PHILADELPHIA, January 2 — PLP members and friends were active at the recent Modern Language Association (MLA) convention through our participation with friends in the Radical Caucus (RC). In two RC-sponsored panels we advocated the need for revolution rather than reliance on reform, no matter how militant. In one panel, in fact, a presentation was made specifically on “teaching revolution.”

We also helped promote two resolutions at the Delegate Assembly (DA). One called for firm job security and benefits for all higher education workers and was easily adopted. The second advocated that the University of Colorado rehire Ward Churchill, a Native American studies expert and activist who was fired because he expressed indifference to the deaths of those killed on 9/11.

Churchill was fired for expressing his opinion. Debate was so lengthy that a quorum — a critical number of delegates — was no longer present to vote on it. The RC may raise it again next year.

For the first time in many years there’s an organized right-wing movement in the MLA. Russell Berman, Stanford U. professor and “senior fellow” at the anti-communist Hoover Institution, did his best to confuse the issue around Churchill’s firing. Berman will be MLA President in two years.

The DA Organizing Committee (DAOC), which runs the annual meeting, opposed both resolutions, as they’ve often done, although delegates have often ignored its recommendations, as they did here.

That’s why the DAOC is aiming to sharply limit members’ ability to bring resolutions before the annual meeting. This distrust of the delegates — who often pass RC motions and resolutions — will sharpen future struggles.

The DAOC and Executive Council appeared troubled by a 2008 RC-sponsored resolution critical of Israeli terrorism against Palestinian workers which passed at last year’s annual meeting and in a MLA-member vote. Conservative and Zionist members will probably try to recall this resolution, which would open the whole issue to debate again.

Fewer members attended the convention this year, reflecting sharp cuts in university budgets and also causing a smaller RC meeting than previously. This trend will surely continue.

This foreshadows much struggle ahead in the MLA. Next year the RC may propose that MLA’s dues structure be progressive. Now it’s regressive, the lower-paid members paying a higher percentage of their income in dues than higher-paid members do.

At this annual RC meeting our members and friends explained that capitalism, not who’s president, is the root cause of all the injustices and problems in higher education, in society and in the world. We promoted a Marxist class analysis and the need for communist revolution to overthrow capitalism.

Some younger activists have begun to help lead the RC in reaching out to other groups within the MLA, an excellent development.

Our most important effort is to develop ties with new people and with older friends. It’s challenging to plan political activities among members spanning all of North America and who meet only once a year. We struggle to stay in touch during the year and introduce CHALLENGE to them. 

NEWARK, NJ, January 4 — On the cold, rainy, dark evening after Obama announced his expansion of the war in Afghanistan, 50 people, including PLP members, joined in a rally outside the Gateway Center offices of New Jersey Senators Lautenberg and Menendez. In spite of the lousy weather, we could have distributed hundreds more leaflets than we had. The support we received from commuters returning from New York City and drivers passing by was amazing. And people were eager to join in our chants, including “Bush, Obama. Different name, same game,” “Soldiers, sailors and marines. Resist the bloody war machine,” and “Lautenberg, Menendez. Stop the funding for the killing.”

By the beginning of 2008, the U.S. ruling class as a whole knew that it was in big trouble. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not going as planned, the house-of-cards economy was beginning to crumble and large sections of the working class, including students and those who consider themselves “progressives,” were rapidly growing into a disaffected force bemoaning the direction of the country. But all was not lost for the ruling class. The old money section found its knight in shining armor: a young black man with a charming wife and adorable children, who spoke in terms reminiscent of their earlier “heroes,” Martin Luther King and the Kennedy brothers. And it worked, at least for a while. Students, members of black and Latino communities and aging activists from the 60’s believed, and rallied in numbers with enthusiasm not seen in decades.

But those of us in the Progressive Labor Party, and our friends, saw immediately that this was yet another cruel hoax being perpetrated on the working class, for whom there is no truly “kinder face” of capitalism. Whether the titular head of the government is Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, black or white, the message for the working class is clear — the ruling class will use whatever means it feels necessary to maintain its place on the world stage, including driving the working class further and further into the hole of unemployment, insecurity and endless wars.

So what has the working class seen from Obama during his first year in office? An official unemployment rate currently at 10%, with a real rate over 20%, and even higher in many working-class communities. Billions upon billions of dollars pumped into the banks and big business, with little to nothing being done to help people save their homes and get jobs. A retreat from promises to close Guantanamo and stop Bush administration policies such as rendition. A healthcare “reform” program which ultimately will do nothing more than pump billions more into insurance and pharmaceutical companies while forcing working-class families to privately pay for policies with no meaningful restrictions on cost. And while Obama was somewhat truthful about his plans for Afghanistan, he never admitted that when done, he would put more troops in that country than Bush ever did and expand U.S. attacks to Pakistan and Yemen.

Many workers support this latest version of the ruling class’s “knight in shining armor.” Many of them believed that they could get universal health care by just demonstrating and lobbying for it. Even more believed that Obama was just making his “more-troops-to-Afghanistan” statements solely in order to get elected, that he’d never “really” do that. When Obama came to the new sports arena in Newark, several days before the November gubernatorial election, thousands of people, overwhelmingly black, stood in line for hours, young children in tow, in order to see and hear him.

Four members of local chapters of two anti-war groups went down to the arena with 400 leaflets calling for the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. We were stunned at the response, with many people practically grabbing the leaflets from our hands. We gave out all 400 within a half hour, and could have distributed several thousand more.

This period is certainly one fraught with danger for the working class, as the ruling class attacks on us became increasingly vicious. But it is also a time of great opportunity, as our brothers and sisters learn first-hand the painful lesson that capitalism offers nothing but more suffering. Only a communist revolution will provide us with what we need, a society in which we are able to develop our full potential and enjoy the fruits of our labor. 

EL SALVADOR, January 2  — “There will always be the exploited until we eliminate the exploiters,” declared a worker at one of two communist political schools comprising 35 workers, students and farmworkers. These end-of-the-year gatherings were filled with political education, revolutionary solidarity and splendid dinners.

We discussed an international report, the document “Reform and Revolution” and CHALLENGE — distribution, writing articles and building clubs and study groups.

Two junior high school students explained how inter-imperialist rivalry between the U.S., Russia, China and Europe has worldwide effects, including directly on the working class here. They are understanding and spreading PLP’s communist ideas. One participated in several meetings; the other was attending for the first time. Both were applauded for their contributions about PLP’s revolutionary struggle.

Two comrades led the “Reform and Revolution” discussion. The youth directed questions to everyone, especially the Party leadership here, about the urgency of advancing revolutionary communism, not becoming absorbed in the work of the reform leaders. The older  comrade reviewed his experience in mass organizations since the 1960’s.

One comrade observed that those here “are those we’ve most developed onto the communist road and we’re directing to take our scientific  Marxist Leninist ideas into all the mass organizations.”

Another comrade revealed that her organization just had a march of 500 women demanding jobs and better living conditions. Because of this, they immediately assigned a comrade to that area in January,  aiming to establish contacts with the factory workers in the “free zones” (maquillas) through comrades living there.

Another comrade said she was leading classes for women on “Non-Sexist and Inclusive Education,” presenting a communist line. Some teachers have already responded positively. El Salvador has many feminist movements which pose the struggle as one of men against women, not as a fight to destroy the capitalist system, the source of sexism. This comrade has a political base in this union, helping to strengthen this work. Together with these other teachers she explained that her political training stems from the Party’s line, centering the discussion on the evils of capitalism, like sexism.

A comrade heading the editorial collective led the discussion of CHALLENGE, emphasizing two points: (1) the need to write more for the paper; and (2) using CHALLENGE as an organizer, educator and agitator for the working class. On the first point, a young comrade noted that Lenin, in “What is to Be Done,” emphasized “that a Party without a communist newspaper reporting workers’ struggles worldwide has serious problems growing with a communist line.”

On the second point, it was stressed that each Party member must convert CHALLENGE networks into study groups about communist politics and activity. We can’t continue giving someone the paper without following up with that person politically. Just distributing the paper doesn’t guarantee political development; quantity and quality should go together. The paper should open the door to political discussions about building more clubs, study groups ad class struggle.

The comrades also emphasized how the content of CHALLENGE historically has reflected the reality of the capitalist system, and how we must fight the illusions within the working class in reformism, and in the bosses’ elections. We discussed the electoral victories of Obama in the U.S. and Funes-FMLN in El Salvador. Many workers think, “here comes the change.” CHALLENGE has fought these illusory
ideas the bosses try to instill in workers.

This weekend culminated a whole process of previous meetings and visits throughout the year which defined the topics, decide who would come and who would lead the discussions, as well as the process of teaching and learning inside the PLP to develop more and better leaders. We pledged, in 2010, to enter the fight with greater commitment, strength and desire to build the PLP in the working class. 

Chinese imperialists recently opened a pipeline that will deliver 70 billion cubic meters of natural gas yearly from Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan to China’s Xinjiang province.  This sharply intensifies the inter-imperialist dogfight over central Asia’s vast energy resources, benefiting the China-Russia-Iran axis while inflicting a serious blow to U.S. bosses’ geopolitical interests.  China’s gains will force the U.S. rulers to launch more regional wars, accelerating the drive toward World War III.

The Chinese pipeline is a major blow to the U.S.-EU plans for the Nabucco and TAPI pipelines that led to the increased U.S. troop commitment in Afghanistan. Nabucco would deliver central Asian gas to Europe through Turkey, bypassing Russia and Iran and breaking Russia’s chokehold on the European energy market. TAPI (the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline) would take this gas to Pakistan and India, further isolating Iran. 

Now, Moscow can continue to use its virtual monopoly of Europe’s energy market to align major European countries with its geopolitical interests. Pakistan and India may have to rely on Iranian gas via IPI (the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline) which Pakistan and Iran, against U.S. opposition, have agreed to build. 

Bypassing Malacca Strait Crucial
to China’s War Strategy

Eighty percent of China’s imported oil passes through Malacca, a narrow sea passage easily closed by the U.S. in case of a major confrontation with China. To get around this, China is building pipeline ports in Pakistan and Myanmar, both of which border China, to deliver this oil and future Myanmar gas via land routes to China’s northwestern provinces.

U.S. bosses have already deployed war ships in the Indian Ocean, positioned to intercept these Chinese oil tankers, and are negotiating for more naval bases in the area. China’s response: speed up construction of its blue-water navy and build a string of naval bases along the Indian Ocean rim.

Middle Eastern Oil Indispensable for China’s Growth And Military Power

The richest energy sources for China, available via land, lie in Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Thus, China has also built a pipeline from oil-rich Kazakhstan that, starting this year, will carry 400,000 barrels per day to Xinjiang. China is also signing mega-deals with Russia to deliver, also through Xinjiang, Siberian oil and gas for the next two decades.

Central Asia can satisfy all of China’s gas needs, but not all of its oil. Imperialist alliances are temporary. Russia, an imperialist competitor, could in the long run be an unreliable source. Thus, Chinese bosses need to confront the U.S. for control of the Middle East, most sharply right now over Iraq and Iran.

In spite of the fact that Exxon Mobil and Shell won bids on the biggest oil fields in Iraq’s June oil auction and almost got double the price China and Russia will receive per barrel of oil produced, US bosses are not happy. As oil magnate T. Boone Pickens told the Congressional Natural Gas Caucus in October, “We’re entitled to it… Heck, we even lost 5,000 of our people, 65,000 injured and a trillion, five hundred billion dollars. We leave there with the Chinese getting the oil.”

That won’t happen peacefully. The US rulers did not butcher over a million Iraqi workers for China’s sake!  The U.S. oil majors did not even bother to participate in the bidding at Iraq’s December auction. With over 250,000 soldiers and mercenaries still occupying Iraq, they plan to change the rules of the game. Chinese bosses also know that they are at a disadvantage in Iraq. That only leaves them Iran – for now.

Iran has the second largest gas and third largest oil deposits in the world.  It’s China’s best bet for securing its oil by land.  So China has invested over $120 billion in Iranian energy infrastructure over the last five years, while becoming Iran’s main trading partner and a main arms supplier.

But the U.S. bosses want that Iranian gas, too, especially after China’s gains in Central Asia.  That’s what could resurrect Nabucco and TAPI.  If they can’t take advantage of current Iranian political unrest to install a pro-U.S. regime, the U.S. ruling class will sooner, rather than later, possibly have to risk invading Iran.

War has increasingly become the only option for U.S. imperialism. Richard Morningstar, US special envoy for energy, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about China’s use of its huge monetary reserves to back its geopolitical thrust into Central Asia:  “…and we [U.S.] can’t compete in this way.” Stephen Blank of the U.S. War College wrote last October that Xinjiang, China’s doorway to Central Asia’s trade and energy and Russian oil, is a “pressure cooker” that Beijing can’t control.  His implication:  the U.S. could use its ties with the province’s Uighur separatist movement to make the pipelines inoperable.

U.S. covert operations in Xinjiang and Tibet and widening regional wars in Yemen and Afghanistan show that the profit system is marching inevitably toward WWIII. It is ever more urgent to spread our communist line among workers, soldiers, and students and win masses of them in the US and worldwide to join PLP.  We must prepare to turn the world bosses’ bloodbath into an armed uprising for communism.