January 21, 2024 is the 100th anniversary of the death of the great revolutionary Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov. “Lenin” was his revolutionary name. He dedicated his life to the exploited and oppressed of the world: workers, peasants, women, and those especially exploited by colonialism and racism. He dedicated his life to the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of an egalitarian world without racism and sexism. As capitalism ravages the world with wars (see editorial, page 2), let us all make a contribution to the fight for communism.

Lenin: a trailblazer for communist thought
Lenin represented a whole movement, and an entire historical epoch. He did nothing by himself. At the same time, he pushed the working-class struggle for communism ahead by his tireless efforts.
Lenin, one of the giants, along with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, are trailblazers of communist thought. They exposed the basic contradictions between capitalism and the working class. We still have a great deal to learn from them.

Other great revolutionaries have come from the working class. Stalin was one of these. Lenin, like Marx and Mao Zedong, came from the petty bourgeoisie. They showed that, in the last analysis, what counts for every individual is not birth but his or her ideology, and what he or she decides to dedicate their lives to.
Like Marx and Engels, his great teachers and models, Lenin dedicated his life to the exploited and oppressed of the world. To the working class first of all, but also the peasantry and those super-exploited by colonialism and racism. He was a brilliant and innovative student of Marx and Engels.

Lenin: theory & practice
Lenin was a great revolutionary theorist. In his early work "What Is To Be Done? " he laid out and fought for the principle: “Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” By revolutionary theory, he meant the need to expose opportunism, reformism, ultra-leftism, and all ideas that opposed the complete abolition of capitalism and the need for violent revolution to do it.

Lenin invented the concept of the revolutionary party composed of what he called “professional revolutionaries” – workers and others who were devoted to revolution, not to reforming capitalism. This was completely different from the other parties in the Socialist International (the “Second International”). Most of their members were in trade unions. Lenin showed that unions, which are designed to fight for reforms under capitalism, cannot be converted into revolutionary organizations.

But, under the leadership of a revolutionary communist party, unionized workers can be schooled in struggle by strikes, including mass strikes. At the same time, these struggles will show in practice how capitalism cannot be reformed to serve the interests of workers but must be overthrown.

Lenin showed that the revolutionary communist party must be primarily clandestine, illegal. Its legal activities, though important as long as they are permitted by the ruling class, can never be its main form.
Lenin advanced our understanding of imperialism, which he called the “highest stage of capitalism.” Imperialism is the control by multinational corporations in the major industrialized countries, whether by military force, financial control, or ownership, of most of the land and people in the world.

Leading the world
In Lenin’s time this control was mainly through actual colonies, where the ruling classes of the imperialist countries ruled and exploited “their” colonies directly. The competition between these imperialist countries – the USA, the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Italy, and Japan – led to both the First and Second World Wars, and to many other wars since.

Under Lenin’s leadership the Soviet Union formed the Communist International (Comintern), which trained and organized workers and others from all the colonies in the world to fight for both national independence and then for socialism. This was both successful in winning national independence – there are virtually no more traditional “colonies” ruled directly by imperialist countries – and spectacularly unsuccessful, in that national independence did not lead to communism.

The implications of the revolutionary opposition to imperialism were deeply anti-racist. Lenin’s anti-imperialism helped to inspire millions of the globe's darker-skinned peoples to rise up in rebellion against their colonial "masters."

We need to appreciate his revolutionary imagination—seeing that, given the alignment of forces, it was necessary to take a leap into the future—since otherwise the transition might never take place. We in PLP need to keep that constantly before us: no matter how bleak things may appear today, they will change. The future is ours but only if we stick by our revolutionary line and actions as Lenin did and as he taught us to do.
We should study Lenin’s works — critically, of course. But respectfully too since we have much to learn.
We, and class-conscious workers, intellectuals, students, and others everywhere, owe him an immense debt. The best way to acknowledge that debt is by working for communist revolution the best we can.

Members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) , including college professors in the Bronx, joined with coworkers, students and community organizers in rallying against NYC’s Mayor Eric Adams last week. Adams came to the South Bronx to deliver his State of the City address to a campus which had been transformed into what looked like a military occupation. We were able to hold a successful rally in a nearby park, with high school and college students and led a  short but militant march. We then joined a larger rally.

As we gathered our forces in the park, we heard speeches about Adams’ policies that have resulted in migrant families being thrown out in the cold, his barbaric budget cuts to schools, libraries, and the CUNY system, his pro-KKKop policies and, of course, his support of genocide in Gaza.

Liberal politicians: the main enemy of the working class
Speakers highlighted the systemic racist austerity in our local colleges and how important it was to continue fighting for the services and staff/faculty our students need. A community organizer gave a rousing speech about the Adams administration and their abusive policies towards migrant families. “There is no migrant crisis. There is a housing crisis!” She pointed out how the city ‘s “State of Emergency” has led to intolerable conditions, such as flimsy tents, overcrowded conditions, and tragically, the recent death of a baby in Queens (Eyewitness News, 1/22). A PLP member made the point that Adams and Biden, both Democrats, have launched genocidal attacks on our class and that turning to them as the “lesser-evil” option is a deadly mistake. She finished with a message of hope: when the working class runs society we will put an end to imperialist war and all forms of oppression.  

Our contingent then marched through the neighborhood to join the larger rally. Hundreds of people were packed on the sidewalk and over a hundred copies of CHALLENGE were distributed. Members of our collective were able to give speeches to the mass rally about connecting the genocide in Gaza to the budget cuts in the Bronx, as well as calling out various NGO’s (Non Government Organizations) who have not answered the call when migrant families have been so vulnerable.

Seeing through the bosses’ identity politics
This rally highlighted the mass anger at Adams’ and Biden’s racist attacks on workers. Adams’ identity as a Black man did not stop hundreds of mostly Black and Latin youth and workers from seeing him as an enemy of workers and students. This mass consciousness, combined with communist politics can produce a militant, fighting working class army, capable of cutting through the bosses’ attempts to divide us. The presence of PLP members and CHALLENGE brought that message to the South Bronx.

There has been a lot of organizing among workers and students against the U.S. backed Israeli bombing of Gaza. At the November Boston Teachers’ Union membership meeting a friend of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire over Gaza and for the basic civil and human rights of those living in Gaza to be restored. The motion was adopted from the UFCW3000UE, (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America), which was passed by several other union locals and areas around the U.S. - including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, (MTA). The motion is both antiracist and anti-war and humanitarian but doesn’t address the imperialist nature of the conflict.

Educators demand a ceasefire, now!
When the motion was made it was toward the end of the meeting. The membership was asked if they wanted to speak for or against the resolution. Two people spoke for it and no one spoke against it. One person called “quorum,”which means if there are not enough people at the meeting the vote won’t count. But no one seconded that call. One Palestinian man who had lived in Gaza spoke of the conditions there. The room was silent. The motion passed unanimously! Several teachers thanked our friend for making the motion and new connections were forged.

Out of the meeting, a group of Boston Public Schools (BPS) staff, mostly teachers, formed to organize for the truth around this conflict to be taught in the schools. A teach-in was held and attended by approximately 60 staff and friends. The strengths were that the presenters and audience were multiracial. The panelists were from diverse backgrounds and two had lived in Gaza. One panelist mentioned the existence of a large natural gas reserve right off Gaza's shore.

Student-worker unity: a sharp weapon against fascist attacks
The following week there were walkouts by students in two different high schools. Some of these students faced disciplinary actions, but this was called off when a parent and staff spoke out. This shows the importance of building unity between students, families and educators.

At another school, students were brought in to speak to an Israeli studies professor, presumably to be intimidated and indoctrinated. These same students courageously led a rally and march at a school committee meeting demanding that the pro Palestinian position be heard. BTU members and friends, including PLP members rallied in support. We distributed a leaflet supporting the students, calling for Jewish and Arab workers to unite against Israeli fascism and Hamas’ terrorism.

The friend of PLP, reconnected with the daughter of an old friend, who had biked down to the rally herself to join. A friend led a chant with students: Black, Latin, Asian, white -  against genocide we must unite!

Capitalism, not religion, is the root cause of the genocide and Apartheid
Although Zionism was brought out as the racist ideology of the ruling elite of Israel —it wasn't brought out as an aspect of Israeli and U.S. supported dominance of the Middle East. Capitalism and the striving for profits and the necessary control of natural resources, such as oil and gas are the root cause of the conflict. We need to bring this out in educational activities and demonstrations otherwise people are easily manipulated into seeing it as a religious conflict or a clash of civilizations. It has to be understood that the same capitalist system that created the Warsaw Ghetto, the Holocaust, South African Apartheid, the oppression and genocide of Palestinian workers in Gaza, creates racism, misery and death worldwide. We need a movement that unites all of us, breaks down borders to create a new system that doesn't exist for profit but for betterment of the lives of all workers - an egalitarian society - a communist society.

Since Israel started bombing Gaza, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members have been actively participating in demonstrations against the genocide of the innocent workers of Palestine. At the beginning all these demonstrations seemed as the continuation of the old rallies organized to condemn the atrocities “Muslims” are facing all over the world. Religious parties always took the lead of these rallies while pleading that Palestinians are Muslims and they are fighting for the liberation of our holy place “Bait-ul-Muqadas”( Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem). Religious groups always claim that “Palestinian Muslims are fighting to get back the holy place from Israel and we have to support the Jihadis (sacred warriors) who are fighting holy war to establish an Islamic state of Palestine.” But our friends and comrades confronted them with the true analysis of the situation and played a key role in bringing the facts about the Israeli occupation and aggression.

U.S. imperialists sacrifice workers on the altar of profits
We explained that it is not a war between Jews and Muslims but it is a war against the working class. Workers living in the war-ridden areas are now looking for food, shelter and medicines. These poor working class people have always been used as fodder for the interests of imperialists. The perpetual cycle of genocide, occupation, and apartheid against workers in Palestine is a necessity for U.S. imperialists’ long-term interests. U.S. and Israeli capitalist bosses want to grab the enormous oil and gas reserves in the Middle East while keeping the war going.

The working class needs liberation from poverty, exploitation, illiteracy, nationalism, racism, sexism and fundamentalism. Workers have never abandoned their search for equality, justice and liberation but it is always undermined by the so-called nationalists and fundamentalists. Workers in Palestine are forced to die in the interests of imperialism. They have been slaughtered for a long time. Hamas and Israel are puppets of the bosses. Hamas is supported by Iran while Israel is supported by the U.S.

No good sides in bosses wars; choose the side of the working class
Inter-imperialist rivalry is creating fatal divisions among the workers in the name of religion, nation, ethnicity, race and gender. We, working class people all over the world, need to condemn the genocidal attacks by Israeli bosses as well as the terror of Hamas’ misleaders. Now as things are getting clearer we can see easily that the working class is in danger. We are on the brink of World War III and the lust of capitalist bosses for supremacy in the Middle East will make more people starved and homeless. It is the duty of all workers to support the workers in Palestine, while organizing demonstrations against the murderous capitalist system which churns out death, starvation and misery.

We also organized demonstrations against the brutal attacks by Israel under the banners of different trade unions and student organizations. We gave a critical analysis of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East as well as in the world. We corrected myths with facts. We also faced resistance from fundamentalist groups while expressing our point of view. Our friends and comrades are delivering speeches and distributing pamphlets at big rallies. We got good responses from these demonstrations as well as some new contacts. We are trying to give true leadership to common people, workers and students. We make it clear that without an international communist revolution we cannot get out of the barbaric clutches of imperialism.

The only solution is a communist revolution
We cannot get rid of all these wars by just chanting slogans against imperialists but we need to arm the people with an international revolutionary communist line and lead them under the red flag of PLP. We need an international and united struggle against every sort of nationalism, fascism and fundamentalism. We are struggling in a very difficult and dangerous situation to spread our communist ideas while going into every fight against capitalist evils. PLP is the only hope for the working class in these dark days and we are striving for the bright future of the working class all over the world.