobs abroad suppress wages at home. The same bosses who benefit from immigrant labor deny immigrants protection and rights. They use borders as a weapon. They use fear to silence. They use “undocumented status” to push wages lower, to discourage organizing, to keep workers afraid to speak out. Let us say clearly and boldly: 

Smash racist deportations–working people have no nations! 

We live in a time where fear walks openly in the streets. ICE Agents in our streets. Families disappearing before sunrise. Families look over their shoulders when vans pull up. Children learn the word “deportation” before they learn long division. 

And beyond these streets, while armored vehicles patrol our neighborhood, bombs fall in Iran, Lebanon, and Gaza. As U.S. bosses desperately try to cling onto their failing empire, entire cities are reduced to dust, school children are buried under rubble. In their endless thirst for profit, the bosses rain death and destruction down on workers around the world. In Sudan, Republic of Congo, Gaza, Iran, and Haiti we see the true face of capitalism. We see that every boss is willing to sacrifice the lives of workers on the altar of profit. 

But, has the working class taken this lying down?

Has the working class EVER taken these kinds of attacks lying down? 

Of course not!

PLP was on the streets in Minneapolis helping to fight back against ICE’s racist attacks. We have organized teachers and students to picket and to rally and to plan against ICE. We have packed courtrooms to defend families facing deportation. We have organized mutual aid for migrant workers. We have gone grocery shopping for community members too afraid to leave their homes.

When the working class is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!

We are one international working class and around the world we see the same fightback against fascist oppression. In Haiti, neighborhoods have united in groups like Bwa Kale to fight off the gangsters. In Congo, miners are fighting back against the Chinese imperialist mine owners. In Gaza, health care workers refuse to leave their patients even when Israeli bombs rain down.

Everywhere you look you will see that workers understand that an attack on us anywhere diminishes us everywhere. This is what it means to be a worker. We are tied, through our labor, to one another, and all of the bosses’ attempts to divide us are destined to fail. Workers in Minneapolis: 

Black, white, Asian and Latin, rebelled against ICE storm troopers. In a true show of working-class spirit, they put their bodies and— sometimes their lives – on the line for fellow workers that they didn’t even necessarily know!  Imagine a world where this kind of ferocious working-class solidarity determines the shape of society. That’s communism and it is the future for workers in Minneapolis, New York, Beijing, Mumbai, Kinshasa, Port-Au-Prince, Mexico City and all over the world!

Let the fight back of the working class inspire you in this dark night! We know that it will have an end. This working-class spirit, combined with revolutionary communist politics will create capitalism’s most deadly enemy, one that will not rest until we smash fascist deportations, smash borders, and win a communist world.

ICE on the street, bombs in the air, fight for COMMUNISM everywhere

The struggle against the bosses’ racist system extends to workers wearing the uniform of imperialist armies around the world. Sailors aboard the USS Gerald Ford, currently in the Middle East, have sabotaged their ship to slow down the U.S. war machine. Russian soldiers in Ukraine have mutinied against their officers. In Minneapolis, we met members of the National Guard who expressed solidarity with workers rebelling on the streets. Even in Israel, some soldiers have refused to participate in the genocide against Palestinians. These examples prove that soldiers can be won to revolutionary politics. Just like in Russia in 1917, soldiers and sailors can lead the fight to shoot this racist system down! 

On this May Day let us never forget what a privilege it is to fight for the working class! Being a part of Progressive Labor Party means dedicating your life to smashing racism and capitalism. It means joining the red line that stretches through the history of class struggle. It means grasping every opportunity on the job, in the neighborhood or classroom to advance the interests of the working class. Being a member of PLP means growing your confidence in your working-class siblings, relying on one another and struggling together against the toxic training that this racist, sexist system gives us all. 

Anyone here who is not yet a member of PLP: today is the day for you to join!

We are here today, on May Day, to make a stand against fascism against capitalism, against oil wars, against the spectre of World War III. Workers of the world, teachers, nurses, transit workers, soldiers, students, we run the world and must seize it. Raise your head, raise your words, raise your fist, raise your flame! A communist future is coming and we need you to fight for it! We will not continue to tolerate a system that crushes the dreams of workers around the world! We will stand together and change it! 

Fight for Communism, Power to the Workers! 

LET’S CELEBRATE

CHICAGO, IL, MAY 2—“Asian, Latin, Black and White, Workers of the World Unite!” “The only solution is a communist revolution!” These were some of the chants heard on a sunny May Day celebration as 100 Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  members and friends marched through the Back of the Yards neighborhood in Chicago.  The chants were taken up by workers on the street who were watching and some of the workers joined the march!  Hundreds of CHALLENGE newspapers and fliers were distributed to the overwhelmingly positive workers along the route. 

Taking it to the streets

Our ambitious plan for the day: a rally and 1.8 mile march through the neighborhood where we regularly sell CHALLENGE followed by lunch and a program at a Parks Department fieldhouse. We chose this  neighborhood because Black, brown, and immigrant workers make up the majority of the residents. Over the course of the 3.5 hour day, we had over 90 workers (not including the many children we brought with us) join in the action and festivities. One obvious strength of our May Day was that we brought together a multiracial, multigenerational, and multigendered group of workers.   

The program showcased art from comrades and friends, including moving poems performed by the authors and a 12 year old playing “Bella Ciao” on the violin. A rap inspired by PLP’s “Fight back” chant was also performed and hyped up the crowd.  Interspersed in the program were three speeches.  One was from a Nipsco worker who was recently locked out—he shared the struggle amongst his coworkers to fight back against forced overtime (see previous CHALLENGE articles on this). He shared the PLP's work and support in this struggle. Because of the Party’s work with the Nipsco workers, some of the Nipsco workers came to the march! The main speech was delivered by a Party leader and, while it laid out the dangerous and chaotic state of worldwide capitalism and developing fascism, it also pointed out the working class’s power to change the trajectory through international solidarity.  

The closing speech was from a newer comrade on why she joined PLP.  One of the things she highlighted was accountability being built into the structure of the Party and how this helps us achieve our goals and continue moving forward. She  spoke about the value of CHALLENGE newspapers in winning her to the Party.  She also appreciated the Party’s honesty in pointing out the dead end that is the Democrats: “From Parkland to Palestine Democrats had been funding genocide, tearing apart families, raking in billions, and making false promises my entire life and I was fed up with it.” Her speech was honest, heartfelt, and inspiring.  

Future is bright

At least two base members found the day so impressive that they want to find out how to join our Party!  And we are looking forward to a post-May Day BBQ as well as being involved at the Labor Notes conference in June, a local summer project in July, and participating in the Socialism 2026 conference over Labor Day.  Workers know that capitalism is a dead end that does not help us. PLP needs to continue struggling with our coworkers and friends that the only solution is a communist revolution. Onwards comrades!