Challenge Radio

A reading and discussion of a recent front page article in Challenge.Washington, DC, November 2—At the coalition rally led by Progressive Labor Party (PLP) downtown in front of the Convention Center, the chant rang out: “From DC to Palestine, Occupation is a Crime!” The action was organized to protest the growing fascism of the American Public Health Association (APHA) during their annual conference. Moments earlier, brave APHA members staged a walkout of the opening session, walking slowly down the main aisle, holding a banner that said, “Oppose Fascism and Genocide.” Another group of those walking out held a banner that said “APHA: Reinstate Amy Hagopian,” a former APHA member and friend to many of us who is also an outspoken leader against the occupation and genocide in Palestine.If you go by the APHA leadership, the only problem with the world today is Donald Trump, RFK Jr, and the subsequent attacks on public health grant funding and vaccine access. As liberals, they will never acknowledge what us communists point out, which is that capitalism, racism, and wars for profit have been decimating our class worldwide for decades. These liberal leaders of APHA show that they are more dangerous than the outright reactionary wing of the U.S. ruling class because they use identity and respectability politics to keep workers divided, quiet and in line. The liberals believe in nationalism and hate internationalism represented by workers uniting in solidarity across borders...

One of Progressive Labor Party's Key Documents, the pamphlet Build a Base in the Working Class was published in the late 60's and ever since has inspired generations of revolutionary communists with its perspective analysis, hard hitting anti-revisionism, and practical call to action for building a mass movement that can win.

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge.Progressive Labor Party salutes the bravery of the Los Angeles-area working class in defending our immigrant sisters and brothers in the face of a vicious attack by State-Terrorist-in-Chief Donald Trump and the masked thugs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In response to state violence by the kkkops in L.A. and other cities, workers’ resistance—most of it peaceful, some of it violent in turn—pushed Trump to retreat and order a five-day pause on deportation at farms, meatpacking plants, restaurants, and hotels. The capitalist bosses are terrified of mass worldwide uprisings that strike at the heart of their rotten, racist system. They’ve been shaken by antiracist fightback after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and by the militant response to Zionist genocide in Gaza. They’re worried that the next wave of protests could light the match for an even broader rebellion. The U.S. rulers have a dilemma they can’t solve. On the one hand, they absolutely need labor by immigrants, including more than eight million undocumented immigrants, to keep their fragile system afloat. On the other hand, they need racist scapegoating to divide and discipline the working class. As Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and the U.S. threatens to set off an all-out war in the Middle East, global instability is deepening by the day. Confronted by a rising China and their own relative decline, the U.S. bosses are on red alert for World War Three. Trump’s nazi-style immigration raids—like the mass deportations of Joe Biden before him—reflect the endangered state of U.S. imperialism. Regardless of which lying politician gets elected president the next time around, the bosses will be forced to keep moving toward open fascism, the parasites’ last-ditch move to protect their profits in a time of international capitalist crisis....

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge.Refugee, indigenous, or legalized—no one is safe from the crisis of capitalism. In just the first week since Klansman Donald Trump’s second inauguration, over 4,500 people have been arrested (Washington Times, 1/28). Amid a barrage of racist and sexist attacks—banning diversity programs—Trump issued more than twenty executive orders for mass deportations. But while Trump gives off Hitler vibes, it’s the worldwide crisis and decay of capitalist liberal democracy that set the stage for more open fascism. The next four years will further expose the rot of U.S. imperialism, intensify fascism in the U.S. and Europe, and propel the world closer to a global bloodbath.. But instead of sinking into fear or despair or cynicism, the international working class must fight back! Take inspiration from the San Jose students walking out against deportations or from Los Angeles workers organizing on the job . Join Progressive Labor Party in building an international, multiracial movement to smash all borders and build a communist society.

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge. On December 4, in New York City, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was murdered on his way into a shareholders’ meeting. No tears should be shed for Thompson. He was struck down by bullets engraved with the principles he lived by: to maximize his insurance company’s profits by delaying care, denying life saving treatments, and condemning untold thousands to needless suffering and death. Gut-wrenching stories of loved ones lost to insurance denials flooded social media. Doctors confirmed the company’s cruelty. A condolence post for Thompson received more than 70,000 laughing reactions. As one worker wrote: “Sorry, my sympathy is out of network.”The capitalist media outrage at posts “devaluing” Thompson’s life rings hollow. It’s capitalism—and its accomplices in the healthcare industry—that have cheapened life. In 2023, UnitedHealth Group raked in $22 billion in profits (Forbes.com, 1/12/24). Thompson was richly rewarded for playing his part to ration healthcare, with an annual compensation package of more than $10 million. Under his leadership, his company denied as much as 49 percent of medically necessary care (Forbes.com, 12/6/24). The bosses call this good business; we call it mass murder. The overwhelming support for Thompson’s apparent shooter, Luigi Mangione, reflects the raw rage of millions of workers who navigate a healthcare system designed not to heal, but to profit. Globally, capitalism condemns countless people to early graves through racist and sexist inequality, hunger and poor nutrition, environmental poisons, and preventable disease. It kills countless more through healthcare systems that put the profits of hospital, pharmaceutical, and insurance capitalists over human lives. Workers’ fury at Thompson and his ilk is righteous anger.But vigilante violence and assassinations are not solutions; the bosses can always find another ruthless executive to fill an open slot. What’s needed is organized revolutionary violence, rooted in communist politics. What the ruling class fears most is an international, multiracial, class-conscious working class led into battle by a revolutionary communist party. We need a mass communist movement that will smash all of the bloodsucking bosses and replace the nightmare profit system with a communist world that abolishes money and private property. Only then can our class build a society where good healthcare is a basic human right, not a product to be sold to those who can afford it. Join Progressive Labor Party, and fight for a world where our lives can be lived to their healthiest and fullest!

A discussion and reading of a recent struggle article in Challenge.Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members from Kentucky organized a protest in downtown Corbin on Friday, August 30th to bring attention to rising rents and record evictions in the state. We also wanted to call out HB5, a bill which criminalizes homelessness, as an anti-worker bill supported by both Democrat and Republican legislators. The protest was sparked when local PL’ers noticed that a particular group of landlords, known as the Freeman Brothers, were notoriously infamous in Corbin for charging high rents and doing very little maintenance or upkeep on the properties they manage. The brothers are not just landlords, but also lawyers who own a property management business, a real estate brokerage, and have their own podcast. They have been known to make posts on social media websites such as Facebook, where they gloat about the negative attention that they receive from workers online who have seen their own rents go up as a result of the Freeman Brother’s influence on the market. Freeman Brother’s posts are often littered with comments from working-class tenants complaining and attacking the landlords for their disgusting behavior.

A discussion and reading of a recent editorial in Challenge.In a lose-lose election for workers, Donald Trump’s victory marks the toxic divisions within the U.S. working class and a massive defeat for finance capital, the main wing of the U.S. capitalist ruling class. Trump’s “America First” platform to pull back from NATO and the war in Ukraine will undermine the Big Fascists of finance capital as they lurch toward war with their imperialist rivals in China and Russia. For workers, the dark night of capitalism in decay—with no mass communist movement to fight back--The next four years will expose the limits of liberal democracy, where the brutal reality of capitalist dictatorship is veiled by mythical “rights” and “the rule of law.” Regardless of who’d won the election, the worldwide crisis of capitalism would force the U.S. bosses to move faster toward full-blown fascism. A President Kamala Harris would have spelled disaster for the international working class, from Gaza to the U.S.-Mexico border. What Trump’s victory reveals is the bosses’ ability to win tens of millions of workers to open racism and sexism and to scapegoat immigrants, the most vulnerable sections of our class. It shows just how much struggle lies before us.In this period of extreme instability, the role of Progressive Labor Party becomes even more crucial. The history of Nazi Germany and fascist Japan tells us that communism is the only way to smash fascism. We can’t rely on the bosses’ politicians or media or courts to protect us. Only communist revolution can secure an antiracist, anti-sexist society that serves workers’ needs.

A reading and discussion of a recent article in Challenge.CHICAGO, August 23 – Dozens of members of the communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) wrapped up a powerful summer project this afternoon, after nearly five straight days and nights in action against the capitalist bosses’ system of genocide, fascism and war. PLP comrades, ranging from the newly recruited to veteran members with decades of experience, traveled from across the country to directly challenge the liberal Big Fascist U.S. bosses as they held their Democratic National Convention (DNC) here.Our revolutionary, pro-worker efforts contrasted completely with those of the liberal racists and their pro-genocide spectacle. The deadly Democrats trotted out international war criminals from the Clintons to the Obamas, all endorsing the nomination of Killer Kamala Harris for president in a desperate bid to save their declining U.S. empire in the face of fierce competition from imperialist rivals. Meanwhile, those of us in the summer project showed egalitarian communism in action: workers and students of all ages and genders striving to give leadership and act collectively.Summer projects like these are the perfect opportunity to expand our revolutionary movement, our base in the working class, and our limits as a Party. While the bosses in the U.S. and around the world can only offer different brands of fascism to the working class, PLP remains YOUR international Party for a future free of racism, sexism, and world war!

This special episode was recorded during our summer project in Milwaukee, where members of PLP from across the country gathered to denounce the gutter racist Trump and provide revolutionary leadership in the fight against the Big and Small Fascists. Stay tuned to the end of the episode for a discussion in Spanish.

A discussion and reading of a recent editorial in ChallengeThe latest response to the state terror in Gaza from Genocide Joe Biden and Top KKKop Kamala Harris is a classic case of appearance and essence. Between Biden’s announcement of “aid” drops and Harris’ phony call for a ceasefire, the main wing of the U.S. ruling class wants it to appear that they care about the mass slaughter and starvation in Palestine. But the essence is that the liberal rulers are terrified of international fightback and of isolationist Donald Trump recapturing the White House.Despite the desperate efforts of the capitalist media to mislead and confuse us, more and more workers are seeing the Democrats’ true colors. In a period of nine days, hundreds of thousands of workers—including 19 percent of the total vote in Minnesota and 13 percent in Michigan and North Carolina—slapped Biden by voting “uncommitted” or “no preference” in the presidential primaries. Once-loyal liberal voters are disgusted and appalled by the Democrats’ complicity in arming Israel and enabling the racist mass murder in Gaza. On the international stage, a declining U.S. has little influence over events in the Middle East, or even over Israel, increasing the risk of a wider war in the region.Intermission music "I'm a human, right?" by A, Rob

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge.In late January, in another sign of the international crisis of capitalism, masses of workers handed U.S.-friendly Argentinian President Javier Milei a humiliating defeat. More than 1.5 million workers joined a national strike against Milei’s “omnibus” austerity reform bill, a vicious attack on the working class. After four days of militant fightback in the streets, Milei’s administration was forced to withdraw the bill (Truthout, 2/7).As Argentina continues to whiplash between rightwing and fake-left misleaders, the third largest economy in Latin America is a vivid illustration of how voting and reforms will never bring workers the world we need. Only a revolutionary mass communist party—Progressive Labor Party—will finally put an end to the terrors of capitalism.

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge.As the Israeli rulers’ bloodbath in Gaza reaches new depths, it’s no accident that inter-imperialist conflict is widening around the world’s largest strategic reserves of oil and gas. The latest capitalist disaster began with a ruthless, anti-worker terror attack by Hamas and a genocidal response by the state terrorist Israeli “Defense” Forces (IDF). Now it has spread into IDF violence in the occupied West Bank and bloody fights in at least four neighboring countries: Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen (Guardian, 12/26/23). This knife’s-edge volatility marks the snowballing decline of the old U.S.-led world order and the rise of competing imperialist bosses in China and Russia. Along with Ukraine, Taiwan, and the South and East China Seas, the Middle East is a prime potential flashpoint for World War III.Worldwide, the imperialists’ battle for supremacy is reshaping alliances and escalating their struggle to control markets, resources, and labor—a struggle at the hideous heart of the capitalist profit system. According to the Carter Doctrine, as proclaimed in 1980 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter: “An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests” of the U.S., and “will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.” More than forty years later, we are witnessing the legacy of the president who supposedly championed “human rights”: the horrific suffering in Gaza.

A reading and discussion of a recent editorial in Challenge. Genocide is the natural outgrowth of a system of vicious competition for profits. The global crisis of capitalism is driving the carnage of workers in Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, and Armenia, as well as in the Gaza Strip. The bosses solve their contradictions with small wars that inevitably lead to world war. Progressive Labor Party calls for no war but class war! Let’s build an international movement from East to West, North to South, for communist revolution—our only solution.

A reading and discussion of the latest editorial in Challenge. Utter chaos, destruction and brutality have followed the October 7 Hamas incursion into Israel that murdered 1,300 and wounded 3,000. The relentless response by the unity government of Israel, led by the butchers Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his liberal counterpart Benny Gantz (Reuters 10/12) has to date has murdered over 4,000 people including more than 1,000 children, wounded over 10,000, and leveled hospitals, schools, and homes in Gaza (UN 10/17). The war reflects and foreshadows the collapse of U.S. imperialism and the callous deathtrap that imperialist rivalry and nationalism hold for the workers of the world. This capitalist genocide will grow to even greater proportions in the coming days, as the bodies of hundreds murdered at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City are counted and the bombings continue and likely ground invasion begins.

A reading and discussion of a recent struggle article in Challenge.A multiracial and intergenerational group of antiracist fighters, including members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP), gathered this evening to denounce the racist Oak Lawn Police Department once again. Chants of "Justice for Hadi," and "Justice for Murod," resounded throughout the neighborhood. Murod Kurdi, a 28-year-old Arab worker was struck & killed by a white drunk driver last June. His killer was given a traffic ticket and released by one of the KKKops that had beaten and nearly killed Hadi Abuatelah last year (See CHALLENGE, 9/20). The Oak Lawn Police is an example of a growing fascist movement that marginalizes and attacks mainly Black and Brown working-class communities and immigrant workers while being used to oppress all workers.

A reading (beginning 00:57) and discussion (beginning (11:20) of the latest Challenge editorial. On September 17, in a desperate campaign to stop global warming, thousands of climate activists, business leaders, government officials, and “civil society representatives” will converge upon New York City for the fifteenth annual Climate Week. Co-sponsored by the United Nations, an organization born in 1945 to serve U.S. imperialism and the postwar liberal world order, the event has a bold slogan: “We Can. We Will.”In reality, the reformists can’t—and the capitalist bosses won’t. After a summer of lethal heat waves, biblical floods, hot tub oceans, runaway wildfires, and toxic orange skies, liberal reforms cannot prevent wholesale catastrophe from climate change. Climate action has hit a wall. Greenhouse gas emissions set an all-time high in 2022, and will do so again in 2023. The rulers are wedded to heat-trapping fossil fuels for two fundamental reasons: maximum profit and inter-imperialist rivalry. From China to the United States, their system is falling into crisis. With fascism rising and World War III on the horizon, capitalism has no answers for perpetual war, massive poverty, or resurgent infectious diseases. It surely has none for the vast challenge of climate change and the racist horrors we are witnessing in real time.

A reading and discussion of the latest editorial in Challenge.On July 26, a group of generals in Niger staged a coup and seized control of the country. Although Niger is no stranger to coups, with five to date, the latest is yet another blow to capitalist rulers’ liberal democracy and to U.S. and French imperialism in the Sahel region of Africa. Niger joins Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Chad, and Sudan among nations in the Sahel region of Africa that have dumped U.S.-friendly stooges like ex-President Mohamed Bazoum in favor of military juntas aligned with Russian imperialists. This pivot is a telltale sign that the old U.S.-led liberal world order is imploding. Despite sanctions and threats of war from the spurned imperialists and their allies in the West African bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the coup leaders are showing no signs of backing down. To this point, threats of intervention have been all bark and no bite. Even so, the region’s chaos and volatility, plus the desperation of competing capitalists, could mean that war in Africa is on the horizon. Meanwhile, the Niger generals are rallying thousands of workers behind them in a move to oust the post-colonial French bosses, who maintain four military bases and two thousand troops in the country.If history is any guide, however, the latest set of misleaders will do nothing to improve the lives of workers in Niger. As in Mali and Burkina Faso, these workers will be forced to renegotiate the terms of their misery and exploitation with Russian imperialists and military gangsters. The only way out of this imperialist hell is a communist revolution. True independence for workers means smashing the deadly capitalist system that breeds imperialism, poverty, and war in the first place.

A reading and discussion of the latest Challenge editorial.In yet another blow to the crumbling U.S.-led imperialist world order, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s hard-right coalition passed a bill to strip the Supreme Court of much of its power to check the country’s moves toward open fascism. The U.S.—home of genocide, slavery, Jim Crow, and lynchings to this day by the capitalists’ kkkops—is sounding the alarm that its longtime ally is being “degraded” into “a corrupt and racist dictatorship.” Although workers in Israel erupted in protests, most are drinking the poison of liberal democracy and nationalism.Israel serves as the latest evidence that the U.S. imperialists’ once ironclad grip is weakening amid an international crisis of capitalism. The dominant U.S. Big Fascists of finance capital are fending off enemies from without and within. After freely bullying the world since World War II, the finance capitalists are struggling to compete with rising superpower China while fending off a challenge from more domestically oriented capitalists, the Small Fascists fronted by Donald Trump. At the same time, smaller capitalist countries are being destabilized by this sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry as it propels the world toward fascism and world war.The only antidote to this capitalist disaster is communist revolution by an international, multiracial working class. Progressive Labor Party fights for workers everywhere to break the chains of the bosses’ dictatorship.

A reading and discussion of a recent article in Challenge.Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) week-long summer project of rallies, discussion groups, CHALLENGE newspaper sales, social events and protests was proof that today’s working-class youth are committed to building an international party for the masses of workers under rising fascism. Throughout the project, about 50 youth and workers distributed over 1,000 papers, rallied in working-class neighborhoods, and participated in our CHALLENGE workshops and sessions on fascism, sexism and more. This project increased our understanding and prepared our class to fight against the bosses’ ideas and culture. The project’s peak was in Brooklyn on Saturday, July 10, with a petitioning campaign and rally to name a street in one community after Shantel Davis, a Brooklyn youth who was brutally murdered by the NYPD a decade ago. The project revealed that building and maintaining deep political roots, especially in Black and Latin working-class communities, what we call ‘base building,’ is indeed the critical factor that will make communist ideas mass ideas and prepare our class for running a world without capitalism.

On this episode of Challenge Radio, we have a reading of the latest editorial in Challenge, SPAIN-FIGHT BOSSES’ RISING FASCISM, followed by a discussion with a comrade who's been living off and on in Europe for the past 15 years about the general trend towards Fascism in the Eurozone, its antecedents, and what can be done. Instability is everywhere; everything seems up for grabs. With the war in Ukraine escalating and World War III looming, the old liberal democratic world order is in shambles. Confronted with runaway inflation, a wave of climate catastrophes, and mass unemployment (close to 13 percent in Spain), both the open fascist insurgents and the old guard liberals are scapegoating migrating workers—a hallmark of rising fascism. As millions of workers’ lives are upended... Read more