These are the kinds of actions that are always inspirational . The people fighting back against injustice , together.
EVICT THE PROFIT SYSTEM!
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2020 AT 5:14PMINGLEWOOD, CA, December 30—Only a system as ruthless as capitalism would put a family out on the street in the middle of a raging pandemic. With the ICU beds at zero percent availability, LA is a dangerous place to contract Covid-19 right now, yet that is exactly what happened to one of the family members because of this eviction. Through the class struggle, fighters are learning the profit system cannot and will not provide for our class. Only we can do that through communist revolution.
Members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) have united with a working-class family to reclaim their home from a blood-thirsty mortgage company attempting to make a quick buck off of racist gentrification. PL’ers are fighting tooth and nail to hold on to the home stolen from this working-class family, but that will not stop the next family from being evicted. Capitalism is a system that will always put profits over people.
In the 55 years PLP has existed, many inspiring struggles have been waged, some won and some lost. Regardless of the reform outcome, we see glimmers of hope of the communist future we are fighting for! This struggle is no different.
Here to stay
When three young women boldly defied eviction orders under threat of arrest and brutality by the police, we can see the seeds of what we are building. On Friday, December 18, these women leaders, one as young as 17, confidently walked up the front steps, entered their home, and turned on all the lights—their commitment to fight back written on their t-shirts – “HERE TO STAY!”
In the background, they were heralded with cheers from those assembled at the house in support. Campaign participants posted signs of protest around the house, put up Christmas lights, and brought in food and other necessities for the family.
The mother of the family who we are working with bought the family home in 2006 with two mortgages, one very large, the other much smaller. This immigrant family found ways to piece together money and never missed a mortgage payment for 14 years. In 2012, the mother was scammed into believing that she no longer had to make payments on the smaller mortgage.
Then in 2016, Trojan Capital Investment, LLC (Trojan) purchased the smaller mortgage and immediately sent her a “default” notice. It was no coincidence that the notice was sent soon after the announcement that the SoFi football stadium would be built in Inglewood just a few miles away from the family’s home.
The working-class connection
On November 30, the mother and her three teenage children, two of whom attend the school where one of our PLP comrades teaches, were evicted from their home by the LA Sheriff and Inglewood Police Department (IPD). The mother contacted a non-profit community organization that she had worked with. The non-profit in turn contacted a local tenants’ union that two PLP members have been working in for the last two years. The non-profit, together with tenants’ union members, immediately began a campaign to save the house for the family.
The eviction came just as Governor Gavin Newsom was issuing a “safer-at-home” advisory because of a huge increase in Covid-19 cases. Los Angeles County already has the second largest homeless population in the U.S. and the crisis has only worsened during this pandemic. The 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count showed 66,436 people in LA county experienced homelessness, which is a 12.7 percent rise from last year (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, 6/12/2020).
Our regular involvement in mass organizations and in our schools has created an opportunity for our Party to be a part of this struggle, which represents a broader struggle against the horrors of racist, anti-working class gentrification and homelessness. This fightback is a testament to PLP’s commitment to building a mass Party and fighting among the masses in the workplace, schools, and community organizations.
Working class fights back against eviction
The immediate goal of the reform campaign is to get Trojan to negotiate the return of the family’s home. There have been many positive aspects to the campaign so far. The tenants’ union has many young workers who have an understanding of the racist, sexist, and murderous aspects of the capitalist system.
Several members have gone “all in” on the fight back, doing multiple shifts to guard the house 24/7 from the IPD, taking the lead on canvassing in the neighborhood to get support from workers, and planning political education activities involving the family and supporters.
The tenant’s union has brought to bear its experience fighting racist gentrification at an apartment complex located across the street from SoFi, where tenants’ rents have skyrocketed. The commonality in the two struggles shows that working-class renters and homeowners have the same class interests.
Other PLP members have also actively participated in the campaign. We highlighted the dual role of the cops—they are racist terrorists who intimidate and murder our sisters and brothers while simulatenously work as thugs for businesses like Trojan, which add workers to the homeless population in order to cash in on their investments. In other words, the police serve and protect the profit system.
When the united working class exercises its political power through the might of one international Party, we can eliminate the profit motive for racism, homelessness, gentrification, and killer cops. No reform can ever accomplish that—only comunist revolution can.
