The recent airstrikes in Syria by Russian imperialists, their first military engagement outside the former Soviet Union since 1979, is a blow to U.S. influence worldwide and brings conflict between the two nuclear powers ever closer. To shore up Syria President Bashar al-Assad, a junior partner of the Russia-Iran alliance, President Vladimir Putin has deployed air and naval forces and is threatening to send in ground troops. In moving to expand its influence in the oil-rich Middle East, Russia is targeting U.S.-backed, anti-Assad rebels like the Free Syrian Army.
For the U.S. ruling class, stakes are high. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter declared that the U.S. would use military force as needed to defend “vital national interests” in the Persian Gulf. Thirty-five years later, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Carter’s national security adviser, is pushing for “strategic boldness” against Russia in Syria: “The U.S. has only one real option if it is to protect its wider stakes in the region: to convey to Moscow the demand that it cease and desist from military actions that directly affect American assets” (Financial Times, 10/4/15).
The U.S. bosses’ fundamental problem is that Russia’s bosses have an equal stake in the Middle East—and a far longer history of imperialist conquest in the region. It began in 1772, when forces under Catherine the Great “bombarded, stormed and captured Beirut, a fortress on the coast of Ottoman Syria….Catherine’s successors saw themselves as crusaders, with Russia destined to rule Constantinople and Jerusalem” (New York Times, 10/9/15). Today, though Russia’s regional influence nosedived after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin still banks heavily on Syria and its Mediterranean port of Tartus, Russia’s only naval base beyond its borders.
Even as the Central Intelligence Agency funneled powerful anti-tank weapons to anti-Assad insurgents (NYT, 10/13/15), Barack Obama denied the U.S. rulers’ need to confront Russia militarily: “We’re not going to make Syria into a proxy war.” Obama’s blatant lie points to U.S. unpreparedness for the next broad global conflict; the bosses certainly are willing to kill millions of workers in the name of profit, but they aren’t yet ready. At the moment, they face two obstacles: the resistance of smaller U.S. capitalists (represented by the Koch brothers and the Tea Party) to pay more taxes to support a major invasion, and mass working-class opposition to restoring a military draft.
Whether they live in the U.S. or Russia, in China or India or Pakistan, workers have no stake in inter-imperialist conflicts. Capitalist warfare turns workers into refugees, cannon fodder, or “collateral” civilian casualties—like the dozens of doctors, staff, and patients slaughtered October 3 by the U.S. Air Force bombing of a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The communist Progressive Labor Party urges all workers to fight on the one side that will fight for them: the international working class.
Russia’s Real Targets
On October 8, the top think tank representing U.S. finance capital, the Council on Foreign Relations, analyzed Russia’s ambitions: “The Russian Navy’s initial firing of twenty-six cruise missiles from ships in the Caspian Sea into Syria yesterday generated little effect on the Syrian battlefield—but that may not be the primary objective” (CFR website). Author Sean Liedman, a Navy captain and CFR “military fellow,” identified the real targets for this show of force:
    *The international community, which now sees clearly that the U.S. monopoly on long-range, precision-strike weapons is over.
    *The U.S. ruling class. The Russian bosses’ show of high-tech force displayed their naval capability and the will to employ it, a clear challenge to their super-power rival.  
    *Europe and NATO. Any fixed target in Europe can be struck by the Russian Navy, which has more freedom to maneuver than an equivalent ground force. Coming after the annexation of Crimea and the Russian rulers’ backing of the separatist rebellion in Ukraine, the attack in Syria signals a growing threat to retake former Soviet states—including current NATO members that the U.S. has vowed to defend by force.
*The working class in Russia. Russian bosses have long used grandiose displays of military might to build reactionary nationalist fervor—and to distract workers from a failing state capitalist economy.
Choking Off Saudi Oil?
Oil Price, an industry insider journal, outlined Moscow’s designs on Persian Gulf energy supplies, the grand prize for global capitalism: “Putin’s moves in the Middle East could …enhance the attractiveness of Russian crude and natural gas supplies” (10/4/15). Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states, the U.S. rulers’ main allies in the region, depend on one of three routes through the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea to ship their oil and liquefied natural gas. All three routes contain a “choke point”: the Suez Canal, the Mandeb Strait, or the Strait of Hormuz. Moreover, the Russian military says it is now flying up to 30 sorties a day from its new airstrip In Latakia, Syria’s main port on the Mediterranean (New York Times, 10/12/15). By adding a forward airbase to its existing naval presence, Russia—in concert with Iran, the Assad regime in Syria, and possibly Iraq—could gain the capability to disrupt shipments from both Persian Gulf and Red Sea terminals.
U.S. rulers face an uphill battle to mobilize the support they need to take on Russia militarily. Their own ranks are in chaos. As the Republican Party flounders to find a new Speaker for the House of Representatives, Obama’s Democrats are divided over the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement designed to counter China’s expanding influence along the Pacific Rim. Meanwhile, disaffected U.S. workers will not easily be won to accept a new draft, an essential element for the next major ground war.
Workers should be aware, however, that U.S. rulers and their competitors will use any means necessary to build their imperialist agendas. Racism, sexism and nationalism are among their main weapons as they battle over the world’s resources. But the bosses’ battles are not ours. The only cause worth fighting for is a revolutionary communist society, led by PLP, to smash war, imperialism, racism and sexism. Join us!

WASHINGTON, DC, October 10 —Tens of thousands of antiracists gathered at the twentieth anniversary of the Million Man March. As the Nation of Islam (NOI) misleaders pushed for dead-end nationalism and reform, a small but aggressive group of Progressive Labor Party members and friends rallied for a communist solution to racist oppression.
NOI’s strategy is Black capitalism, separatism, sexist oppression, pie-in-the-sky religion, and a blame-the-victims sales pitch. PLP’s strategy is to build a multiracial, working-class movement to smash capitalism and create an egalitarian society without bosses, money or profits.  
Shut It Down
Louis Farrakhan, NOI’s worker-bashing excuse for a leader, spoke for more than 145 minutes. He attacked women workers for having abortions and poor cooking skills; he attacked Black men for failing their families. Yet he gave the capitalist exploiters and warmaking imperialists a free pass. With a big enough crowd to seize the White House and spark rebellion, the 82-year-old Farrakhan—the snake who has admitted inciting the assassination of his former mentor, Malcolm X—could make only an empty call for “justice” through reform and god.
Fortunately, triumph is defined by more than numbers. Winning lies in the class content of the politics, which PLP had in abundance. We countered the NOI’s pacification strategy with our militant chanting: “This racist system — shut it down!” Surrounded by the masses, our multiracial group of women and men launched a rally within the rally. Most people were receptive to our politics, as evidenced by the 1,700 CHALLENGEs and leaflets we circulated over two hours.                               
The crowd’s response to our literature reflects the conclusion being drawn by workers across the world: The whole rotten system needs to go. Progressive Labor Party says YES, capitalism must go. It cannot be reformed. Our brothers and sisters in Ferguson and Baltimore are helping to clue us in on the solution. We must turn these sparks of rebellion into a communist revolution—and a system free of racism, sexism, exploitation and imperialist war, run by and for workers and youth. Communism is the only system based on the needs of the international working class.
Rebellion, Not Atonement
At the original Million Man March (MMM) in 1995, NOI declared a personal Day of Atonement for Black men—an exercise in racist victim-bashing. The organization’s leadership demanded that Black male workers apologize for living through slavery, racism and capitalism. In the wake of the mighty rebellions of Ferguson and Baltimore, NOI began today’s MMM with a prayer. It culminated with a pathetic plea for “the government to respond to our suffering.”
The working class in Ferguson and Baltimore knows how the government responds to workers’ suffering: with tear gas, kkkops and military-grade weapons. Under capitalism, the capitalist bosses hold state power. They control the politicians, the judges and the cops. The system is rigged against the working class.
State power in the U.S. has always rested on racist murders. The thirteen colonies were built on the genocide of indigenous peoples. The U.S. economy boomed with the vicious enslavement of Black women, men, and children. The gross inequalities that define the U.S. today are the fruit of Jim Crow, the legalized system of racist segregation imposed after the Civil War. No amount of reform can change this system’s racist core.
Women Leaders
Women have stood at the front lines of the battles against police terror (see letter). This was and remains the case after the murders-by-cop of Tyrone West, Shantel Davis, Kyam Livingston, Ramarley Graham and countless more. At the first Million Man March, women were told to stay home. Today the NOI boxed them into supportive, subordinate roles. PLP rejects this sexist sidelining and degradation of women workers. Liberation for working-class men is linked to the liberation of women workers—of all workers. The fight against capitalism is one and the same for every member of our class. The latest wave of rebellion has taught us that multiracial unity of women and men is indispensable and non-negotiable.
Same Enemy, Same Fight
Following the action at the march, PL’ers and friends collectively evaluated the day’s events at a nearby restaurant. At first our discussion analyzed the politics of the event, how our group fared in reaching out and spreading communist ideas, and how workers responded. The discussion evolved as differing perspectives were aired by students and friends.
We debated a range of topics: the role of communists in leading struggle, the role of Black workers as the vanguard of revolution, our general strategy for fighting racism. At the end, disagreement boiled down to one question: Can the fight against racism be separated from the fight against capitalism?
Some friends thought, “Black people have to figure themselves out first before we can unite as a multiracial group to fight capitalism.” But as one comrade pointed out, “That’s like saying we all agree that we want to head to the same destination. To get there, we have to go west--but first, we are going to go east.” Fighting racism is part and parcel of battling capitalism. The two are inseparable. Even as masses of antiracists are saturated by Black nationalist ideas, PLP has been fighting back with multiracial unity — whether at an anti-KKK rally, a school integration struggle, or a campus campaign against U.S. imperialism.
Our presence at the march sharpened the politics of the event, however modestly. More important, it sharpened the political understanding of young comrades within our Party. Our post-march discussion was a model for how we will make decisions and run society under communism, when workers hold state power. The discussion will continue at an upcoming study group.
Capitalist stooges and fake leftists like Farrakhan are followed by masses of workers, however reluctantly. These workers are seeking a real movement that will fight back against capitalist oppression. Farrakhan and his ilk may have the numbers, for now. But it’s becoming obvious to more and more workers that they have no solution.
You Gotta Be in It to Win It
PLP has the only solution: communist revolution. We know that millions of workers can be won to these ideas. Hundreds of millions of workers have fought to the death for them in the past. We are building our international working-class revolutionary movement until it has the numbers to take this fight all the way. Unlike NOI, our Party is no secret society.  It is open to all workers—and it’s our job to get out there and tell them about it!
But while our Party has 50 years of militant history, we have a long way to go and much to learn about organizing a mass workers’ movement. We have a world to learn—and a world to win.

*****

Black Nationalism Fails Black Workers
Alongside racism and sexism, nationalism is the rulers’ main tool to divide and exploit the working class. It traps us into false unity with groups of bosses, based on nationality or the anti-scientific myth of “race.”
Black politicians are like any others; they serve the capitalist rulers. No matter who wins the next U.S. presidential election, racist cops will keep terrorizing Black, Latin, and immigrant workers and youth. The capitalist court system will keep jailing them by the millions. Women will keep suffering sexist violence; immigrant workers will keep dying in pursuit of a better life. Baltimore had a Black mayor and a Black police chief, but Freddie Gray is no less dead today.  
There is only one race: the human race. There are only two sides: capitalists and workers. They will always be in conflict—until we smash the bosses once and for all.
We don’t need the capitalists or their fake version of democracy. Progressive Labor Party fights for communist revolution and working-class power. We say: Don’t vote, distribute CHALLENGE! Don’t vote, fight the racist Klan in blue and the racist Klan in white! Don’t vote, fight back against imperialist war! Don’t vote, revolt and fight for communism!
Join us!

I am an antiracist member of PLP and was honored to be asked to join a contingent of New York families who have lost loved ones to racist police murder for the trip to Washington, DC, for the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March (MMM) called by misleader Louis Farrakhan. We arrived at a gathering Friday night. It was supposed to be a chance for the families to get together and share their stories. Every grieving face you’ve seen on TV for the last twenty years was in that room, determined to honor their loved ones and do whatever they can to achieve justice.
Imagine my surprise when twenty minutes in, I was taking part in a walkout orchestrated by the New York families. The ruling-class media and certain organizations have created tension between some families. They are determined to make celebrities out of the latest victims of police murder, divvying up airtime, talk time, and face time based on how much attention the murder of your loved one received. The murders of our families are not a popularity contest! Every single one is an equal attack on our class and demands organized outrage.
So after traveling from all over New York with the faulty promise of being able to share their stories, these women leaders —mothers, sisters, and aunts—refused to stand for the lousy one minute they were allotted to quickly say their name and the name of their murdered loved ones. We left! They trashed the attempt to turn the murder of their loved ones into a token recognition. The organizers of this MMM show think the blood of our families is a game!
What the cops and bosses don’t realize is that they end up fueling a family of anti-racist fighters, bonded together through tragic circumstances. We can learn a lot from these women who refuse to give up hope and continue to fight. They are refusing to let this system off the hook.
On the day of the march, we dressed in red with the pictures of the slain on our chest. We went through metal detectors to get the wristbands that would lead us in front the monument. If your wristband had a star on it, you were guaranteed a seat, but it would also mean you were separated from your other family members and supporters who traveled with you.
The divisive tactics and competition didn’t end there. It was a constant struggle to make it to the stage. There were not enough seats. As if that was not insulting enough, of the ten families who were told they would be allowed to speak, only two actually got the chance. Family members separated by the stage struggled to get back together afterwards.
How disgusting! These families deserve more than to be paraded out when it suits the politicians and capitalist stooges. They need the solidarity that only the working class can provide. This system must not get off the hook for the murders of our class sisters and brothers. It is a very promising development that Progressive Labor Party is now positioned to make these points from inside the movement.

Students and teachers in Kenya are squarely facing the crises of global capitalism and U.S. imperialism. In September, at the same time as the teachers’ strike in Seattle, public educators across Kenya waged a five-week strike against the national Teachers Service Commission (TSC). The strike was launched by the two national teachers’ unions in response to the government’s failure to follow through on promised pay increases of 50 to 60 percent, as ordered by Kenya’s Supreme Court. According to the Nairobi-based Daily Nation, schools were “paralyzed” in most of the country as striking teachers “stormed” schools where teachers had scabbed (9/8/15). University students supported the strike, and the striking public school teachers built solidarity with non-unionized private school teachers.
Kenya’s capitalist bosses are simultaneously flirting with two imperialist powers, the U.S. and rising China, with workers and students caught in between. Weeks before the teachers’ strikes, in an attempt to ward off Kenya’s growing alliance with Chinese imperialism, President Barack Obama signed $1 billion in trade, oil pipeline and technology deals in Nairobi. As the New York Times noted (7/24/15), trade with China has blossomed to $222 billion, three times the country’s business with the U.S. Meanwhile, China and Kenya are jointly funding a new East Africa railway network to connect Kenya with Chinese interests in South Sudan, Uganda and elsewhere.
As the Daily Nation noted, however: “Billions of shillings in terms of teachers’ salaries, students’ school fees, et cetera... were put on hold...You cannot build a new railway line worth more than Sh300 billion [Kenyan shillings, equivalent to about $3 billion U.S.] and fail to raise a comparatively paltry Sh16 billion to pay teachers” (10/11/15).
Teachers in both the U.S. and Kenya have a world to win if they can succeed in uniting their common struggle against capitalism with workers throughout the world. The education struggle knows no borders, and neither does the international revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party! As we fight for education for our youth, our task ahead is to sharpen the militancy of our struggle here and keep connecting our struggle to our class sisters and brothers around the world. We fight for a communist world, where all workers can fulfill their maximum potential after money and borders are smashed.
CHALLENGE readers should share this article with other teachers and students, raise this struggle in their parent-teacher associations and unions, and join PLP to build a movement to fight back!