Mass Organizations Mobilize for Venezuela
On January 3, US imperialism invaded Venezuela and kidnapped its president Nicolas Maduro. In an editorial, The Partisan issued a call to workers and revolutionaries in the United States to mobilize in defense of Venezuela and against US imperialist aggression:
The workers, all people, and their organizations in the US must take immediate and decisive action to stage strikes, marches, walk-outs, demonstrations, and other forms of activities when appropriate, in order to mobilize the greatest number of masses to reject this war of aggression. We cannot allow the blood of the Venezuelan people to be shed in vain.
In response to the call, class-conscious mass organizations such as the People’s Defense Committee (PDC), Revolutionary Student Union (RSU) and New Labor Organizing Committee (NLOC) across the country staged various rapid actions, mobilizing hundreds. These actions showed the determination and preparedness of revolutionaries-in-formation in the face of imperialist attack on the people. At the same time, they put forward thoroughgoing anti-imperialist politics by connecting the attack on Venezuela to the exploitation and struggle of the working class here in the United States, pointing out the way forward to develop the anti-imperialist and class-conscious mass movement through militant struggle.
Revolutionaries Organize Masses Against ICE
Mass anger continues to rise across the country throughout January in response to the heightened State violence against working-class immigrants. With the murder of Alex Pretti, Renee Good and numerous others, organizations like PDC continues to build up Neighborhood Defense Units as localized, organized, and militant organs of long-term workers’ neighborhood defense and resistance, stressing the need to turn spontaneous mass rebellion into a sustained and organized mass movement lead by the multinational US working-class, linking and raising it to the struggle against US imperialism.
Multiple militant demonstrations were held across the country by revolutionary organizations, often in sub-freezing temperature. Especially, the importance of working class self-defense and struggle against reformism was stressed by mass activists. This message is important especially in a time where the Democratic Party, an integral part of the capitalist system, has rallied all shades of reformists to channel the militant energy of the people back into the imperialist Old State.
In Oklahoma City, OK, a protest was organized against ICE and CBP attack on the people.
In Denton, TX, PDC organized a rally against ICE and CBP attack alongside RSU. Over 400 people were in attendance.
In Columbus, OH, PDC, RSU, and the Columbus New Labor Committee held a vigil on February 1 for Alex Pretti who was executed in broad daylight by ICE in Minneapolis. The event resonated with the masses after ICE violently arrested 3 protesting its presence at a college job fair.
Other protests were held in Providence, RI, Washington DC, among other cities across the country.
In Washtenaw, MI, progressive and class-conscious student organizations including RSU organized an undergrad contingent to the local grad union bargaining session around anti-ICE demands.
Workers Report on Peak Season, Militant Struggle
With the Peak Season coming to an end in logistics and service sectors, class-conscious organizations of workers across the country have reported on the increased rate of exploitation for the benefit of the big capitalists at the expense of workers. Across different industries and workplaces, mistreatment, layoffs, and a general offensive against workers were uniformly noted.
The November edition of New Day at USPS reported on the tragic deaths of Russell Scruggs Jr. and Nick Acker, two postal workers who were killed in separate, preventable incidents tied directly to USPS’s neglect of worker safety in its push to speed up holiday-season production. Two weeks after the November edition was published, New Day at USPS received a report of an injury at the Charlotte Local Processing Center.
In Oklahoma City, high turnover left many USPS workers inexperienced, poorly trained, and unclear on safe practices. The high rate of work across all units is made worse by the long stretches endured by workers without breaks and mandatory overtime called each night, with only one day off a week throughout this peak period.
New Day at Amazon, an organization of class-conscious Amazon workers, wrote in its January shop paper:
With the New Year in full swing we are facing the ramp-down period at Amazon. Obviously a large increase in volume due to the holiday season caused Amazon to spend much more money on labor costs. Everything from simply spending more on wages due to overtime worked, to any little gifts given out, or even providing food was to keep us engaged and coming back everyday. Now after spending all that money and the inevitable decrease in sales, Amazon now looks to keep costs low to start the year. In Q4 of 2024, Amazon made $187.8 Billion Dollars in net sales. In Q1 of 2025, Amazon made $155.7 Billion Dollars in net sales. This is a pattern that occurs every single year. The last quarter of the year yields much higher sales and a drop off is seen in the first quarter of the next year. A very similar result is expected for Q4 of 2025 (the Peak season that just occurred) and Q1 of 2026 (the quarter or period we are in now). With the data we found, this pattern happened every single year. What does all this mean? Amazon is taking on less volume which in this case means less profit.
In late December, New Day at Amazon organized a walk-out attended by dozens of workers who were forced to work up to 60 hours. The walk-out, as an example of militant struggle against the capitalists and breaking with state unionism, won workers double overtime pay the next day. “This is something the majority of other warehouses did not receive. Without putting up this fight, we wouldn’t have won further compensation,” wrote New Day at Amazon.
Linking the massive layoff by UPS in the end of 2025 to the Teamsters’ betrayal of the working class, New Day at UPS similarly reported:
What does this mean? It means in spite of tens of thousands of layoffs, UPS’ operating expenses have barely budged, while volume and by extension total profit are in decline. This means that UPS will continue to crack down on the UPSers via increased surveillance, reduction in compensation, and increased workload in order to salvage the rate of profit. Despite the massive layoffs and consolidation efforts, the actual rate of profit at UPS is plummeting. The operating margin at the end of 2025 for UPS Domestic was 6.6%, down from 7.2% at the end of 2024. International package operating margins declined from 17.8% to 15.5% over the same time period.
Similar issues were noted by the Organization of Class-Conscious Service Workers (OCSW) in different workplaces.
On January 24, PDC held a mass meeting in Troy, NY to discuss the grievances of workers in the city.
