Brooklyn, November 5—Over 50 mostly Black and Latin high school students walked out of their classes and staged an energetic protest in front of the John Jay Campus. They were protesting the racist conditions at the Secondary School for Journalism, one of five schools in the building. that were destroying their education and making it difficult for seniors to fulfill their graduation requirements. The students were fed up and they reached out to students at the other schools in the building and organized a walkout.
The New York City Department of Education (DOE)  has mismanaged this struggling school for years. Principals have been rotated almost every year over the last 5 years. One year they even started the school year with no principal. The DOE tried to have the Secondary School for Law principal at the time keep Journalism afloat.
 The students at this school have endured disaster after disaster and have had enough. They organized this walkout specifically protesting the current principal, Livingston Hilaire.
The latest complaint is an online learning curriculum called Summit Learning. Hilaire hastily forced this online learning website on his students without much thought or staff training. Now many students sit multiple periods per day staring at a computer screen. Many seniors are worried about graduation, as they are not enrolled in classes they need to meet the New York State Graduation Requirements. When students and parents complained to Hilaire, he basically responded with the standard top down response of “too bad this is what we are doing.”
H.S. Students shutting it down!
During the walkout students demanded Hilaire come outside to answer their demands he was nowhere to be found. Principal Hilaire is just a cog in the wheel of the racist system of education that capitalism has to offer the working class. Our youth deserve more than a dumbed down online learning curriculum that stymies their love of learning.Here is what some of the student protesters had to say:
— The walk out was an act of civil disobedience a walk for our right to receive a proper education. The principal of the Secondary School for Journalism failed to advocate for the students who were treated wrong. A majority of the seniors felt they were mistreated, and the principal did not help them stay on track to graduate, refusing to give students classes they need in order to graduate.
—  It was raining but that didn’t stop the students fighting for what they believe. It wasn’t organized but it was strong and loud and it was their fight for justice no matter the consequences they were fighting for something they believe in.
— The walkout was great! It takes so much courage to go against your school and fight for your rights and I’m extremely happy that the kids from journalism did so. When close to no teachers are defending you it can easily get discouraging but as a school we stuck together and showed that although there are five different schools in one building, an injustice to one is an injustice to all. We rallied outside of the school for around 45 minutes calling for change. Some kids were threatened with suspension and other disciplinary actions but made the decision that fighting for the right to an education was much more important. After the kids raised their complaints with principal Hilaire, they were told if they were to do the walkout no other school would advocate for you because they don’t care about you. With this, the students were infuriated and told everyone else in the building. As a collective, we all supported journalism in their fight for justice!
As these students rallied in the rain they chanted “Summit will plummet” and “How do you spell racist? DOE” and “Hilaire come out” and “We are not cowards”
Youth leaders in the fight against racism
When one of the students returned to class, the teacher asked why they had walked out. After hearing what was happening at Journalism and why many students were supporting the students there, the teacher said “And that’s why I’m not even mad.” Then the other students also asked a lot of questions. This was at Park Slope Collegiate where there has been a lot of struggle against racism and segregation. And the teachers at Park Slope Collegiate fight hard and work hard for their students. We need more of that. Students, teachers and parents uniting to fight for an anti-racist education and also an anti-racist world. That would be communism.

NEWARK, NJ, November 7—Anger is beginning to rising inside the working class in Newark. For the second time in three years, Newark’s students and working class residents are plagued by lead poisoning in their water. As in Flint, Michigan, Cleveland,and other cities with large Black populations, the contamination of drinking water exposes the racist nature of capitalism. And, since high levels of lead in drinking water are a threat to all students and workers, this disgraceful neglect reminds us that racism is poisonous for the entire working class.
The Progressive Labor Party demands that the bosses pay to guarantee clean drinking water. We also know that this is just one symptom of a racist capitalist system that will continue to damage the working class. Ultimately, we must smash capitalism with communist revolution if we want to ensure that future generations of workers have a society that looks after their needs, including  having healthy drinking water and clean air.
Urban areas tend to have homes and water delivery systems built between the late 19th and the mid 20th centuries. Back then, lead was commonly used in piping, paint and gasoline. Major U.S. companies like DuPont and Standard Oil reaped billions in profits from lead-based products. Although lead has been known to be toxic for over 100 years, its use was not banned until the 1970s.
Newark city officials knew of the presence of lead in city water when 30 Newark schools were found to have elevated levels in 2016. In 2017, when homes were tested as well, it was revealed that 10 percent of those tested had lead at twice the level allowed under the Safe Water Drinking Act. Twenty percent of the homes were found to have levels of lead that max the federal limit.Children and pregnant women who drink water with these levels of lead are in danger of developing brain and nerve damage. Lead intake causes a host of other health problems (including high blood pressure) in both adults and children.
We have a basic right to drink clean water. But it’s going to take a fight to get quick action and to guarantee that the Newark clean up is paid for by the wealthy corporations and not struggling workers.
Can’t trust the politicians
After months of denying the existence of a problem, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and his administration are now forced to admit that there is a lead crisis. But who’s going to pay for the infrastructure repair? Not the companies that profited from selling toxic products like lead,   and not the corporations currently getting billions in tax reductions. No, the politicians want working class residents, of Newark to pay the bill. We say hell no!
As the mid-term elections approached, the Democrats told us that they were our friends. However, this crisis shows that both [Democrats and Republicans] parties are part of the problem. The Baraka administration withheld information regarding the water contamination. It was only the current lawsuit brought by the Natural Resource Defense Council that forced them to admit there is a crisis.  Current U.S Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker (the former Mayor, who is also responsible for the water crisis) voted to spend $700 billion on the military budget, but have not said a word on the current lead crisis in Newark. With friends like these, who needs enemies!     
Transforming anger into action
Since the walkouts of 2015, many of the high school students in Newark have been relatively quiet.  Yet this crisis has awakened some students to organize,  talk to community members and create videos to expose the lead crisis.  While it is still in the beginning stages, this gives us hope that the students can once again give leadership to a struggle that greatly affects their lives.
As a result of the lawsuit, Baraka is now being forced to hold town halls across the city about the water crisis.  At one town hall a worker got up and asked Baraka why he continued to tell the city that the water was safe when they knew lead levels were rising.  Another questioned why residents in the East Ward neighborhood were not given water filters when it was known that some homes had high lead levels.  His only response was that the “data” is wrong. While Baraka is still able to get away with these responses, many are beginning to see through the illusion of Baraka as a “radically progressive” politician.
Only a worker-run society can meet our needs
The only way that working people can ensure that vital resources like water are safe is to run the world. Politicians spend billions on elections to convince us that only they can run things. And look at the results: low-wage jobs, racism and sexism, murderous wars, and unhealthy environment! Taking power from the capitalists and building communism will be a long struggle, but it will save hundreds of millions of lives. Join us in the fight!

NEW YORK CITY, November 5—People suffering from mental health need support. Instead, they are being killed by the cops, especially if they are Black or Latin. Communists and friends at a local church have organized a fightback against racist cop killings since the murder of Deborah Danner in the Bronx. On October 18, 2016. The forum “Fight for a Safe Response to People in Mental Crisis” built multiracial unity to fight racism and protect mentally ill workers and youth.
Build movement vs police murder of mentally ill
Back in January, along with other churches and organizations, we mobilized to pack the courtroom to demand that killer kop Hugh Barry be convicted of Danner’s murder. Many expected a victory. Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) pointed out how the whole proceeding was a racist sham. A number of our friends began to understand fascist “justice” better and gained deeper respect for our Party work when Barry walked free.
More and more of us see the need to link up with the families and friends of these victims to build a broad, ongoing movement to push back against police murder of those in mental crisis. We continued to work with a number of church people who had known Ms. Danner well and were not surprised that this atrocity had prompted Mayor de Blasio to form a “Crisis Prevention and Response Task Force” in the late spring following the sick farce of Barry’s “prosecution”!  Immediately we saw the need for a citywide response to build a campaign fundamentally to fundamentally change how people in mental crisis should be treated.
Over forty attended our forum, representing thirteen congregations or organizations, and all five boroughs. We heard from a victim’s family, a psychologist on de-escalation techniques, a psychiatrist on what community services need to be funded, and a police reform activist. A member of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) blamed the entire capitalist system. As the imperialist powers compete around the world, fascism is growing and police killings are increasing.
We broke up into three work groups to develop our demands and plan strategy going forward. The bottom line is that no uniformed, weapon wielding cops should appear at any scene and provoke mentally compromised people into confrontation. Rather, the city must fund clinically trained first responders to be available round the clock in every neighborhood.
Racist police killings on the rise
Police kill at least 1,000 people throughout the U.S each year. Almost half are Black, Latin, or indigenous. Fully one fourth are suffering from a mental crisis (Vox, 5/30). This current Klan-in-blue murder rampage surpasses the many decades the KKK lynched “only” 50-60 victims per year (Berea College study). The ruling class promotes this kind of racist carnage to intimidate and control the working class from fighting back against sharpening racist and sexist exploitation.
In New York City many of us remember the murders of Eleanor Bumpers, Gidone Busch, and Mohamed Bah. In the past three years, however the pace of these killings has tragically picked up with 13 victims dead, all but one Black or Latin (Washington Post, 10/1). Indeed, no working class family is safe. Who among us does not know someone we love who has in one way or another suffered from permenant or temporary psychosis by addiction, stress of life under capitalism, or untreated mental illness.
Expose bosses’ phony commissions
Each of these abominable killings has been met with a mass, outraged response demanding justice. Only the family of Mohamed Bah has finally prevailed in a civil suit. But now NYC’s racist mayor is appealing this judgment to establish that any cop who still “reasonably” believes he/she is in danger may execute a victim, even as he lies already gravely wounded on the floor.
At our forum, one of the involved clergy has challenged us to form a “Shadow Task Force” to counter DeBlasio’s phony task force. It would continually monitor where the actual deliberations are leading and put forward our demands in every way possible. A more recent proposal is to organize a news conference at City Hall in November to sharpen the fight. As communists we must expose the fake “caring” facade of deBlasio and of all liberal politicians who set up task forces and commissions as safety valves to divert and coopt struggle. As we fight for a safer New York City for the mentally ill, we must also fight for a better world for the entire working class. That’s communism. Join the struggle!

HAITI, October 17—Large cities and small villages alike were quiet today. Nothing moved, except millions of workers and students and their angry shouts against the corruption of the capitalist government in the Petrocaribe scandal (see box).In one small provincial town the leadership of progressove labor party (PLP) organized a mass response of between 1500, and 2000 people.
Today’s demonstrations were held on the anniversary of the assassination of Jean Jacques Dessalines, one of the leaders of the Haitian fight for independence from French colonialism and slavery. Workers and students, young and old, marched resolutely against the outrages of the profit system, which has reduced the working class here and around the world to unrelenting poverty and war.
Overflowing with red energy
Many were initially hesitant to participate because of outright threats made by the police,  of violence against marchers. But little by little they gained confidence and the march began to swell; by the time it reached the main road, the crowd was huge and animated, overflowing with energy. We weren’t walking any more, we were running.This was the result of days of mobilization by comrades in the streets with megaphone in hand, on social networks, and talking to friends and acquaintances with every opportunity.
The fight against the corruption is part of our struggle, because corruption is the fruit of the capitalist system, and the corruptors are and have always been the ruling class and their bought-anpaid-for politicians. During the summer, the PLP here studied dialectical materialism. We learned that we must arm ourselves and the masses of workers and studentwith the tools to evaluate our reality, and what we can do to change that reality. We are committed to continuing to fight back against the abuses and exploitation of the capitalist system, to building a strong base in the working class, studying and implementing the line of PLP. Fight for communism, power to the working class!

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What is the PetroCaribe Scandal?
PetroCaribe is a Venezuelan-led oil alliance between countries,and Venezuela to purchase oil on preferential payment. It was a capitalist scheme created under the Hugo Chavez presidency in 2005 to gain imperialist influence in the U.S.’s backyard. The following is from Miami Herald (12/1/17):
Over a dozen former government officials and heads of private firms of were accused ofembezzling $2 billion in Venezuelan oil loans — money that could have helped the country rebuild after its devastating earthquake in 2010.The nearly $2 billion that was paid out came from the country’s Venezuelan oil largess, known as PetroCaribe. It provides Haiti and several other cash-strapped Caribbean countries with subsidized oil on favorable financing terms. The debt is stretched over a 25-year period with a 1 percent interest rate and a two- to three-year grace period allowing the countries to use the savings to finance social and economic projects.