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LA Housekeepers Link their Anti-Sexist Fight to Election
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- 14 January 2017 76 hits
LOS ANGELES—The housekeepers have been organizing in secret for months. At the beginning of November they made their antisexist fight public. Just days after the presidential election of Donald Trump, they won a vote in favor of unionization, 27-15. There are many more battles to come. Most important is the lifetime struggle for a better world; a world totally run by workers, not profiteering capitalists. Let’s turn every worker’s struggle into a step towards communism.
As reported previously in CHALLENGE, these sexist bosses at an upscale hotel near our church have been violating labor laws for a long time. The 50 housekeepers, mainly Latin women, had to work through breaks and lunch to finish the rooms (many with balconies) that they were required to clean each day. In fact, they often had to work beyond the end of their shift with no pay.
They have been working harder than ever, especially after the hotel owners hired union-busters. They used “captive-audience meetings,” where workers were told reasons they shouldn’t unionize. These union-busters tried to terrorize and intimidate the workers for wanting better working conditions. Seven workers were told to attend one of these captive-audience meetings; instead twenty workers and neighborhood supporters showed up and disrupted management’s plans. Later the bosses decided to trap the housekeepers by meeting with them one on one as they cleaned rooms.
During their celebration rally at City Hall before a Planning Commission meeting, the housekeepers thanked supporters and said that the community has always been supportive and they couldn’t have done it without them. In reality it’s the workers that inspired the resident activists, union leaders and others that had come out in support of their brave actions. They had support from other hotel workers as well, who had also gone through labor disputes in the past. One of the workers from another hotel said that the neighborhood residents give massive support to the workers and just wished more workers at the surrounding hotels were as bold and showed this kind of solidarity.
Instead of feeling powerless after Trump’s election, one of the workers said, “With Trump being elected president, we felt we urgently needed to become a union to stand up for immigrant workers under attack.”
Another said, “Actions are more powerful than words.”
We can learn from the solidarity and bold actions of these hotel workers when we fight racism and sexism. We all must be organized and become engaged in class struggles, such as this one or against racist police violence that has been an ongoing struggle throughout the globe. We, as workers, need to support one another. In order to defeat sexism, racism and all the ills of capitalism, we must move our friends, family, church members, co-workers, and students to support these fightbacks because the bosses aren’t going to give up that easily. We must prepare ourselves for larger fights to come, as the housekeepers fight for their contract and other workers in the hotel fight to join the union as well. But we must never forget that “It’s the whole damn system.” The bosses will do everything in their power to continue to exploit workers in order to increase their profits. We must do everything in our power to build anti-racist, anti-sexist, working-class unity. Join the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party and organize for a better world. Power to the workers!
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Women’s March: To Defeat Sexism, Fight for Communism
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- 14 January 2017 75 hits
The Million Women March, which was initially organized by all white women, on January 21 aims to respond to president Donald Trump’s sexism. (The first Million Woman March was in 1997 in Philadelphia, organized by Black women, and around feminist Black nationalist politics).
The fight against the rising tide of fascism must go beyond marching in Washington for a day. Join with Progressive Labor Party to build a movement to fight for communism and get rid of capitalism at the root of this sexist, racist system.
As attacks on the working class worldwide worsen, we must take the energy we see in the many, many people who want to do something, and fight back. We must be in our neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces and take on the unequal schools, the racism of the police and the sexist exploitation of women workers.
Trump’s election is a symptom of a system that is failing on a massive scale. The racism and sexism that Trump has heralded on his way to the White House is not new. The deportations, racist murders by killer cops, attacks on women workers, segregation across neighborhoods and schools and an onslaught on our wages have been carried out by both political parties at the behest of the biggest capitalists regardless of who was in the White House.
All of the reasons we hate Trump, the racism and sexism are inseparable from capitalism. Those rotten ideas are deeply rooted in the bosses dividing the working class to keep people oppressed.
Clinton would’ve been
Sexist-in-Chief
Many lament the “loss” of a woman president, falsely calling it a set back from women. Hillary Clinton, along with her husband Bill, has over two decades of experience in fronting for the capitalist bosses’ war on the international working class for two decades.
She was an especially vocal advocate for the sexist, racist welfare reform that threw millions of people—disproportionately Black mothers and children—into extreme poverty. Hillary Clinton also backed the 1994 crime bill, including the “three strikes” rule, that paved the way for mass racist incarceration and expanded the prison industrial complex for privatized slave labor.
Through sanctions and indiscriminate bombings of Iraq, the Clintons slaughtered 500,000 Iraqi children.
As U.S. senator, Hillary Clinton enthusiastically backed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq to shore up U.S. control over Middle Eastern oil, killing hundreds of thousands more civilians in the process. As Barack Obama’s Secretary of State, she took a lead role in engineering attacks on civilians in Libya and the coup in Honduras that helped make it the murder capital of the world. Afterward, she was leading the charge for a more aggressive U.S. intervention in Syria, a conflict that has murdered hundreds of thousands and left millions displaced.
By no means would a woman presidency been a victory for the working class. Clinton’s history has proven her dedication to attacking working-class women and their families worldwide. Fighting sexism can only come from a united multiracial effort by working-class women and men. No allegiance to any section of the ruling class, regardless of their race or gender. These are pro-capitalist ideas, and have no place in a fight for an egalitarian communist world.
Democrats on Code Blue
The Democratic Party is hoping that the Women’s March will resuscitate their party, but building up the Democrats will only keep us on the same path we’ve been on: more racism, more sexism and more wars for oil and power. Even as so many are marching for justice and against racism and sexism, the bosses want to use our energy and fighting spirit in their depraved wars for profit. The New York Times, a big Trump opponent and supporter of the Democratic Party just called for a military draft (1/7), cynically using the guise of “service” as a pretext to send women and men across the globe to kill our working class sisters and brothers who live in other countries.
We will be able to free ourselves from the capitalists when we realize that we don’t need them to run society. The battles against the attacks on the working class are both about fighting for our survival and learning to free ourselves. Join us, the Progressive Labor Party, in the fight to build a society based on the needs of the masses of the world, and not of exploitation.
WORCESTER, MA—After fascist Donald Trump was elected president, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) joined with others to rally against racism and oppression. PLP passed out flyers calling for communism as the solution to the racist, impoverishing, and fascist profit system. People were eager to read CHALLENGE, some for the first time.
Five hundred people rallied and marched in the streets of Worcester. Previously in 2015, the City government had maliciously prosecuted Black Lives Matter protesters for blocking the streets of Worcester. This time, faced with many more anti-fascist protesters, the City backed down and there were no arrests.
We followed our actions in the streets with a showing of the anti racist documentary “Profiled” at a youth group. We discussed how capitalism is the root cause of racism, profiling, and improverishment. It’s great to protest against Trump, but we should all commit to a lifetime of struggle for a better world. That’s communism where racism and sexism are illegal and the working class runs all aspects of society.
Fighting Local Racists’s Petition
PLP and other groups were right back in the streets protesting a meeting of racists called by a long time racist, fascist and a Trump supporter. This man tried to build a fascist movement by petitioning the City Council to create a list of immigrants who had criminal records. Under pressure by antiracists and the threat of more demonstrations, the City backed down from considering the petition.
Preparing for more fascist oppression, PLP and others organized a multiracial group based on the principles of mass actions against fascism. There are some groups that are mistakenly organizing only along racial lines. This divides the working class and weakens our ability to fight back. Some do not see the necessity of mass, militant action. They want to appeal to liberal politicians with peaceful appeals such as voting or petitioning. That’s not enough. Eventually the whole capitalist system has to go, so we have to learn how to fight back militantly now.
We are building a strong base to oppose hate crimes, racist deportations, and any Muslim registry. This foundation must be the core for a society based on communist relations.
On January 21, the Progressive Labor Party, the Massachusetts Human Rights Committee, and others will rally against the inauguration of Trump in Washington, DC. The PLP in this area will also rally. We shall march in the streets and advance humankind closer to a better world. Fight for communism.
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Post-Election Dinner Sparks Evaluation of Old Communist Movement
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- 14 January 2017 75 hits
NEWARK, NJ—Over 24 members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party discussed the state of the world after the election of Donald Trump. As they began to fill the apartment and prepare dishes, discussions already started about the presidency. The event was a display of multiracial and multigenerational unity ready to fight back in 2017.
What was to be an evening of entertainment and discussions around the presidency turned into an analysis of the old communist movement and what it will take to lead the working class to communist revolution.
Skit Shows Challenges of Overcoming Bad Ideas
Two comrades initiated the discussion by presenting a skit to show what some workers are thinking concerning elections. Whether it is the belief that we can find the “best candidate” or in the belief that white workers can’t be trusted, these are ideas held by people close to PLP and who at times fight alongside us. The skit showed how PL’s views contrasted with these workers.
The skit set the stage for us to always struggle against these ideas, even when we are in the minority. Through building personal relationships and engaging in class struggle, these words really do start to take form. The ideas are not empty rhetoric, but a political line that will lead us to revolution.
What Happened to the Old Movement?
After the skit, we aimed to analyze the historical process that brought Trump to the presidency and its implications for the working class. There was talk about the growing racism and sexism, which are endemic to capitalism. From attacks on immigrants and Muslims to future defunding of women’s health services like Planned Parenthood, it is clear we have a fight on our hands.
Trump is inheriting a war and deportation machine. Currently involved in wars in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia as well as expanding the surveillance state and deportation machine, The Obama administration has done most of the legwork for Trump to carry out his campaign promises (see page 4).
Then, a friend raised the million-dollar question, “What happened to the old communist movement? Why did they fail?”
Whether it was the maintaining of the wage system, the line of “revolutionary nationalism” (essentially allying with one set of bosses that look like us) or uniting with the “better capitalists” in the popular front theory of World War II, the old communist movement gave us a lot of lessons for the future.
Perhaps the failure of the old movement can be summed in three words: lack of confidence. A communist movement is as strong as is relationship with the working class. The following is an excerpt from Road to Revolution III, PLP’s analysis of the failure of the Chinese Revolution:
Only the workers have the power and understanding to win and secure state power. We must involve millions in the Marxist-Leninist process. History has taught us the bitter lesson that a party can grow, can lead struggles, and even hold power temporarily. But it will lose out if millions upon millions of workers aren’t imbued with communist consciousness, and take part in the political planning and direction of the Party. We reject reliance on the ruling class—any section of it.
We rely only on workers all over the world. The working class is one international class with the need to crush each section of the international bourgeoisie until the entire ruling class is finished. This is not a bookkeeper’s approach. It is an approach which demands the unity of all workers at the highest level. It calls upon all workers to be won to Marxism- Leninism.
While we weren’t able to completely cover them, PLP explained that with all of these errors, this was the first time millions worldwide were fighting to get rid of human exploitation. We have much to learn from our predecessors.
Capitalism Decaying, yet Alive
A comrade also spoke about capitalism’s ability to stay alive throughout the period when pro-communist ideas touched virtually every corner of the earth. Through depression and wars, the bosses found a way to stay alive. This is not to say that our fight is futile; we shouldn’t underestimate the flexibility of the rulers. At the same time, the working class will win once we shed ourselves of capitalist illusions.
Another friend asked about a visible weakness of our social—a lack of students. PL’ers accepted our friends’ challenge to ensure we work harder to include more students.
We also had a discussion about some of the challenges in organizing young people. Like many workers, young people are also held back by illusions, particularly the belief that workers can’t run the world. However, our Party has had relative success in embedding ourselves in high schools, and reaching students that way, some of whom grow up to become communist leaders in their workplaces.
Building a Base Leads to Growth
The contributions by friends of the Party illustrated the importance of keeping ties to the working class. They were the ones who put the questions of communism front and center and struggled with us to continue to work and recruit more young people to the Party. Taking leadership from the masses, and winning them to communist consciousness and organizing is key. Hopefully they too will join the Party and take on the responsibility of organizing millions to fight for communism.
