CHICAGO, December 2—We are currently seeing workers fight back by cooperating in a mass way to take on the racist capitalist bosses. Members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) are helping build a citywide antiracist support network, because the only defense we can count on is a unified and fighting working class.
We’re seeing more organizations come together to fight against the system. The newly-created Chicago Protester Defense Committee looks to unify different organizations and initiatives within Chicago so that we can all come together as a united front from below. Some of our efforts include raising funds to help those arrested make bail, supply and food drives for unhoused workers, building social media campaigns, and arranging legal representation.
We want to fight in defense of our fellow workers, specifically those facing felony charges and racist and sexist violence while protesting against the state terror committed by Mayor Lori Lightcop and her gang, the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The goal is to meet regularly and put in the collective work in order to advance the protection and strength of our class. As the capitalists increase their racist and sexist attacks on us and get closer to war with China and/or Russia, we will need a strengthened working class to build a revolutionary, communist movement to get rid of these parasites once and for all.
Bring the antiracist fight
Throughout most of this year we’ve been reminded just how vicious and ruthless the kkkops can be when the bosses’ power is threatened. We’ve seen them smash cameras, phones, and eyeglasses, confiscate bikes and backpacks, and regularly call protestors by racist and sexist names. These racist thugs often turn these encounters into violent situations for the protestors through taunts, shoves, and pushes which quickly turn into brutal hits with batons, strikes to the head, kicking and dragging protestors through the streets, even sometimes using chemical agents.
On November 19, there was a lawsuit filed against the city bosses on behalf of 60 people who joined protests over this summer. They were fighting to bring national attention against the racist murder of Black workers like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade. The 17-count suit alleges violations of protesters' so-called “constitutional” rights and names Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown, along with 20 officers (USA Today, 11/19).
From the end of May to early June, there were at least 3,000 arrests in Chicago alone (BlockClub Chicago, 6/9). Many arrests have turned into felony charges, including federal cases. The cops have targeted antiracist fighters such as Mohawk Johnson, a Black artist/activist who was arrested at a protest in August and remains on house arrest with eight aggravated assault charges. The bosses try to make an example out of our class sisters and brothers, instilling fear into the rest of us so that we’re hesitant to fight against their state violence.
This is by no means limited to the United States. The bosses in France recently tried to ram through a new law that would criminalize workers for filming cops. Thankfully, workers and students there fought back in the streets and on the job and the bosses were forced to back down (Reuters, 11/30).
The state is never neutral—fight for communism
In the class struggle between the working class and the capitalists, we must never expect the courts and cops to be neutral. They all serve the role of defending and upholding this racist and sexist capitalist state. The bosses’ whole apparatus of “law and order” above all protects property and profits, over workers’ lives.
Those of us in PLP are ready to fight to build this defense network, as it is through the mass movement that we grasp our power to protect ourselves as a class. But ultimately, our collective liberation and justice will only be served when we build a mass Party capable of crushing this capitalist system and replacing it with a worker-led communist one.