The following article was part of a twelve-part series entitled A short history of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and its activities in Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) first published in CHALLENGE in early 2007. 

By the fall of 1967, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) chapters had sprung up on hundreds of U.S. college campuses. A vigorous debate ensued on the tactics of anti-war activity. Progressive Labor Party (PLP)members advocated the principle that tactics flowed from politics, and that class allegiance held the key to politics.

From the very beginning, PLP stood alone in fighting for a "Worker-Student Alliance." This position had several practical consequences:

* U.S. bosses got their cannon fodder for the Vietnam War through a military draft. However, college students could enjoy a "2-S'' student deferment. PLP argued that a principled anti-war position required refusing this class privilege. PLP'ers rejected it individually and as a mass position. As a result, many PLP members were drafted. The military brass deemed some unfit for military service for "political reasons." Others entered the military and organized against the war on the inside. PLP's principled position against the 2-S deferment won widespread respect throughout the movement, including the grudging admiration of the Party's right-wing opponents within SDS.

* From the start, PLP also vigorously opposed the position of the "official" leadership of the anti-war movement, that "Stop the bombing and negotiate" was the only mass line that could mobilize large numbers of people within the U.S. The Party also argued that this was an imperialist war and not just a “mistake” by some politicians.  PLP argued that as an imperialist invader, the U.S. ruling class had no right to negotiate a blade of grass in Vietnam; and that the only viable demand was "U.S. out NOW!" This struggle around this principle—correct as far as it went -- was to have significant consequences several years later when the Vietnamese "communist" leadership began negotiations with the Nixon administration.

* During the late 1960s, spontaneous working-class militancy was mushrooming, with industrial strikes, inner-city uprisings, and rebellion within the imperialist military. PLP took the lead in arguing that students should support these struggles, particularly with concrete action.

* PLP organized summer "Work-in" projects in 1967, '68, and '69, with two main goals: first to educate anti-war students about the true nature of the working class and the need to unite with workers; second, to bring anti-war, anti-imperialist politics to the working class. In a limited way, the "Work-ins" were quite successful. The student participants shed many reactionary illusions about workers, not the least of which was the boss-promoted slander that workers were racist, reactionary "oafs" incapable of understanding their class interests. Workers who met Work-in participants saw the potential for uniting with anti-war students and communists. The bosses went nuts, releasing several official documents revealing their panic at the prospect of workers and students uniting massively to oppose the war. PLP argued that this panic alone indicated we were on the right track.

* Within SDS, an increasingly sharp debate began to emerge around this issue. PLP argued for unity with workers in industry, transportation, and communications, and to concretize this unity by supporting strikes in auto, other heavy industries, telephone (the computer was still two decades away as a mass item), hospitals, etc. SDS's "right-wing" (as we called it) opposed this position, arguing that the "traditional" working class had become obsolete, that it was hopelessly reactionary, and that "the real hope for revolution" lay in the "new working class" of alienated intellectuals and professionals. The main spokesperson for this nonsense was Herbert Marcuse, a former German social democrat who had emigrated to the U.S. and became a professor in California. The bosses happily anointed him the ideologue of the "New Left." They promoted his ideas and his book One-Dimensional Man, even featuring him on the cover of Time Magazine. PLP continued to fight for the Worker-Student Alliance and to organize militant action that reflected the class position that the working class could never become obsolete as long as capitalism spirals into crisis, degrading the labor conditions for workers and pushing more segments of our class into more precarious jobs.

Throughout the war, the Progressive Labor Party, which had launched the first mass demonstration against the war in 1964, played a crucial ideological, political, and practical role within SDS and the anti-war movement in general. PLP gained experience, advanced its political line, and recruited large numbers of students and others to its ranks. Many remain Party members and leaders nearly four decades later. Many PL’ers who were recruited in the '60s and '70s recently led a forum called the Lessons from 1968 and beyond. Look out for the article in the next issue of CHALLENGE.

Newark, NJ, June 22- As the threat of World War III looms between the world’s superpowers—China, Russia, and the U.S.—and global warming intensifies, fourteen members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP), including high school students, gathered to celebrate 65 years of the Party's influence. The event featured struggle stories from workers both locally in Newark and internationally to promote a vision of a unified world under one party, PLP.

The opening speech underscored the significance of the gathering, particularly for those who had been invited from the Rutgers encampment struggles. They noted Rutgers University's decision to dismantle the encampment, as well as recent actions of other “liberal” universities and denounced it as a symptom of rising fascism faced not only by workers in the United States, but internationally for standing up to capitalist genocide of workers in Palestine. 

Drawing parallels between current struggles and historical fascism, the speaker contended that the existing capitalist state and political leaders, including liberals and progressives, are increasingly fascist.

For capitalists, ‘Free Palestine’ reform is a cry to create a new oppressive State

Someone asked, “What is the state?” One participant answered, “The state is an instrument in the hands of the ruling class, used to break the resistance of the rivals of that class.” A common liberal solution sold to workers in the Middle East is a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. It came out in the discussion that any state, ruled by Hamas or Zionists, would put wealthy rulers over workers.
Others present asserted that a Palestinian state would be one of ‘self-determination,’ and not exploitation. We discussed how nationalist revolutions in South Africa, Vietnam and many other places show ‘self-determination’ is an illusion meant to obfuscate capitalist exploitation. What were once open battle-grounds against the rule of the bosses are today nations ruled by their own bosses exploiting sweatshop workers to make commodities for profit. Similarly in the U.S., workers under capitalism face the illusion that the state can be reformed, framed as freedom to vote Republican or Democrat. This false sense of freedom extends to joining anarchist or reformist groups. Most reformists use gender, nationalist and identity politics to cater to a select group, alienating other groups. These other groups are then pushed to their own respective misleaders, creating a cultural battle of worker against worker with the only winner being the capitalists. The ideal that reforms will save everyone is just an illusion. 

Two high school students present, one of whom is involved in their school’s model U.N. club, noted how even the supposedly international organizations such as the U.N. just provide another illusion for workers. They said that while the U.N. appears to be a consensus-based organization made up of many states, it really is dominated by five ‘permanent members’ who have veto power over any proposal. These permanent members unsurprisingly include some of the wealthiest concentrations of capital on earth: The United States, China, Russia, The United Kingdom and France.

For workers in Palestine, only communism can bring freedom from class oppression

The discussion then highlighted the benefits of communist centralism. This approach, it was argued, examines issues from multiple angles, offering a comprehensive, class-conscious solution to material conditions. Someone talked about the important experience during the encampments of the communist-style organization of food, security, and prohibition of photographs by provocateurs. Resources were supplied and organized collectively based on those able to do so and distributed collectively based on need. History shows that such communist centralism is efficient enough to defeat capitalist enemies, such as the Red Army defeating the whites in Russia or the communists defeating the nationalist Kuomintang in China because of the fragmented nature of the capitalist opposition. One critique given about the encampments was that their demands often lacked clear organization and were often dominated by reformism—that is demands without a revolutionary end in sight and leave the capitalist state intact.

Local fights build a vision of a world led by workers

Also noted during the discussion was students’ courageous fight-back while police called by universities from California to New Jersey took hours to arrive only to stand idly by while armed provokers viciously attacked students.

Workers have a compelling choice to make: 1) Accept the “freedom” of self-determination: In this vision, capitalism with all its delusions, oppression, super-exploitation, apartheid, and mass genocide would prevail. OR 2) Join the FIGHT FOR A UNIFIED WORLD UNDER ONE PARTY LED BY PLP. Communism entails the Party leading every facet of society. To achieve this, millions of workers must become organizers for communism. Victory involves collaborating with the working class, recognizing both progress and shortcomings. It means organizing and educating others to resist capitalism at work, in our communities. It means involving in mass organizations, having friends over to your home and joining PLP in building a communist future.

Inglewood, CA, June 28, 2024 —Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends attended a teach-in about the school closures in Inglewood which was led by community members. During the event, parents and their children along with other community members and teachers joined the event which included speeches, a PowerPoint presentation, chanting, and a planning session for future events.

The Inglewood school district was taken over by the state of California in 2012. Community members have been concerned in the more recent history that the school board they have elected has no power. Like many other predominantly Black and Latin working-class cities, the City of Inglewood Unified School District (USD) was taken over by the State of California. In return for a loan of $55 million from the State, Inglewood USD agreed to be put in “receivership” and give up control to a State-appointed administrator. A condition of reestablishing local control is payment in full of the loan. 

The current boss of the schools is James Morris, L.A. County Superintendent. It is Morris who has devised the plan to close one of the city's two high schools, and four elementary schools effective at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Meanwhile, Inglewood USD continues to pay off the loan at exorbitant interest rates, with a final payment expected to be made in 2034!

Leading up to the event, PLP members helped to plan the teach-in and included their base members. One high school student joined the planning meeting and gave her honest assessment that the struggle should include more young people. We discussed how to care for the children at the event which included games and story time. People on the planning committee agreed with PLP that it’s important to expose young children to books and stories that talk about why it’s necessary to be involved in antiracist struggles against bosses. 

The event started with a speaker who had been involved in the struggle from the beginning because her daughter’s school was closing. The speech included information on the connection between the new stadiums that have been built in Inglewood (So-Fi Stadium and Intuit Dome) and the closings. All of the schools closing are in the zone of these new stadiums; some are even torn down and the land turned into parking lots. 

The next speaker was a student who currently attends a high school in Inglewood. This young person gave a passionate speech about the fact that she would not be able to play basketball for the school she had her heart set on going to. She made connections about the profit-hungry corporations who want the school space for parking lots as well as the politicians who are complicit because they refuse to oppose carrying out the racist plans to shut down schools and their abject refusal to meet with concerned parents and students. The student’s speech was followed by an in-depth presentation discussing other districts across California that are also suffering school closings. The presentation brought out the fact that every school district under state control was disproportionately Black and/or Latin. A statewide coalition of concerned parents and community members has organized ways to fight against the closings and help people become more active in their communities. 

Following the speeches and presentations, there was a period of open-mic time. A student, who attended this year’s May Day event in Los Angeles spoke on the mic about her siblings who are going to be affected by the school closings. She spoke about how the politicians are more concerned with lining their pockets than they are with making sure there are enough qualified teachers in the classrooms. She also included the analysis that these schools are run like businesses. She understands that under the system of capitalism, profit is primary and things like education, particularly for Black and Brown students, are expendable. Another Party member, who is also a member of the Lennox-Inglewood Tenants’ Union (LITU), spoke about the housing crisis that exists for Inglewood families. As these stadiums are built and racist gentrification spreads [the city continues to become gentrified, rent and housing prices are skyrocketing. Many families have no other choice but to leave Inglewood. As the schools’ population decreases, the State and County overlord district is choosing to close the schools rather than finding ways to help keep families where they are and work on increasing the school population. Members of LITU attended the event because they too saw the connection between rent increases and school closures.

The only thing that will ensure schools are not being closed down is to build a world without the profit-motive. The majority of students cannot learn under capitalism. With school closures, overcrowded classrooms, and a lack of supplies, working-class students across the world are and have always been forced to become cogs in the wheel of capitalism. Teachers in PLP need to continue to organize students and co-workers to join PLP so that we can set up a communist education system that abolishes racism and fosters learning, creativity, and critical thinking.

THE BRONX, NY, June 22– Around 100 workers gathered in the South Bronx to protest the hypocrisy of liberal fascist misleaders Senator Bernie Sanders and House Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman, and Nydia Velásquez, who hosted a rally shortly before the Democratic Primaries last week. While all four of these con artists pay lip service to voting for a ceasefire in Gaza, they have put their full support behind President Joe Biden by endorsing his bloodthirsty presidential campaign. These so-called progressives are exposing themselves as the main danger to the working class. They use the language of fake leftism to pacify workers into accepting reformist crumbs all while propelling our class toward world war and fascism. 

We handed out CHALLENGE and made some contacts, including one who is interested in protesting at the Republican National Convention with us. Afterward, we had a study group with 22 workers and students in which we read and discussed “Black Workers’ Leadership: Key Revolutionary Force.” The study group allowed us to contrast the rally’s multicultural rainbow of capitalist misleaders with the need for multiracial working-class unity and the importance of Black workers’ leadership in the march toward communist revolution. One thing workers and students alike agreed on is that racism is a tool of the bosses that hurts all workers. We discussed how anti-Black racism shows up in our everyday lives and the division that it creates within the working class. 

Liberals are the main danger

In addition to endorsing Genocide Joe, AOC, and Bowman have contributed to the lie that the fightback against Zionism and genocide in Gaza is anti-Jewish racism, better known as anti-semitism, by condemning a protest against the Nova Exhibition’s fascist propaganda earlier this month. (CBS News, 6/12) One worker we met walking into the rally expressed surprise that we were attending a protest against AOC, and when one comrade responded that she had endorsed Biden, he said, “Well, she’ll get on the right side before November.” This delusional outlook is exactly why these “progressive” liberals are so dangerous to our class. They are effective in pushing well-meaning workers to vote for one of two flavors of fascism instead of building a workers’ world.

No end to genocide in a capitalist system

Protest organizers demanded that these misleaders drop their endorsement of Joe Biden, and some attendees passed out fliers promoting alternative “socialist” candidates. These candidates promote reforms like reducing the U.S. military budget to 10 percent— as if we should be demanding merely a reduction in the mass slaughter of workers from American bombs! There will be no end to genocide and imperialist war in a capitalist system, no matter who is president. Capitalism needs extreme nationalism, racism, and ultimately world war and genocide to churn profits for the ruling class. 

We need an international communist revolution, not nationalist liberation

Workers around the world recognize the dangers of Israeli nationalism and are fighting back. We must join these workers in smashing the fascist Israeli state. Simultaneously, we cannot turn to Palestinian nationalism instead. Protest organizers championed the United Nations resolution 37/43, which calls for the “legitimacy of the struggles of peoples for...national unity.” There will never be real unity between the ruling class and the working class of any nation. The Palestinian bosses will never build a society that the workers of Palestine need and deserve. 

Trouble for liberal fascists 

Back in 2016, Bernie Sanders and his multicultural “squad” of liberal fascists were able to draw huge crowds. This tiny rally of just a few hundred is an embarrassing loss for this wing of the ruling class. As the United States’ imperialist tentacles on the rest of the world weaken, the liberal fascists will be forced to resort to even more suppression and violence against the working class.

Workers have no future under capitalism, which will continue to splatter our blood on its racist borders and turn our bodies to ashes. Join us in the fight for communism, so that we can turn world war into class war and build a world free of genocide.