No internationalism at No Kings protest

There were several No Kings Day protests in North Carolina ‘s Raleigh-Durham, and Chapel Hill metro areas. There was a small Progressive Labor Party (PLP) presence  at suburban Apex’s Beaver Creek Commons Shopping Center. There were 1,500 workers and students total!

Protestors were on both sides of the street outside the shopping center. It was multiracial, but it had glaring political weaknesses. The chant about “Democracy” was reformist, and had no class content. There were many protestors waving American flags. It was the American capitalist system that made Trump possible, so the bosses’  capitalist “democracy” is rotten! Only CHALLENGE and PLP can help workers, students, and soldiers understand the class nature of the bosses’ flag which symbolizes all class unity with the bosses. The rulers, while claiming the reformist Democratic Party (who helped organize No Kings protests) as the workers’ ‘friends’, push  misleaders like Bernie Sanders on the working class. 

The other problem with the Apex protest was that there was a lack of political understanding  that U.S. violence against brown workers domestically (an increasing number of white workers are being hurt and killed like Renee Good and Alex Pretti as American fascism expands) is linked to killing brown workers and students globally, in the name of oil profits. Not one sign was about the Iranian school mass murder by the U.S. Tomahawk missiles of the students and teachers. That was a serious weakness. PLP has a small presence in North Carolina, but we will try to make inroads because only a collective communist revolution can free the working class!  In addition to No Kings Day  where a modest number of CHALLENGEs and Party leaflets  were handed out,  the following weekend, CHALLENGE was also distributed at the North Hills Neighborhood in Raleigh to Black and Latin workers. One Black worker said he ‘’appreciated people opposing the war.’’ CHALLENGE’s opposition to fascist ICE was mentioned to workers who took papers. Self critically, more work needs to be done organizing better  distribution. 
*****

Students learn: fear divides, unity wins

I went to an event led by Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members. In truth, I was there to support a friend. I was there to listen. I heard a friend discuss the time I went to Minneapolis with her and other PL’ers during the general strike. We went to not just support but also spread the word of what our fellow class siblings and friends and fighters are doing here, learning about communism, when our shackles are broken, we are no longer ruled by capitalism. I listened as she went on to say that the people in Minneapolis protected each other as we saw an understanding that there was no (us vs. them) mindset in the community but (us vs. ICE) as they stood together. There was solidarity that would need to be shown more here in New York, which I agreed with while listening.  Another person at the event shared an interesting point, which was that we have a fear, a fear that makes our enemies comfortable, as they turn a blind eye to our suffering while they fill their bellies with our blood and the blood of our children. When we strike and create minor uproar, we are nothing more than flies. But if we put aside that fear that makes us content and slaves to the feeling, we can truly come together and start a revolution that they truly fear. After all, they’re justflesh and bone as us. The only difference is that they made themselves out of “reach”, but they are not because we put them there with their so-called power and we can take that power back. We can be that power. 
*****

Need to learn AND fight genocide system

Three members from the PLP club joined about two dozen members and friends of Al-Aqsa Swim Club (AASC). We listened, shared, and discussed ongoing campaigns and actions accomplished in the past year, as well as proposed operations designed to eventually permanently eliminate genocidal companies operating in Maryland.

AASC presented insights into ELTA North America, a subsidiary of the Israeli military. ELTA is headquartered in Maryland, where they design and produce weapons tech, surveillance tools, and radar for the U.S. government and Israel, which are used in occupied Palestine and at the U.S.-Mexico border.

One of the presenters started the event with three questions for the attendees to discuss. I do not remember the exact wording of the questions but according to my notes, my answers to the questions were about collecting as much information as possible, educating ourselves, and a revolution.

The presentation gave us basic info about ELTA and some more specific information, such as bosses’ names and addresses. The speakers pinpointed Merritt Properties and Capital One, which work closely with ELTA, by renting out their properties and financing the subsidiary. There was also a short talk about the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions), to discourage workers in Maryland from buying products and services from companies that do business with Israel and instead find a product or service which is not related to the genocidal regime. The next speaker talked about Elbit systems (Advanced Defence Technology), but failed to directly explain actions and circumstances, which happened back in Britain in August 2024 by the “Filton 6” group or Palestine action.

The information shared was surface level, strictly focusing on the business aspect. Politics, the capitalist system, the military industry and how we can combat them were either ignored or intentionally left out of the discussion.

We ended by sharing ideas on how to combat these weapons-producing companies. The group consensus was to agitate and disrupt anyone who is closely associated with ELTA and Merritt properties. We also agreed that capitalism needs to be destroyed, but one of the participants at my table did not quite agree to transition directly into communism.
*****

European Union bosses adopt U.S.-style racism against migrant workers

The Brussels Times, 3/26– Migrants and asylum seekers will be deported from the EU with greater ease after a right-wing and far-right alliance in the European Parliament passed controversial new rules on Thursday. To speed up the removal of migrants from EU territory, a majority in the European Parliament voted on Thursday to facilitate the return of non-EU nationals staying irregularly in the EU with a common system. When the vote was approved, a round of applause broke out among right-wing MEPs…The proposal was passed despite loud protests from rights groups, who denounced it as an inhumane policy which denies the ability for EU countries to uphold migrants’ and asylum seekers’ fundamental rights.

Young Republicans flex their racist muscles - Even Ted Cruz is upset

Washington Post, 3/26–Twenty-three-year-old Alec Beaton has the résumé of a model GOP foot soldier…He’s also a self-described Holocaust “revisionist” who views praise for Adolf Hitler as a way to “mess with people.” “We don’t think Hitler is, like, the worst person ever,”…Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) warned that he has seen more prejudice against Jewish people “in the last 18 months on the right than at any point in my lifetime,”...In one group chat, Young Republican leaders from several states used racial slurs, casually referenced Hitler and described rape as “epic.” In another…participants called for grisly violence against Black people and discussed “Nazi heaven”...

Who knew? NYC lawyers argue that NYPD doesn’t exist to protect people

Gothamist, 3/25–The NYPD is not constitutionally required to help a person being attacked by an angry mob, lawyers for the city argued in a recent court filing. The argument came in response to a claim filed by Amanda Luci, who alleged NYPD officers failed to protect her from a mob of young men and boys who she said attacked her in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in 2025. In her lawsuit, Luci said she was surrounded, kicked and threatened by the large group of people, most of whom were wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish garb…

Trump’s gamble may be a breath of fresh air for Putin

New York Times, 3/25–At the start of the year, the Russian economy looked to be giving way. Under the strain of war and sanctions, revenues were falling, production was shrinking, and trade was running low…In late January, Russia was forced to sell oil to India at just $22 per barrel, about a third of the market rate…Then came the war in Iran. In one swoop, the conditions for conciliation were overturned. Amid buoyant oil prices, Western division and American overreach, the pressure on Mr. Putin to come to terms ebbed away. By a strange twist of history, the start of the war in Iran halted the prospect of ending the war in Ukraine…

U.N. continues to terrorize Haitian workers

CNN, 4/4– A United Nations report from February details four sexual abuse investigations, one involving a 12-year-old child, that implicate members of the Multinational Security Support (MSS) forces, a Kenyan-led and US-backed military mission to combat gang violence in Haiti…“All the allegations were found to be substantiated by investigations conducted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.”
Three of the victims were children who were allegedly raped. A fourth victim, who allegedly suffered sexual violence, was 18-years-old…UN peacekeepers sent to Haiti in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 earthquake fathered and abandoned dozens of children with Haitian women.

U.S. wraps up defeat of D.R. Congo and China with helpings of cobalt 

LeMonde, 4/4–Washington has finally prevailed in a contest with Beijing that lasted more than two years…US-based Virtus Minerals has just finalized the purchase of the assets of Congolese company Chemaf, including the Etoile and Mutoshi mines in Katanga, southern Democratic Republic of Congo…This deal is the culmination of a mining offensive unveiled on December 4, 2025, with the signing of the Washington Peace Agreement. Brokered by the Trump administration between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda…it grants US companies privileged access to the DRC’s vast mineral resources.

In our April 8th issue of CHALLENGE our back page article was published with an unfortunate typo and error. The article 61 Anniversary: long live Progressive Labor Party! is a reprint of an article we wrote for our 50th anniversary over a decade ago. The article carelessly published the fiftieth year date. The article has since been corrected on 04/01/2026.

As State Terrorist-in-Chief Donald Trump reportedly seeks an off-ramp from his disastrous war in Iran, the bombings continue and more U.S. soldiers are headed to the battlefield. Over three thousand workers and children have been murdered in the capitalist bosses’ latest clash over oil, and more than three million forced to flee their homes in Iran alone (aljazeera.com, 3/12). The genocidal Israeli bosses’ invasion of Lebanon has created another million refugees; the Zionist regime is starving workers in Gaza by closing cargo crossings yet again (New York Times, 3/23). Meanwhile, the corrupt Iranian bosses, fresh from killing thousands of protesting workers, have rocked global supply chains by shutting the Strait of Hormuz and driving the price of oil to over $100 per barrel. Whatever fantasy Trump had of a quick Iranian surrender has literally gone up in smoke. As Saudi Arabia’s bosses push the U.S. bosses to dig in to destroy Tehran’s fundamentalist regime (NYT, 3/24), and Israel goes rogue in attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure, U.S. imperialism seems to have no good options. If they make a deal that leaves Iran in control of the Strait, it will widely be seen as a defeat. If they persist in the current stalemate, the U.S. economy could be tipped into recession. If they escalate and send in ground troops, the situation could quickly spiral out of their control. 

Cutthroat competition between the bosses--the essence of capitalism--is driving the world to bigger and wider wars. Trump’s incompetence aside, the U.S. bosses’ conflict with Iran is driven by their desperation in the face of rising Chinese imperialism. But dying empires rarely go quietly, and the U.S. rulers are willing to take the world down with them. Electing Democrats or Democratic Socialists won’t change this. It’s more obvious than ever that capitalism has nothing good to offer the international working class. While most workers are rejecting Trump’s reckless war, we can’t afford to sit passively on the sidelines. The question before us is this: Will we continue to pay the price of the bosses’ failed system, or will we end the horrors of capitalism by building Progressive Labor Party and communist revolution?

U.S. decline points to war

Over the last twenty years, with the lost wars and debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, the old U.S.- dominated world order has been steadily breaking down. Trump has accelerated the process. The old U.S.-dominated NATO has been weakened and divided by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The status quo of compliant Persian Gulf oil states, built on immigrant labor and defended by a deadly web of U.S. military bases, is teetering. As the working class suffers with rising prices and dies in the rulers’ dogfights, who’s the biggest winner in the war so far? It’s the Chinese ruling class, which relies on Iranian oil and is supplying the missile parts Iran needs to keep attacking Israel and the Gulf states (Wall Street Journal, 3/18) while bleeding the debt-ridden, politically isolated U.S. bosses. The Russian bosses are also benefiting, with the U.S. forced to remove sanctions on billions of dollars’ worth of Russian oil. In a true sign of desperation, the U.S. even lifted sanctions against Iranian oil. To test U.S. weakness, the Russians sent two tankers of oil to Cuba in the face of a U.S. blockade (AP, 3/19).

The U.S. inability to stop Russia in Ukraine has weakened it worldwide. Traditional U.S. allies see the discord and dysfunction in Washington and want no part of it. When Trump asked for help to open the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. allies in NATO and Asia all declined. Russia has built effective anti-NATO movements in most of the major European countries, notably the AFD in Germany and the National Front in France. China has deepened economic ties with the European Union, now its top trading partner.

U.S. bosses fight among themselves

The ruthless infighting among U.S. bosses, driven by their empire’s decay, is also accelerating it. In going to war with no coherent rationale or plan, no real allies and little popular support, Trump put his “America First” credentials at risk. The Big Fascist, finance capital bosses are using the Democratic Party to attack Trump not because they’re against regime change or mass slaughter, but because they know the U.S. isn’t ready for a fight to the finish—they’d rather kick the can down the road. The Small Fascist Fortress America bosses are attacking Trump because they don’t want to foot the bill for the war. While bombing Iran won’t save U.S. imperialism, neither faction has a better strategy to stem the decline of U.S. influence around the world. Both of them want to get workers to die for their side. None of them are any good for us.

Working class can have the final say

There have been a few protests against the war in the U.S. and in Europe. Even Israel, with its mass fascist support for the killing of muslim workers, is starting to see fightback by some very brave people. For the most part, however, the working class seems unaware of its power.

The bosses go to great lengths to convince us that the only power we have is to earn money and support our families. In reality, the working class is the largest, mightiest force in the world. There are no armies without us, no factories or steel mills or planes or bombs. The capitalists make no profits without the working class. When we act on our power by turning the bosses’ war into a class war for communist revolution, we will have the final say.

General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle

It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
 But it has one defect:
 It needs a driver.

 General, your bomber is powerful.
 It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
 But it has one defect:
 It needs a mechanic.

 General, man is very useful.
 He can fly and he can kill.
 But he has one defect:
 He can think.