From Israel: Apartheid kills Palestinians and class consciousness
The slaughter is the bosses’ doing. Those who would argue that we are “assuming symmetry between the occupier and the occupied” are missing the point. There is no symmetry between the big bosses – Chinese and American – and the exploited working classes of the Middle East. For them, we are all slaves to extract profit from and chess pieces in their struggles for geopolitical dominance. The Israeli worker is not the oppressor of the Palestinian worker – rather, the big businessmen oppress both.

Israel’s super-rich ruling class includes people such as Miriam Adelson – the world’s 30th richest person, with a net worth of 27.5 billion USD. This boss is well-involved in Israeli politics and is an adamant supporter of Israel’s corrupt and fascist prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. On the other side, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas – who considers themselves a “popular resistance movement” – lives safely and in luxury in Qatar, far from Gaza. He has a net worth of 4 billion USD, gained by extorting the Gazan population and by embezzling foreign aid given to the impoverished Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 65% of the people of Gaza live below the poverty line.
The big businessmen get away with their grisly crimes thanks to the toxic ideology of nationalism. This way of thinking posits that Israeli workers are on the same side as the billionaire Mrs. Adelson, and the oppressed Palestinian workers are on the same side as the ultra-rich Mr. Haniyeh. But the top bosses are the utter enemies of all working-class people. For them, we, the workers, are nothing but machines and tools to generate their profits and fight their wars.

The Chamas action last Saturday has helped to unify all walks of life here and the liberal demos against the so-called “Judicial reform” disappeared and wiped off the earth.
Gal Gadot (the Israeli actress -Wonder Woman) tweeted saying she is opposed to the killing of innocent Jews and Palestinians was labeled a “Traitor” for mentioning Palestinians and Jews in the same sentence.She deleted her tweet and apologized .

The so-called “left” is labeling Palestinians as “Human beasts” and calling to wipe Ghaza off the map. We are staying home most of the time - no schools (closed) and there are sporadic rockets aimed at the Tel Aviv area so we have to be able to enter a safe place - the sirens give you 90 seconds to do so.
The army is now engaged on 3 fronts and the killing of Palestinians continues in the north, the West Bank, and Ghaza under “moral” justification.

Unfortunately, there is no communist leadership among the Palestinians and Israelis, only nationalist and religious motivation. The interest of all working-class people in Israel-Palestine is to place the blame on their true oppressors and butchers: the bourgeoisie. The only way to cast away the poisonous ideology of nationalism and replace nationalist war with class war – is to organize a mass multi-ethnic communist party.

This way, we, the working class, can win a world free from the vicious cycle of slaughter. The only thing that deserves to die is the capitalist system!
*****

NY: in solidarity with UAW strikers
I recently visited a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line with some fellow union members to see first-hand the determination and bravery of fellow workers against the bosses. After stopping at the grocery store to pick up some solidarity grocery supplies, we arrived at the picket line.
The workers were from a small parts supplier, but we were impressed with the multiracial, cross-gender solidarity and their strength: the picket line is active 24-hours per day, 7-days per week!
While there, we heard stories from long-time workers about how they were forced to make concessions to bail out the auto companies during the Great Recession in 2008 and how the auto companies have never made good on their promise to restore the cuts. Typical bosses. We’re engaged in our own contract struggle, and while our union leadership does everything it can to quash any momentum toward striking, workers are more and more fed up and ready to take action. We can draw inspiration from the UAW workers and their ongoing fight.
*****

Haiti: a communist revolution is their only salvation
On October 2, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution approving the deployment of a force of 1,000 Kenyan policemen to Haiti. Their main stated objective is to combat the proliferation of gangs in the capital of Port-Au-Prince. Those gangs (really armed militias) are the results of decades of exploitation imposed by local and international bosses. The lack of a significant communist organization left unemployed workers with little choice but to join the gangs, many of them controlled by politicians and local businessmen.

As we already know, the real objective is to impose more miseries and exploitation on Haitian workers. In 2004, the UN came to Haiti to impose U.S. and European imperialist will on the workers. The mission objective was to stabilize the country and create a climate where the international and the local bosses could exploit the workers. After 17 years that mission failed miserably. This new mission is also bound for failure. Workers in Haiti and throughout the world don’t need the boss’s solution to solve their problem. Capitalism has no answers to humanity ‘s problems. It must be destroyed. Only a communist revolution can achieve this objective.
*****

Run in memory of comrade Fernando
October 1 marked the first (hopefully annual) Braga 5K Memorial Run at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The race was named after our fallen comrade Fernando Braga who died by suicide last year. (His obituary appeared in CHALLENGE ,July 20, 2023). Several members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP), friends, and family members participated in the race and others we know helped put on the event. The 5K run (and jwalk) acted as a fundraiser for Fernando’s daughter’s college fund and organizations dedicated to stopping veteran suicide.

While it was an emotional day for many, it was also an opportunity to honor Fernando by building relationships around the ideas he fought for. He “was not just a veteran but an Iraq veteran against the war,” I told several participants I met. These included high school and college students. The second place finisher even grew up near me in NYC!

“I think the two of you would’ve gotten along,” I told one of the lead organizers who is a professor at the college. He didn’t get to meet Fernando since he started teaching after Fernando graduated, but teaches a course on the school to military pipeline. I hope I can help with some of the organizing next year and get to know him (as well as others) better.

Fernando was my club leader some years ago, providing our collective in general, and me in particular, with advice and leadership. I always respected the way he put our line into practice as a student, soldier and worker. At one point when we were close, I struggled with a decision of whether or not to join the military or remain an industrial worker. Fernando’s experience, thoughtful application of our line, and objective considerations of my strengths and weaknesses provided rare guidance that meant the most.

Before the 5K race, there were two speeches. The PL’ers who went agreed that next year we’d make sure we get to make one. The first speech was by a school administrator and reflected some of the nationalist ties between the College and the military. The other, though, was by one of Fernando’s closest friends and fellow veterans at school. He spoke for many of us at the 5K when he said “support each other, tell each other how much you love each other, it really matters. If I could take anything back, I would’ve definitely told him what he meant to me.”
Rest in Power Fernando!
*****

Liberal racists evict workers from shelters
New York City, Oct 11-  Chanting “Fight, fight, fight, Housing is a human right!,” a coalition of housing groups protested at the New York governor’s office against Top kkkop Mayor Eric Adams’ vow, together with the liberal fascist state, to suspend the “right to shelter” law in NYC. As thousands are being evicted under the 30 day limit on shelter, the new proposal would put homeless workers, including migrants, onto the streets. Comrades joined the group, met up with friends and distributed 50 copies of CHALLENGE. The fight continues, and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) will be there to build communism one struggle at a time.

Chinese bosses begin rehabilitation of Syrian bosses
Reuters, 9/21–Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, his first visit to China since 2004 and his latest bid to end more than a decade of diplomatic isolation under Western sanctions. Being seen with China's president at a regional gathering should add further legitimacy to Assad's campaign to return to the world stage. Syria joined China's Belt and Road Initiative in 2022 and was welcomed back into the Arab League in May. "In his third term, Xi Jinping is seeking to openly challenge the United States, so I don't think it's a surprise that he is willing to go against international norms and host a leader like Assad," said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore…Alongside the U.S., Syria faces sanctions from Australia, Canada and European states, but bids to impose multilateral sanctions have not secured the support of the U.N. Security Council, where China and Russia both have a veto. China has used its veto at least eight times on U.N. motions condemning Assad's government…Syria, a small oil producer, holds strategic significance for China. It lies between Iraq, a major oil supplier to China, and Turkey, the terminus of economic corridors stretching across Asia into Europe. Syria also borders Jordan and Lebanon.

Russia selling wheat directly to Egypt, bypassing market
Bloomberg, 9/26–Egypt is in talks to buy 1 million tons of Russian wheat through a government-to-government deal, people familiar with the matter said. The talks have taken place for delivery this season, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Egypt is one of the world’s top wheat importers and its purchases are closely tracked as a global benchmark…Russia has had two bumper harvests in a row, reinforcing its position as the biggest wheat shipper. Still, some recent sales of Russian wheat to Egypt have been complicated by efforts to enforce an unofficial price floor for the country’s supplies.

Yelling fire in a crowded congress
BBC, 9/30–An investigation has been launched after a congressman in the US House of Representatives triggered a fire alarm as his party was trying to delay a crucial budget vote on Saturday. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, says it was an accident. But his opponents have accused him of trying to disrupt the vote designed to avoid a US federal government shutdown. The alarm prompted an hour-long evacuation…The alarm went off as Democrats were attempting to delay the vote as they sought more time to read the bill and decide whether to support it…" Today, as I was rushing to make a vote, I came to a door that is usually open for votes but today would not open. I am embarrassed to admit that I activated the fire alarm, mistakenly thinking it would open the door," Mr Bowman said in a statement. He added that he was not "in any way, trying to delay any vote". "It was the exact opposite - I was trying urgently to get to a vote, which I ultimately did and joined my colleagues in a bipartisan effort to keep our government open."

U.N. decision to send troops to Haiti pending
France24, 10/2–The UN Security Council will decide on Monday whether to endorse an international force to back Haiti's police…Kenya announced in late July that it was ready to take on the lead-nation role and deploy a 1,000-strong force to the impoverished Caribbean country. The United States, which has expressed willingness to provide logistical support but no boots on the ground, indicated last month that several other countries were prepared to contribute to a multinational security force. Those countries include Jamaica, the Bahamas and Antigua and Barbuda. China, which holds a Security Council veto, has previously expressed skepticism about an international security mission. It has instead emphasized a need to crack down on the arms flow from Florida.

As refugees from Central America, Africa, and the Caribbean swell in number at the U.S.-Mexico border, President Joe Biden agreed to grant 472,000 work permits exclusively for those coming from Venezuela.  Seen as a kind gesture by some, the U.S. bosses are creating a racist divide as they fumble to address a disaster they themselves created. Workers without permits will be deported, and those who stay will be super-exploited, just as the Black working class has been for centuries.

Denver and San Diego and other cities run by liberals have “welcomed more than they can handle” and are reducing the length of stay for asylum-seekers to 14 days (CBS News Colorado, 10/2).  These “progressives” have joined the open racists from Texas and Florida in busing migrants to Chicago and New York. Migrants trek to the United States for an opportunity to work and live stable lives, yet the reality is something harshly different. Most are met with racist insults from fellow workers and fascist crackdowns from the capitalist bosses. To discourage new arrivals, New York City Mayor Eric Adams began evicting migrants from shelters amid widespread flooding (Politico, 9/22). Fake leftist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has offered nothing but lip service for the refugees’ plight.

The imperialist rulers, set on preparing for world war, will not provide decent lives for the international working class.  Work permits and tent cities won’t fix this appalling situation. Only a communist revolution led by Progressive Labor Party can give workers the world they deserve. The global migrant crisis is a symptom of a deeply racist system that must perpetuate inequality, nationalism, and exploitation to exist. We must combat the rise of fascism and fight to destroy capitalist borders that serve only the bosses.

Venezuela: a crisis made by capitalism
For two decades or more, the working class of Venezuela has been stuck in the crosshairs of inter-imperialist competition. President Nicholos Maduro has stayed in power largely with the help of China and Russia, which are paying the bills to keep his regime from collapsing. In recent months they have also deepened military ties with Venezuela, much to the dismay of the U.S., the longtime bully of the Americas (Dialogo Americas, 1/21/22)

In response, to force Maduro’s fake-left leadership into submission, the U.S. and a number of European countries have battered Venezuela with economic sanctions on products entering the country.  Because of the resistance of the bosses behind Maduro (and behind Hugo Chavez before him) to diversify the economy, Venezuela relies heavily on oil exports. As oil prices dropped in recent years, the country’s economy collapsed.
Suffering from one of the highest rates of hyperinflation in the world, workers in Venezuela cannot afford basic necessities. There are shortages of food and medicine and even electricity and clean water. In 2019, as the country teetered on the brink of civil war, the economic crisis was heightened by civil unrest and violence.

Worldwide, as they flee war and extreme poverty, workers and their families are traveling through jungles, deserts, large bodies of water, and territories infested by ruthless militias and gangs. But there are no safe havens for workers in a capitalist world, least of all in a racist stronghold like the U.S.  The current U.S.-Mexico border crisis reflects the desperate conditions for the working class throughout the hemisphere and beyond.
For the imperialist bosses fighting over Latin America’s resources, workers' lives are cheap.

We cannot fall for the divide-and-conquer game of these exploiters, whether they are Trump MAGA racists or liberals who defend the racist Democratic Party. In the current period, with fascism on the rise, the work of communists is especially critical. Where the bosses energize the gutter racists, communists inspire multiracial unity and help organize internationalist workers to be bold and fight back.  

Workers on the move met with fascism
The last decade has seen a mass upheaval in the lives of workers across the globe. At present, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, an estimated 117 million people are forcibly displaced by violent civil unrest, political repression, and economic instability (UNHCR.org, 2023). Climate change, another product of capitalism, has led to disastrous forest fires, droughts, hurricanes, floods, and rising sea levels. In the Global South, livelihoods for millions have grown unsustainable. Hundreds of thousands of workers fleeing Africa are  stranded on the Italian island of Lampedusa, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. They are being held there indefinitely in wretched conditions under the guns of Italian soldiers (NPR, 9/23).

The capitalist-controlled media propagates racist narratives about migrants, provoking fear and division within the working class. Workers get manipulated into perceiving undocumented and asylum-seeking migrant workers as threats to their livelihoods. This strategy serves the bosses’ interests by diverting attention from the true cause of this crisis–capitalism! Disgruntled workers in U.S. cities have organized small but heavily publicized anti-immigrant rallies to stoke fear and nationalism. In Chicago, migrating workers were physically attacked and  police officers were accused of raping and impregnating underage migrants in holding cells (Chicago Tribune, 7/23). Super-liberal Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed a multimillion-dollar tent city–essentially a city-run refugee camp–to house migrants (NBC Chicago, 9/23).

Communism will smash all borders
Borders are simply made-up lines created to signify where one boss's profits begin and another’s end. Never have they served the interests of the working class. Borders reinforce racist ideas that “other” workers are dangerous, untrustworthy, and out to steal jobs. Forcing workers to sleep in shelters, police stations, and tent cities is a racist travesty. We must fight back for migrating workers, and for the liberation of our entire class exploited and oppressed by the profit system.

Under communism, there would be no profits to fight over. The means of production would be controlled collectively. The factors that now drive workers to become refugees would cease to exist. Internationalism demands solidarity among workers worldwide. It calls for the dismantling of the structures that perpetuate inequality, beginning with borders.

The struggle for a better world must be a unified one, where workers from Chicago to Latin America to every corner of the globe stand together against the exploitative forces of capitalism. Only by breaking down the barriers that divide us can we hope to build a society where all workers are afforded dignity, freedom, and the opportunity to lead fulfilling lives. Join Progressive Labor Party as we organize to make this world a reality!

Progressive Labor Party (PLP) in Haiti organized a cadre school in September for 26 participants, members and friends, workers, and teachers, but mostly students from working class backgrounds. Study is an important aspect of understanding how the capitalist system works and why it cannot be reformed and must be replaced by a revolutionary communist egalitarian society.

Our goal is that study will be incorporated into class struggle on campus and beyond, and our Party will grow into a force to be reckoned with in Haiti and beyond.

In Haitian Creole, we say "Tout moun se moun" meaning that workers need a system where they will be treated as human beings--the human race. That phrase is often included in the following excerpted letters (see all letters at www.plp.org)
*

In the cadre school, we studied several texts over the course of three days: The Principles of Communism by Marx and Engels, Jailbreak and Build a Base in the Working Class by Progressive Labor Party, among others. We learned about what communism is and what capitalism is. We also learned how each system is organized, and about the position of each person in that system. We learned about how to build solidarity among our class.

The capitalist system is concerned primarily with making and keeping profit—making money. It doesn’t concern itself at all with seeing working class people as human beings—as long as workers can reproduce themselves in order to go to work another day to make more profits for the bosses, then the capitalists are satisfied.

Communism is a system where we see that production is organized for the good of the working class, so that workers can live like human beings. Each member of our class will have the right to an education that serves our class, and will have the right to free and decent health care that meets our needs.

This is the kind of world that I would like to live in, for myself, my family, my town and my class. In order to achieve the goal of communism, we need to build an organization capable of leading the fight, which unites all members of the working class, from Haiti to everywhere else in the world.
*

I was happy to participate in the cadre school where we learned a lot of thing. I learned about how the capitalist system wants me to think only about myself—that success in life means becoming part of the capitalist machine, rather than what’s good for the vast majority of society.

We looked at the world situation, for example, the war going on in Ukraine, and discussed how that war is part of the rivalry of the big capitalist countries to gain a bigger control of the world and its profits. I think we have to destroy that kind of a system, and that we need a communist revolution to do that, and a communist party to lead us. Then we can establish a communist society…to share in building that society and reaping its benefits equally, according to need. A world without racist discrimination.

But in order to arrive at that goal, we have to do the work in a way that builds the collective consciousness of workers and students, rather than the individualist consciousness that capitalism fosters. I believe that this cadre school helps us move forward in the correct direction….We here can be an example to show how to do this…
*

Ayibobo—greetings comrades. The cadre school helped us understand more about the functioning of the capitalist system.

The capitalist system is one in which we are forced to live under [unfavorable] conditions…exploitation in the factories and the fields; unemployment; racism; inferior houses, education and healthcare.

And now there are gangs that control Haiti and make daily life even more miserable for us. We shouldn’t have to live in such misery and fear every day! It’s a good thing that workers living in some neighborhoods controlled by the gangs have been fighting back. We need more of that!

But we also need to understand that the gangs are only a symptom of a decaying capitalist system and the way to get rid of the gangs is to get rid of the capitalist bosses who profit from them, once and for all.
*

What I learned from the cadre school is that everyone should be able to live like a member of the human race—decently, without racism, poverty, and the misery this system creates. In a different—communist—society we won’t look at and put a value on people based on their appearance. If we understand the importance of building solidarity within our class—both here in Haiti and elsewhere around the world, that will help us in the fight against the capitalist system.

In the capitalist system, the bourgeoisie appropriates all wealth from the labor of the working class; this is basically unfair, because if you create something, why should someone who did nothing profit from it?