IRVINE, CALIFORNIA, April 4—Once again, this capitalist system has left workers without basic necessities. In response to yet another eviction, a local tenants’ union and non-profit community organization took action today to support a  working-class family. The family is struggling to regain control of their home of 14 years from the clutches of a racist investment company which has bought up “distressed” properties in gentrifying Inglewood. As Progressive Labor Party (PLP) joins the fight for this one family we also fight for all workers to build for communism, a society in which housing would be available to all without the plague of profit.
This nearly five month battle, taking place in the midst of perhaps the largest homeless crisis in the history of California, has been inspiring. We plan to win this battle, but the massive amount of homeless workers rages on, and it’s worldwide. It’s part of this racist, exploitative capitalist system. For homelessness to end, this whole damn system has to go.
We fight alongside our fellow workers and communists have a solemn responsibility to point out the pitfalls of fights to win reforms under capitalism. Capitalism requires that our basic needs be bought and sold for a profit, making housing a commodity.
When a worker can’t make regular payments, the landlords or the banks who hold the mortgage use the capitalist legal system to throw that worker and her family out. This guarantees continued profits for the landlords and bankers. Only a communist revolution will ensure distribution of housing to all based on need and the elimination of homelessness.
Workers call out capitalist lackies
On the morning of our rally, 18 campaigners drove about an hour from Inglewood to Irvine, CA to investor Don Madden’s church. A  non-profit called this action to convince the clergy of the church that they should exercise their moral authority and persuade the investor that buying out Inglewood homes and evicting workers was “wrong” and that he should instead do the “right” thing for this family.
We carried signs and “Wanted” flyers with Madden’s picture on them, and called on church members to help the family by signing a petition and calling Madden’s office.
We rallied in the church parking lot, putting flyers under car windshields and talking to parishioners as they came in and out. Apparently, this was more than what the church leadership could stand. They called the local cops and had their “security” run around taking flyers off cars and even snatch some from the hands of churchgoers who were speaking with us.
Security told us we were trespassing on “private property.”We were escorted to the church’s “free speech” area, on the sidewalk next to the entrance to the parking lot. There, security stood in front of us, motioning cars to drive past us without taking a flyer. Irvine cops also threatened to arrest us if we went into the street to hand a flyer to a driver. This was our “free speech.”
Capitalist segregation divides workers
It was striking to see that, although the church was only an hour’s drive away from the evicted family’s working-class neighborhood, it was an entire world away in other respects. The family lives in a predominantly Black and Latin neighborhood; the church members were almost exclusively white, many driving Mercedes and BMWs.  This non-denominational, Christian church boasts on its website of its “food distribution center,” its diverse clergy, and its goal to “inspire people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world.” But, the church’s main building is the second largest church building in the state.
In 1998, the church purchased an 18-acre piece of adjacent property for $18 million; in 2005, it spent $35 million on a new worship center, bookstore and café; in 2008, it spent $33 million on its student ministries facility, a chapel and a parking garage. Imagine how many homes the church could have bought  struggling working-class families battling homelessness. So much for “fearlessly” changing the world.  
Prior to this action, the campaign had reached out in several ways to the church clergy, with no response. But our mere presence in the parking lot with some flyers and signs brought an immediate reaction. Now the head pastor wanted to talk with us. And what did he have to say in a phone call with the evicted family’s eldest daughter? That he was “shocked” and “offended” by what we did. That he would not do anything to help the family or to reach out to the investor on their  behalf, as this was a “personal matter.”
The moral: apologists for the oppressor class of capitalists and landlords like the head pastor have no shame. Their sense of “right” and “personal morality” does not include calling to account or criticizing racist profiteers who evict workers in the midst of a pandemic.
Capitalism is the true virus
Capitalism breeds bloodsuckers like Madden who make a living off of the misery of working-class families. But Madden is small fry compared to the biggest banks that run the U.S. housing market through their enormous wealth and ability to lend and invest. These banks use their billions to control the politicians who make the laws. These laws protect the profits of the bankers at the expense of the working class.   
Even if this campaign is successful in regaining this one house, it will only allow this one family the “privilege” of continuing to pay and pay a bank or mortgage company for decades. Reforming capitalism’s property laws will also not change their basic dynamic: private property interests always take precedence over the needs of the working class.
A revolutionary communist government would seize control of all available housing and build whatever else is necessary, creating decent housing for all. The plague of homelessness would become a dim memory of capitalism’s savage past.
Fight for communism. Power to the workers!

SAN FRANCISCO, April 11—Over 200 students and workers had a spirited march through San Francisco’s working-class and predominantly Latin Mission District, protesting the ongoing attacks on the City College of San Francisco (CCSF). Angry and sometimes tearful speakers described the plans to let go of over 600 full and part-time teachers and shut down entire programs. People were very open to our Progressive Labor Party (PLP) leaflet, which brought a vision of a communist education to the struggle.
A friend leads the way
We found out about this march when a member of our PLP study group announced it at a Labor Chorus rehearsal. One of the study group leaders encouraged her to attend a study group where she proposed discussing the City College march. We turned the next study group meeting into a short discussion about the fight at CCSF and then reconvened at the demonstration. At the march  a few of us, including our friend, passed out nearly 250 leaflets and several copies of CHALLENGE.
Our PLP study group is mostly composed of progressive and anti-racist friends, many from this Labor Chorus (which happens to be threatened by the cuts at CCSF). We have discussed elections, fascism, racism, and the Party’s principles. But we have talked very little about doing political activity. So it was inspirational when this study group friend accompanied us to a Stop Asian Hate demonstration and then planned and participated with us at the CCSF march and protest.
Victories won by struggle, threatened by bosses’ cutbacks
Decades of struggle by students, workers, and teachers have expanded CCSF into a college, providing large numbers of non-credit, part-time courses for workers, older adults, English-learners, and people interested in art, music, gardening and more. At one point, 1/7 of San Francisco’s population had taken CCSF courses. Then came the attacks—an attempt to shut down the campus altogether, major budget cuts, and an attempt to revoke CCSF’s state accreditation. The many struggles had expanded CCSF’s curriculum, but as with any reform victory under capitalism, CCSF administrators are now reversing our victories.  
The California Board of Governors has a corporate-driven agenda to gut the community colleges and offer only specific vocational certificates or academic courses to a much smaller group of full-time students. Local CCSF administrators are carrying out those plans with massive cuts in faculty, classes, and programs and sabotaging the outreach and enrollment of students.
What would communist education look like?
Some of the reforms won at CCSF give a glimpse of education under communism. Workers can learn mental, manual, and social skills over a lifetime. We can become artists, writers, musicians, and dancers. There are courses for people with disabilities, for victims of domestic or sexual violence, and courses to help overcome isolation and stay physically and mentally fit. There are programs for victims of racism, sexism, ableism, homelessness, and unemployment.
These programs help us cope with some evils of capitalism, but the working class needs communism. Under communism there will be no classes about homelessness and unemployment. They will have been eliminated. Defeating racism and sexism will be primary in every aspect of society. Overcoming isolation and staying physically and mentally fit will be part of daily life, not a class that we take. We can only imagine how communism will unleash the creativity and energy of the working class.
But the bosses want capitalist education as a sorting hat for the next generation of workers—some are declared obedient workers for factories or companies. Others become petty managers and mouthpieces of capita. Still others are part of the military or the reserve army of labor. They want us on an educational conveyor belt with no time to think about what we’re doing or what’s being done to us. Education under capitalism will always serve and change based on the interests of the capitalist class.
Revolution primary over reform
Our study group has helped us be better communists. Discussion of our principles on page two of CHALLENGE has improved our understanding of nationalism and the role of wages and money, and why racism, not white supremacy, best describes what’s at play.  And our practice has improved.
Our study group friend met with us to join the City College fight and bring communist ideas to it. She helped pass out the PLP leaflet to the marchers and community members and contributed to this article. Working together to fight the bosses—now that’s communist education and action!
Capitalism is in crisis and, now more than before, cannot meet our needs for housing, health, jobs, or education. Worldwide tens of thousands of workers are fighting educational cuts like those at CCSF. Under capitalism, we get some education, limited as it is, only when we fight for it. We need communism, but it will never happen unless we organize in the class struggle and bring people closer to the Party, just like we did with this fight.
The bosses can take back any reform we win at CCSF or anywhere else. Our ultimate goal must be a communist revolution, where the working class takes power. So look for a study group in your area, an excellent way to learn about PLP’s ideas and to help plan and participate in activities. Join us!

Police are bosses’ attack dogs
On May 25th, 2020, in Minneapolis, the world watched in horror as the terrorists known as the police did what they do best - murder. The focus was on the four individual officers who were involved in the murder of George Floyd - Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao.
The truth is the police, no matter the color of their skin, have the blood of the working class on their hands. They are all just attack dogs for the capitalist ruling class.
The creation of the police in the 1700s was to capture runaway slaves. Throughout their entire existence, the police have stood against the working class, violently opposing, suppressing, and controlling them. The terrorist police that have killed so many innocent people continue to roam free. 12-year-old Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Alex Flores, David Flores, Cesar Rodriguez, Breonna Taylor, and many more are all victims of the devils who protect and serve the capitalist system (see editorial, page 2).
Backed by the courts and billionaire corporations, the police have a solid history of walking free after cold blooded murder and not being held accountable. If charges are applied they don’t stay, if charges do stay they end up dismissed in court by a judge or a hung jury, and if the blood thirsty police are locked up they won’t do the full time.
There are only two classes that exist in the world today. There is the capitalist ruling class - those who own the means of production, the exploiters, bankers, top military brass, corporate CEO’s, like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and the Kochs. These crooks are protected by  the police who serve the capitalists and their property. And there is the working class - those who do not own the means of production, those who are exploited, make every single commodity in the world, and who are forced to fight in imperialist wars. Workers outnumber the capitalists 99 to one!
Under capitalism there is no justice for the working class. In the case of George Floyd the outcome will be the same even if the cops are locked up. We in the Progressive Labor Party say that true justice for the working class will only come from the overthrow of the capitalist system with communist revolution. The establishment of communism means a society with no profit, no exploitation, no social constructs like race, and racism, no sexism and the objectification of women, no homelessness or poverty, no private property, and of course no terrorists called the police. A worker-run society to benefit all! Join us!
*****
Author of Agent Sonya is anti-communist
Agent Sonya by Ben Macintyre is reviewed in the March 17 issue of CHALLENGE. The review is highly favorable and describes the book's tale of the remarkable Ursula Kuczynski who was a master spy for the world communist movement and in particular for the Soviet Union from the 1930s until after WWII and a loyal communist until her death in the 1950s. She never lost her faith in communism and the future.
The reviewer does not comment that Macintyre is quite anti-communist and the reader is left with the impression that Sonya must have been a naïve "true believer." Obviously incredibly dedicated and incredibly smart, able to outwit the intelligence agencies of the U.S., UK, Japan, and Germany, she was anything but naïve.
The New York Times (an anticommunist mouthpiece itself) reviewer, Kati Marton, criticized  Macintyre for saying that Sonya served "one of history's great monsters and his heirs only in passing."
I think many CHALLENGE readers would find the author's views sufficiently troubling to stop reading. Nevertheless, if you can put aside these "passing" references in the book to the anti-Stalin, anti-Soviet paradigm, then you will enjoy the book and feel inspired by this heroic human being who was able to live a full life with a family and friends while doing everything she could to ensure a better future for workers everywhere.

*****

The ruling class rules over society through the state apparatus. Laws, government, cops and prisons exist to keep the bosses in control of society. Highly successful and powerful U.S. high tech companies Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft (GAFAM) for many years have operated in their own self-interest and at times to the detriment of the interests of the main wing finance capitalists. As the fighting between the Big Fascist and Small Fascist (see glossary p.6) wings of the capitalists has become increasingly volatile the Big Fascists are using their state power to bring the Big Tech firms into line.
In the 20th century, the Defense Department and the intelligence community controlled the cutting-edge technologies: nuclear weapons, advanced fighter jets, spy satellites, and mainframe computers.  Now, the cutting-edge technologies are often developed by GAFAM.  The most advanced weapons are no longer just intercontinental ballistic missiles, but also super-accurate drones that allow a small state like Iran to attack the world’s most vital oil facility in Saudi Arabia. Besides developing technologies for use in weapons, GAFAM has become the biggest collector of information in the world (securelist.com, 10/23/19)
Rulers incorporate GAFAM into the state apparatus
The main way GAFAM collects information is that people volunteer it; posting pictures, turning on GPS, broadcasting their location every time they pay with a credit card.  Commercial firms collect and store that private information.  When journalist/engineer Surya Mattu did a check on the 80,000 most popular websites, 74 percent loaded Google trackers, 33 percent Facebook trackers, and 15 percent loaded “session recorders” – the digital equivalent of recording videos of what you are surfing.  Even with all trackers turned off, your phone and computer still report a unique ID number that allows Big Tech to track that number back to you.
The bosses’ state has struggled to match what Big Tech can do. After 9/11, the National Security Agency (NSA) started a program to monitor hundreds of millions of phone calls in order to identify terrorists by detecting key words, but in 201, the NSA ostensibly abandoned it, admitting it had detected no terror attacks.  Around that same time, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube (Google) set up the “Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism” (GIFCT) to share information about potential terrorist sympathizers and radicals (GIFCT.org). Instead of competing with Big Tech the ruling class is incorporating them into the state.
The nonprofit Upturn found at least 2,000 police agencies had searched hundreds of thousands locked, encrypted phones in recent years.  In August 2019, the FBI admitted to searching the phone records of 16,000 people even though only 7 of them had ties to an investigation.  But those numbers pale compared to the hundreds of millions of phones/computers that GAFAM monitors 24/7.  New devices either ask you to hook up to the cloud or do it automatically without telling you. Facial recognition is spreading and there are many millions of cameras on street corners, in stores and on front doors, and private drones are showing up at any newsworthy event to drive up social media rankings.
This is why the ruling class increasingly turns to Big Tech. The pro-Biden forces used GAFAM to silence Trump, closing his Twitter account and his Facebook page. After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, they shut down racist far-right social media platforms like Parler.
Big Fascists Move to Control GAFAM
All of the GAFAM firms are about 60 percent owned by the same finance capitalist institutions, not mainly individuals. The two most prominent Apple execs (Tim Cook and Arthur Levinson) own 0.12 percent of Apple stock.  The biggest shareholders are Vanguard (7.8 percent), BlackRock (6.6 percent), Berkshire Hathaway (5.6 percent), State Street (4.0 percent) and FMR (2.1 percent).  
Microsoft’s Bill Gates appears to control 4.3 percent of its stock (through his fronts), while Vanguard owns 8.4 percent, BlackRock 6.8 percent, State Street 4.2 percent, FMR 3.0 percent, and T. Rowe Price 2.4 percent.  
At Amazon, Jeff Bezos owns 11 percent, Advisor Group 7.1 percent, Vanguard 6.6 percent, BlackRock 5.4 percent, State Street 3.2 percent, and T. Rowe Price 3.2 percent.  
At Google’s parent Alphabet, the two big shots – Larry Page and Serge Brin – each own 2.8 percent, compared to Vanguard 4.5 percent, BlackRock 3.7 percent, T. Rowe Price 1.8 percent, State Street 1.4 percent, and FMR 1.4 percent.  
Facebook is something of an exception because Mark Zuckerberg controls 58 percent of the votes (which is why Facebook is sometimes more independent of the other GAFAM firms), but he owns 16.2 percent of the stock compared to Vanguard 7.5 percent, BlackRock 6. percent, FMR 5.1 percent, and T. Rowe Price 4.3 percent.  
Technology under capitalism becomes another tool for the bosses to oppress our class. Only after the workers take power with communist revolution and destroy both the capitalist state and the Big Tech bosses will technology serve the needs of the masses instead of the profits of the racist billionaires.