The United States empire is weaker than at any time since World War II. This weakness is exposing divisions among U.S. bosses over the future of their threatened empire, and in particular over U.S. relations with Russia. For now, the U.S. bosses seek co-existence with Russia and their other main imperialist rival, China, to give them time to mobilize for an inevitable global conflict. As the Council on Foreign Relations, the leading think tank for U.S. main-wing, finance capitalism, observes:

An extended standoff between supporters of a liberal international order and those who contest it may accidentally lead to outright conflict. A better approach would be for liberal countries to prepare themselves for a period of awkward coexistence with illiberal ones, cooperating on some occasions and competing on others (Foreign Affairs, January/February 2017).

Opportunistic on Russia
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Russia’s sphere of influence  shrunk dramatically. Former Soviet nations were absorbed into the pro-U.S./European Union NATO bloc. More recently, the U.S. empire has entered a period of marked decline. In the post-World War II era, U.S. imperialist domination has centered on control of Middle East oil. After the 1979 Iranian revolution , however, U.S. domination in the region gradually waned. A resurgent Russia has expanded its regional influence and directly challenged U.S. domination. On December 20, in the latest setback for the U.S. ruling class, Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow “to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the United States on the sidelines as the countries sought to drive the conflict in ways that serve their interests” (New York Times, 12/21).
These defeats for U.S. imperialism, and the bosses’ uncertainty over how to respond to them, explain their disarray over November’s presidential elections and Donald Trump’s proposed cabinet. Even so, the nomination of Rex Tillerson, chief of Exxon Mobil, is another indication that the rulers’ main finance wing will align a Trump administration to serve their needs.
At least one section of the main wing appears to be buying time for global conflict while making profits along the way. Where former Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond was unable to close a deal with Russia in the 2000s, Tillerson found more success:

Tillerson had spent time in the 1990s overseeing a flagship Exxon project in Russia. And he flew there in 2011 to meet with Putin and announce a strategic partnership with Rosneft, the national oil company that absorbed [formerly privately owned] Yukos’ main assets after [Mikhail] Khodorkovsky was thrown in jail.
The two companies were to jointly develop potentially massive oil reserves in Russia’s Arctic waters, the Black Sea, and Siberian unconventional resources. Putin spoke of investments from the deal eventually reaching perhaps $500 billion—a big number even for Exxon. No sooner had the venture struck oil beneath the Kara Sea, though, than Exxon was forced to down tools as U.S. sanctions over the Ukraine crisis kicked in (Bloomberg, 10/12).

Tillerson is backed by core members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment: James Baker (secretary of state under George H.W. Bush), Condoleezza Rice (secretary of state under George W. Bush), and Robert Gates (CIA director under Bush I, secretary of defense under Bush II). All three have ties to the oil industry (Media Matters, 12/13).
With so much at stake for Exxon Mobil, a chief source of profits for the main wing, U.S. rulers may be prepared to accept a short-term political defeat by ceding influence to Russia in the Middle East.  
Syria: Killing Fields of Imperialist Rivalry
As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad re-consolidates his control, despite U.S. proxy efforts to oust him, the Russian military is operating freely throughout the country--the first U.S. rival to do so since World War II. The sacking of Aleppo by the pro-Russian Assad regime could not have succeeded without military support from Russian imperialism. This campaign, brokered with regional powers Turkey and Iran, had no input from the U.S. or the EU. Turkey agreed to withdraw support from rebel factions in exchange for an oil pipeline deal with Russia (Reuters, 10/10). The strengthening of military and economic ties between Russia and Turkey  is a significant reversal of fortune for U.S. imperialism.
After the failed U.S. invasions of Iraq, the new Iraqi government is leaning toward U.S. nemesis Iran. Several Iraqi military units are fighting under Iranian military leadership alongside Russia in support of the Assad regime. The potential rise of a Syria-Iraq-Iran axis, tied to an increasingly assertive Russia, would be a devastating blow to U.S. imperialism in the region.  
Sharpening Infighting in U.S. Ruling Class
The infighting among U.S. intelligence agencies stems from the bosses’ disagreement over how to handle their imperialist rival. The forces around Trump seem to want to make a temporary deal with Russia; other elements of the ruling class are pushing to go on the offensive. Inter-imperialist relations are inherently unstable; competition and cooperation exist simultaneously. Regardless of whether the U.S. bosses make a short-term deal with Russia or take a more hardened stance, any alliance will be temporary. Given the perpetual economic crisis of capitalism, it could quickly disintegrate into open hostility, a potential prelude to the next world war.
The CIA now claims that Russian cyber-attacks were deliberately conducted to help Trump win the election, and that the U.S. must respond. Politicians of every stripe, including Obama, have vowed to strike back. The CIA accusations follow a series of alleged Russia-Trump connections, based on anonymous leaks from a secret investigation. It’s worth noting that former acting CIA Director Michael Morell endorsed Clinton in the New York Times and claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “had recruited Mr. Trump as an unwitting agent of the Russian Federation.” Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and the National Security Agency, called Trump  “a clear and present danger” to U.S. national security (CNN.com, 08/09).
On the other hand, key sections within the FBI were furious that Hillary Clinton was not criminally charged for mishandling classified information. FBI Director James Comey’s October 28 letter to Congress, essentially reopening a closed investigation of Clinton and her aids, clearly damaged Clinton’s chances of winning the presidency (The Intercept, 12/10).
Fight for Communism
After the main-wing U.S. bosses bet on Clinton and lost, millions of workers are still looking for some other reform “leader” to save the day. Their disillusionment with the warmongering, racist Clinton—and their disgust with the gutter-racist and sexist Trump—presents an opportunity for the Progressive Labor Party. It doesn’t mean the masses will automatically flock to us. But many more people seem more open to communist ideas as the capitalist system exposes its true and horrifying nature for all to see.
Winning masses to PLP means fighting back on our job and school and building anti-imperialist, anti-racist struggles. When organized around communist ideas, these struggles build confidence in each other and in our class. The working class is the only force that can end this ruthless imperialist system. Join us!

BHOPAL, INDIA—Police gunned down eight unarmed prisoners, accused as members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), who fled from jail in Bhopal.
This brutal execution of Muslim workers is a part of increasing racism and fascism worldwide. As fascism rises, the bosses deceive workers into scapegoating our Muslim, dark-skinned, and immigrant working-class brothers and sisters. Anti-worker violence will not fix the problems of constant unemployment, hunger, and crisis caused by capitalism. We need to turn our outrage against the bosses and smash capitalism once and for all.
The eight men were awaiting trial for three years on a number of charges including “terror related charges, sedition, and robbery” although some were not jailed until last February. Others had escaped from a different jail and had been recaptured. One video showed the group with their hands up, seeming to surrender. A witness said they had no weapons, as did the Home Minister and Inspector General of the anti-terror squad, who added that no police were injured in the fatal encounter. However, after a video surfaced showing police pumping bullets into the body of one escapee, police said the men opened fire on them with four country-made guns.
The details don’t add up. Like Black, Latin, Muslim and Arab workers targeted by police in the United States, Indian police are targeting Muslim workers. The bosses criminalize targets of police violence to justify their racist murder, like Shantel Davis and Jessica Williams, whose deaths were justified by police claims that they had stolen cars. No worker deserves to be killed by police.
Intensifying Racism,
Stepping Stone for Fascism
In India, we have seen the assaults and killings of Muslims, and some turn their heads because they are not Muslim. We have seen the racist assaults and killings of Dalits ((lowest caste group, previously known as the “untouchables”), the confiscation of land and killings of members of Scheduled Tribes, the killings of unarmed Tamil woodcutters in Andhra. We have seen police attack and beat striking workers. We have even seen some turn their heads when women are attacked. Recently, the police killed 24 Maoist rebels (New York Times, 10/24). And we have seen the fascist leaders call for jailing and even execution for those who dare to even raise questions! The bosses’ government is using any opposition as an opportunity to terrorize and bring people into line.
We all have to fight against these racist attacks because an attack on one worker is an attack on all workers. They are stepping stones of a government attack on all workers. One aspect of fascism is when the government uses increased racism and nationalism. Fascism is a natural outgrowth of capitalism, and with growing crisis, the capitalist dictatorship intensifies.
There is a rise of Hindu nationalism in India, the country with the second largest Muslim population (Foreign Policy, 8/18/15). Moreover, U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric has emboldened racists in India. The celebration “of Mr. Trump in New Delhi in May, and others like it in India this year, are the work of a small, devoted and increasingly visible faction of Hindu nationalists in India” (NYT, 10/14).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and many other groups promote Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) combined with violent, anti-Muslim racism. These nationalist groups organize attacks on Muslim people, drive them from their jobs, and some call for the deportation of some twenty million to Bangladesh (The Washington Post, 11/27). Modi was chief minister of Gujarat state in 2002 when Hindu mobs killed more than 1,000 Muslim people (Foreign Policy, 8/18/15). He was heavily implicated in this massacre, to the extent that the U.S. refused to issue him a passport. As prime minister, he has given a green light to all racist and nationalist groups to attack mainly Muslim people, but also lower caste workers, and anyone fighting back.
These attacks are the same as what is happening in the U.S., France, the Philippines, and many other countries around the world. The bosses want us to think that other workers, not capitalism, is the problem. As fascism increases, we must fight back as a united working class.
We Need Working-Class Unity
We cannot turn our heads because all of our lives depend on supporting each other! No cover-ups! We must not tolerate attacks on any of us—Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Dalits, women, members of tribes, members of other ethnic groups, striking workers, political dissidents—because attacks against any of us are a step towards intensified dictatorship that will hurt us all. We must use our power to protest and to build the unity we all need! We are building the Progressive Labor Party, a revolutionary communist party, different from the corrupt parties, to unite workers across the world to destroy capitalism. That is the only way to permanently stop fascism. Fight for communism!

BALTIMORE, December 14—Protesters gathered for a special “West Wednesday” rally and press conference, the 177th weekly demonstration demanding justice for Tyrone West, who was murdered three-and-a-half years ago by Baltimore and Morgan State University cops. A West Wednesday leader said it all: “The State’s Attorneys and whoever else stands by and watches all this senseless murder in our community every day. Then you got killer cops still walking the streets. I’m freaking pissed! I can’t stop crying!  Man, [expletive] this cruddy system flat out!”
This week we exposed the Medical Examiners’ lies. They falsely claimed that heart problems and dehydration probably caused Tyrone’s death. They ignored the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses. Those witnesses clearly described the tasing, repeated, full-face drenching with pepper spray, severe beatings with fists and batons, ruthless kicking, and finally being sat upon by an obese, coldblooded cop, while unarmed Tyrone gasped his last breath. The cops escalated a simple traffic stop into an execution.
Tawanda Jones, Tyrone’s sister, shared a never-before-seen photo, that she took five days after his murder. People gasped in horror and outrage at the cop-inflicted wounds, while Tyrone’s family could barely remain standing.
The family released a second autopsy from an independent, out of state pathologist. The cause of death determined by the outside pathologist, “positional asphyxiation,” differs night-and-day from the official Maryland autopsy. It was “strangulation-by-cop,” similar to Eric Garner, 43-year-old Black man killed by the cops in Staten Island in July 2014!
The cops and their buddies continue trying to intimidate the protesters. Time after time, Tawanda’s car tires have been slashed. West Wednesday fighters have often raised money for new tires. We will not be intimidated. We continue to advance under attack! The cops are doing what the capitalist system requires: intimidate and repress, while upholding racism. Expecting “better cops” is as crazy as hoping for an anti-racist Ku Klux Klan!
We all need to help build a revolutionary communist movement to destroy this system of racist police terror. Progressive Labor Party members have consistently joined the West Wednesday rallies and helped with leafleting, sound equipment, speeches and organizing. PL’ers have written for CHALLENGE, making this an international issue, and have distributed Challenge at the rallies. Speeches by PL’ers have stressed the need for communist revolution, have attacked the Department of Justice report as a dog-and-pony show, and have explained how racism is rooted in capitalism.
Over the past three years West Wednesday protesters have sent many appeals to government officials. These officials respond with meaningless form letters. They will not put the cops on trial. Many of these officials are Black, but like their white counterparts, they carry out the mission of the capitalists. As “300 Gangsters” – an organization active at West Wednesday – often says, “All Black ain’t Black, all white ain’t white. We all we got, we all we need.”
We must build this antiracist movement, not only on the street, but also on-the-job and at schools, like the progressive students from University of Maryland, who have brought sizeable groups to some rallies.
The fight to incarcerate killer cops is an important anti-racist struggle, but such reform struggles are limited. They won’t change the system. As the Ferguson rebels said, “It’s the whole damn system.” That means joining the Progressive Labor Party and building a revolutionary movement for communism. And when the U.S. capitalists become weak during their upcoming wars against their international rivals, we will take down this inhuman system once and for all.

HARLEM, December 10—A multiracial group of  over 30 people protested racist harassment of Black, Latin, and Muslim workers following Donald Trump’s election. Protesters included Columbia, CUNY, and Fordham students, members of the church sponsoring the action, neighborhood residents, and PLP members and friends. People are angry and afraid of the gutter racism, sexism, and fascism Trump has encouraged. We had a rally to show solidarity and give confidence to all workers that we can fight back against attacks. Our energetic chants electrified people on this cold wintry day and people eagerly took our fliers as we marched.
One PLP member took the bullhorn and angrily denounced racism’s effects: inferior schools, poor health care, no jobs, and inadequate or no housing. One member of Columbia’s Student Worker Solidarity (SWS) organization spoke about being arrested during a militant $15-minimum-wage action. Other SWS members spoke about their campaign against payroll lag time for student workers. CUNY students demanded NO tuition increases and NO budget cutbacks. Another speaker talked about the ongoing work to end police violence and to demand that no killer cop can remain anonymous. A PLP member led us in a song about  Ramarley Graham and Deborah Danner’s murders and  Eric Garner’s lynching.
It is no coincidence that police terror, tuition hikes, and other attacks are all happening now. As the bosses prepare for more wars in the Middle East and beyond, they need to terrorize workers to keep them in line. They also devote less money for education so that they can fund their wars. Whether we’re fighting for a living wage or against racist housing practices, we need to make the connections that these problems are all caused by capitalism.
Feet to the Ground
We then marched to the State Office Building (SOB) with energetic drum beats and militant chants. Neighbors noticed  us and one CD vendor even shut off his loud music so that we could be heard. Several people joined the march as they read our signs and heard our chants. With hands and feet frigid from the cold, we stood  before the SOB as  church choir members led us in a militant, anti-racist version of “Go Down Moses.”
We ended with a PLP speech where the comrade called for an end to the vicious attacks on our working-class brothers and sisters by the kkkops. She also spoke of the  murderous steam heat burning of two babies who died in a New York City apartment for the homeless  even though the building’s landlord is on a list of the city’s worst slumlords.
Given the bitter cold weather, we had a great turnout and made our demands heard. We were very heartened by the  church members and leaders who participated, including the pastor. Going forward, we must make the issue of racist police violence even stronger. As important as these actions are, we must not forget that as long as capitalism exists, we are not going to end racism and sexism. Only communism can end all of these capitalist-caused problems. With patience and boldness, we are finding more are open to revolutionary communist ideas. Stay tuned for more fightback!