MARYLAND, January 20—Just a week before the finance capital wing of the ruling class gathered to celebrate Jim Crow Joe Biden’s inauguration, a working-class family was set to face eviction charges.
As soon as the family received the notice, members of the Mount Rainier Organizing for Racial Equality (MORE) and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) promptly began organizing assistance for their working-class brothers and sisters. Step one was creating and distributing flyers outlining tenant’s rights explaining that only working-class unity can protect us from bosses’ criminal capitalism.
The family faced challenges that so many working class families suffer under capitalism: the father is currently unemployed, the mother is six months pregnant, with two children requiring medical assistance and limited means to provide health insurance, food, or shelter. As the family struggled to protect themselves, they were faced with a rent increase in October amidst a deadly pandemic.
They live in the Heritage Park Apartments (HPA), owned by Dreyfuss Property Management (DPM), a large complex with seven rental buildings and condos, in addition to 33 other buildings in the Maryland area.
In November, just a month after they raised rents on HPA tenants DPM purchased another set of buildings to the tune of $15 million is the way of capitalism, profit is primary as bosses threaten the lives of working-class families.
Working-class fightback is our only protection
As members of MORE and PLP were alerted to the eviction notices, they wasted no time organizing. Comrades quickly gathered information on the family’s necessary healthcare, delivered food, money for supplies, and set up meetings with the family to begin organizing other HPA tenants.
PLP members active in the tenant struggle stressed to their base that all workers deserve decent housing, which cannot be achieved as long as housing is part of the capitalist profit-making system. A communist system, ensuring the fundamental needs for all workers, is the only acceptable alternative to racist landlords with extortionate rent and cold calculating evictions.
Once meetings were organized, the collective printed flyers and joined with Prince George’s County Tenants Defense and Prince George’s County Mutual Aid to canvass the HPA apartments.
Sustained struggle until revolution
PLP members have joined with other fighters from several small groups and neighborhoods to push forward in preparation for many more evictions as pandemic protections disappear. Since the summer of 2020 there have been two rallies to stop evictions and several organizing efforts in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The rallies have been integrated, including speeches in both english and spanish. In one instance a mainly Latin group, CASA, held rent strikes in Langley Park and ultimately negotiated terms with landlords.
This, however, is just the start. Under capitalism there’s always more to the bosses’ games. In Mount Rainier, a PLP member discovered that federal money for rent assistance was not being advertised or used.
In response, MORE reached out to the tenants throughout December and organized to have workers sign up for the available assistance. In that one month of organizing more people signed up for assistance than had in the previous three months.
At LaSalle Apartments in Chillum groups canvassed and organized zoom meetings with residents and held a rally on a chilly, snowy day in December. The hotline for mutual aid has connected with residents who are being threatened with evictions and other rental needs.
Landlords use and abuse the laws
Tenant organizing has introduced our collective to the ways so many of these slumlords benefit from their capitalist crimes and are never held accountable for the lives they ruin.
Under the current rent moratoriums it is “illegal” for landlords to raise rents or to evict residents for non-payment of rent. Meanwhile the “rental assistance” programs by the government forced residents to apply for money that went into the pockets of the landlords. Some landlords took the money but still threatened evictions.
Unless a worker breaks or ends their lease a landlord legally cannot evict them until they file in court and the tenant has the chance to appear. Still many landlords are threatening workers and evicting them illegally.
Housing courts have been closed for rental evictions but residents are afraid and often vacate their homes before getting evicted for fear of long term damages to their credit rating or their ability to regain decent housing in the future. These are symptoms so unique to capitalism and should be smashed.
Communist revolution is the only solution
We will continue to work with the multiracial group MORE and local residents to protect tenants but there are limits to this fight.
As we strengthen our understanding that class struggle, not liberal politicians or reform movements, are the way forward, we have armed ourselves and our friends with copies of CHALLENGE. It is only with revolution against the capitalist class that we can secure a path to workers’ power.
The enormity of the challenges facing our brothers and sisters during this capitalist crisis can be overwhelming. But stepping forward to rely on each other, fighting racism, encouraging discussions over a communist egalitarian future, and taking on the bosses with intensified class struggle, can move our class towards the solidarity needed for victory.
Many of the people we have been engaging with have been won to the Party’s ideas and are considering joining this long but necessary fight. We will continue to distribute CHALLENGE and organize until revolution is won.
Fight For Communism, Power To The Workers!