BAY AREA , August 27 — A multiracial group of twenty-five members and friends of Progressive Labor Party joined hundreds of antiracists to shut down Nazi demonstrations two days in a row.
Day 1: San Francisco
For three months, the racists had planned to have a rally in Crissy Field. As the date loomed closer, politicians and other officials began warning people to stay away and avoid the rally for fear of violence. They began giving police extra enforcement powers and creating restrictions on the protest to keep it peaceful. If politicians really cared about violence, they would not allow the racists to rally in the first place. Racist speech emboldens people to commit racist violence and normalizes a world where people face racist and violent poverty and state terror. Capitalism allows racists to have free speech because it allows the bosses to keep running society and making profits.
Despite the urging of politicians and other misleaders, hundreds planned to show up to Crissy Field to challenge the racists, a testament to working class bravery and understanding of the need to fight racism. Unsure of what to expect, members of PLP scouted the area of the rally in order to prepare ourselves if any dangerous situation arose.
Flaky Racists
On Friday afternoon, the day before the planned rally, the racists announced they would not rally at Crissy Field anymore and instead go to Alamo Square. Presumably, they were afraid of hundreds confronting them.
After hearing this news, our comrades and friends got together to come up with a new plan. Many were nervous about what would happen the next day. Many had never been in a situation like this, and one person had only been to one protest before. After the planning, we had a good plan and we were confident in each other and our ability to navigate unpredictable situations. This bravery was especially impressive most people were teenagers, and two young women stepped up and gave leadership.
The next day, someone announced that the racists cancelled their rally at Alamo Square too. We decided to go to Alamo Square because the racists could still show up.
When we got there, we saw a crowd of hundreds of antiracists and no Nazis to be found. The rally turned into a victory march for intimidating the Nazis out of San Francisco. At the march, we gave out CHALLENGE and led chants. New people got on the bullhorn and we even made up some new chants on the spot.
People in our group commented that we did a good job of keeping the energy up the whole time, even when the spirit of the march died down. Someone also commented that a spirited group of fifteen could change the whole climate of a large part of the march.
At the end, as we were walking away, a squad of San Francisco Police walked by us, and someone in our group started chanting, “How do you spell racist? SFPD!” This was an inspiring action because it showed the bold antiracism of our young base members.
After the march, we went to debrief. During this discussion, someone reported that a group of racists had assembled at Crissy Field and that they outnumbered the antiracists. We decided it was our duty to confront the Nazis. Nervous, we piled back into our cars and drove to Crissy Field. When we got there, we could see racists and antiracists huddled up and a line of police. There were so many road blockages that it took thirty minutes just to get to the field. By the time we got there, the Nazis had fled.We felt a strange combination of relief and frustration that we couldn’t confront them.
Although there were no Nazis, we saw that we had enough confidence in each other to go into a potentially dangerous situation, and we learned the importance of building a group of people who could fight together in the future.
Day 2: Berkeley
The next day, we assembled to rally against a Nazi demonstration in in Berkeley. One comrade stated that it was normal for racists to play whack-a-mole in San Francisco, but that historically that they show up in Berkeley when they say they will. We prepared ourselves for violence and talked about the importance of staying together and following leadership.
We went to the park where antiracists gathered, a few blocks from where the racists were rallying. We started distributing literature while the organizers of the march gave speeches. Later, we heard the racists had started to show up and we were antsy to go confront them.
Misleaders Try to Silence Militancy
Despite the knowledge that Nazis were gathering at Civic Center, which was the whole reason so many people turned out, the misleaders refused to take the march to Civic Center! We believed this was intentional to keep people subdued and to stop confrontations. Misleaders wanted us to hear their speeches instead of using working-class power to stop the racists. It was absolutely maddening! We started chanting, “Let’s march! Let’s march! Let’s march!” and others joined in with us. The leadership told us we would march soon and tried to silence us.
When we finally started marching, we led chants and pumped up the energy of people around us. Someone was beating a drum at the front of the march, so we led chants to the beat and people got really into it. The crowd especially liked the chant, “Turn up, don’t turn down, let’s run these Nazis out of town!”
By the time we got to Civic Center, the police had blocked off the whole park and there were no racists to be seen. The misleaders stalled everybody until they knew it would be too late to confront the Nazis. After we gave out our literature, we left, for there were no racists to confront, and the crowd was getting agitated.
One person in our group commented that people wanted to confront the racists but couldn’t, and they thought that it could get violent because people had no way to channel their anger. Indeed, as we were leaving, some people were throwing smoke bombs, which can only lead to dangerous situations that hurt other workers. The working class is outraged at the rise of racism and fascism, but misleaders prevent us from using our anger for the good of the working class. It was a good reminder of why we need to build a revolutionary communist PLP that can channel our anger into fighting capitalism and ultimately destroying this system.
Reflections
We discussed our actions over the past two days. Some comrades commented that our actions were inspiring because we were able to turn out almost thirty people to fight with us. If we continue meeting together and host study groups, this can be a basis for fighting more militantly and bringing out more people in the future. It was also inspiring because so many people were young, new, and multiracial. Moreover, younger and newer comrades gave leadership and we strengthened our confidence in ourselves.
This weekend was a reminder of the need to work in mass organizations. Going to rallies is important, but you can’t accomplish as much at a rally as you can in long-term work in mass organizations.
In order to build a fighting Party, it’s not enough to just talk to workers on the streets. We must also entrench ourselves at our workplace or school, and build long-term relationships and lead struggles where we are. That is the only way we will build a party that can destroy capitalism. Overall, this weekend was very energizing to comrades and friends of PLP in the Bay Area and we are excited for upcoming battles.