Progressive Labor Party (PLP) activity  at the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting (CD 11/26/25) focused primarily on the demands for APHA to reinstate the leader of the International Health Section and speak out for an end to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Two events inside the conference showcased our ongoing work in mass organizations.  

A PLP speaker presented a slide show on the organizing in Maryland to stop the state from funding the Maryland Israel Development Center (MIDC) which brings military and surveillance technology from Israel into the state. Israeli Companies like Rafael Advance Defense systems work closely with Lockheed Martin on missiles, and others like AIRIS labs, an Israeli tech startup company, pursue surveillance and associate with Palantir. Others develop robotics and drones for warfare with sophisticated targeting mechanisms. Since Maryland is close to the White House and the Pentagon, it is a prime location for these companies. Presenting this work at the APHA along with one of the local leaders led to a lively discussion about U.S. imperialism and strategies to fight back with a standing room only crowd. The presentation outlined the inter-imperialist struggle over oil which underlies the uncompromising support of Israel by the United States. The presentation did not call for communism and revolution but our literature was handed out to many attendees and we were able to share our politics in multiple conversations afterwards.  

We also built on our work with University of Maryland students by presenting a poster session on health care in the Philippines. Fifteen public health workers and students joined a discussion with the PLP member and a friend from Hawaii who is also in the ICHRP (International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines). All got CHALLENGE with the article about the ICE attacks on seafarers from the Philippines(10/15 /25). We will use the poster at  multiple local programs.  Struggles in the Philippines have heated up with demands for “BoomBoom” Marcos and Sara Duterte to resign and for a transitional government to plan a new course for the government. The corruption by the ruling families is now out in the open and more intense organizing is ongoing. 

Recent earthquakes and typhoons in Cebu, Philippines have revealed the failure of capitalist politicians to provide flood control while operating “ghost contracts” and pocketing the money meant to protect the workers. As the movement grows to end this Marcos regime, students and workers in the United States have joined in protests around the country including in DC at the embassy of the Philippines. The demands of these groups for “national democracy and a just and lasting peace” fall short of the call for international communist revolution. So we have now begun discussing the limits of fighting for liberal democracy (even with a socialist outlook) which has never led to the next step of a communist society. 

The history of the Philippines is one of ongoing struggles against colonialism by Spain and now the United States. Replacing Marcos Sr. and his tyranny of martial law has not led to working class control, and now his son rules the country. As we join in the struggles against the Marcos family and other “nepo-babies” and a few ruling families, we will continue to share CHALLENGE and debate the next steps.  Taking advantage of our presence at the APHA to raise these issues has given us opportunities to talk about communism and revolution and share our literature while contributing to the ongoing struggles against fascism here and in the Philippines.

It is January in Toronto, Canada. It is very cold outside. Several thousand scholars and teachers in the Humanities are attending the annual convention of the Modern Language Association (MLA).  They are huddled in conference sessions where they attempt to find some light in the darkness. Those who aspire to teach the literature that they love face a future of precarity and poverty. Those who have jobs are painfully aware that they must be careful not to talk about “critical race theory,” “gender politics,” colonialism and imperialism, and the class struggle. 

Those who have protested the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza are paying the price for telling the truth.  With few exceptions, their university administrations have shamefully acceded to the transit into fascism. And too many professional associations--the MLA, AHA, and APHA--have been complicit in this transition, preventing discussion and debate over the government assault on the freedom and funding of universities. Fascist politicians silence students and fire our colleagues, suspend students and deport international scholars.

Turning loss into its opposite under growing fascism

Radical activists in the MLA have witnessed some painful defeats in recent years.  The  Executive Council has undermined all efforts to take a stand against the Palestinian genocide. Scores of members have quit the MLA in disgust, though the Radical Caucus persists. The antifascist playwright Lillian Hellman described the descent into McCarthyism I as “Scoundrel Time.” We are now in the midst of McCarthyism II. Scoundrels are everywhere, riding high in Washington, state capitols and university administrations. 

This might seem like a strange time to talk at the MLA about the possible communist future buried somewhere under the fascist rubble. Communists in the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) disagree. The Palestinian revolutionary writer Ghassan Kanafani said after the defeat of the 1967 war:  “What is happening now is only the labor pains of something great that will be born from the rubble of defeat like a volcano born from under the cold ashes of a forsaken mountain.” Dark times are the best times to think ahead.

As capitalism leads to greater crises we must offer an alternative

It is precisely because the crisis we face in higher education is rooted in the broader crisis in global capitalism—and the threat of global war--that we must think beyond the idealist myths of bourgeois democracy. Fascism is not just undemocratic authoritarianism; it is a mode of capitalist class rule resorted to in ‘polycrises’ of economic stagnation, fading political legitimacy and proliferating war. The only antidote to a system based upon the brutal pursuit of profit is its revolutionary transcendence by an egalitarian  system of mass participation based upon the fulfillment of human needs—communism. 

There is a mass base for fascism in many parts of the planet. About this we cannot fool ourselves.  But there is also a mass hunger for a better world. The millions who have been marching and striking against genocide and xenophobia around the world embody what the U.S. proletarian writer Tillie Olsen called “the not-yet in the now.”  Repression breeds resistance. As Kanafani wrote, “Resistance is the essence.” Communism is the future and that requires a communist party. This could be the time to join PLP!

Maryland, December 13, 2025—College Park, Maryland “No Contract, No Coffee” rang out in front of the Starbucks near the University of Maryland where workers were on strike, part of a nationwide struggle against bloodthirsty Brian Niccol, the CEO. The workers had shut down Starbucks on Thursday and Friday, but today scabs reported to work, and some students crossed the picket line despite chants calling for solidarity. Still, several workers and students left after talking to the strikers and getting educated on the class struggle.  

Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members joined in the picketing, shared several copies of CHALLENGE, and talked with the workers, who were mostly university students.  One student told us that she had organized the union there over a year ago because Starbucks was demanding a conservative dress code with black shirts. But then the issue of last-minute scheduling changes – often on the same workday – became the driving issue to create a union. Now she thinks that the scheduling is being negotiated, but wages and benefits are being stonewalled by the company. So sharper chants included “How much does Brian make: 6000 times our pay!” and “What’s appalling? Corporate stalling!”  A new student from Saudi Arabia walking past was very supportive, and as the morning went on more students walked by with drinks from other shops. 

The student organizer is graduating this year with a major in public health. She said, “You have to be on the left to be in public health”. We shared the issue of CHALLENGE that included the article about the PLP-led protest at the American Public Health Association last month (CD, 11/26/25). Even in a field that should be for health for all workers, the capitalist system can distort and destroy such a goal. It is therefore necessary to fight for communism, as early public health leaders like Rudolf Virchow understood.  We will continue to reach out to the student workers here and at nearby Starbucks locations with CHALLENGE and revolutionary analysis.

The editorial “Ukraine exposes U.S. decline, world war looms” (Dec. 24, 2025) incorrectly stated that more than one million Russian workers have been killed in the war in Ukraine. The figure refers to the total number killed and wounded. The error has been corrected online.