BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, June 29—The U.S. ruling class wants us to believe their electoral circus is the only way to fix the problems inherent to capitalism. But as communists we understand that the only way out of this worldwide misery of capitalism is organizing to smash it and replace it with communism, a society run by and for the international working class. In this vein more than 50 comrades and friends gathered to learn from inspiring fightback stories of veteran Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members who organized against U.S. imperialism in Vietnam and against racist and sexist attacks in the U.S. in the late 1960s and 70’s. We discussed how to apply these lessons to the current movement against racist genocide in Gaza.
The opening speech detailed the disasters our international brothers and sisters are living through today from imperialist wars, to genocide in Palestine and Sudan, to climate catastrophes, to racist anti-immigrant attacks. The importance of revolutionary optimism was emphasized- the understanding that the international working class will one day smash this horrific capitalist system. Participants then moved from table to table to learn from five veteran comrades who shared inspiring stories of how they joined the mass movement against the Vietnam War and against racism. They spoke about gaining the experience and confidence to join a Party dedicated to fighting for a communist future free of wars for profit, inequality, police terror and the impossibly long list of capitalist-created social ills.
The world, then and now
The world was different then. Millions of workers around the world were inspired by the communist movement led by the Soviet Union and China. There was mass unrest, strikes, antiracist rebellions in cities and mass marches. In 1969-70 Black workers led a strike of 164,000 workers against General Electric for 102 days. The Party led thousands marching to the Labor Department in support, chanting “Warmaker, Strikebreaker, Smash GE.” In 1970 postal workers went on an illegal, wildcat strike, once again led by Black workers. In 1970 over 400,000 workers struck against General Motors. In 1971 when the U.S. bosses invaded Cambodia, protests on college campuses exploded.
PLP was involved in bringing revolutionary ideas to campuses and workplaces, to picket lines and mass marches. Masses of workers and students were in action and many Party members acted boldly in response. We pushed the limits. We made mistakes but we learned by doing.
Practice is primary.
Nationalism is nationalism, but it was different back then. Revolutionary nationalists, aligned with many communists, defeated the U.S. imperialists, kicking them out of Vietnam. Today Vietnam is a capitalist country and a sweatshop for profiteering corporations led by Nike. Nationalism is a dangerous idea for the international working class because it keeps us tied to the bosses of capitalist nations. Just because they look like us and speak the same language as us does not mean they have our interests. Capitalists will always use their power to continue their profiteering.
Some key lessons from those years
Lesson 1: Multi-racial, working-class unity is necessary to fight racist attacks! PLP called for college students on summer vacation to get factory jobs and build a worker-student alliance. Many Party members learned from workers how to fight the bosses on the job. Strike support during the 1970 General Motors strike was organized by PLP college students on strike against the Vietnam War. The point was to show how capitalism was a system that attacked the whole working class. GM, GE and the U.S. Postal Service attacked workers in the U.S. by cutting their wages and forcing them to work in dangerous conditions while U.S. imperialism dropped bombs on workers in Vietnam.
Lesson 2: Base Building is key! This means we have to get to know each other and build trust to effectively fight back. Comrades described how much of this happened at the bar. Spending time together, building friendship and struggling over ideas are all necessary ingredients to building a strong movement that can survive the bosses’ attacks.
Lesson 3: A communist party is necessary to eradicate capitalism! Fighting the bosses takes discipline, organization and commitment. Right now the working class is unorganized and influenced by capitalist ideas of individualism and cynicism. But workers can reject those ideas and organize to fight back collectively. Under communism workers will run the world. We need millions of workers committed to fighting for a world where we work collectively based on what we all need, not based on profits for billionaires.
We take inspiration from these fightbacks but today we live in a different period. This period is one of increasing chaos as the world’s bosses' rivalry for top-dog status spirals us towards world war III. There is more racist scapegoating of migrants, more genocidal attacks and more brutal suppression of fightback. Our job still remains the same though. We must continue the lifelong struggle to defeat capitalism with communist revolution. We have a long and difficult road ahead. We need everyone to join us so we can bury this disastrous system once and for all! On that grave, we will build a new world- one where all humanity is valued!
