July 13, 2021 was the 10th anniversary of the death of Milt Rosen, founding chairperson of Progressive Labor Party (PLP or PL). He served our organization and the working class in that capacity until 1995. The following is excerpted from the obituary that appeared in CHALLENGE August 3, 2011.

Sparked by Milt early on, PL exposed both counter-revolutionary revisionism and “revolutionary” nationalism as death traps of worker-boss unity. It indicted the state capitalists of the Soviet Union as far back as 1966, and then broke with the ones ruling the People’s Republic of China. Those failed revolutions led PL to advance beyond Marx’s two-stage theory that socialism was a first step toward communism; history had shown that socialism inevitably led back to the exploitation of capitalism. And unlike any other group on the landscape, the Party emphasized the importance of the fight against racism as a basic communist principle, not a mere tactic.
Milt’s first brush with the enormous power of communist ideas came as a 17-year-old soldier (he had lied about his age) in Italy in World War II.
In one of its first mass activities, PLM (Progressive Labor Movement - precursor to PLP) stood behind 500 wildcatting, armed coal miners in Hazard, Kentucky, who were locked in an all-out war with the coal barons to win decent conditions and wages.
On May 2, 1964, under PLM’s leadership, the first major demonstrations against the Vietnam War were staged in cities around the country.
Following the massive Washington anti-war rally in the spring of 1965, Milt saw that Students for A Democratic Society (SDS) had grown into the center of radical student politics. From 1966 to 1968, PL would do its largest-scale political organizing among students.
After stepping down as Party chair and before becoming too ill to function, Milt continued to make vital contributions to PL and the international movement. Among his most significant lessons was the need to understand the character of our historical period. Shortly after the events of 9/11, he spoke of how he’d underestimated the impact of the old communist movement’s demise, and how far it has set back the class struggle. This failing, he pointed out, could lead to one of two devastating errors: false optimism or despair over the formidable difficulties in building a mass communist party. Milt’s self-criticism reminded us that the old movement’s defeat may have left us in a “dark night,” but the working class has lived and fought through dark nights before.
While the end of the old movement was the worst setback we’ve ever suffered, it isn’t the end of history. It’s not the end of class struggle. Our Party exists all over the world, and small though it may be, it is growing. With words and by example, Milt taught the vital importance of a long-term outlook. More clearly than most, he knew there were no shortcuts to revolution. He embraced it as the commitment of a lifetime.
 More than anything, he taught us never to give up.

Sandy was a winner
I was saddened to read about the death of comrade Sandy Spiers. Unfortunately I didn't manage to contribute to the recent Zoom memorial in her honor. I first met Sandy when she lived in Minneapolis where she joined Progressive Labor Party and I was helping to organize for the Party in the Midwest some 40 odd years ago. It was mid-winter and Sandy took me out to the university campus to sell CHALLENGE.
Being a Brooklynite, I was not exactly used to sub-zero temperature but Sandy told me it was standard operating procedure for the Minneapolis comrades. She instructed me how to snip off three of the ends of our gloves to be able to grasp the paper and still keep the rest of our hands "warm" as we hawked CHALLENGE.
Sandy was a winner! A truly inspiring comrade, fighting for communism.
*****
Radio red tackles state capitalists and “communists”
On a radio talk show with guest speakers talking about the protests in Cuba and Haiti I expressed a view that the latest capitalist crisis was behind the numerous worker revolts worldwide. I also said the so-called “communist” countries like Cuba which spends billions on luxury tourist hotels while workers suffer lack of housing, apartheid vaccines and poverty and China which has the most billionaires and unreported worker rebellions are not unlike Haiti where workers are unemployed and starving because of capitalism. I concluded that workers need a real communist revolution to end capitalist inequality, poverty, racism, sexism and endless wars.
Then one of the speakers referred to me saying, “Comrade Joe should realize that criticizing the Cuban government lumps him with U.S. imperialists who are trying to destroy the Cuban revolution.” That same speaker’s counter-revolutionary criticism could be brought against comrades who criticize the Palestine Liberation Organization as really supporters of Israel in Palestine or brought against criticizing the billionaire class in “communist” China. All of these criticisms are part of historic capitalist attacks on real communists who first opposed capitalist wage differentials and privileges in the Soviet Union which eventually destroyed their attempt to end the capitalist profit system.
Comrades need to continue to expose phony socialist state capitalists and “communists” who put profits before people's lives. Workers must educate and advocate for real communism that can destroy capitalism’s profit horrors.
*****
Response: excellent, but don’t use “riot”
The two articles on the Newark Summer Project in CHALLENGE (7/21 and 8/4) were excellent,  especially the second article on pages 1 and 8 of CHALLENGE of 8/4) . On page 8 of the 2nd article under the subhead “Criticism as Opportunity for Progress,” the article points to several aspects of the Summer Project that need improvement.  This is excellent!
This is how we will prevent ourselves and our Party from becoming the "loyal opposition" as opposed to the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) that we have been since 1965.  Our newer members are the ones who will carry on the struggle in the near and distant future.  It is crucial that our newer comrades understand the difficulties that they will face AND that the only way to NOT fall prey to capitalist ideas and practices is through criticism and self-criticism ALONG WITH revolutionary practice with our co-workers and our base.
One small point:  In the first article there is a quote from a speaker who said that the: "Main legacy of the civil rights movement and those riots ... " [emphasis added]  The Black rebellions during the1960s were rebellions,  NOT riots.  It is important to explain to workers the significance of the difference.  In fact,  the Progressive Labor Movement  in 1964 [which became the PLP] was the ONLY organization using the word rebellion to describe these fightbacks.

The July 7 assassination of Jovenel Moise ended his contested term as Haitian president and escalated an open battle for power—and riches—among Haiti’s capitalist bosses. Meanwhile, the U.S. and its allies are dictating who will be in charge as they compete with rival Chinese imperialists for future control over the Caribbean region, the historical U.S. “backyard.”
Haiti is a clear example of the fraud of “democracy” under the profit system. The country’s centuries of misrule and misleadership expose the fact that all forms of capitalist government—military dictatorships, “democratically” elected politicians, coups d’etat by the latest faction of insurgents—are dictatorships of the capitalist ruling class. Every government in the world today is built to serve the bosses’ need for maximum profit. The lives of workers mean nothing to them; we are brutalized and exploited in every nation on Earth. There is only one alternative that will change basic conditions for our class: a communist revolution to smash capitalism and create a new society run by and for the international working class.
The first great blow against slavery
In 1791, Haiti showed the way with a mass insurrection that ended slavery and struck fear in the heart of the bourgeoisie around the globe. Ever since, workers in Haiti have been under severe attack by local bosses and U.S. imperialists who saw their interests threatened. And ever since, those workers have kept fighting back! (see Haiti timeline, page 4)
The reality of Haiti today is that workers are struggling to eat and breathe while under the thumb of the capitalists. While Haitian politicians live the good life in their mansions in suburban Petionville, more than 80 percent of the impoverished working class lives on less than two dollars (U.S.) per day. Hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by the 2010 earthquake still lack safe drinking water (In These Times, 1/12/20).
The decaying U.S. ruling class and the rotting liberal world order have played major roles in these atrocities, notably under the blood-soaked Clintons and the Obama-Biden administration. In 1994, after decades of U.S. support for the criminal Duvalier gang, Bill Clinton ordered an invasion of Haiti to save the presidency of the pro-U.S. Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Although Aristide promised a kinder gentler capitalism–lifting workers out of poverty with labor and education reforms and bringing corrupt businesses to heel–she proved ineffective and was ousted.(Boston Globe, 1/12/04). By the end of Aristide’s presidency in 2004, he left a trail of misery and corruption (The Week, 2/8/15), further enriching Haiti’s ruling class, and lining his own pockets with hundreds of millions dollars earned through bribes from cocaine trafficking (Associated Press, 2/25/04). Then, after an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010, the Obama-Biden administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation exploited the deaths of over 200,000 people to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the hands of U.S. corporations and the military while the working class starved (In These Times, 1/12/20). If anything, the situation for the working class in Haiti is worse than in 1994 (Time, 9/24/19).
Democracy is capitalist dictatorship
The competition to succeed Moise is a fight among different sets of bosses for the opportunity to exploit the working class for their own gain. Democracy offers the false promise that workers can have some control over society, but under capitalism there can be no such thing. Democracy has been a continual disaster for the working class around the world. Ultimately democracy  is a tool the bosses use to settle their differences, legitamize the brutality of their system, and dupe workers into believing they are choosing leaders to represent them.
The horrific material conditions for workers in Haiti are the direct impact of imperialist exploitation by the two original modern democracies, France and the U.S. The elections, the courts, and the entire political structure in Haiti is controlled by a small group of wealthy business people who use gun-wielding gangs to contest for dominance (Just Security, 7/9).
Workers of Haiti also have a long and proud history of bold, class-conscious fightback. In 1956, workers in Haiti staged a general strike that forced the removal of a U.S.-backed general, Paul Eugène Magloire. The U.S. then installed the mass-murdering Duvaliers, Papa Doc and Baby Doc, until Baby Doc was ousted by a mass rebellion in 1986. General strikes followed in 1997 and 2004.
The Haitian and U.S. ruling classes have joined to attack any uprising and to crush communist movements in Haiti. But they haven’t won, because the fightback continues! Progressive Labor Party keeps growing in Haiti, attracting workers who reject the dead ends of reformism and nationalism and have come to see revolution as the only solution.
Imperialist fighting in the Caribbean
Though Haiti has been mostly run by the U.S. ruling class for the last 100 years, the Chinese bosses recently have made inroads in the region: “China has poured billions of dollars of investment into the Caribbean while signing tax and trade deals in an attempt to wrest the region out of the West's sphere of influence and bring it under the sway of Beijing” (Daily Mail, 9/23/20).
In 2018, the Chinese ruling class persuaded the capitalist bosses in the Dominican Republic to go against the U.S. rulers and drop their recognition of Taiwan in favor of relations with the Chinese rulers. The U.S. had stuck with the unpopular Moise even as the country broke down because his ruling clique had generally advanced U.S. interests (New York Times, 7/19). Not long before Moise was killed, his administration acted as a U.S. proxy in attacking Venezuela at the United Nations (El Pais, 7/8).
While it is still unclear what forces were behind the assassination, it is clear that the current chaos has surfaced in the context of the U.S. bosses’ desperate struggle to hold onto control of the country and the region.
Communism is the only way forward
In recent years, the militant fightback of the working class in Haiti has been mostly diverted by the bosses into support of various capitalist opposition groups. But the fact remains that capitalism, whether it’s installed by elections or a junta, has been devastating for workers. The working class in Haiti has been an inspiration for 230 years. Their militancy and refusal to stop fighting has set an example for our entire class.
At the same time, the lesson of liberal class traitors like Aristide is that we must move beyond the limits of capitalism and fight for workers’ power with communist revolution. Replacing one capitalist for another will get us nowhere. We have no need for bosses of any kind. We have nothing to lose but our chains!

*****

U.S. and European imperialists exploit workers in Haiti for 500 years

The extreme poverty faced by workers in Haiti and the instability of the country as a whole is not coincidental. Chattel slavery and imperialism have made sure of it (see editorial on page 2):
1492 — Columbus lands and claims the whole island of Hispaniola for Spain. In the ensuing years, the indigenous population was nearly completely wiped out by disease, enslavement, and murder.
1664 — France takes control of the western part of the island and starts importing slaves in 1670. Slave insurrections were frequent. Some slaves escaped to the mountains and joined the few remaining indigenous people.
1791 — A slave revolt sets off the inspirational Haitian Revolution, the first time slaves overthrew slaveholders and took power. These former slaves establish a government, and U.S. and European imperialist powers are terrified of the potential spread of slave revolts and revolutions.
1802 — Napoleon sends a massive invasion force, including 40,000 troops from other European countries. France gains control of part of Haiti and tries to reestablish slavery, but is defeated after a brutal war that killed tens of thousands of workers in Haiti and ended with over 30,000 French and European troops dead. Poland’s military force refused to fight; about 100 joined the workers of Haiti. Afterwards, the Polish workers were the only Europeans allowed to remain in the country.
1804-1825 — France, Britain, and the U.S. impose a crippling embargo, destroying Haiti’s economy and forcing Haiti’s government to pay 90 million gold francs to France as compensation for “lost property,”—the freed slaves. The government is forced to take out high-interest loans from U.S. banks, hobbling the country with debt until 1947.
1915-1934 — At the request of U.S. banks holding Haiti’s debt U.S., Marines invade to prevent Germany from establishing a naval base. The Marines dissolve Haiti’s government. The U.S. State Department writes a new constitution, eliminating the prohibition on foreign ownership of land. When Haiti’s parliament refuses to ratify the new constitution, the Marines dissolve the parliament and enact the State Department’s constitution through a rigged election limited to five percent of the population.
1934-1947 — The Marines leave but the U.S. retains control of Haiti’s finances.
1956-1986 — The Duvalier dictatorships are backed by the U.S. to defeat a strong communist movement.
1991-1994 — A military coup removing Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power triggers sanctions by the U.S. and the Organization of American States. U.S. and UN troops then invade and occupy Haiti, initially to reinstall Aristide.
2010 — A devastating earthquake destroys much of Port-au-Prince and kills 300,000. This is used as an excuse for the UN, the U.S., and the Clinton Foundation to resume control over the country in the name of “security” and “rebuilding.”
2012 —  Hundreds protest against the high cost of living and call for the resignation of President Martelly. They accuse the president of corruption and failure to deliver on his promises to alleviate poverty.
2017 — The Provisional Electoral Council declares Jovenel Moise the winner of the November 2016 presidential election ending a political crisis which began in October 2015 over allegations of electoral fraud.
2019 —At least four people are killed and dozens injured in nationwide anti-corruption protests against President Moise and other officials (see page 6).

*****

Brooklyn: solidarity with workers in Haiti
Brooklyn, NY, July 16—“What you are saying is right, we don’t need more of the same bloodsuckers in Haiti anymore!” These were some of the responses as people stopped to chat with Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends today in the center of the working-class Haitian community here as we rallied in support of the struggle of workers and students in Haiti. Selling CHALLENGE  to passersby, we held signs in Haitian Creole, distributed leaflets in Creole and English, and spoke on the bullhorn in English and Creole about the struggle that has been going on against the misery and corruption created by the racist capitalist system (see editorial, page 2 ). And we linked the struggle in Haiti to the struggle of workers and students from Palestine to Colombia to Brooklyn.
We noted that the assassination of the Haitian president will not bring about any changes to the daily life of workers. All the usual criminals are vying for power, and the U.S. bosses are directing the show. The conditions of mass unemployment, hunger, need for clean water and decent housing and medical care, not to mention education—all these attacks on workers will not end until capitalism is overthrown and an egalitarian communist society is born, in Haiti and everywhere around the world.
We invite the workers in this Brooklyn neighborhood to join the struggle of the international working class. In fact, our PLP comrades in Haiti, when they learned about this small act of solidarity, and read the leaflet and the signs, said, “This is not a small action, it is big because it shows us that we are not alone in the struggle. It inspires us to continue the fight, to grow and recruit to PLP.”

NEWARK, NJ, July 18—The Progressive Labor Party just hammered another nail into the bosses’ coffin. Over 200 people participated in our two-week Summer Project through four study groups, CHALLENGE sales of over 500 copies, a rally in Brooklyn, cookouts, and our motorcade protest finale.
This was a political success: workers supported us, and several pledged to be more involved, and six newer members strengthened their commitment to leading the fight for communist revolution.
Politicians with the support of the cops, courts, and media, try their hardest to force workers to accept the brutal abuse and murder we experience at the hands of gangs and police as a standard, everyday reality. Still, PLP reminded our class that we DO have an alternative to capitalism in every corner of the world: join the fight for communism today.
Liberal bosses like mayor Ras Baraka are raffling off reforms like Universal Basic Income and a Community Review Board of the kkkops (see glossary, page 6) while ramping up police terror in working class neighborhoods. For Big Fascists, reforms are part of their imperialist war plans; to have a fighting chance, you need an army that is loyal to U.S. capitalism.    
What workers need is class war for communist revolution. To get there, we need workers—from the U.S. to Haiti to Pakistan and everywhere else—to commit to a lifetime of fighting for our class with PLP.
Study groups, frontlines in the battle for ideas
The bosses’ ideas hold workers back from overthrowing this system, so we took on two of the most insidious ideas: identity politics and nationalism. We also exposed the brutal nature of capitalist forced displacement and homelessness by showing how gentrification and the refugee crisis are born from the same source: capitalist drive for land and wealth accumulation at the expense of workers from Newark to Chicago to Palestine.
When workers ask about where our conditions stem from, all arms of capitalism—politicians, reformist organizations, education, media—leave workers confused, divided, or won over to one faction or another of the ruling class. That is why the leaders of the Project decided to focus on the topics of nationalism and identity politics.
Without a class analysis, concepts like “identity politics'' and “intersectionality” do not offer any way of changing workers’ material conditions, i.e., housing, job protections, and education systems that super-exploit Black, Latin, and women workers. These concepts obscure the material roots of racist- and sexist-based labor and ensure that exploitation continues. No wonder liberal bosses and misleaders rely on these concepts.
As we’ve seen in our workplaces and online, these capitalist concepts primarily make white workers the enemy, rather than focusing on gutter racists like former president Donald Trump or liberal racists like the current president Joe Biden, who created and expanded these racist systems.
Black women workers key
Sexism is another insidious idea of the bosses, and besides fighting it in the class struggle, building leadership of women workers, particularly Black women, is key. Sexist division of labor in the home is one way that bars women workers from contributing. When some comrades took on the daily tasks of the home and made it collective, one single parent was able to provide leadership to the Project. Her leadership was critical to the success of this project.
These summer projects are schools for communist ideas and practices. When we fight to bring these ideas to life, we strengthen our Party, our friends, our political work, and the movement for communism in a small but significant way.
Driving towards communist revolution
The closing event, a motorcade of eight cars and 25 fighters, focused on three specific neighborhoods where the police are terrorizing workers, reflected PLP’s commitment to calling out the local misleaders in our city—from bought-and-paid-for activists to mayor Baraka. For decades, Baraka has been winning a base among Black workers and when workers speak out or fight back, they are attacked. It is precisely this reason why the political leadership of “progressives” is so deadly to workers: they divert us from communist revolution as the only solution.  
So when we rode through this stronghold of Baraka’s liberal fascist organizing and not one of the 200 passersby booed, it showed the potential to win workers to reject capitalist ideas. When presented with a viable alternative, our class can choose to fight to be a class for itself.
PLP acknowledges that the conflict between gangs in Newark has been a long-standing reality for workers, but the increased police terror is indicative of rising fascism. Baraka is quick to increase police presence in the area to “clean it up” but betrays workers at the height of the mass struggle. At the beginning of our Summer Project, we exposed how Baraka sold workers out in struggles around decaying water pipes and public education. During the motorcade, we called out that he will do so again.
At the cookout that launched the Summer Project, the Rodwell and Spivey Families, recently  terrorized by the cops (see CHALLENGE, 6/23), participated. During this motorcade, we slowly drove through their block. We honked and chanted, “Cops, courts, and the Ku Klux Klan—all are part of the bosses’ plan!” and “NPD you can’t hide—we charge you with genocide.” The only way state terror and racist policing within our communities will end is when we commit to building for communism with our fellow workers.
Criticism as opportunity for progress
The summer project exposed our main political weaknesses: individualism which resulted in the insufficient logistical organization and spreading out the leadership during our protests and events; uneven political understanding of our criticism of the pandemic; and a constant need to ensure that translation is insured at every event so that workers from any part of the world who are interested in our events and politics feel supported, respected and included.
Some of our comrades tend to “show up” for newspaper sales, rallies, or meetings and think that is good enough, but it is not. We have to bring passion and openness to each event. We have to see speaking on the bullhorn as a duty and an honor, not as a task for certain comrades over others.
Everyone must sell papers, but it will not inspire workers to listen to us or take us seriously if we do not encourage ourselves when we approach them. To rely on a few loud people who lead the event while others in the rear tend to fall back is not communist—these are the bosses’ ideas that must be struggled with.
But these errors are opportunities for growth, not reasons to quit. We have to be sharp and encouraging and help show our comrades in practice what is required.
The importance of struggle within and outside the Party is obvious when we hear participants say things like, “I’ve been looking for this organization for my whole life and I feel I finally found it” at the commencing cookout, or “I’m starting to find more people who think like me” during one of the CHALLENGE sales.  When we feel responsible for the collective and our whole class, we can see how struggle is in the benefit of both the movement and the individual worker.
Lessons learned in the class struggle
Our class sisters and brothers face countless daily attacks: poverty, homelessness, exploitation, and terror from kkkops and landlords. Workers viewing our protests see everyone, and we all have to show the enthusiasm and militant passion needed to win others to the urgency of our line.
Every time we show up, workers cheer us on. On Broad and Market, the busiest intersection in Newark, workers stopped and listened to us. With consistent work, workers in Newark will take communist leadership as a valid alternative to the cult politics of voting, nationalism and anti-communism. So we take these lessons in stride and look forward to even bigger and stronger protests, meetings, and numbers of workers who join us from Colombia to Haiti to Newark and beyond.