BROOKLYN, May 31—“We were raised with the history of Haiti...that nonviolence gets you killed and people in America haven’t understood that yet. Everyone needs to learn about Haiti but the racist education system never teaches about it. People need to understand that this enemy won’t stop and it’s either we agree to slavery or they keep murdering us. Either we cut off their heads and burn down their houses or they murder us. That’s what this war is.”
Indeed, it will take a disciplined, organized, violent revolution to get rid of this racist, capitalist system and the killer kkkops that it breeds.
After hearing two inspiring communist speeches at the opening rally (see article above), we heard a  militant young woman give this speech on Church and Bedford Avenues. It was her first demonstration. Our multiracial group of seven community college students, faculty and friends marched along with thousands of our working class sisters and brothers. We held up PLP’s CHALLENGE newspapers reading “COMMUNISM WILL END RACIST POLICE TERROR” as our banners, protesting against the most recent racist murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others.
Working collectively: meeting during battle
With masses cheering the several calls for communist revolution, we marched down one of Brooklyn’s busiest streets, Flatbush Avenue. Bus drivers blared their horns and raised their fists as we chanted the names of Black youth murdered by the racist police, while marching past graffitied and smashed up NYPD police cars.
Then, the limits of liberal reformist and pacifist leadership quickly became apparent, and the strength of communist discipline became necessary. At the intersection of Bedford and Tilden Avenues, streams of riot police lined up along the sidewalks. A police helicopter dropped almost to the level of the streetlights and began spraying an unidentified liquid. Combining that with a lack of communist organizational leadership in the march, chaos broke out, and workers began running in different directions.
We interlocked arms to prevent separation. When we saw the riot police surrounding us, we had a brief discussion. Having a discussion while being surrounded by riot police might seem strange. But, when still led by communists in the 1940s, the Red Army in China figured out how to meet in the middle of battles. We checked in and resolved to stick together no matter what. We got out of the cop encirclement and decided to keep marching, but not long after, we were once again boxed in.
The cops were now effectively leading the march, because the march had no communist leadership to seize back the initiative from the cops. The cops split the march into different sections of hundreds of workers, marching up and down different blocks. As police set up more barricades, other cops lined up, periodically swinging their batons and then pulling back to the perimeter.
We reevaluated. The march was leaderless, and without any objective. Based on our strength and numbers, we collectively decided to leave. As we left, we discussed mass violence for communist revolution versus nonviolence, how capitalism needs racism, and Haitian history. We had distributed 100 CHALLENGEs.
Pacifists, nationalists, anarchists: deadly misleaders
Today we saw how pacifism only leads to a dead end for the working class. Whereas Black nationalism and identity politics divide and separate our class, pacifism and nonviolence pacify the working class to “cool off” and play by the bosses’ rules. Pacifist politics leave us unprepared to deal with the chaos the police instigate.
And when the bosses succeed in creating chaos, a working class without communist leadership responds with chaotic violence instead of disciplined, coordinated, militant fightback. The cops take advantage to beat and arrest while the bosses’ media point their cameras and blame the workers for “rioting.” Meanwhile, anarchist groups and other misleaders enter this vacuum to provoke individualist violence. Only with a mass PLP do workers stand a chance to fight and smash capitalist state power: with a workers’ dictatorship.
Overrun capitalism with communist revolution
The international working class indeed has much to learn from Haiti. The Haitian Revolution’s slogan about the French imperialists “koupe tèt, boule kay” (cut off their heads and burn down their houses) is a proud PLP chant every May Day.
We have much to learn from our militant new comrades and friends, who all agreed to join our Party study group and to distribute and discuss CHALLENGE. We hope these militant fighters will agree that the Progressive Labor Party is worthy of their commitment and membership, and help lead the international communist revolution all the way.
From Port-au-Prince to Minneapolis to Aden to Beijing, the working class shall overrun this racist, sexist, imperialist capitalist system once and for all. For George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many other names, our victory will be their vengeance.