As the international crisis of capitalism intensifies, the number of global immigrants, according to the United Nations, rose to 281 million in 2024. Around 28 million were from Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Ukraine, all countries at war, mostly as a direct result of U.S. and NATO interventions. Most of the rest, around 220 million individuals, were displaced by capitalist climate-related disasters. 

Displacing workers

Both war and environmental disasters are, of course, neither “natural” nor “acts of God.” They are the results of decades of political and economic decisions, based entirely on the self-interests of the rulers of the U.S., Russia, and Europe. The interests of these political states continually clash. 

The movie Green Border, a 2023 co-production from Poland, the Czech Republic, France, and Belgium, illustrates the awful toll on workers and their families as they try to escape the savagery of inter-imperialist rivalry.

In 2020, the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Belarus under President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin of Russia. (This alliance would intensify after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.) The EU sanctions led to the Belarus–European Union border crisis of 2021, the subject of this movie.

Lukashenko orchestrated a crisis involving thousands of migrants and refugees attempting to cross into the EU, particularly through Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. By the summer and fall of 2021, thousands of migrants—most of them from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen—arrived in Belarus with the aim of entering the EU. The movie shows how these migrants were then dumped at the border, left in the Białowieża Forest, and told to head into Poland, a NATO and EU country. 

Neither Belarus nor Poland wanted these refugees; they were poor, and many were not white. Green Border shows these migrants being quite literally tossed back and forth over the border’s barbed wire fences. The guards on both sides of the fence are systematically indoctrinated with racist, anti-refugee ideas, much the same as the “training” for ICE and border guards in the U.S. The migrants are dehumanized as criminals, terrorists, and infiltrators. Most of the Polish police accept this racist ideology—but not all. 

Green Border is an example of how dialectical thinking—rather than one-dimensional propaganda, can make for great art. Despite their enormous ideological differences, Karl Marx admired the writings of Honoré de Balzac for his richly detailed and insightful depiction of French society in the early 19th century. Balzac illustrated the economic, social, and moral dynamics of his time. He showed how nothing stays the same, and that people change.  

In the film Green Border, ordinary Poles break the law by hiding refugees. A middle-class white family gives shelter to Black African boys. Medical workers risk being shot by their own border police to help wounded migrants in the forest. A Polish border guard refuses to carry out his orders to arrest or shoot at migrants.

These scenes gain even more power in a period when Donald Trump is promising to deport one million undocumented immigrants from the U.S. each year. On the one hand, Green Border shows the brutal effects of a racist, fascist system that incarcerates, deports, and shoots people fleeing war and poverty. But the film also shows that ordinary people will stand up to oppose capitalist brutality.

Schools: organize masses to fight attacks on educations

Montgomery County, Maryland, March 19, 2025 “We walk in today, we walk out tomorrow” said teachers at multiple schools in the suburbs of Washington D.C.. The National Education Association (NEA) had called for a “walk in for education” at the beginning of the school day for teachers to speak out for education and against the executive order closing the Department of Education (DOE). Teachers in Progressive Labor Party (PLP) jumped on this opportunity to build a base at their schools with short rallies and leafleting, knowing full well that the NEA’s initiative was simply performative posturing. Our leaflet demanded increased funding for the schools, even as the county council prepares a cutback budget. The county expects to lose nine percent of its funding from the federal government and even more as liberal governor Wes Moore and the Maryland General Assembly (MGA) slash public school budgets in this diverse county to offset a state budget deficit. 

Our rallies were a spark to the day! The leaflet and posters we brought about cutbacks and racism in our schools went way beyond the NEA’s plan and provided an excellent opportunity to get to know more of our fellow teachers. One teacher declared upon reading our leaflet, “We are walking into a burning building! We should be walking out!” Teachers led chants and children carried posters into their classrooms. Some posters prepared by PLP members attacked immigration threats while others called for more money for schools, smaller class sizes, and no cuts to the budget by the MGA. As a result of this action, a parent invited a PLP member to speak at her upcoming PTA meeting. 

In addition, other local PLP members joined teachers at nearby schools and made contacts with teachers and parents. The camaraderie built by even this small action is carrying over into aggressive advocacy at county budget hearings and is bringing more teachers closer to understanding that the PLP and revolutionary action are needed to secure lasting change.
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No such thing as good capitalism

Many people realize that capitalism (commodity production,  production for profit,  “free” enterprise,  market economy,  …) is a racist,  sexist, anti-working class,  police-terror way to organize society, BUT they also feel that capitalism can be changed to get rid of these supposedly “unwanted” aspects.  In a word:  This is false!!!  All of these characteristics of capitalism are exactly that:  They are just as much inherent parts of capitalism as money,  bosses,  and workers.  Why is this so?

The very object of capitalism is to make as much profit as possible so as to drive other capitalists out-of-business. This means that everything else must be subordinate to the goal of higher profits, even when that means things like building airplanes improperly or polluting lakes and rivers to “save money.” It is NOT a matter of greedy capitalists – even though the capitalists as a class certainly are much worse than greedy. Capitalists act the way they do because that is how capitalism works! Furthermore,  ALL politicians (Republicans and Democrats – including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) support capitalism so it is useless to count on them for anything except more capitalist oppression.

The liberal bosses’ trick is identity politics where a person’s gender, skin color,  or sexual orientation supposedly “determines” their political outlook. Nothing could be further from the truth.  The most that any of the phony so-called “working class politicians” do is make speeches and false promises.  None of these sellouts organizes even ONE worker to fight back.  And blaming it all on Donald Trump and Elon Musk is simply wrong!  Trump and Musk are trying to save U.S. capitalism from losing to Chinese or Russian capitalism.  Getting rid of Trump and Musk will NOT solve the fundamental contradiction that all capitalists MUST compete with all other capitalists!!! 

CHALLENGE Response: The writer is 100% correct! It’s not just Trump or Elon Musk— it’s capitalism in crisis! The crisis is being driven by inter-imperialist rivalry. The U.S. is in a life or death struggle to preserve its top dog status against rising rival imperialists in China and Russia.
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Israeli military admits it slaughtered medical workers

New York Times, 4/5–The Israeli military on Saturday acknowledged that the initial accounts from troops involved in the killing last month of 15 people in southern Gaza — who the United Nations said were paramedics and rescue workers — had been partially “mistaken.” The assessment…came the day after a video obtained by The New York Times appeared to contradict the military’s earlier version of events…The video…shows that the approaching ambulances and fire truck were clearly marked and had their emergency signal lights on when Israeli troops hit them with a barrage of gunfire… On March 30, rescue teams found 15 bodies, most in a shallow mass grave along with their crushed ambulances…

Bosses’ advisors recommend they quit dreaming about Russia-China split

Foreign Affairs, 4/4–Many American foreign-policy makers dream of being the next Henry Kissinger…today’s U.S. policymakers may be tempted to try to replicate that success by orchestrating a “reverse Kissinger”—pulling Russia closer to balance a rising China…drawing Russia away from China …sounds appealing. In reality, the idea is a bad one. Most important, the analogy to the Cold War of the 1970s is flawed...Beijing and Moscow are now true strategic partners. Both Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping see the United States as the greatest threat to their respective countries…

Mahmoud Khalil slams Columbia University for attacking student protesters

The Guardian, 4/5–Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student activist who led campus pro-Palestinian rallies and is now resisting the Trump administration’s deportation efforts, has accused the university of laying “the groundwork for my abduction” and called on the student body to continue demonstrations and protests…Khalil also accused the university of suppressing student dissent under the auspices of combating antisemitism and bowing to pressure from Congress to turn over student disciplinary records and creating a task force on antisemitism “that broadly categorized anti-Israel sentiment as hate speech to condemn protests”...

Students in Puerto Rico force out University boss over cuts

Truthout, 3/27–This February, President Luis A. Ferrao Delgado of the University of Puerto Rico resigned after attempting to suspend 64 educational programs. The measure targeted core disciplines such as history, philosophy and comparative literature, stunning the university community and provoking bitter opposition. Eleven days of protests followed, compelling Ferrao to reverse the decision before stepping down. The university showdown is the latest chapter in a two-decade struggle against austerity…

Argentinian workers clash with police over austerity measures

DW, 3/13–Argentine pensioners and soccer fans clashed with police on Wednesday as a protest unfolded in front of Congress, with citizens rallying against the economic policies brought in by the government of President Javier Milei. It was an unlikely mix with retirees gathered in Buenos Aires flanked by soccer fans from teams normally at odds with one another. What started as a peaceful event escalated into violent clashes as police fired water cannons, tear gas and pellets while protesters threw stones. The crowd yelled “Milei, garbage, you are the dictatorship!” — a comparison of his rule with the military junta that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. 

Workers strike in Belgium against austerity measures

Reuters, 3/31–A national strike in Belgium kept all flights on the ground on Monday and caused some public transport disruptions as people demonstrated against the new government’s austerity plans. Local media reported some protesters also blocked access to some stores in Brussels’ shopping area, including Foot Locker, Kiko Milano, Zara, Primark and Pull & Bear. The strike was the second big one to protest the government’s proposals to reform pensions and the labour market.

On March 15, less than 100 days into his reign of terror, “peacemaker” President Donald Trump unleashed a series of airstrikes in Yemen, killing and maiming over 100 workers (NBC, 3/16). The assault was a desperate attempt by the U.S. imperialists to regain some control over the Red Sea, a vital global shipping route. This fight is a move toward a wider war between the U.S. and the Chinese and Iranian imperialists who back the Yemeni Houthi militia. It shows that the “Fortress America” version of U.S. imperialism, the one favored by Trump and his capitalist backers, can’t save workers from the bloodbath of world war. Only building a mass international movement to fight for communist revolution can turn this impending conflict into a fight for the liberation of our class.

Imperialists kill over trade routes

The conflict between the U.S. and Chinese bosses has been sharpening for years, and workers are paying the price. Yemen was one of seven countries bombed by Barack Obama, the “drone-strike” president who massacred thousands of workers to defend the U.S. bosses’ profits and shipping lanes (vox.com, 1/10/17).  Joe Biden resumed the bombing of Yemen last year, and now Trump continues the slaughter. But after their debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. bosses can’t murder enough people to stem their decline in the oil-rich Middle East. Meanwhile, China has strengthened its position as the region’s dominant power through its support of Iran and Iran’s proxy groups, including the Houthi militia (Atlantic Council, 1/14).

With the Houthis blocking shipments of oil and other goods across the Red Sea, U.S. ships have been forced to take a much longer and more expensive route around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. Meanwhile, tankers and cargo ships from China and Russia, the two biggest U.S. imperialist rivals, have been able to continue to use the Red Sea route, adding to China’s advantage (Foreign Policy, 2/14/24).

As they build toward war, the bosses turn to rising fascism and racist scapegoating of immigrants and Muslims to divide the working class and shift the blame for the international crisis of capitalism. The attacks on immigrant students who protested the genocide in Gaza, alongside sweeps by the ICE gestapo and Trump’s plans for mass deportations, are designed solely to build fear and racism. It is essential that the working class fight back against these racist atrocities by uniting and defending workers whenever they come under attack.

As the battle among imperialists spreads, it becomes even clearer that the international working class shares the same common interest: to smash the profit system and the capitalist parasites who rely on it. The workers now dying in wars in Ukraine, Yemen, Sudan, and Gaza are all one class. But around the globe, too many workers remain tied to the deadly leadership of one imperialist and nationalist faction or another. It’s the task of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party to lead our class to break free of these chains and create a society run by and for the working class. 

Oil is STILL the lifeblood of capitalism

As much as Trump talks about avoiding wars in the Middle East, the U.S. rulers can’t afford to lose control over the world’s largest reserves of cheaply extractable oil—or the shipping routes that control its distribution. Oil is still the lifeblood of capitalism. The U.S. military’s enormous fleet of tanks, trucks, planes, and ships runs on it. Global warming and climate catastrophes notwithstanding, the world will be mostly powered by fossil fuels for the indefinite future. Beyond its military applications, oil and gas are the most abundant and profitable ways to power critical industries like steel and cement. At a time of global economic crisis, the capitalists aren’t about to sacrifice short-term profits to switch to renewable “clean” energy, which accounts for only a small fraction of U.S. industrial production (Energy Information Administration, 7/13/23). Goldman Sachs recently projected a “growing demand for natural gas as a transition fuel until 2050, and the need for new oil & gas development beyond 2040” (JP Morgan, 3/44).  Even in Europe, where the finance capitalists have led the clean energy “transition,” renewables’ share of the energy mix is growing at less than one percent per year. 

Nationalism is a death trap! 

Out of desperation, in the face of an onslaught of racit violence from the bosses, many workers are siding with small-time capitalists under the banner of “national liberation.” From Vietnam to South Africa, this strategy has been proven a disaster for the working class around the world. Time and again, alliances with “lesser evil” capitalist bosses have wrecked the possibility of working-class emancipation. In many cases, they’ve led to thousands or even millions of workers’ deaths.

In 1968, after ousting the British imperialists, the National Front took power in southern Yemen. Because they identified with the bosses and lacked confidence in the working class, these fake “revolutionaries” maintained the British-built civil service and used British-trained forces to smash the workers who’d created a revolutionary workers’ militia. Today’s Houthi nationalist bosses, backed by Iran, are now battling the old regime of nationalist capitalists who are backed by the royal leeches of Saudi Arabia. The resulting civil war has killed more than 300,000 workers, all to replace one vicious oppressor with another.

In spite of these many betrayals, the heartbeat of working-class international solidarity persists. College students across the U.S. have risked expulsion and threats of deportation to protest the anti-Muslim genocide in Gaza. But even as Mahmoud Khalil and other brave students and workers are brutalized and jailed, the working class must fight back even more aggressively to defend our class. As the Trump regime expands its reign of state terror, as conditions for workers around the world keep getting worse, we must seize the opportunity of this moment. Most of all, we must call upon our class to build Progressive Labor Party (PLP). Without a commitment to antiracism, anti-sexism, and communist revolution, the most courageous struggles will lead to dead-end reformist battles settled on the bosses’ terms.  Only an organized working class with a revolutionary outlook can lead us toward our final liberation: communism. Join us!