As capitalist bosses move toward a hotter and broader global war, they are slaughtering thousands of workers in Gaza and Ukraine. Energy supplies are the short-term prize. But ultimately, control of the Middle East and all of Europe hangs in the balance.
Over the 400-year history of capitalism, war has been a constant. It is also a future inevitability. It’s the one way the bosses can settle their competition to dominate the world’s resources and to exploit the world’s workers, who create the rulers’ profits.
Imperialist war will end only when the international working class destroys capitalism with a communist revolution. We must create a society run by and for our class, without bosses and profits. We must eliminate the unemployment, racism, sexism, and mass poverty generated by the profit system. That is the goal of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party.
Racist Israeli Rulers Scheme with Arab Bosses
Israel’s sadistic atrocities in Gaza are attacks on all workers. They stem in part from the nation’s perverse history, in particular the legacy of the Judenrat during World War II. These self-appointed Jewish “leaders” collaborated with the Nazi executioners, drawing up lists of Jews to be gassed in the concentration camps in order to save the Jewish elite. As Hannah Arendt wrote in Eichmann in Jerusalem, “this role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter of the whole dark story.” The Judenrat subsequently became some of Israel’s leading founders. (For more details read Perfidy, an exposé by Ben Hecht.)
Before and after the founding of Israel in 1948, the Israeli ruling class created a violently racist “master race” ideology directed at Arab workers among Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide. More than sixty years later, even as Israeli rulers stir anti-Arab racism among the masses, they are working hand-in-glove with the Arab bosses, especially in Egypt and oil-glutted Saudi Arabia (see box, page 2):
Former Israeli defense minister Shaul Mofaz surprised the presenter on Channel 10 [Israeli TV] by saying … that Saudi and Emirati funds should be used to rebuild Gaza after Hamas had been defanged (Huffington Post, 7/20/14).
According to Amos Gilad, director of the Israeli defense ministry’s political-military relations department, “Everything is underground, nothing is public. But our security cooperation with Egypt and the Gulf states is unique. This is the best period of security and diplomatic relations with the Arab.” The Huffington Post went on to note that Israeli and Saudi intelligence officials meet regularly:
Why do Saudi Arabia and Israel make such comfortable bedfellows?.... They have enemies or rivals in common — Iran, Turkey, Qatar, Hamas in Gaza, and the Muslim Brotherhood. And they have common allies, too — the US and British military industrial establishments (7/20/14).
Under capitalism, the rulers use the working class to fight their wars. At the same time, when it suits them, the capitalists will cooperate to guarantee long-range interests, much as German and U.S. bankers met in Switzerland during World War II to plot their post-war attacks on the Soviet Union.
Hamas, the Other Murderous Bosses
Israeli war crimes are spurred by the imperialists’ rivalry over the Middle East’s hydrocarbon riches. So is the cynical stance of Hamas, which throws Arab workers into the jaws of the murderous Israeli military. All along, the group’s corrupt leaders have brutalized and exploited the workers of Gaza.
After the fall of Morsi in Egypt, Hamas healed its 10-year rift with Iran, whose oil-rich ayatollahs are courted by Russia and China. While Israel continues to rake in the $3.15 billion annual U.S. military aid, its new alliance with Saudi Arabia and Egypt may well have Iran (and ISIS) as its next target. This would conflict with the U.S. policy of negotiating with Iran.

So the Gaza fight isn’t really over a blockaded, impoverished strip of land that Israel has turned into an open-air Arab prison, apartheid-style. It revolves around imperialism’s grand prize, the billions of barrels of oil lying beneath the Saudi peninsula. The U.S. bosses control that oil today. The China-Russia-Iran axis wants to control it tomorrow. It is also estimated that there is over $4 billion of natural gas under Gaza, enough to supply Israel for 40 years ( The Guardian, 7/9).

The liberal imperialist Brookings Institution think tank recently termed the Middle East conflict “a cold war in which Iran and Saudi Arabia play the leading roles.” Though Brookings skirted mention of the imperialist super-powers, the reference to the historic U.S.-Soviet rivalry was unmistakable. Gaza is a hot side to this cold war.
Ukraine, Another Imperialist Flashpoint
When Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down on July 17 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 innocent civilians, the imperialist tug-of-war entered a more dangerous phase. (Regardless of who was responsible, this incident closely resembles the 1988 atrocity when a U.S. aircraft carrier destroyed an Iranian civilian flight with 290 aboard.)
Kremlin-supplied separatists in eastern Ukraine are showing a deadly ruthlessness worthy of the U.S. or Israeli war machines. Both the fascist Ukrainians and separatists are riding roughshod over hundreds of thousands of workers. Increasingly lethal tactics in Ukraine reflect the conflict’s rising geostrategic stakes.
A look at London-based Burisma Holdings, a little-known but highly well-connected gas company, helps explain U.S. and allied interest in Ukraine. On its website, Burisma notes that Ukraine currently gets “substantially all of its natural gas from Russia’s Gazprom.” The company aims to break this stranglehold: “All of Burisma’s production is sold to industrial customers in Ukraine.”
Burisma’s oil fields are in the Dnieper-Donets region of eastern Ukraine and the Carpathian and Crimean basins, from which it hopes to double its daily 10,000 barrels of production in two years. Doing so would require U.S.-backed Ukrainian military action to oust Russia from Crimea and stop its protégés firing their missiles from Donets.
Burisma has but three directors: Aleksander Kwasniewski, Devon Archer and Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. vice president Joe Biden. Kwasniewski served as president of Poland from 1995 to 2005, when he strongly supported NATO expansion and the various anti-Russian “color revolutions” funded by liberal U.S. ruling-class figure George Soros in Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. Much like former German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder, recently the director of Gazprom (Russia’s government-controlled natural gas giant), Kwasniewski moved from commander-in-chief to gas baron.
Biden’s Son Knee-Deep in NATO Plots
One great fear for U.S. imperialists is that empire re-builder Putin might target other pro-U.S. NATO states bordering Russia. Hunter Biden also directs or advises two finance-capital-bankrolled, war-planning think tanks, the Center for National Policy and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). On July 24, CSIS released “Responding to Putin’s Plan Post-Crimea,” which voiced concern that the end of the Cold War led NATO to fail to maintain conventional forces “or force deployments adequate to counter a Russian invasion.”
It’s in this context, according to CSIS, that Washington must strive to “send a powerful message that underscores the U.S. security commitment to NATO allies, most specifically, its commitment to extended nuclear deterrence.” So far, however, Putin’s conventional forces seem to be prevailing. The U.S. will need to mobilize domestically — and win a U.S. working class weary of war and opposed to a military draft — to match Russia’s boots on Europe’s soil. Otherwise, the U.S. bosses will be impelled to use nuclear arms to keep Russia and China at bay.
As trustee of the Heinz Family Office, Burisma’s Devon Archer protects the multi-millions of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who married into the H.J. Heinz Company family. With the company’s fortune strategically placed in Ukrainian gas fields, it is no wonder Kerry became so emotional in blaming the Malaysian jet shoot-down on Putin. Archer was senior adviser to Kerry’s 2004 White House campaign, which included a call for national service — a backdoor move toward reinstituting a draft.
Energy spoils, territorial conquest, and the sharpening imperialist struggle are all intertwined in Ukraine. General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, used the New York Times (7/2/14) to make a not-so-veiled reference to the move toward World War III:

You’ve got a Russian government that has made a conscious decision to use its military force inside another sovereign nation to achieve its objectives. They clearly are on a path to assert themselves differently not just in Eastern Europe, but Europe in the main, and towards the United States.

Internationalism Will Trump Nationalism
Workers in Gaza, Palestine, Israel, Russia, U.S., and Ukraine have no stake in the bosses’ dogfight for oil and world domination. No matter which rulers win, they offer us only death and exploitation. Even today, without the foundation of a communist-led mass movement, there are pockets of resistance to the capitalist rulers. Thousands of Israelis have demonstrated against the Israeli invasion of Gaza and tens of thousands protested in other countries (see page 4). Over 50 Israeli soldiers have protested the war and have refused to fight.
This resistance is why the capitalist rulers need nationalism. It’s their primary weapon to divide and weaken our class and undermine our fightback. Nationalism incites workers to back different sets of bosses. It is a reactionary and deadly ideology.
In Israel-Palestine, they erect a phony dispute: One state or two? No matter which side wins, both workers in Israel and Palestine will be exploited by capitalism. Only a communist revolution can resolve this question. Under communism there will be only one state, the workers’ state. The bosses’ nationalism will be crushed by workers’ internationalism. Workers’ only loyalty will be to our class. We will send the hellish capitalist system and its ruling class to the dustbin of history.

LOS ANGELES, July 25 — “Death, Death, Death to the Racists! Power, Power, Power to the Workers!” Progressive Labor Party took this chant to the streets of Murrieta on July 13, inspiring workers to stand up for migrant youth. The marches against racism were the acme of this year’s Summer Project here. Anti-immigrant racism became the focal point of our fightback. PLP has been strengthened in numbers and quality, particularly in the area of young leadership.
Every year, members and friends of PLP come from different parts of the world to fight collectively in one particular area by connecting struggles, developing young leadership and growing our organization. We marched, distributed CHALLENGE and leaflets, met workers, studied political theory and got to know each other. This year’s Summer Project was inspiring as we marched against racism, especially anti-immigrant racism, and for multiracial unity of the working class to make a revolution for communism.
Take to the Streets
PLP raised red flags and led an impassioned group of 60 workers and students down a main street in Murrieta to show the workers there that they needn’t be afraid to fight the racist thugs camped out in front of the immigration detention centers. This town has been a flashpoint for racist hatred against the 57,000 migrant youth fleeing capitalist-driven violence in Central America. Many workers took our literature and were emboldened by our presence (see CHALLENGE, 7/30).
After Murrieta, we took this fightback to the garment district of downtown Los Angeles. These workers are mainly immigrants, super-exploited and threatened with deportation as they make approximately eight cents per unit in these garment factories. Several chanted along with us, took our literature and read it immediately. Some joined our march! The proof of the pudding is in the eating; PLP’s idea for international solidarity is proven true again and again. As one of the participants expressed, it “was like coming home.” Contacts were made. One young worker and student came to our closing barbecue the following day.
The Summer Project also centered on the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Convention held here. Teachers inside the convention openly opposed the racist nationwide Common Core curriculum and re-segregation of the schools, as well as the liberal union leaders who attempted to win the convention to supporting U.S. imperialism in the Ukraine (see CHALLENGE, 7/30). PLP rallied inside the halls of the convention. We connected the attacks on students in the U.S. to the attacks on immigrant children. Our multilingual chants drew several teachers. We also won a contingent to march in Murrieta with us.
Every Recruit a Victory for the Working Class
Throughout the week, CHALLENGE sales were conducted at transit barns, the airport, garment centers, a county hospital and a high school. We distributed over 2,500 papers and thousands of leaflets. Multiple contacts were made through the sales that we will follow up on. At our closing barbecue, many expressed how inspired they were by our fightbacks against anti-immigrant racism and the strong leadership shown by young people throughout the Project. Six students and one parent joined the PLP. Every one of them is a victory for our class!  
Looking forward, we are energized and more committed to building PLP in our schools, on the campuses, and on the job. We will focus on connecting the struggles of black youth and Latin youth as one. The attack on mainly Latin workers in the form of mass deportations and checkpoints parallels the attack on mainly black workers in the form of mass incarceration and police terror. These are attacks on all working people and we must fight them together as a united class! We also aim to get more involved in mass organizations, particularly those working with immigrant youth. We in Los Angeles thank the international Progressive Labor Party for your leadership, support, and continued struggle. We have a world to win, and this Summer Project reminded us that when we have the support of the masses, we WILL win!

PHILADELPHIA, June 30 — This afternoon about 175 retired and working Local 1199C union hospital workers gathered at the union hall to see if the Jefferson Hospital bosses would retreat on taking health benefits from retirees and part-time workers. Over 50 retirees were called to the union hall at the last minute and hoped to confront the Jefferson negotiators. The negotiators never came, and to our cheers, the announcement came that Jefferson had backed down and an agreement had been reached! As the hospital day-shifts ended in waves, the hall filled with a mixture of working and retired union members full of anger, determination, solidarity and comradeship.
While celebrating this victory, CHALLENGE readers and friends of PLP should turn to the wise words of the 1970s-era Scottish funk band AWB: “Got work to do, got so much work, yeah yeah.” Storm clouds are still gathering on the horizon, both for Jefferson Hospital retirees and workers everywhere.
The union mis-leadership and liberal Democrats often portray attacks like the ones at Jefferson as disconnected from similar attacks happening across town or in other cities, let alone happening to workers worldwide. Workers are saturated with the lies spread by these vipers, which can take their toll and spread cynicism on the most battle-hardened among the Jefferson Hospital workers. “Here we go again,” was one retiree’s observation when a group of 1199C retirees invaded a hospital administration office in May. She referred to the 40-50 years of history that her and her fellow union members created by proudly fighting first to unionize, and then to win the benefits that we’re now desperately trying to keep.
In reality, attacks like the ones on retirees here are being waged against workers in many forms all across the U.S. Such attacks are necessary for the U.S. ruling class to discipline the workers as the bosses prepare for potential wars with their Chinese and Russian capitalist rivals.
The Progressive Labor Party fights to get us off this losing “Merry-Go-Round” of fighting tooth-and-nail for reforms which the bosses can just take back later, but to end ALL wars for profit by destroying the profit system itself.
The fight at Jefferson Hospital is one hot spot in the class war between the capitalists and workers. Under capitalism, workers are exploited for profit, and every organ of the capitalist state serves the bosses to help maintain this status quo. We are limited to fighting by laws, courts and legal decisions made by these bosses. Now and again, workers succeed in organizing and winning reforms. However, as long as capitalism exists, we stand to lose the victories it took us decades to win, amidst growing racism, sexism and eventually world war.
PLP stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the workers and retirees of Jefferson Hospital. We believe that an injury to one is an injury to all! Through CHALLENGE networks and new readers gained from this struggle we are building an international, multi-racial movement, a class war to overthrow capitalism once and for all with communist revolution. The more readers of CHALLENGE who see the bigger picture, the sooner we can become a real game changer in the battles that loom ahead.
The power and spirit we could bring to a fight for this bigger picture was present all day among these union members. PLP fights to direct this energy to the battles ahead. We have two years to build for our contract fight and we can be sure the bosses and union hacks will demand more cutbacks. In the short- and medium-term, we have the tremendous task of using CHALLENGE to raise political awareness and build study groups to understand our fight in the global context of coming imperialist war. When the Jefferson bosses refuse to back down next time we can be strong enough to march four blocks from the union hall to the hospital and shut it down.
Win or lose the next contract battle with the bosses, through building workers’ power among the rank-and-file and building on the power and spirit felt in that hall today, our struggle over the next two years will show even more workers that fighting back is possible and that a communist world — a world run by the working class — can be won.

Tel Aviv, July 12 — Hundreds of antiwar workers, including members of Progressive Labor Party, protested in Habima Square against the mass bloodshed in Gaza. This fight between bosses props up all rulers. The Israeli capitalists have united many workers behind them in nationalistic and racist fervor; the Hamas heads claim to be fighting a “resistance” war against Zionism while robbing the Gazan population blind. The bosses get rich and powerful while workers, especially those in Palestine die.
Amid this mass murder, we PL’ers came to support the demonstration against fascism and imperialist war. But the class enemy was also prepared. A large gang of fascist thugs from groups such as Kahane and LAHAVA (a racist group fighting against marriage between Jews and Arabs) also came out. They shouted racist slogans like “Death to Arabs” and beat up many demonstrators. The cops — the fascists’ best friends — stood aside and let them beat up the antiwar protesters.
The following week saw even more fascist rampages inside the “Green Line.” Emboldened by the nationalistic hysteria whipped up by the war, the thugs threw stones and bottles at a demonstration by Palestinians in Haifa, again with no real sanction by the cops. In Tel Aviv, they violently attacked two more demonstrations with eggs and bottles, and threatened women fighters with rape.
As communists, we will not stand back and surrender while the Israeli government murders hundreds in Gaza, and these thugs rampage in the streets. One of our comrades has joined a broad self-defense group that is training to take the fight to the fascist enemy in the streets. Racist bullies have to be beaten back, just as Zionism and Hamas need to be thrown into the dustbin of history. We must build a mass communist party to defeat capitalism and establish an international workers’ communist state.

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New York City, July 25  —  “IDF, USA; How many kids did you kill today?”  “No more occupation! Working people have no nation!”  
These were the anti-racist, pro-working class chants led by members of Progressive Labor Party and friends at rallies on successive days at Foley Square and Times Square against the attacks on workers of Gaza by the fascist Zionist ruling class of Israel. These chants presented a sharp contrast to the pacifist and nationalist chants of the rallies’ leaders.
Gaza contains 1.8 million people, the great majority of them refugees, from other parts of Palestine/Israel, packed into an area of 140 square miles. It is often referred to as the world’s largest open-air prison. The Israeli massacres there have become so blatant that workers and students around the world are taking action against it.
Yesterday’s rally was led by Adalah and other groups pushing BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) as the way to stop the fascist attacks and occupation in Gaza and the West Bank. But in pointing to South Africa (which got 80 percent of its arms from Israel) as an “example of the power of pacifism and BDS,” they ignored two crucial points.
First, the struggle in South Africa was not primarily pacifist. Workers in South Africa fought back, often with armed violence; they did not wait for boycotts and divestment to work. Second, even with the official end of apartheid, South Africa remains a viciously racist country where black miners and other workers are murdered by police when they strike against inhuman conditions. Even if the Israel-erected wall goes down, Palestine/Israel will remain racist and fascist. Capitalism and imperialism will never be ended nonviolently. Only working-class unity leading to communist revolution can bring a just world.
While the chants and speeches of ANSWER and Al Awda, the organizers of today’s rally, were less pacifist, they were even more nationalist. The two main chants were “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry, Palestine will never die!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”  While fighting against the Israeli ruling class and those workers won to fascism is necessary, it is equally necessary to build unity among all workers in Palestine/Israel — Jewish, Arab and immigrants. Just as Jewish workers must fight back against the Zionist rulers, Arab workers must refuse to follow Hamas or other nationalist wannabe rulers. Only unity of all workers, leading to communist revolution, will create a system that serves workers’ needs.
In spite of the misleadership at the rallies, most people took both CHALLENGEs and our flyer. Many agreed that only a working-class-run state could solve the problems faced by the workers of Palestine/Israel.
To have a world where workers and our children can be free of the evils of capitalism, racism, imperialism and war, we must unite to build a communist revolution. Join PLP!