PINEVILLE, KENTUCKY, May 27—Progressive Labor Party (PLP) held a cadre school and sponsored a booth at the Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival. We met a lot of people whose relatives were in bloody Harlan in the 1930s and told us some of their stories about armed battles between striking coal miners and mine owners and their goons.

We had a lot of good conversations. We engaged with about 70+ people.  We gave out free water, tootsie rolls, flyers for the cadre school, and lots of CHALLENGE newspapers. We had a backpack full of PLP literature that we shared as well as a pamphlet we wrote about rebellions in Appalachia. We also learned not to get chocolate that melts.

There were far more good people than bad at the Festival,  but we faced some reactionaries on the first day. We left our table for 10 minutes to put things away and they spilled something sticky like Sprite on our table and wrote "f@#x you commies". Still, we were able to answer all questions of some of the people who had reactionary ideas. Of course, if someone is just a bully there’s no good response!

They have this special potato chip only in Appalachia called grippos like spicy barbecue chips, they were really good! We also had many comrades from Chicago come too and at the end of the cadre school we sent them home with plenty of grippos.

The outdoor cadre school went well, but rain kept the attendance a little lower than we expected. We had talks on the opioid crisis and the history of addiction under capitalism. A comrade from Kentucky talked about how Appalachia seems like a colony since much of their economy revolves around a single commodity like coal or timber, and most Appalachian capitalist enterprises and land are owned by people outside of Appalachia.
Build the revolutionary  communist movement everywhere!

Boston, June 16–Why, at this year’s annual conference of the Marxist Literary Group (MLG), were more people than ever before talking about communism? It’s a sign of the times, the deepening crisis of imperialism and racism and war. It’s also the result of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) stepping up our fight for  communism and the Party at the MLG. It’s still the Marxist as opposed to the Communist Literary Group, but by taking the Marxist work of the conference seriously we are putting communism and the question of the party more on the agenda of these mostly younger academics and grad students.

With a lot of support, we proposed for next year’s conference a reading group on revolutionary organization, so that the need for a communist party would be explicitly on the table. On the literature table this year for the first time was a stack of CHALLENGE, and our papers were all taken. Several people wanted to know more about our history, the article on the Cultural Revolution, etc. Not enough radical people know about PLP, and we are taking some simple steps to correct that at the MLG.

The conference focus this year was Capital Vol. 1 and W.E.B. Du Bois’s Black Reconstruction. To prepare, our comrades took part in three year-long study groups on Marx and Du Bois. Out of this we helped form a panel on Capital and one on Du Bois, and were often able to intervene from the Party’s point of view in the general discussions of both books.

Many people, not only PLP, emphasized that Marx’s book shows in great detail why capitalism can never be thoroughly reformed. The drive to expand capital accumulation through every corner of the world is inevitably reproducing insoluble problems: extremes of wealth and poverty; more masses of wage workers but at the same time masses of the unemployed; constant economic crisis each worse than the last; and capitalist competition leading to imperialist war. An anti-capitalist reader of Marx has to conclude as Marx did that capitalism can never be made to benefit the working class. It’s not usual to point out at the MLG that this conclusion from reading Capital entails a commitment to communist revolution. We made that point.

Racism and imperialism were not often discussed enough, although the Du Bois discussions did show how racism and capitalism are twinned both in the USA and in global imperialism. (Du Bois was an outstanding anti-imperialist voice his whole life long). Capital defines the global market as the heart of expanding capital accumulation, even in Marx’s time; and his book is full of references to the war against American slavery and the parallels between chattel and wage labor. The transition to wage slavery and the missed opportunity of a united Black and white workers’ struggle against capital is Du Bois’s great theme—inspired by Marx—in Black Reconstruction. Other panels did explore capitalist racism: one on Richard Wright, several on the so-called “surplus” (chronically unemployed) population produced by capital, others on colonial land theft. We are friends with many of these presenters and got to know others this year.

If our proposal on revolutionary organization is adopted, we can put more focus on racism and imperialism next year by bringing more Lenin into MLG Marxism, and going beyond Lenin to advocate a single global revolutionary party which summarily banishes nationalism from workers’ struggle. Examples from parties in India, South Africa and the Philippines could make the point that in our day revolutionary communism has to be organized in a single global party. Only such a party form, going further than the Comintern, can fight all the competing imperialist blocs on a global scale, in the process overcoming racism and nationalism in the workers’ ranks. PLP has a lot to contribute in MLG discussions of the theory of the party form, coming out of our analysis in  documents like Road to Revolution IV of the defeat of communism in the Soviet and Chinese parties.

There was, except for us, an eerie silence about the already begun inter-imperialist global war. Perhaps because people feel powerless? Another reason to join the Party. The door is open for us to advocate that at the moment, though we are aware that we will face anti-communism here eventually. [See Box, “The New Liberal Anti-Communism”]

For our part, what we got out of the conference is best summarized by a young comrade: “This is our theory! Marxist theory belongs to us, to the communists, to the working class.” There is a problem with the MLG: theory being divorced from practice. On the one hand, it’s good that the powerful intellectual tradition of Marxism is alive and well among some academics; on the other hand, Marxism does not belong mainly to academics. As Brecht wrote once, “Communism is simple: if you’re a worker you can understand it.” Communism is also complex, but workers trained in a revolutionary party led by workers—a party like PLP where academics too are welcome—can also master its complexity.

We are encouraged by this work among intellectuals, feeling our collective power to mobilize as a class if we can bring our academic co-workers into a worker-led PLP, building the Party to fight for communism as capitalism spins off into racist violence and war.

The new liberal anti-communism
Three comrades on a panel at the 2023 MLG conference called “The New Anti-Communism” showed how anti-communism remains alive and well in new forms, even in the absence of a mass communist movement. Why? Because communism remains the greatest threat to the ruling class, and both liberal and rightist wings of the capitalist parties in the USA and Canada are united in slandering it. In its identity-politics guise, anti-communism helps to recruit marginalized workers to fight in imperialist wars against “authoritarianism,” to subdue white workers who might want to combat racism, and to provide political cover for racist attacks on the whole working class.

For one speaker, the Florida and Texas government attacks on “wokeness” as educational brainwashing (i.e., teaching about slavery, labor insurgency or gender politics) were dog-whistle accusations that recalled McCarthy-era portrayals of Communists infesting the brains of innocent Americans. Another speaker pointed out that it is wrong to point to “the right” as the main danger in such attacks on teachers and their unions, since liberal multicultural identity politics have prepared the ground for the likes of fascist Florida Governor Ron De Santis. Often, antiracist folks are disarmed against these attacks by their allegiance to divisive liberal identity politics which hide workers’ common interests.

The third speaker discussed how the Canadian government has historically manipulated the status of “refugees.” “Good” refugees have been those fleeing from communism, like those from Vietnam decades ago, or Ukrainians today fleeing a capitalist Russia falsely identified as communist through the word “authoritarian.” But refugees from places like Haiti are to be turned away at the border. Propaganda like the short TV ads “Heritage Minutes” falsely feature Canada as a land of freedom from “totalitarian” oppression, while their multicultural imagery helps the liberal ruling class depict marginalized workers as full citizens of a free country. Liberals in Canada, fascists in Florida: both use anti-communism to shatter workers’ unity, attack workers in struggle, and prepare a population of patriots for world war.

New York City, July 12–Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) week-long summer project of rallies, discussion groups, CHALLENGE newspaper sales, social events and protests was proof that today’s working-class youth are committed to building an international party for the masses of workers under rising fascism.  Throughout the project, about 50 youth and workers distributed over 1,000 papers, rallied in working-class neighborhoods, and participated in our CHALLENGE workshops and sessions on fascism, sexism and more. This project increased our understanding and prepared our class to fight against the bosses’ ideas and culture.  

The project’s peak was in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 10, with a petitioning campaign and rally to name a street in one community after Shantel Davis, a Brooklyn youth who was brutally murdered by the NYPD a decade ago. The project revealed that building and maintaining deep political roots, especially in Black and Latin working-class communities, what we call ‘base building,’ is indeed the critical factor that will make communist ideas mass ideas and prepare our class  for running a world without capitalism.
Encouraging workers to participate

At our opening cookout of roughly 50 attendees, the icebreaker was successful in that people shared their reasons for attending and why they believed capitalism must be destroyed. Since getting people to speak on bullhorns has been a challenge in the past, we addressed this concern head on by asking everyone to draft their ideas on note cards that could also be used later for bullhorn speeches.  This ended up being a successful strategy since we had the widest bullhorn participation ever in recent years.

One worker discussed the recent Supreme Court rulings against affirmative action in higher education and explained that our job as revolutionaries is to not only explain how the immediate threats of openly racist bosses like DeSantis and Trump attack our class but how the even more deadly but less blatant attacks of the Democratic Party are to blame for our continued suffering in terms of global issues like unemployment, migration crises, climate catastrophes and human trafficking.  The struggle of Kingsborough Community College students and professors against police terror on campus was also given acknowledgement and put forward as a sharp example of how to fight inequality with multiracial unity and courage.

Distributing CHALLENGE  
The public newspaper sales and rallies during the project are very important opportunities for our young comrades to sharpen their internal development in understanding the main political goals of Progressive Labor Party.

These sales also allow our members to learn from workers who witness and offer feedback.  Over the course of the week, we distributed several hundred CHALLENGE papers on Broad and Market, a major thoroughfare in Newark, NJ, and over 600 papers in the Ivy Hill section of Newark as well. At these sales, members led speeches and chants such as “obreros, unidos, jamas seran vencidos,”(workers united will never be defeated) or “workers, united, will never be defeated,” and in the process sharpened their analysis and public speaking skills.

As we would chant and read out headlines from our papers, workers would confirm our ideas such as a headline about smashing racism, kkkops and capitalism that motivated one worker to reply, “Yeah, it’ll take a war to do that.”  

Workers were also very excited to see that our paper is in both English and Spanish. There was one very revealing exchange between a member of PLP and a worker who took the paper and asked, “What is capitalism?” There was a wonderful conversation that revealed that he already, in fact, knew the essence of capitalist racist inequality and also about the inter-imperialist rivalry between Russian, Chinese and U.S. bosses that was shaping so much of the instability that all workers face today. Our class has so many of the tools already to run the world, and it is our job to remind each other of this fact and build the courage needed to make it happen.

No such thing as ‘good’ bosses!
Finally, our political education sessions and climactic event for Shantel Davis revealed the power of ideas and our appeal to the working class.  In our session about racism, the recent Supreme Court decision was discussed again as a devastating, obvious attack against the working class.  While we have targeted the Democratic Party as the leading force attempting to sway Black and Latin workers away from revolution,  workers around the world also cheered on Obama.

And we now face the worst climate-driven migration crisis in human history!  So while many people want to blame Trump for fascism, he isn't the problem any more than the rest of the bosses’ politrickcians.  
The bosses will have you believe by prosecuting Trump and those who participated in the Jan 6 insurrection that the system works. But for one small victory, the working class is subjected to mass deportation, incarceration, and other horrors every single day under capitalism.  The true victory is not punishing a cop with jail time, but removing the racist conditions which breed racist police in the first place, and no reform, judge or politician can promise us that.

Workers in Brooklyn who spontaneously joined our Shantel Davis rally also know that, and this shows us that their decision to join us was not really spontaneous at all. Rather, it shows us that our class watches us, and every fight we take, every summer project we complete, is confirmation to our class that our Party is serious, committed, and ready for the fight. Join us!

​​Los Angeles, July 4-The sound of beating drums traveled for blocks through downtown Los Angeles. Mirrored music could be heard near the international airport and in Santa Monica as well.  Hotel workers from the Unite Here union Local 11 wanted to make sure their work stoppage over the July 4th weekend was felt by the hotel bosses in LA. As they took action to fight for a living wage, members of Progressive Labor Party joined them on the picket lines to remind them that the workers of the world produce and run everything and deserve nothing less than the whole pie. This we know will only happen with a communist revolution.

For three straight days, workers picketed in front of over a dozen hotels from 3 AM through 11 PM. The action culminated in a large protest where hundreds of workers, 90 percent of whom are Black and Latin women, marched to demand hotel profits be shared with them since the hotels can’t function without them. Hotel bosses stand to make billions with the upcoming World Cup and Olympics being hosted in LA, but they want to maintain the current $18.86 an hour minimum wage. One would have to work 17 hours a day to afford a two-bedroom apartment in LA with that salary. These poverty wages have left hundreds of women unable to be with their families, without healthcare, hungry, or worse. One woman can only afford to live hours outside of LA, so every week, she leaves her family to sleep four nights in her car outside of the hotel that she cleans.
While workers demand a living wage, hotel bosses responded that it's not their responsibility to keep up with the cost of living in LA. We know these thieves want to keep every penny of profit for themselves. Workers have the power to unite and fight for the reform of higher wages, but the only way to end exploitation is to rid the planet of capitalism.

Liberal politicians and union misleaders only appear to care
The liberal bosses and union leadership in LA sound like they are on the side of the workers. Union leadership is pushing for a minimum wage of $25 an hour. Council members Curren Price and Katy Yaroslavsky took it a step further by introducing a motion that would make the minimum wage for hospitality workers $30 an hour by 2028. Even these wages are at poverty levels for LA though. But the larger danger comes from when workers believe these liberals and misleaders are our friends. Capitalism is never run in the interest of workers. These union misleaders and local politicians are nothing but representatives of local capital. Their appearance of care for our class is to keep us settling for reforms instead of finding true change through revolution.

The biggest farce came when Los Angeles City Council members Hugo Soto-Martínez and Nithya Raman and Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo were arrested at a rally on June 22, 2023 in support of hotel workers. This is nothing more than an attempt to launch their political careers, similar to how DiBlasio’s New York City mayoral campaign took off after being arrested while “supporting” hospital workers. We can’t be fooled by these opportunists. Two hundred workers were also arrested at that rally, but they and what they were fighting for was not the headline of any news story because workers are disposable in this rotten system.

Workers solidarity now - communism ASAP
Although it was hard to talk on the picket lines because of the successful drumming to which workers were exposed, members of the Party made some connections with workers. They were encouraged by our support as we marched side by side with them and chanted. While the union misleaders limited their chants to “si se puede” (“yes we can”) and “huelga”(“strike"), these workers are learning important lessons from the picket line about class consciousness, solidarity, and workers’ power. One of the picket leader’s comments revealed this understanding - “They are making all this money from the Olympics already and they don’t want to share it with us. But we do the work. When the LA teachers went on strike, we joined them, and we have seen a lot of teachers come and support us too. We just have to keep fighting together.” Workers in LA are learning valuable lessons on the picket lines that can’t be learned anywhere else. Many had children joining them, so they are gaining this understanding as well. Our job as revolutionaries is to build on that understanding to reveal that workers can and will run society in a communist world.

The workers went back on the picket line on July 10th after a short break. Additionally the Screen Actors Guild union joined the Writer’s Guild on strike this week. This uptick in class struggle in the LA area gives us lots of opportunity to raise ideas of class consciousness and turn them into schools for communism. We will definitely be back out there with them and struggle to bring our base along so they can learn these lessons as well. The fightback in LA continues!