The continually shifting relationship of the Italian government to the U.S. and China testifies to the growing instability of global capitalism. As secondary powers from Africa to Latin America to the Middle East to Europe jockey for dominance amidst sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry, more wars are coming, including world war. And as the capitalists compete for profits, the working class will lose.

In 2016 Italy was the first G-7 country to plan to join the Chinese BRI (Belt and Road Initiative). This infrastructure proposal was meant to turn the Adriatic port of Trieste into a key point of entry of Chinese goods into Europe, as well as converting Genoa, Palermo, and Venice into enlarged trading hubs (see map). Bristling at being dominated by German and French capitalists, Italian capitalists were slipping away from the European Union (EU), seeking greater independent leverage.

Italy caught between competing imperialist powers

For the Chinese imperialists, breaking into the Italian market would gain them a political and financial beachhead in Europe.  It would also foster divisions in the EU, expand Chinese capital into more developed markets and weaken the hold of U.S. imperialism over the NATO-affiliated nations.  

The plan did not work out. Between 2019 and 2023, Italian exports to China increased only from 13B to 16.4B euros. Yet Chinese exports to Italy ballooned from 31.7B euros to 57.5B euros. Only the port of Trieste was developed.  The invasion of Ukraine by Russia—China’s close ally— has, at least temporarily, driven several of the EU nations toward rearmament and supporting Ukraine (Diplomat, September 21, 2023 and November 23, 2023). 

The 2022 election of neo fascist Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister drove the final nail into the coffin of the BRI in Italy. Meloni opportunistically proclaimed herself a committed friend of the U.S., European unity, and support for Ukraine.

But nothing remains stable as imperialist powers compete.  Many nations in the EU rely heavily upon Russian gas for energy and—even without joining the BRI—engage in extensive trade with China, which is Germany’s second-biggest trading partner.  The Meloni government continues to encourage extensive links between Italian and Chinese firms. After publicly snubbing China in 2023, Meloni is currently undertaking a “charm offensive” as Chinese President Xi Jinping was reportedly planning a visit to Europe in May 2024 (Bloomberg, April 10).
Capitalist opportunism and competition know no borders. The BRI “silk road” now has competition from the “cotton road” of the newly created India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Italy may join (Diplomat, September 21, 2023).  China and India are in tense competition.  If Italy joins IMEC after abandoning the BRI, this decision would mirror the sharpening rivalries among imperialist and would-be imperialist powers. (Independent, January 12).

The working class must run the world— that’s communism!

Whichever ruling classes win this dangerous imperialist competition, the working classes of the world will pay the price. In China, the Gini inequality index is one of the highest in the world. Workers are exploited, strikes abound, tens of millions of youth are unemployed, and migrant laborers within China are super-exploited (China Labour Bulletin, January 31). Workers must move beyond strikes to run all of society. That’s communism.

In Italy, the public healthcare system is being brutally dismantled, with doctors entering the private sector or leaving the country. Education is cut, while teachers are paid poverty-level wages and young people cannot afford to get married and start families. Chinese laborers in factories touting “Made in Italy” earn 20 euros for a boutique “Italian” handbag selling for 350 euros.  Meanwhile, desperate migrants from countries devastated by climate change and violent imperialist profiteering die by the thousands every year trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean Sea—all as Meloni’s racist regime nods in approval. Under communism there would be no borders, no migrants and no racist regimes whether in Italy or China.

Imperialists eventually resolve their contradictions through war. Regional and local wars are raging everywhere. World war is coming. Communists everywhere need to join with the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) in organizing workers to fight their bosses. Turn imperialist war into class war for communism, where the working class runs the world.

After 30 days of lip service from the Rutgers University-Newark administration and their refusal to remove ROTC from campus, as one of the encampment leaders demanded, Progressive Labor party members pushed the limits with a rally on Memorial Day at the nearest recruitment center–the National Guard Armory. Although this action was announced spontaneously, the night before Memorial Day, hundreds were bombed and burned by Israel at a safe house in Rafah. The urgency to have a demonstration, especially on one of capitalism’s most hypocritical holidays to honor veterans they sacrificed to prop up their imperialist system, proved even more of an opportunity to emphasize why we need communism. 

While we called for students and workers to join us at the armory, other Rutgers students called for people to rally in NYC at a bigger march led by nationalist misleaders who previously put students in the line of fire with police. Another element amidst these decisions was a forecast of thunderstorms approaching. Most PL’ers and friends were hesitant to continue with the rally because of the forecast but followed the lead of an adamant comrade who had heard other PL’ers confirm that we would go out rain or shine. Of course, we didn’t want to risk anyone’s life to go out and rally during a thunderstorm, but only light rain fell during the whole period of thunder. In planning this rally, we agreed to watch the weather and cancel if it didn’t look right. Although we canceled officially and publicly to our friends at Rutgers, most of the PLP and a few friends still showed up. As a light sprinkle of rain fell, one comrade suggested that we lead a CHALLENGE sale at the nearby stores while we were there.

Three of us walked into a braiding shop and spoke to a Black woman worker blow drying a little girl’s hair in preparation for her appointment. Our friend started by sharing that we’re here to talk about issues stemming from the system. The woman coldly replied, “What issues are those?” Undeterred, we shared with her that we originally came out to make the connections between the student-worker encampments at Rutgers, pushing the institution to divest from the war in Israel to the neighborhood recruitment of students in Newark by protesting outside of the armory across the street. She mentioned that the youth just need more to do. Then she went on to share that although she doesn’t completely agree with Biden, she thinks not voting for Biden would be like voting still, or in other words, still making a choice. I shared with her that we do have other ways to have our voices heard; like protesting at the Democratic National Convention in August and building for communism long term. 

She went on to share that she used to be in cosmetology school under former liberal Mayor-now NJ Senator, Cory Booker, and once she got close to completing the program, the funding and program were cut with short notice. As we spoke more with her, she shared that she lives in an apartment building, “the Spires,” formally known as Garden Spires, with a long tenant organizing history. From this conversation, we exchanged contact information and invited her to a study group, to which she responded that she likes to stay up on what’s going on. As we were leaving, we even overheard her telling her aunt about speaking to people trying to do good in the community. From this experience on, we agreed that we would be ready to go out like we do on May Day, rain or shine. As we often boldly chant in Spanish, Ni con lluvia, ni con balas! Nor rain nor bullets will stop us. Power to the working class.

Student campers hungry for communist revolution

The Rutgers Newark encampment still goes strong after 35 days - making it one of the longest in the United states. The week of memorial day, myself and some comrades from the NJ chapter  spent some time at RU observing, building, marshaling safety and offering delicious daily salads (got to make sure the comrades get their vitamins and minerals). Their very focused political effort is calling for the university to disclose, divest, and reinvest in the very community they occupy. Newark. Rutgers students, staff, and Newark residents and community members alike break bread, host teach-ins, make political art, and sleep side by side as they apply pressure for the university to divest from genocide. Witnessing and sharing in this political moment can not but help fill you up with hope on the fight against big bosses, imperialist wars and facism when you see the children play while community members hand out food while we gather at the people’s tent to have a community touch base. 

Lessons from this action are plentiful. A huge lesson after witnessing a few interpersonal  transgressions is how imperative it is to keep the politics sharp. A few tensions arose & it’s a reminder that when the politics are not consistently challenged, sharpened and/or struggled with- liberalism, liberal guilt, and cult of personality can exacerbate tensions within the community. In building this multiracial, class, struggle with both the housed and un-housed, collegiate educated and life educated, etc. there was a moment when the community became overwhelmed with liberal identity politics and guilt—anything distracting, disrupting the movement & politics must be dealt with no matter who is at the source. Propping up someone merely because of the identities they fall under is dangerous. Another lesson I observed first  hand was the tensions between reform and revolution. Though the committee leadership is doing a wonderful job in negotiations and keeping the camp running—it feels as if there is a disconnect in what feels like to me a very clear opportunity to base and build long term with the very community they are advocating for in negotiations. Beyond sharing space and speaking lessons at —but finding that the real power and longevity of this fight is with the people and not in trying to pursue leadership roles on committees or trying to tail behind the reformist and revisionist organized marches in NYC and DC. 

My last observation is more so thoughts on the human mind’s amazing ability to adapt and normalize. The camp has been a fixture for some weeks now — almost normal at this point to the surrounding community. Dog walkers, students with books, partygoers now pass by the encampment as if it’s business as usual. The blaring, deafening, unavoidable rally cries are now just another day in the neighborhood. I found this a missed opportunity for more daily militant engagement—whether it be a rallying outside RU leadership offices or passing out literature. 
PLP has an opportunity here to step and build with the amazing workers that congregated around this encampment. Myself and other comrades have shared sharp dialogues with the students and workers and it is clear that there is a hunger and thirst for revolution and the people are willing to disrupt and sacrifice their time and even put their livelihoods on the line for the fight against facism. 

Mohawk, badge of honor for the working class

On May 9, I attended a court hearing in which the defendant, Mohawk, a well-known Chicago artist, accepted a plea deal.  He had been at a George Floyd protest in 2020, when the kkkops attacked the demonstrators. He was accused of assault on a kkkop with a skateboard. He was on house arrest for almost two years, and now was facing eight felony counts.

Before the hearing, the prosecutor asked each person in court why they were there. Most answered that they were there to support Mohawk. The judge acknowledged the packed courtroom with supporters for the defendant and said he received 183 letters from his supporters. The state agreed to drop six of the eight felony counts, in view of the mass support and solidarity Mohawk had. 

The kkkop who said he was assaulted has eight complaints of excessive force against him. Apparently, he was in the process of beating demonstrators when Mohawk came to their defense. It’s the kkkops who should be prosecuted, but we all know under this system they are protected by the injustice system that victimizes workers of all colors, especially the most militant & courageous, like Mohawk. You wear a badge of honor for the working class!
*****

Workers need dialectical materialism

This May Day reminded me that PLP (Progressive Labor Party) members are communist dialectical materialists, rather than Marxists, and that we need to use Dialectical Materialism, the science of change, to win workers and students to fight for communism. There are three laws of dialectical materialism, with categories embodying the concepts that express the essential connections and relationships in the world.

On Saturday, May 4, in Brooklyn, I marched on the 50th anniversary of my first PLP May Day march. As always, the march was inspiring, the chants loud and clear and on point, the discipline tight. I was heartened to see and talk to old comrades, one of whom I had first marched with in Washington in 1974. 

What impressed me most, however, was the final speech of the day, given by a young, Black PL’er, who used dialectical materialism to illuminate her path into the Progressive Labor Party. She spoke first of her family’s involvement in the struggle for Eritrean independence, which was finally achieved in 1993. This was a particular successful instance of a general struggle of former colonies in the twentieth century to achieve independence.   

The speaker then took us to the United States and her first encounter with the PLP through purchasing her first CHALLENGE. This proved to be an external stimulus that began to move her internally to the left. Wanting to learn more, the speaker sought out PLP comrades who struggled with her to recognize the appearance of success in Eritrea as opposed to the essence of failure for the masses there, now suffering under an extremely repressive regime.

As the quantity of her interactions with the Party increased, the internal struggle between the speaker’s nationalist upbringing and the Party’s line of communist internationalism intensified until a qualitative change occurred. The speaker moved from being a potential recruit to an actual Party member, and eventually a leader. 

The speech was about the particular experience of one person, but it was also an example of how in general workers and students are recruited to the Party. The speaker delivered the speech passionately and moved those who heard it, including myself. Just as importantly, the speaker stressed the particular lesson that she had learned, and that the Party is emphasizing generally to workers, students and our own members—nationalism may have at times a progressive appearance, but its essence is always poison to the working class.
*****

General By Bertolt Brecht

GENERAL, YOUR TANK IS A POWERFUL VEHICLE 
It smashes down forests and
crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect: It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
 It needs a mechanic.
General, a human is very useful.
They can fly and they can kill.
But they have one defect:
They can think.

A New Direction

A New Direction

A-cross the 4 cardinal signs

And spanning space and time

We connect

From the North to the South Pacific

Our reality couldn’t be more horrific

As the banker’s solution to the heating planet

Is going from gas to electric

Creating a whole new craze for deep sea mining

Seeking maximum profits in the drilling

For lithium, copper, cobalt, and zinc

Sacrificing our ecology for their economy

In a race to the bottom-

Causing irreversible global warming

And inevitable global warring.

To the Midwest

Like the chemical spill that made a town ill

From a derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio

To Dexter Reed whose life was stolen

With 100 shots fired by 5 racist cops in Chicago

To the Middle East,

The Gaza strip, the shape of Dexter’s body

If we traced him as he lay prostrate and lifeless

Riddled with torn flesh and blood spilt

Like a trainwreck across the pavement

With 3 decades of police killings

Condensed into a few months

By US-made Israeli bullets, tanks and bombardments

Over 35 thousand Palestinian workers

2/3 of them women and children murdered

It’s no longer ethereal but becoming clear

Capitalism’s need to control labor,

Trade routes and petroleum

Is laid bear

And folks are beginning to see

That even Democrats can be Nazi’s

And that what we need

Is a new direction

Beyond the 2 parties

Voting “uncommitted”

in the bosses’ elections

Witnessing Jewish join Arab

Healthcare and Labor

AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power - Act Up

Standing up with college students in standoffs

From east to west do you see?

From Columbia and Harvard to Cal Poly, SC and the UCs

Not afraid of campus cops, Zionist fascists or being dox’d

Recognizing our collective humanity

And fighting with multiracial unity

Is nothing short of awe-inspiring

And yet the actuality of that potential

Is still scattered and splintered

Spinning like a compass rose that cannot find its pole

Because we have yet to strike at its center!

Without developing communist consciousness

And building a revolutionary party - PLP

This movement can only be- static

Trapped in a loop like an electric circuit

Still hopeful about capitalism’s electoral circus

Confusing sunrise with sunset

Like the fake new dawn of the DSA or Cornel West

And most dangerously

A river and sea of Palestinian flags

Just like the American or Zionist

National Liberation in ALL its iterations has failed our class

Confined within the border walls of nationalism and capitalism

And currently caught up in the whims of reforms

With it all threatened to be blown away

In the winds of war

So we as communists across all continents

From ALL the rivers and ALL the seas

To even the outermost atmosphere

We must enter into their darkest depths without fear

Because even with their latest war machines

From Artificial Intelligence, drones

Satellites and Stealth submarines

As Communist poet, Bertolt Brecht, said

All of their tech has “one defect”

It requires a worker to collaborate

Against our core interests

And WE can think!

So let us fight alongside our electrified class

And strike like crosshairs

Through the building of the Progressive Labor Party

And let us recognize and sharpen this dialectic

Exposing and connecting the two forces

Colliding and pulling away into in an ellipse

So that we can break this cycle

Once and for all

With communist revolution!