BROOKLYN, NY May 1—For 50  years, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) has been carrying on the May Day tradition with marches in working class communities. We bring our revolutionary ideas to thousands of people who participate in or witness these marches.
Although we couldn’t march this year in Brooklyn as we have in the past few years, a group of us organized in a different way. We contacted friends from work, community as well as family members to share our celebration. Our determination was to be able to share May Day with as many workers as possible. Our efforts resulted in our  biggest May Day participation in years!
We collectively planned an event weaving together images of past PLP marches, the history of May Day's origins, and its revolutionary international character. PLP’s commitment to the fight against racism was proudly showcased in our history, from our May Day march in Boston in 1975 against the fascist anti-busing movement, to our May Day march in Chicago against the Nazis and violent racists. More recently we marched here in Brooklyn along with family members of victims of racist police murders. We highlighted an inspiring example of the working class’ fighting spirit during WWII. Jewish fighters with communist leadership found a way to celebrate May Day in the midst of their heroic armed struggle in Poland's Warsaw ghetto.
We heard a nurse give a detailed indictment of the failures of capitalist health care and their lack of  preparation, and mistreatment of workers in the current Covid-19 pandemic. We noted the racist nature of capitalist medical care before and during this crisis. While many of our friends clearly see Donald Trump’s failures, we pointed out the systemic racism and cuts that have occurred under both Democrats and Republicans. A former hospital worker pointed out the huge number of hospital closings and the  decrease in total beds (20,000) and staff over the last 20  years in New York. No wonder the number of deaths are so high.
A report was made about the organizing work outside of the U.S. Our comrade detailed the efforts being made to collectively solve the life and death immediate needs of hunger, sanitary conditions and medication made worse during this pandemic. In the midst of these efforts the comrade explained how revolutionary communist ideas were connected to past and current problems and how a communist revolution is the only solution!
As a result of our May Day efforts, a number of the participants voiced interest in learning more about PLP’s communist ideas in study/action groups.