The fatal system of capitalism is in crisis and the only way a system built on profit and exploitation can be sustained is by feeding off workers. This year, workers around the world were shook up by the Covid-19 pandemic and bosses showed that there’s no limit to the lengths that they will go for profit. Bosses proved that the ruling class has and will always bail out their fellow crooks, while the working class showed that whether bloody and hardly breathing we too will fight tooth and nail for the lives of workers. The Progressive Labor Party(PLP) will put communism in practice whenever we’re faced with a crisis. The resounding lesson from this year is that capitalism is the virus and communism is the cure.
The disease of capitalism kills
Bosses from China to the U.S. have used their killer kkkop attack dogs on workers, carried out racist murders, have left the most vulnerable to die unprotected and carried out inhumane evictions. As a result, nearly two  million workers have died of Covid-19 and hundreds of millions more have suffered greatly—not just from Covid-19 but from this burning system of capitalism.
Although Jim Crow Joe Biden won the U.S. 2020 election, workers are still losing their jobs by the millions and bosses of all races and stripes are squabbling over what crumbs they would toss at workers. They then rescinded the offers of student loan forgiveness, closing immigrant detention centers and any other worker protections in the next breath. Meanwhile both Small and Big Fascist factions of the U.S. ruling class have agreed to bail out banks and corporations to the tune of trillions of dollars.
Heading into 2021, there’s a race between bosses around the world for the vaccine. The lack of equal access to the vaccine and floundering international influence means workers will still lose and the bosses' racism means Black, Latin and Asian workers will be attacked the hardest. This year has only increased the urgency for workers to unite on the job, and in our neighborhoods and schools to fight back and build a communist movement.
Ascendant China, resurging Russia fill void
Throughout the pandemic, with brute force, militarized policing, and silencing tactics against whistleblowing doctors, bosses in China have clamped down on the coronavirus outbreak and used the lockdowns to enhance their economic position. In the wake of president Donald Trump sabotaging multiple international trade agreements, China’s bosses announced a 25-year bilateral deal with Iran in August, followed by the massive Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in league with fourteen other Asian-Pacific nations.
The bosses in Russia projected significant military influence in conflicts in Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, Belarus, and Syria. History shows that declining empires do not go quietly into the night. Battle lines were noticeably hardened in the last twelve months as the imperialist bosses continued their march towards another world war.
Still, in spite of all the capitalist state-sanctioned violence, 2020 offered some clear and inspiring visions of international working-class power on display. Workers rebelled in a scope not matched in over half a century, with the fires of multiracial working-class unity striking mortal fear to the core of racist bosses across the globe.
Workers want and will fight for liberation
Members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) were proud to fight alongside our class throughout the year, receiving and giving leadership in the midst of class struggle. Our collective resolve was tested and strengthened, and we were reminded of our class’s potential to run society in workers’ interests, without borders, bosses, or profits. These lessons will no doubt be carried into the new year as PLP continues to win people to our international Party and a lifetime of revolutionary communist struggle.
In the early days and weeks of the pandemic, despite unknown risks, millions of working people stepped up to share resources and solidarity for their class. Mutual aid organizations popped up all over the world and massive car caravans were organized to protest the racist outbreaks of Covid-19 exploding in the bosses’ concentration camps. Workers in Haiti, a country devastated by centuries of imperialist intervention, banded together to provide public health resources, shelter, and food. Mass tenant organizations opposing evictions have gained traction in major cities.
The racist murders of Black workers Breonna Taylor and George Floyd provoked mass worker-led rebellion on a scale not witnessed since the late 1960s. Workers rebelled against a capitalist system that has no regard for our lives. Members of PLP travelled to Minneapolis, Kenosha, and Philadelphia to fight alongside our class and spread communist politics in opposition to capitalist state terror. The working class unleashed fightback in cities such as Bogota and Lagos, where workers fearlessly squared off against the bosses’ paramilitary forces.
Millions marched and took the streets from Poland to Thailand to Belarus to Chile. A general strike of 250 million workers in India—the largest in human history—demonstrated widespread opposition to pro-corporate agriculture reforms.
As communists in PLP, we are  proud and inspired to fight as part of this international class struggle. We have waged an uncompromising fight to win other workers beyond the traps of identity politics, voting, and reforms. We have made modest gains in demonstrating that communist revolution through our mass Party is not only necessary, but possible.
Onward to another year of fightback
In 2021, PLP and friends of the Party will fight for what’s best for our entire international working class and put communism in action through fightback and dialectical-materialist study. As the international working class heads into the next year, the stakes are undoubtedly high. The racist and sexist bosses clearly have no intention of letting up, and due to their imperialist rivalries will be forced to ramp up fascist attacks in preparation for war.
May the lessons of class struggle that we have drawn in the past year lead us forward in our fight for a world free of racism, sexism, poverty, and imperialist war! Onward to a communist future!

CHICAGO, December 22—On December 15, a state review board voted against the racist proposal to close Mercy Hospital on Chicago’s south side. Mercy is a safety-net hospital, the city’s oldest, that treats majority uninsured and underinsured Black and Latin workers.
The board’s decision came as the result of hundreds of workers, patients, and community members organizing for months to oppose the closure. We have participated in rallies and caravans, blocked intersections, shared petitions, and gave countless speeches and testimonies as a means to prevent this racist attack on workers in the middle of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Members of the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) have been active fighters in this struggle.
But as workers already know, this fight is by no means over. The racist billionaire owners of Mercy, Trinity Health, are already plotting in the wake of the ruling to move ahead with the closure.
The time is now to broaden the base of this struggle, and to include even more workers into the fight. It’s essential that we look past pleading with liberal politicians to guarantee a healthy future for our class, because they’ve only proven themselves to fail and attack us, time and again. It’s time to reject this capitalist system that fails billions of workers daily around the globe, and start organizing for an egalitarian communist future with PLP.
Lesson 1: Trust no capitalist politician
During the campaign to keep Mercy open, a strategy has been to try and create leverage and pressure on some of the leading politicians in the city and state. To this end, there have been regular appeals made to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Cook County Board chief Toni Preckwinkle, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. But like their Republican counterparts, these pro-capitalist lackeys are no friends of workers.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been silent on the struggle, claiming that decisions regarding hospital closures are more of a “state issue.” No doubt she has her hands full, trying to perform damage control after video was released of the racist Chicago Police Department (CPD) handcuffing Black worker Anjanette Young while naked in her home, during a botched raid (ABC7, 12/21).
In this regard, she follows in the footsteps of her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, who similarly covered up the dashcam video of CPD’s racist execution of Black teenager LaQuan McDonald until after his re-election was secured in 2015. One of his first moves after getting into office was to close half of the city’s mental health clinics, which served mostly Black and Latin workers (Chicago Tribune, 6/6/19).
State Governor JB Pritzker has admittedly been more vocal about Mercy, but workers have no reason to trust his “progressive” credentials. His family is one of the ten richest in the U.S., at an estimated worth of over 30 billion (Forbes, 12/16). This massive fortune was gained through the direct exploitation of countless workers.
Lastly, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has made a reputation of being a queen of cuts, and is actually in the process of phasing out emergency services at Provident, another safety-net hospital on the south side (South Side Weekly, 11/27). This is in line with her decision almost 10  years ago to close Oak Forest Hospital in spite of worker protest (WBEZ, 8/16/11).
All politicians, regardless of race, at the end of the day are loyal to the needs of this racist profit system. We should not expect a different outcome in trusting them with Mercy’s fate.
Lesson 2: Capitalist health care will never meet our needs
As healthcare workers, we have witnessed firsthand some of the worst racist destruction of this pandemic that has killed over 1.5 million workers worldwide, including over 300,000 in the U.S. Yet despite continued surges in cases and facilities overflowing with patients, the healthcare bosses still have gone ahead and closed over 20 hospitals nationwide this year (Becker’s, 12/9).
Healthcare under capitalism is a commodity, a service to be used in order to turn a profit. Actual outcomes in guaranteeing that we as workers lead healthy lives take a back seat to the bosses’ pocketbooks. With this in mind, it makes sense that Trinity Health would want to move ahead with closing Mercy despite having assets in the billions. Capitalism is about maximizing profits and market share.
Paired with a threadbare public health infrastructure in the city, these hospital cuts prove deadly for Black and Latin workers, whose life expectancy can average a shocking 30  years less than those living in wealthier neighborhoods (AP News, 6/6/19).
If the international working class is ever to reach our true health potential, we need to rid ourselves of this racist destructive system. Only a communist society based on collectivity and worker needs – not profit – can guarantee true health equity
Final lesson: Join PLP, fight for communism
Those of us who have committed ourselves to the fight to keep Mercy open have much to be proud about. We have for the time being forced the bosses to pump the brakes on closing, an outcome that will no doubt save workers’ lives.
But with all reform struggles, the bosses hold the upper hand. They hold state power and as such can take away our hard fought gains.
The only way the bosses can’t quickly reverse the outcome is if workers build an international mass movement to forcibly take state power from them and run a communist society in our interests. It’s been done before, and through organizing a mass revolutionary PLP, we will do it again. PLP invites all workers to join our fight to build a better world.

NEW YORK CITY, December 30—When capitalism is in crisis, it's workers who sacrifice for the bosses’ profit system. Not only have the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) bosses allowed COVID-19 to steal the lives of over 140 transit workers but they are pushing to layoff roughly 9,000 workers (NYT, 12/16/20). These are attacks on the entire working class. These cuts will especially hurt Black and immigrant workers hardest, who will disproportionately suffer the 40 percent service reductions (NYT, 12/16/20), the crowded trains and buses, and increasing COVID cases.
Though the bosses have temporarily delayed voting on these racist cuts, with the government’s COVID stimulus bill setting aside $4 billion for MTA funding (Curbed, 12/21/2020), it means nothing in the long run.
The Progressive Labor Party (PLP) says make the bosses take the losses. These types of disasters are only possible because we live under capitalism, because the ruling class puts profits first and workers' lives are dead last. This is why we in PLP fight for communism, so that profits, and the concept of money are eliminated, and where workers' needs are the first priority.
‘Doomsday cuts’
MTA bosses have repeatedly claimed in recent months that they need to enact these racist cuts on workers because of their income losses from the pandemic. For starters, the bosses discussed eliminating unlimited subway passes and raising prices for single metrocards. On top of pre-planned fare increases, this measure would put even more hardship on the mainly Black and Latin workers who’ve had more than enough attacks.
The ruling-class media, no friend to riders, has backed these arguments as feasible ways to save the subways and buses. Another proposal includes switching all subway trains to One Person Train Operation (OPTO). This is a system which removes conductors (who open and close the train’s doors from its middle), leaving only the train operator to perform that duty while also moving the train. A recent Op-Ed by Connor Harris, a shill for the racist think tank Manhattan Institute, argued that getting rid of subway conductors could save the MTA $300 million (City and State New York, 9/16/2020). The New York Times, another capitalist mouthpiece, followed suit with the same suggestion last month (NYT, 12/16/2020).
With half of the 55,000 MTA workers Black, laying off thousands of conductors during record unemployment levels is viciously racist — and incredibly dangerous for workers riding the MTA. OPTO supporters argue that the company needs to simply install cameras for train operators to perform this function. However, many stations in the NYC subway system are on a slope, and/or are on curves; this means blind spots that cameras can’t catch. Worse, this would increase strain on the train operator position, forcing them to do even more work. Eliminating positions and combining their functions with others is a hallmark of the bosses.
As expected, virtually none of these “experts” mentioned the true culprit behind the MTA’s money issues, pandemic or not: its perennial billions in debt to Wall Street bankers, from decades of letting the system fall into disrepair.
Union surrenders; workers must fight!
The union has done little to prepare the rank and file for a fightback, with the Transit Workers’ Union Local 100 issuing only a vague flyer warning the MTA they won’t renegotiate the contract or accept any layoffs.
Despite months of “doomsday cuts,” Local 100 didn’t even bother organizing any rallies or demonstrations outside MTA HQ at 2 Broadway. All they did was phone in a half-effort video response to the bosses when the cuts were supposed to be voted on. Former Local 100 president (now president of TWU international)John Samuelson recently proposed taxing NYC workers for their online purchases as a way to raise funds! (NYdailynews, 12/7/20)
In another union meeting, a comrade spoke out against the union president having a press conference with the union president of police during the fight for justice for George Floyd. The union reps were silent and one of their stooges tried defending them. Another worker quickly shut him down saying it was disgusting for union president Tony Utano to even be seen with a racist like Patrick Lynch. The union stooges replied "they don't wanna get involved in politics.”
These union misleaders are in the practice of turning a blind eye to racism, and are in bed with the MTA bosses attacking the workers, leaving us with the best choice there is: uniting and fighting back.
Communism will be doomsday for racism and capitalism
Comrades in transit are sharing our communist line with our coworkers. Self critically, we've been reluctant due to our lack of confidence in the working class to fight back under these attacks. It's easy to give in to cynicism, especially now during the pandemic
But that is what the ruling class wants. They want us fearful, dependent on them and divided. We must remember that even amid great division and difficult odds workers have always united and fought back.
History is on our side. In 1918, the Bolsheviks seized power in the midst of World War I and the “Spanish Flu” pandemic. During the 1930s, when the U.S. was suffering through the Great Depression, the Bolsheviks were blazing a new future, eradicating famines and diseases with their worker-run state. This and more is possible when we expand our confidence in the working class and continue to fight back and build for a communist future. We will continue building the fightback in the MTA, and will follow up with the antiracist fighter who spoke out.
Unity between transit workers and riders is needed more than ever. Transit workers and commuting workers can beat back the bosses when we come together, and unite to build communism: where workers run the transit system and all society without billionaire rulers. Make the bosses take the losses! Join the PLP and fight for communism!

The following article is for the PLP college forum, CUNY Needs Communism on January 16, from 12:00 - 2:00 PM. Contact your local PLP member.

The City University of New York (CUNY) students and staff are all in the cross hairs of the racist profit system. The Covid-19 pandemic and the massive uprising against racist police murders have exposed the vicious inequality of capitalism. For workers, capitalist education has always meant some training to keep the profits flowing for their bosses and a lot of brainwashing to convince workers to believe in the system. With the system in crisis, the rulers in disarray, and imperialist China challenging the U.S. bosses, public “education” like CUNY has become just a holding pen for working class youth. Very soon we will be cannon fodder in the next imperialist world war.
●Our 300,000 CUNY students are overwhelmingly Black, Latin and Asian and 53 percent have to work. We are healthcare, food delivery and essential workers. Many have lost our jobs and family members.
●Thousands of CUNY staff have also lost jobs; hundreds have lost health insurance!
●The CUNY bosses have cut class sections and increased class sizes.
●Democratic Governor Cuomo is withholding 20 percent of CUNY’s state funding, while 118 New York State billionaires have increased their wealth by over $77 billion!
This is the racist destruction that politicians like Trump and Cuomo have inflicted on us! But that’s the capitalist system that will always put profit over workers’ needs. That’s why we need communism where multiracial workers, students and soldiers, across all borders, unite in building an egalitarian society whose sole purpose is to meet the needs of the international working class. That is what the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) is fighting for.
Capitalists use CUNY to serve their needs
CUNY serves the interests of the ruling class, who own the wealth and control the government. They promote the idea that if you don’t go to college or don’t graduate it’s your fault. They control CUNY through the Board of Trustees, who appoint the college presidents and Chancellor. These racist, ruling class agents enjoy high six-figure salaries and 5-figure housing allowances, while adjunct professors and students face hunger and eviction. They want us to be conscientious, loyal workers now, and conscientious, loyal soldiers soon. That’s their plan for higher education! Every struggle at CUNY clashes repeatedly with this racist ruling class.
PLP’s plan is that students learn how to fight for a communist, egalitarian world; skills developed by organizing anti-racist struggles on campus for things like free tuition and improved services. The rulers don’t want workers and students to think beyond this system where a small class of billionaires runs society for their own benefit. But we fight racism with our eyes on the prize of a communist world run by and for the working class.
The summer of mass uprising against racism: On to revolution!
Over the summer many CUNY students and workers joined the mass uprising against racist police terror. The bosses need the police to terrorize us into accepting a future of racism, poverty and war.  Many of us also protested against the CUNY cutbacks. Meanwhile health care workers demonstrated for personal protective equipment and against hospital closings. Transit workers, teachers and students fought for safe working and learning conditions. Many antiracists called for defunding the police. All of these antiracist organizers and fighters should be running the world. We need to get rid of the billionaires that run the world now. Join us in the fight for communism, a world run by and for the working class.
Build a base for antiracist fightback at CUNY
Comrades at CUNY have been active in the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) union, waging many struggles and protests for improved conditions for students and faculty. We have organized against racist police brutality and ROTC and CIA programs that bolster U.S. occupations abroad and prepare for war with China. Through the PSC International Committee, we organized international solidarity with workers and students in Colombia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Haiti, India and South Africa.
Members of PLP are working in the PSC Delegate Assembly, and campus chapters and committees. We are also in the more radical Rank and File Action and CUNY Struggle.
We work with the University Student Senate and radical student groups like Free CUNY. We are working to build a mass movement to fight racist attacks on public higher education.
We realize that we are up against the entire capitalist system, and need to take down their cops, courts and politicians with a massive multiracial working-class uprising. We fight for that vision of workers’ power, to overthrow the bosses who control every aspect of social life, including colleges.
Fight for reforms, promote revolution
As long as the bosses hold state power, any concessions we win are temporary. The strategy of reforming the racist profit system, of making it serve our needs, is like running on a treadmill: we fight, the bosses take back, on and on.
The victory of Open Admissions won by Black and Latin students in the 1960s has long since been replaced by a system of ever-rising tuition, and many students who never graduate.  
The 1960s also saw struggles against racism and sexism in college curriculums. But as long as the capitalists control CUNY, they force the curriculums to serve their ideology. Recently they are promoting divisive identity politics, certainly not militant, multiracial, working class unity.
CUNY adjuncts recently won pay raises and three-year assignments. They are already facing layoffs and “postponed” pay raises.
We are still on that reform treadmill, suffering with racist, sexist curriculums, slashed budgets, rising tuition, students without support, and underpaid adjuncts. We keep fighting. But as we fight for jobs, healthcare, housing, food, education, and against police terror, our main goal is building the movement for communist revolution.
Join PLP! Fight against racist CUNY cutbacks! Fight for communism!
Communist revolution means the seizure of state power by the working class through mass, armed struggle. Communism means abolishing social classes, wages, profit and private ownership. It means outlawing racism, nationalism, sexism and borders. It means the destruction of the capitalist class and their whole way of running the world. It means a communist system of production, based solely on meeting the needs of the international working class.
Communist ways of thinking and ways of relating to one another will be developed among millions of workers, soldiers and youth on the road to revolution. Whatever victories we might win by protesting or even going on strike, the growth of the revolutionary movement and a mass PLP would be the lasting victory. Communist rethinking of education is one very exciting aspect of building a communist world! This is very different from how to win open admissions, free tuition, or even full financial support for every student. The question for revolutionaries is not what we want from a capitalist state founded on sexism and racism, but what we want education to be in a revolutionary communist society, where workers, through their party, hold state power and the power of the imagination.