One year ago, the simmering conflict between Russia and the U.S.-backed regime in Ukraine became an inter-imperialist shooting war. At the time, CHALLENGE wrote, “It’s impossible to know how this war will ultimately play out, but we do know that small wars can lead to larger wars, particularly in volatile times.” As tensions among the top imperialist powers escalate, with their economies in crisis and World War III looming, that prediction looks even more likely today.

Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has long warned that the capitalist profit system breeds ruthless and never-ending imperialist competition, battles waged with workers’ blood. At the same time, violent shifts in the old world order create an opening for communist revolution, just as they did during World War I and after World War II.

The war in Ukraine has massacred hundreds of thousands of workers and displaced 14 million (PBS, 11/22/22). With supply chains for wheat exports disrupted, many millions more are going hungry, with Africa bearing the brunt (Reuters, 3/9).

As in all imperialist wars, workers have no side in this conflict. We have no class interest in fighting and dying for the capitalist rulers who sit and count their profits.  For the international working class, victory will come only when we turn the guns around, smash all bosses, and build a communist world to serve workers’ needs.

Wavering alliances
Despite demands by the U.S. that its allies fall in line, it no longer rules the roost. From India and Pakistan to Turkey, South Africa,  and Brazil, regional capitalist powers are resisting Western calls to isolate and end critical trade with Russia.

India has openly defied U.S. calls to reduce Russian oil imports. When Russia’s foreign minister spoke at an International Conference in India and attacked the U.S. and NATO for their wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was warmly applauded (Guardian, 3/4). China and Turkey have actually increased their imports of Russian oil, rendering U.S. sanctions mostly useless. More broadly, China has emerged as Russia’s most important trading partner. The U.S. bosses now fear that China may tip the balance in Ukraine by supplying Russia with advanced weapons (BBC, 2/4).

While the U.S. media makes it sound like Ukraine has thwarted Russia militarily at every turn, Russia has in fact seized at least 116,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, the equivalent of Bulgaria (CNN, 9/30/22). As the war drags on, the U.S. has justified concerns that even its closest friends may lack the appetite to continue. In Berlin, the capital of the U.S. bosses’ most important ally, more than 10,000 marked the war’s anniversary by marching against delivering more weapons to Ukraine (Reuters, 2/25). Wolfgang Ischinger, a senior German diplomat, called for the “immediate” initiation of  “a peace process for Ukraine” (RT.com, 3/13).

The U.S. bosses rightly fear that an ascending China is using the conflict in Ukraine to keep chipping away at the old world order that the U.S. had dominated since 1945. China’s latest initiative was to broker the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the most important powers in the oil-rich Middle East, a deal that left the U.S. on the outside looking in (NYT, 3/11).

U.S. rulers are further weakened by the division and instability in their own ranks. The bosses’ finance capital main wing, fronted by Democrats from Joe Biden to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are committed to protecting the profits of ExxonMobil, JPMorgan Chase, and other powerful multinational companies–at any cost. A contending faction, led by the likes of the Koch family, Rupert Murdoch, and a growing “America First” contingent of the Republican Party, is pushing to suspend all aid to Ukraine. One of Russia’s big advantages is that its bosses are far more unified. Like China, it’s gotten a headstart on the U.S. in moving toward full-blown fascism. 

War-hungry U.S. media
Unlike the minimal U.S. media attention to recent wars in Yemen or Africa, where thousands of Black and Brown children have been murdered, the war in Ukraine and its blond, blue-eyed victims are splattered all over the front pages. This racist coverage also is designed to prepare U.S. workers to sacrifice in the next world war.

The bosses’ media justify their round-the-clock focus on Ukraine  by claiming that Russia’s invasion was an unprovoked attack on an independent country’s sovereignty. They never mention the eight NATO “battle groups” already stationed in Eastern Europe (NATO.int, 12/22), or that the U.S. helped to trigger the invasion by suggesting that Ukraine might be considered for inclusion in NATO, a longstanding “red line” that  Russia would not allow to be crossed (Reuters, 12/21). Or that the U.S. itself has invaded 84 of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations. So much for sovereignty!

The media is obsessed with Ukraine not because it represents a sovereign “democracy” standing up to tyranny, but because the U.S. bosses need to divide the international working class as they drive toward war and fascism. They know that their biggest threat is an organized, militant, international army of workers fighting to smash capitalism.

Fight back against imperialist warmakers!
As Russia and China continue to strengthen their alliance, a U.S. general recently predicted that the U.S. would be at war with China by 2025 (Time.com, 1/31). China’s leader, Xi Jinping, recently targeted what he called a U.S.-led campaign of “encirclement and suppression.” His new foreign minister said China had no choice but to fight back against U.S. sanctions (NYT, 3/9).

The current period contains both great danger and huge opportunity for the working class. The war in Ukraine  demonstrates once again that wherever workers are attacked, it hurts our class brothers and sisters internationally. Whether it’s boots-on-the-ground carnage, disrupted food supplies and medical care, or economic devastation, it’s our class that has the most to lose under capitalism.  

Only with communist revolution can we turn imperialist world war into class war against the capitalist parasites who put profits over human life. Only then can we build a world where wars, racism, and sexism will be eliminated for all time. Only communism can smash our chains, once and for all!

Los Angeles, CA, March 28– For nearly three years the fightback and solidarity with the Flores family has deepened, which has given life to Progressive Labor Party in Los Angeles. With consistent protests over several years, the family has grown to see that this fight is bigger than any individual KKKop or reform policy. They are now actively organizing with other families to target the liberal fascist and George Soros-funded District Attorney, George Gascon. Gascon has a liberal cover, but he has a long cop career, from going along with racist “stop and frisk” policies to refusing to prosecute killer cops.

This has been controversial because Black Lives Matter (BLM) and other organizations have championed Gascon and given him a platform with impacted families where he’s made promises to prosecute cops.  Some families have illusions that targeting Gascon will hurt their court cases, so it is significant that other families have chosen to continue the fight.  The Rodriguez family, who just won a $12.6 million settlement (read CHALLENGE, 2/15) is re-engaged in the struggle and specifically wants to go after Gascon. They have asked the Party, together with the Flores family and three other impacted families, to organize with them and start up this collective.

Democratic Party liberals support killer cops
We are planning our first action in a couple of weeks and at our first meeting, we talked about the politics surrounding Gascon and the reform struggle in general.  We discussed that despite the election of a so-called progressive D.A. and passage of state legislation like the California Act to Save Lives on the use of deadly force, which took effect in 2020, none of it has led to any prosecutions of any KKKops.  When we drafted up our first flier, we criticized not only the local liberals but also Democratic Party misleaders across the country who continue to expand their already bloated police budgets.  We called out former “Top Cop” VP Kamala Harris, for having the nerve to show her face and let alone speak at the funeral of Tyree Nichols, who was beaten to death by Black Memphis KKKops.  When it was shared among the families, the aunt of a young Latin worker who was also beaten to death in Orange County said, “I wouldn’t change one word!”

Gascon has long been connected to the liberal ruling class in California. First, he spent three decades rising through the ranks of one the most murderous police departments in the world, the Los Angeles Police Department.  He went from LAPD recruiter to Assistant Chief and was once called “the right arm” of racist “stop and frisk” Bill Bratton.   Then under the auspices of then-Mayor Gavin Newson, who has political and family ties with the billionaire Getty family that was built on violent extraction of oil in the Middle East. He was appointed Chief of Police of San Francisco in 2009.   In just two years, without any legal experience, Newsom then appointed him to Los Angeles District Attorney, following the footsteps of now VP “Top Cop” Kamala Harris.

His liberal fascism was exposed when his rhetoric was countered by his practice of refusing to prosecute killer cops in San Francisco which even inspired Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players to take a knee in response.  It also inspired impacted families and activists to protest against him at his home and run him out of the Bay area, only to be championed by BLM-LA and others.

It’s a long haul, but only communism means real justice
While all of these families recognize that the whole system is racist and guilty of murder, we still have a way to go to win them away from reformism and liberal-led organizations. Real justice can only come from the dismantling of capitalism and the capitalist state through communist revolution and joining Progressive Labor Party.  However, many families understand that it has been our Party and our leadership that has always been honest and upfront with our politics and consistent in the protests in the streets. We know this is a lifelong struggle, and they have confidence that we will be with them for the long haul.  One of the Flores siblings is in a Party club and considers herself a communist. She is bold and has pushed families to begin targeting Gascon and has won her younger sister to join our collective!  With her leadership, the future of the working class is bright!

WASHINGTON, DC, February 19—As the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion approached, over 2,000 people rallied against the war at the iconic Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Workers from Russia to the U.S. must push back against nationalism and imperialist war.  Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members attended the march with a flyer headlined, “The only good imperialist is a dead imperialist.” The PLP flyer declared that to end bloody wars that turn workers into cannon fodder for profit,  the entire imperialist system has to be destroyed with a communist revolution. All major wars today are battles over profit and empire. The global working class has no dog in these inter-imperialist fights. We say, No War But Class War, to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat—workers power! By distributing over 200 flyers and 100 CHALLENGE newspapers, we reached many earnest anti-war forces who attended, contacting several who will help build an anti-imperialist movement.
Without working-class political leadership, hundreds of workers will see themselves as having the same class interests as bosses, marching generations of workers into the battlefield. The Progressive Labor Party has been fighting to show and build leadership in the working class since the Vietnam War. We will continue pushing multiracial groups of workers to turn the guns against imperialist bosses, especially as  World War III gets closer.
 The rally was organized by Libertarians, an organized group that prides itself on being anti-government and strong individualists. The differences between these groups and PLP were on full display. Members of PLP noted that no non-libertarian groups of workers took the mic. Yet, the rally billed itself as an attempt to unite workers, a necessary initiative that needs to happen amongst workers to drown out left and right-wing media that pits us against each other. Still, another weakness is that none of the speakers – “right” or “left” - advanced an anti-imperialist analysis for it being an anti-war rally.
While Libertarians oppose foreign oil wars and promote the Fortress America vision of  building a small government to protect the interests of the American people, what they really mean is to protect the right of  bosses to exploit workers and keep their profits within their borders.They directly play into the hands of domestically oriented billionaires like Charles Koch who represent the Small Fascist, America First isolationist wing of the U.S. ruling class(see glossary page 6). In contrast, being anti-war for PLP means fighting for communist revolution to end  all imperialist profit and build a collectively run society that benefits all.
At each new level of imperialist war, politicians, union bosses, and reform leaders are used to squelch working class unity, especially multiracial unity between Black, Latin, and white workers. Although politicians Ron Paul and Tulsi Gabbard railed against U.S. arms for Ukraine, liberals in Biden’s camp have shown their potential to get more nation-focused bosses like Paul and Gabbard in line as World War III drums beat closer. Ron Paul cited concerns about inflation and rising energy and gas prices as a reason for his objection against providing foreign aid to Ukraine last May (New York Times, 5/22). This division highlights an ideological difference between factions of the U.S. ruling class. To better understand the direction imperialist bosses will forge, we classify this division as a split between big and small fascists. Small nationalist fascists like the Koch brothers primarily appeal to a gutter racist, Christian base.  Domestically oriented corporate leaders shame liberals for not opposing Biden’s extensive liberal imperialist backers ready to nuke Russia for another 200 years of economic dominance.
Neither side of these bosses are friends of the working class. Each will terrorize workers, be it in the U.S. or worldwide, to make the most profits. Small fascists like Ron Paul, a former Texas Congressman, are considered the "intellectual godfathers" of the Tea Party movement and headed the Koch brothers' Citizens for Sound Economy, an ideological front for anti-government and pro-privatization companies to sway policies and politicians.
To push these policies, small fascists like Paul and the Koch brothers use gutter racism against Black and Latin workers to fool white and multiracial workers into believing these politics will serve them, too. Paul opposes affirmative action and uses the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to shame liberal politicians for failing to promote racial unity and a “color-blind society.” U.S. representatives, including Dennis Kucinich and Green Party leaders Jill Stein and Cynthia McKinney, help liberal fascist bosses use politicians’ gutter racist public displays to win honest anti-racists to vote for their leadership. To smash racism indefinitely, struggling for internationalist communist leadership from the Progressive Labor Party is our class’ best chance.
The ten demands of the march criticized U.S./NATO roles in aggressively encircling Russia since 1991, mainly since the U.S. supported the coup in Ukraine in 2014, but were entirely uncritical of Russian imperialist actions in Ukraine. A genuine concern for the world’s workers requires supporting workers’ resistance to imperialism in the U.S., NATO, Russia and Ukraine. Rebuilding an internationalist communist movement with the stance that workers across borders have more to gain with worker-led fightback than the imperialist war funded by bosses can make this a reality. By attending this misleading rally, PLP members were able to reach hundreds of people with just such an analysis and will fight to continue to push this line and win workers to fight for it too.

Brooklyn, February 11—More than 40 antiracists participated in a multigenerational and multiracial forum on the necessity of multiracial unity in the fight against racism. Participants included high school students, college students, teachers, and other young workers. This gathering was so inspiring that one person joined the Party! That’s another nail in the bosses’ coffin. Fighting to understand how we, workers all over the world, can and must unite to overthrow this racist system of capitalism requires urgency, especially as the bosses continue to torpedo towards world war.
Fighting racism and preparing to turn the capitalists’ imperialist war into a class war for communism. That’s our task as communists. Only a communist society, one run by and for the international working class, can rid this planet of all the inequities and injustice we face day in and day out.
Fight for working-class unity, not multicultural capitalism
After a few icebreakers to help everyone get to know each other a bit more, we began our study on racism as a tool of the capitalists. We used a number of political cartoons to demonstrate how the ruling class uses racism to divide workers and prevent us from fighting back. By paying white workers more than Black and Latin workers, the bosses create a culture of violent competition and pit workers against one another. The bosses’ media pushes racist narratives to make workers see other workers as the enemy. But communism means workers uniting to fight back against a common enemy: the capitalist ruling class. Fighting for a society where everyone works to benefit the international working class - that’s communism.
And multiracial fightback is working class history. As recently as 2020, after the murder of George Floyd by the kkkops, the United States saw the biggest multiracial uprisings against racism in the country’s history. Hundreds of thousands marched in cities large and small, with antiracist solidarity demonstrations occurring all over the world. The protests included the countries of Nigeria, Argentina, Lithuania, South Africa, Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Austria, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Norway, India, Tunisia, Pakistan, South Africa, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Brazil, Syria, the United Kingdom, Senegal, and more.
We also used photographs and cartoons from around the world, from Colombia to Alabama, to show how workers fight back against racism in strikes and on the street, despite all the racist lies we are bombarded with. These cartoons demonstrated the power workers have when they reject the ruling class’s murderous lies and unite with other workers. One such cartoon showed workers resisting the phony messages of politician misleaders and fighting back against the bosses’ KKKop army to climb a mountain of justice.
After discussing the images and political cartoons, we broke out into small groups to discuss the history of racism. We debunked the myth that “racism has always been around” and discussed the ruling class’s intentional use of state power and violence to separate and define “Black” and “white'' as a way to prevent multiracial working class rebellion in the 1600s and 1700s in colonial America. For example, the ruling class of Virginia passed a law in 1661 that stated that “in case any English servant shall run away in company of any Negroes,” the servant would have to work extra years for the Black person’s master. Also, in 1691, Virginia provided for the banishment of any "white man or woman being free who shall intermarry with a negro, mulatto, or Indian man or woman bond or free." The bosses’ have always feared multi-racial unity and antiracist fightback.
Only communism can end racism
Capitalist misleaders try to fool us by putting multiracial faces in high places. We cannot be fooled into thinking electing Black mayors like Eric Adams and Lori Lightfoot or so-called progressives like AOC’s Squad are going to spare the working class from capitalist exploitation. Nor can we be swept up in false hope from the elections of indigenous presidents in Peru or “left” ones in Colombia. These liberal fascists are the greatest danger for the working class. We cannot smash racism by voting in a rainbow of politicians committed to the same mass murder, deportation, and exploitation of workers as their white counterparts or by diversifying police forces who will continue gunning down youth like Tyre Nichols.
We need to fight for communist revolution, which will never be on the ballot. Capitalists need racism, workers don’t. Communism means workers run everything. Only through communism can we end racism.
You too can join the fight to smash this racist, capitalist system and build a communist future. Join us on May Day! Join Progressive Labor Party!