New York, NY, October 13—Thousands of workers and students gathered near Times Square and thousands more protested elsewhere in New York City to demand the end of Israeli bosses’ fascist occupation and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The righteous rage of the working class was potent as hundreds tore away from the sidewalk and took to the streets near Grand Central in an illegal march. Many workers took leadership by passionately leading chants with energy.

Multiracial and multigenerational protesters chanted “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! (The people united will never be defeated), and Arabic chants. Several members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) were in the crowd and we passed out at least a hundred copies of CHALLENGE. We also passed out flyers titled “War in Israel/Gaza means: Fight for the international working class, Join PLP.” One friend of the Party started up a sharper chant, “Biden you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!”

PLP Fights to end all nationalism, Workers of the World Unite!
Nationalism is a deadly ideology that has unfortunately afflicted students, soldiers, our coworkers, and our friends’ understanding of the war. The most deadly side of the nationalist coin at the moment is Zionism. One Jewish education worker responded to an article about Palestinian civilian deaths by commenting that “Hamas started this, they’re a terrible group, terrorists.”

This misconstruction echoes the line of the U.S. ruling class and of Israeli bosses. It is imperialist rivalry and the United States’ funding of Israel’s fascist regime that is driving this war. While Hamas’ hands are certainly drenched in blood, their murders of workers do not add up to the genocidal nature of the U.S. imperialists or the Israeli bosses who kill far more with their bombings.

As fiercely as we must smash the Israeli bosses for their murderous 75-year reign of terror, genocidal occupation, and bombing of Gaza, we cannot replace the calls with another form of nationalism; we cannot support the Palestinian bosses by cheering on Hamas. Many Hamas leaders live in fancy apartments and hotel suites, funded by bosses in Iran and Syria, among other sources (algemeiner, 7/28/14).

Meanwhile, the average worker in Gaza lives in squalor, with little to no access to food, water or sanitation.  This form of all-class unity, that is, believing that Hamas will make a Palestine for the best interests of Palestinian workers, is a dead-end. The nationalism put on full display in these protests will not free workers in Palestine or around the world.

Protest organizers asked attendees to bring Palestinian flags, which coated the march, as protesters chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and “Free, Free, Free Palestine.”

In perhaps the most obvious display of this irony, one worker led those chants while waving an American flag.
“I don’t see how anyone could take the Israeli side or support Hamas for that matter,” commented the spouse of a teacher we spoke with. Indeed, many workers have a difficulty understanding how the nationalism they don’t subscribe to could lead anyone to think killing working-class children from another “nation” is okay. PLP responds that internationalism and communism are the only answers to the scourge of nationalism in our class.

College students and workers speak out
This week, as the death toll climbed in Palestine/Israel, a group called Students for Justice in Palestine at New York University (NYU) organized a teach-in. On October 12th, they had student speakers and a professor discuss media manipulation of the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by the state of Israel.  A student filmmaker played a short film she made depicting her family’s story in Palestine, starting with her grandpa, whose land was taken from him during Nakba, until recently, when her family has been displaced and their homes taken away. The stories and experiences of the Palestinian students were incredibly moving and heartbreaking. There was also a clear message at the end of the teach-in, displaying the shared struggles that the international working class faces today and why it is even more important to unite.

That same day, Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine hosted a rally on campus. In fear of workers’ anger, security locked the school gates to shut out support from the community and pro-Israeli counter protestors. Students have been demanding an end to Columbia’s investment of endowments in “Israeli companies that…profit off of the construction of illegal settlements on Palestinian land.”

Across the city pro-Israeli forces have been small and marginal in the streets. Of course, with the U.S. and Israeli states on their side, only the most brazen of these fascists show their faces at protests. Still, that didn’t stop one racist from yelling at Palestine supporters, “You are sick people, animals, you don’t deserve to be here.” Meanwhile, Jewish Voices for Peace NYC held a large protest on Friday reminding the working class that many Jewish workers and students are committed to ending genocide in Palestine even as they grieve the loss of their loved ones.

As countless more die in Palestine/Israel and racists pop up in the streets of New York, PLP students, workers, and friends will be out in force. We will wave the red flag of internationalism and communism, and share our ideas, as we struggle with our class siblings to fight back and fight together.

From Israel: Apartheid kills Palestinians and class consciousness
The slaughter is the bosses’ doing. Those who would argue that we are “assuming symmetry between the occupier and the occupied” are missing the point. There is no symmetry between the big bosses – Chinese and American – and the exploited working classes of the Middle East. For them, we are all slaves to extract profit from and chess pieces in their struggles for geopolitical dominance. The Israeli worker is not the oppressor of the Palestinian worker – rather, the big businessmen oppress both.

Israel’s super-rich ruling class includes people such as Miriam Adelson – the world’s 30th richest person, with a net worth of 27.5 billion USD. This boss is well-involved in Israeli politics and is an adamant supporter of Israel’s corrupt and fascist prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. On the other side, Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas – who considers themselves a “popular resistance movement” – lives safely and in luxury in Qatar, far from Gaza. He has a net worth of 4 billion USD, gained by extorting the Gazan population and by embezzling foreign aid given to the impoverished Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, 65% of the people of Gaza live below the poverty line.
The big businessmen get away with their grisly crimes thanks to the toxic ideology of nationalism. This way of thinking posits that Israeli workers are on the same side as the billionaire Mrs. Adelson, and the oppressed Palestinian workers are on the same side as the ultra-rich Mr. Haniyeh. But the top bosses are the utter enemies of all working-class people. For them, we, the workers, are nothing but machines and tools to generate their profits and fight their wars.

The Chamas action last Saturday has helped to unify all walks of life here and the liberal demos against the so-called “Judicial reform” disappeared and wiped off the earth.
Gal Gadot (the Israeli actress -Wonder Woman) tweeted saying she is opposed to the killing of innocent Jews and Palestinians was labeled a “Traitor” for mentioning Palestinians and Jews in the same sentence.She deleted her tweet and apologized .

The so-called “left” is labeling Palestinians as “Human beasts” and calling to wipe Ghaza off the map. We are staying home most of the time - no schools (closed) and there are sporadic rockets aimed at the Tel Aviv area so we have to be able to enter a safe place - the sirens give you 90 seconds to do so.
The army is now engaged on 3 fronts and the killing of Palestinians continues in the north, the West Bank, and Ghaza under “moral” justification.

Unfortunately, there is no communist leadership among the Palestinians and Israelis, only nationalist and religious motivation. The interest of all working-class people in Israel-Palestine is to place the blame on their true oppressors and butchers: the bourgeoisie. The only way to cast away the poisonous ideology of nationalism and replace nationalist war with class war – is to organize a mass multi-ethnic communist party.

This way, we, the working class, can win a world free from the vicious cycle of slaughter. The only thing that deserves to die is the capitalist system!
*****

NY: in solidarity with UAW strikers
I recently visited a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line with some fellow union members to see first-hand the determination and bravery of fellow workers against the bosses. After stopping at the grocery store to pick up some solidarity grocery supplies, we arrived at the picket line.
The workers were from a small parts supplier, but we were impressed with the multiracial, cross-gender solidarity and their strength: the picket line is active 24-hours per day, 7-days per week!
While there, we heard stories from long-time workers about how they were forced to make concessions to bail out the auto companies during the Great Recession in 2008 and how the auto companies have never made good on their promise to restore the cuts. Typical bosses. We’re engaged in our own contract struggle, and while our union leadership does everything it can to quash any momentum toward striking, workers are more and more fed up and ready to take action. We can draw inspiration from the UAW workers and their ongoing fight.
*****

Haiti: a communist revolution is their only salvation
On October 2, the UN Security Council voted on a resolution approving the deployment of a force of 1,000 Kenyan policemen to Haiti. Their main stated objective is to combat the proliferation of gangs in the capital of Port-Au-Prince. Those gangs (really armed militias) are the results of decades of exploitation imposed by local and international bosses. The lack of a significant communist organization left unemployed workers with little choice but to join the gangs, many of them controlled by politicians and local businessmen.

As we already know, the real objective is to impose more miseries and exploitation on Haitian workers. In 2004, the UN came to Haiti to impose U.S. and European imperialist will on the workers. The mission objective was to stabilize the country and create a climate where the international and the local bosses could exploit the workers. After 17 years that mission failed miserably. This new mission is also bound for failure. Workers in Haiti and throughout the world don’t need the boss’s solution to solve their problem. Capitalism has no answers to humanity ‘s problems. It must be destroyed. Only a communist revolution can achieve this objective.
*****

Run in memory of comrade Fernando
October 1 marked the first (hopefully annual) Braga 5K Memorial Run at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. The race was named after our fallen comrade Fernando Braga who died by suicide last year. (His obituary appeared in CHALLENGE ,July 20, 2023). Several members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP), friends, and family members participated in the race and others we know helped put on the event. The 5K run (and jwalk) acted as a fundraiser for Fernando’s daughter’s college fund and organizations dedicated to stopping veteran suicide.

While it was an emotional day for many, it was also an opportunity to honor Fernando by building relationships around the ideas he fought for. He “was not just a veteran but an Iraq veteran against the war,” I told several participants I met. These included high school and college students. The second place finisher even grew up near me in NYC!

“I think the two of you would’ve gotten along,” I told one of the lead organizers who is a professor at the college. He didn’t get to meet Fernando since he started teaching after Fernando graduated, but teaches a course on the school to military pipeline. I hope I can help with some of the organizing next year and get to know him (as well as others) better.

Fernando was my club leader some years ago, providing our collective in general, and me in particular, with advice and leadership. I always respected the way he put our line into practice as a student, soldier and worker. At one point when we were close, I struggled with a decision of whether or not to join the military or remain an industrial worker. Fernando’s experience, thoughtful application of our line, and objective considerations of my strengths and weaknesses provided rare guidance that meant the most.

Before the 5K race, there were two speeches. The PL’ers who went agreed that next year we’d make sure we get to make one. The first speech was by a school administrator and reflected some of the nationalist ties between the College and the military. The other, though, was by one of Fernando’s closest friends and fellow veterans at school. He spoke for many of us at the 5K when he said “support each other, tell each other how much you love each other, it really matters. If I could take anything back, I would’ve definitely told him what he meant to me.”
Rest in Power Fernando!
*****

Liberal racists evict workers from shelters
New York City, Oct 11-  Chanting “Fight, fight, fight, Housing is a human right!,” a coalition of housing groups protested at the New York governor’s office against Top kkkop Mayor Eric Adams’ vow, together with the liberal fascist state, to suspend the “right to shelter” law in NYC. As thousands are being evicted under the 30 day limit on shelter, the new proposal would put homeless workers, including migrants, onto the streets. Comrades joined the group, met up with friends and distributed 50 copies of CHALLENGE. The fight continues, and Progressive Labor Party (PLP) will be there to build communism one struggle at a time.

CHICAGO, October 7—Today members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) came out in force to support the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike here on the picket line at the Torrence Avenue Ford plant. We distributed dozens of copies of CHALLENGE and spoke with workers about the need for a communist revolution. Many workers are open to discussing these revolutionary ideas and thank us for our support in the struggle for a better contract.

During past contract "negotiations" the UAW agreed to a two-tier wage division, reduced or eliminated cost of living raises, eliminated pensions, and several other concessions so the auto industrialists could recover from an economic downturn around 2008. In other words, make the workers pay for the crisis of the bosses’ system! Capitalism makes it legal to exploit our labor. Labor is a commodity used by the capitalists to extract profits. When the workers are too old or too sick or injured due to speed ups, they are discarded like an old pair of shoes.

When we withhold our labor power in a strike, the bosses lose their profits. The workers’ struggle against the capitalists is a way to recover some of the stolen value that workers produce. The bosses enrich themselves and maintain the current system of oppression off that stolen value.

PLP is building a multiracial and international working-class movement against this capitalist system’s inherent racism, sexism, unemployment and war. Strengthening our ties with industrial workers – especially Black, Latin, Asian and women industrial workers – will be a crucial front in overthrowing the bosses’ exploitative system for good and building a new egalitarian communist society. Under communism, we will organize to produce and then distribute based on what our class needs, never profit.

Bosses will kill for their profits – Workers organize to fight back!
The Torrence Avenue Assembly Ford plant is the oldest continuously operated auto manufacturing plant and opened in 1924.  It has 4,600 workers and produces about twenty-four hundred cars a day.  These workers produce almost one fourth of all the Ford vehicles made in one year. This plant, and many other Ford plants scattered throughout the world have made the Ford family worth 2 billion dollars (Forbes, August 2023).  It's reported Ford’s CEO in 2022 was paid $21 million, and GM's CEO about $20 million per year.

In our conversations, auto workers related how a worker on the assembly line suffered a seizure. The line stopped, while another worker on the line came to help the worker with the seizure. A supervisor then reprimanded the worker for trying to help her co-worker, and before medical help was called, they replaced the worker and restarted the line, in that order. Profits come before the lives of workers, that is the lesson capitalism teaches us— that is why we fight for communism. Communism is a society where profits will be abolished, and workers’ lives and safety will always come first.

It was with the help and leadership of communist workers that the UAW was first established. In 1936-37 there was a sit-in strike in Flint, Michigan at the GM Fisher Body No. 1 plant that lasted 44 days.  The bosses hesitated to retake the plant because they feared millions of dollars’ worth of equipment would be destroyed by the occupying workers.  Right before the National Guard was to go in the plant, the bosses relented and recognized the UAW union.

But as history has shown us, after the current contract is settled, and the end of the next contract, workers will be back on the picket line to demand a fair contract, because the nature of the system is always to demand more from the workers. Trusting in liberal bosses like Joe Biden to get a “fair” deal is poison for our class, as not only did he help engineer the anti-worker bailout in 2008 he also torpedoed efforts for railroad workers to strike last year.

The bosses want more give-backs, so they can compete internationally against their rivals, mainly the bosses in China. They also want to give enough to workers to lay the groundwork for a patriotic population that is ready to fight and die for their imperialist wars. Capitalism is a never-ending treadmill, a deadly system of contradictions designed to wear us down. We must organize to smash it and replace it with workers' power and communism. Join us, join PLP!

While workers around the world watch in horror, the escalating slaughter taking place in Gaza leaves many people feeling helpless. With the demise of the old communist movement, workers are increasingly being led to the slaughter by one group of nationalists, religious fundamentalists or another.

While we cannot control the outcome of events right now, we can affect the outlook of our coworkers and within our unions, and fight for the political leadership of the working class. What we do, where we are, is all-important. We can, if we are creative and bold, expose the hellish world the capitalists have built, and organize to destroy these bosses and their system with communist revolution.

Last week, the NYC Jewish Labor Committee hosted an online panel on the Gaza war, chaired by Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU) President Stuart Applebaum and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten. It included Peter Lerner, Director General of International Relations at Histadrut (the Israeli General Federation) and a Lt. Colonel in the Israeli reserves, Rami Hod - Executive Director at Berl Katznelson Center, a Liberal Zionist think tank, and Congressman Dan Goldman of Brooklyn.
Fascism was on full display! The main point of the call was to rally progressive labor leaders to support the genocidal collective punishment the Israeli government, with U.S. support, is unleashing on Gaza.  

But the Jewish Labor Committee ironically got one thing right; war is union business. No imperialist can wage war for long without the active or passive support of their workers, and their willingness to sacrifice for the costly war effort. Our job is to win workers to oppose imperialist war and overthrow the bosses.

At the urgent request of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, which has hundreds of members in Gaza, the leadership of the National Writers Union issued a statement that opposed the collective punishment, shed light on the journalists who have been targeted and murdered and the 50 media offices that were destroyed.

The statement called on the mainstream media, especially in the U.S. to not rely on unconfirmed statements from the Israeli and U.S. warmakers, and to defend any journalist or author being fired or threatened for daring to oppose the rush to war. It said that we should not repeat the post-9/11 story where the media led us to a 20-year war in Iraq and sanctioned the mass roundup and surveillance of Muslims in the U.S. There are numerous reports of writers and events being canceled and disciplined in the U.S. and across Europe.   

The current situation demands that Progressive Labor Party (PLP) be bold and speak out in our unions, and with our coworkers, in transit, in healthcare, in the schools and campuses. We should boldly oppose Randi Weingarten, who has been a spokesperson for U.S. imperialism in Ukraine and around the world.  There is no short-term solution to this endless nightmare. We must do our best to build the Party. Have lunchroom discussions, raise union resolutions, invite your coworkers for dinner for more discussions, and bring some coworkers to local anti-war actions. Getting CHALLENGE to workers is essential to countering fascist ideas.

Let’s do what we can, as limited as that may be, to oppose the current slaughter that is now underway. The answer in Israel/Palestine, and everywhere, must start with international solidarity, antiracism, and building the unity of Jews and Palestinians, which has been done before, yet today seems unimaginable. It ends with turning imperialist war into communist revolution, and the international working class coming to power.