Last month we lost a dear comrade, Derek Pearl. Derek was many things to many people during his 87 years. In the jewelry trade he was known as an excellent gem setter and union militant. In the steel mills of Pittsburgh he was known as an expert welder-fitter and an antiracist. As a high school teacher of jewelry making and then social studies he was known for siding with his students. But to all workers, students and bosses he was known to have a deep love for the working class and implacable hatred for the capitalist class: he was known as a fighter and a communist. He was also a singer, a good dancer, and a lot of fun to be with.

Born to a working class Jewish family in England in 1937, his early childhood was dominated by WWII. Derek’s family spent most of the war in a northern English seaside town. Back in London, he was forced to leave school just under the age of 16. He apprenticed in gem-setting, then served an obligatory stint in the British Royal Air Force. When he got out he wanted to travel the world. In New York City he met Rita who became his wife of 60 years and they had two sons and now five grandchildren. 

Union organizer joins Progressive Labor Party (PLP)

He worked in the jewelry trade as a diamond setter, developing a deep hatred of all kinds of unfairness. He had a way with people, an empathy with other workers of all ages, races and nationalities. He and Rita got to know the mostly Latin grinders and polishers working in that factory and built a strong relationship with them and their families. They elected him shop steward and he led strikes for better conditions. He was expelled from the union for leading a wildcat strike but he won his way back in and became a labor law precedent (Pearl vs. Tarantola).  During this time he and Rita joined the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and began to get a deeper understanding of the capitalist system they were already fighting.
In 1975 the Pearls were asked to move to Pittsburgh to help lead the Party there. There he learned welding and worked in  two different steel fabricating plants where he met much racism but was also very proud of the work he helped produce -  massive doors for a dam in South America, doors for blast furnaces, and molding forms for the concrete in the Washington D.C. subway. 

Derek and family moved back to NYC in 1981 as heavy industry in the Pittsburgh area declined and along with thousands of other workers, he was laid off. He began working once again in jewelry production in New York.  In 1984 he made contact with British coal miners during their historic strike, winning some of them to the Party and spearheading support for the strike in the U.S. 

Derek got his teaching certificate for vocational education in jewelry and welding in 1986.  When NYC closed down vocational courses Derek got a B.S. degree at the age of 65 so he could teach history and economics. He got his M.S. degree at the age of 72 - just as he retired.

Militant antiracist fighter slugs klan

Over the years, Derek led and participated in many fights against racism. From the Astoria fight that stomped the White People’s Party, to helping lead the security squad that ran uphill to fight and scatter the gutter racists so that the Boston May Day march could take place, to stopping fledgling attempts by the Klan to organize in the Pittsburgh area, to helping organize the  May Day March to integrate Marquette Park in Chicago  (that park had been dominated and segregated by the American Nazi party). In 1999 Derek along with other comrades made headline news by flinging themselves through police lines to attack a group of  klansmen who dared to march in New York City, Afterwards, students welcomed him back to his school as a hero.

Antiracist community organizer in Brooklyn

During the 1980s and 1990s Derek was also deeply involved in community organizing. A hospital worker and comrade lived in a Flatbush building that had drug deals occuring in the lobby. Together, he, Derek, Rita and others organized a tenants association that took back the building, taking control of building from drug infestation, and forcing the landlord to make much needed repairs. For years May Day buses left from the front of that building with a hefty contingent coming from within.

In his last years, Derek suffered several health problems and went through a gradual decline until he passed in September. We’ll miss you comrade. We’ll miss your fightback, your humor and your songs. Your communist life was a light in the lives of  thousands of workers and students.

Workers’ anger has entered the chat

In my department in the New York City Transit system, overtime has slowed down dramatically over the past seven months. Workers are upset. Workers rely on overtime (OT) mainly because our pay doesn't keep up with inflation, or match what Metro North or Long Island Rail Road is getting when we move more people. We end up having to work on our days off and 4-6 hours extra on another day then 1 or 2 overnights. This was standard for us, but since the work stopped coming we could only expect one day of OT. That's if they didn't cancel it all together. 

We recently had overtime that was canceled. This is the conversation that took place in the chat through text message:

Boss: They dont require assistance from us, no overtime.
Johnson: face palm emoji 
Brown: vomit emoji
Johnson: this some 🐂💩!!!!! We've been flim-flammed, bamboozled, led by a stray, run a muck!  
Me: yea, the s***t's f****d up. This is what happens when we don't control our OT. Another department has OT scheduled in their bids. Something to think about…
Diaz: Sounds like that should be said at a union meeting 
Me: sure wanna come?
Diaz: We all free Saturday, let's mob out to the union building
WHO'S WITH ME!!!!!!!!!
Me: Lol sounds good but I don't think anyone's there on sat.

Boss: sends emoji of angry trucks blowing steam.
Me: Shout out to the port workers (fist)
Charlie: I'm not a man of many words, but I guarantee you that if I got back into the Union, I would fight for you. We can't even get good drinking water. Now, we are signing up for fake canvassing.
I've been on the front lines for 30 years plus. We have to speak up and be recognized.
Diaz: another area got round the clock OT, every weekend
Johnson: EVERYONE ELSE IS EATING!
Me: Not only that but it’s affecting our area of work that is badly in need of repairs. Are sections rotting?
Don: it is what it is.
_________

Private message from Johnson: 
Yo, talk to the other guys and have someone open a new feed exclusively for us track workers. The one we are on has the boss in it. We don't need the office to know what we are doing? They can know how we feel, though. But they don't need to know our plans.
Me: Facts. Thanks for your leadership.

(I made a new chat)
____________

Johnson: OK fellaz this is exclusively a worker feed. No supervision. We can safely and discreetly communicate here.
Diaz: Stop doing so much work in a straight time.
Me: for some of us we just need to do the bare min so that there isn't a derailment.
But I am concerned about the conditions the city is in. I just feel like the bosses don't care about us or the riders that can be in danger due to the conditions. 
Diaz: That's a fact
They feel we can get all the work done in a straight time..
Do an emergency 4 hours OT here and there when they need to. Cut the productivity & they'll have no choice! What's the motivation right now to give them a certain amount of work in a straight time? Besides a pat on the back & signing a fake canvas
Me: The union sucks in the pockets of the bosses so is there anything else we could do?
Charlie: Now that we realize what's going on, let's stop playing ball and get the Union involved. Give something to work with by stopping signing the fake canvases and actually showing up at a union meeting. We are the union, it's up to us to act. Force the union to work on our behalf. We pay dues
Me: next one in 2 weeks
______________

This is small, but the fight is there. Trying to make the connections to show them the unity we should have with the riding public. I also wanted to encourage leadership and see how they felt about the current union playing both sides. The struggle for workers’ power  continues! Read about what happens in the union meeting in the next issue of CHALLENGE.
*****

Anti-fascist organizing in Bushwick

Dear CHALLENGE  readers. World War 3 is waiting in the wings in the Middle East. U.S. elections are fast approaching. Whether Trump wins (which he might) or Harris, Black and brown immigrants are at the front of the fascist line-up as scapegoats/targets. The fascist anti-immigrant movement has been and is being mobilized. Are we and our friends in the Progressive Labor Party aware, courageous and prepared? In the Bushwick community in Brooklyn PLP is taking small steps. We have distributed 500 PLP leaflets titled “From Springfield to Palestine.” We displayed two pro-immigrant/anti racist posters in Spanish and English in the street. We taped the posters to the wall in the immigrant community group where we’re members. We’re getting signatures from members at the organization to send in solidarity to Haitian immigrants in Springfield. We’re reaching out to friends in other immigrant organizations to display the posters. And finally we’re in the midst of planning to lead a forum at our organization to build multi-racial, international unity and working class fightback in this period. As we proceed we plan to deepen PLPer’s ties to old friends and make new friends. It is crucial to build and strengthen the revolutionary communist PLP!
*****

Racist mask bans hurt workers

I was very pleased to see the article on Mask Bans. As the author states, opposing mask bans connects many different  issues together. Mask bans repress dissension and increase racism since cops are more likely to stop Black and Latin people, a new kind of ‘stop and frisk.’  As stated, bans also hurt people with health conditions and those who want to prevent them. Masking is an effective barrier to the transmission of Covid, flu, and other airborne infections. They are even more important now as the government withdraws its funding of vaccines and medications for the covid. That’s a death sentence for many, especially low income, Black, Latin, and older people.

Covid protection is a political issue. Our anti-war, antiracist, and revolutionary organizations must fight for life-saving solutions and lead by example to require safe behaviors at our gatherings and within our schools, workplaces, and conferences. We can’t afford to lose any comrades.
*****

U.S. undergoes massive nuclear weapons modernization program

New York Times, 10/10–To understand how America is preparing for its nuclear future, follow Melissa Durkee’s fifth-grade students as they shuffle into Room 38… One by one, the children settle in for a six-week course taught by an atypical educator, the defense contractor General Dynamics… The U.S. Navy has put in an order for General Dynamics to produce 12 nuclear ballistic missile submarines by 2042 — a job that’s projected to cost $130 billion…The coursework …welding crackers together with Easy Cheese to create mini-submarines — is one small facet of the much bigger preparations America is making for a historic struggle with its nuclear rivals. With Russia at war, China escalating regional disputes and nations like North Korea and Iran expanding their nuclear programs, the United States is set to spend an estimated $1.7 trillion over 30 years to revamp its own arsenal…The federal government has said little about the plan in public, outside of congressional hearings and strategy papers, or the vast amount being spent. There has been no significant debate. The billion-dollar programs move under the radar. 

A genocide within a genocide in Northern Gaza

Al Jazeera, 10/13–A senior Palestinian diplomat to the United Nations has sounded alarm over Israel’s ongoing siege of northern Gaza, in which hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the last week and hundreds of thousands of civilian residents are either trapped or ordered to flee amid intense bombardment … 400,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza, with the Israeli military not allowing anyone to leave the area despite issuing an evacuation order. “What’s happening now is a continuation of the genocidal acts that began a year ago,” he said, adding that more than 70 bodies are still on the streets, with civil defense workers unable to retrieve them because of relentless Israeli attacks … ​​“The occupation is blowing up roads and destroying residential districts. People can’t find anything to eat. They are trapped inside their homes, fearing bombs could fall onto their heads.”

Interimperialist competition trumps international legal bodies

Foreign Affairs, 10/7–For over 75 years, the multilateral trading system has helped ensure stability and order in the global economy. The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and its successor, the World Trade Organization (WTO), brought states together to cooperate in lowering tariffs and other trade barriers, promoting global economic integration and establishing rules to govern trade … But now this liberal trading order is in crisis. International cooperation on trade has largely broken down. The United States, the longtime champion of open markets, has abandoned its commitment to free trade, multilateral cooperation, and respect for the rule of law. By imposing tariffs and providing massive subsidies across multiple industrial sectors, Washington has openly violated the WTO’s rules and principles. China has likewise distorted and increasingly weaponized trade through its own use of subsidies and economic coercion … Many other countries are increasingly following the United States’ lead … to openly defy WTO rules.

China-U.S. conflict over Taiwan continues to escalate

Reuters, 10/14–China's military started a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the "separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces" and offered no date for when they may conclude … Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week's national day speech by President Lai Ching-te … said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered to cooperate with Beijing … The Chinese military's Eastern Theatre Command said the "Joint Sword-2024B" drills were taking place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan … Chinese ships and aircraft are approaching Taiwan in "close proximity from different directions", focusing on sea-air combat-readiness patrols, blockading key ports and areas, assaulting maritime and ground targets and "joint seizure of comprehensive superiority" … China's coast guard circled Taiwan and staged "law enforcement" patrols close to Taiwan's offshore islands

State terrorist Israel invades Lebanon. The capitalist rulers of Iran launch hundreds of missiles at Israel. The U.S., the biggest terrorist of them all, rushes warships and thousands of more troops to the Middle East. Days before the one-year mark of the Zionist genocide in Gaza, an all-out regional war looks more likely by the hour. Inter-imperialist conflict seems headed for a breaking point. 

As the international crisis of capitalism spirals out of the top imperialist bosses’ control, their life-and-death competition is sparking a rise of fascism in the U.S. and Europe, where the bosses have lost ground to more open fascists in China and Russia. With Russia grinding down Ukraine and China laying claim to the South China Sea, capitalist politicians and media are sounding alarms of global conflagration. A South African online publication led with this headline: “Top 12 Safest Countries to Live Should World War III Break Out” (South African, 9/24).

But there is no safe place for the working class under capitalism. We can never be secure as long as the bosses are free to value their profits over workers’ lives. Only communist revolution can end the rulers’ reign of terror. Only a mass communist movement, led by the international Progressive Labor Party, can build a world free of genocide. The challenge is great and urgent. Join us! 

Zionist onslaught in Lebanon

Not content with murdering more than 41,000 workers and children in Gaza with missiles and bombs, and likely tens of thousands more from starvation, disease, and the obliteration of hospitals (Lancet, 7/8), Israel’s monstrous rulers have turned their sights on Lebanon. Seeking to liquidate Hezbollah, the Islamist militia spawned by Israel’s occupation in the 1980s, Benjamin Netanyahu’s Zionist regime exploded household pagers and launched “one of the most intense air raids in contemporary warfare” (New York Times, 9/24). Then they assassinated Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, with an airstrike in Beirut that leveled six apartment buildings and killed or wounded nearly one hundred people (apnews.com, 9/28). As Netanyahu and his nazi coalition celebrated “days of greatness,” more than one thousand women, men, and children in Lebanon have been killed with Biden’s blessing and made-in-U.S. 2,000-pound bombs (cbsnews.com, 9/30). Hundreds of thousands have fled in panic from their homes. Under capitalism,  the bosses’ capacity for horror is unlimited.

As Israel methodically broadens its bloodbath, the misleaders of Hezbollah and the rest of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” are also sending workers to early graves. As a lapdog proxy funded by Iran, the regional imperialist allied with Russia and China, Hezbollah has for decades waged a fight against U.S.-sponsored Israel. It’s a pawn in the inter-imperialist game to control the region’s oil and gas. Hezbollah’s rotten nationalist ideas are so many bricks in the slaughterhouse the capitalists are building for our class.

Now, more than ever, we need to channel our grief and anger at capitalist destruction into building the only movement that can turn the guns around and take the bosses down: communism! Once we replace capitalist rule with a dictatorship of the working class, the only mass graves will be dug for the parasitic bosses who destroy everything they touch. 

Unhappy marriage: the U.S. and Israel

Israel’s escalating carnage has put its loyal patron at a crossroads. For the U.S., Israel is a vital linchpin for projecting military power in the Middle East. But it’s also an apartheid pariah state, and the Zionists’ gutter racism and talent for mass murder has reinforced the global perception of U.S. complicity. On September 26, with Genocide Joe Biden and his possible successor, Kamala Harris, cheerleading Israel’s right to “defend” itself, the Zionists welcomed another $8.7 billion in U.S. aid “to support ongoing military efforts” (The Hill, 9/26).

Even before Iran’s strike upped the ante, Biden’s appeals to pause hostilities fell on deaf ears. The airstrike that killed Nasrallah caught the U.S. by surprise as it worked to ink a 21-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah (NBC, 9/28). Defiant terrorist Netanyahu has made it clear he’ll stop at nothing to stay in power and avoid prison on corruption charges. He needs to placate the most racist hyper-nationalists and religious extremists in his governing coalition, making a ceasefire a non-starter (New York Times, 6/3). Sad to say, Israel’s latest siege of carpet bombing and baby-killing has only made Netanyahu and his annexationist Likud party more popular (Times of Israel, 9/29). In both Israel and the U.S., too many workers have been infected by the poison of nationalism and the deadly false solution of a “Jewish state.”

With Israel gone rogue, China is exploiting U.S. disarray by pivoting to the Middle East and signing deals to provide missile technology to Iran (mirror.co.uk, 10/1). Both China and Russia are using the BRIC infrastructure investment program to challenge the dominance of the U.S dollar (nasdaq.com, 7/8). Even if Kamala Harris and the Democrats were willing to pay the political price, they can’t afford to press Netanyahu too hard, much less tear up their blank check for mass destruction. Any U.S. move to rein in the Jewish-supremacist regime would open the regional door to their imperialist rivals.

U.S moves toward fascism

U.S rulers also must contend with rising resistance within the bosses’ own borders. More than a hundred cities, including Atlanta, Detroit, and St. Louis, have pushed for local resolutions to demand a ceasefire (NPR,  4/18). College students across the nation have turned the seats of imperialist ideology into sites of anti-imperialist protest. Unions too have joined the call, adding their weight to the growing forces of opposition (Guardian, 7/23).

To stave off widespread fightback, the U.S. ruling class has no choice but to jettison the old rules of liberal democracy and turn toward fascism. One ominous development is the growing push to equate anti-Zionism with anti-Jewish racism. At Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, a tenured Jewish professor was fired for accusing the Zionists of genocide (insidehighered.com, 10/2). At Cornell University, a student faces deportation for joining campus protests (Newsweek, 9/28). As the U.S. rulers strain to defend their position in their never-ending battle for world supremacy, it exposes the illusion of “free” speech under capitalism.

At the same time, the bosses are using voting to pacify workers’ righteous anger and enlist support for their imperialist death machine. With the U.S. presidential election around the corner, both Democrats and Republicans are working overtime to convince workers that capitalism works in their best interests–and that genocide is an acceptable price to pay to fend off “our” enemies. But the fact remains: Top cop Harris and nazi Donald Trump serve one set of imperialist masters or another. Choosing either one means more death for the working class. Choosing either Israel or Hezbollah or Hamas is the same losing proposition.

Turn anti-imperialist actions into communist revolution

Communism will erase all borders and stop the lethal competition for maximum profit. Communist revolution will end nationalism, racism, sexism, and imperialist war. Campus protests and anti-genocide resolutions are important, but they cannot smash a system that relies on money soaked in the blood of the working class. The bosses will never let us vote them out of business. PLP calls on all students, workers, and soldiers to turn reform struggles into the fight for communism. Every new comrade brings the world closer to real peace. Every new comrade hammers another nail into the coffin of capitalism. Join us! We have a world to win!