CHICAGO, APRIL 30 –“Communist revolution – not capitalist war!” This revolutionary message rang through the air as over 60 multiracial Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends of the Party  celebrated International Workers’ Day on the City’s South Side. Driving wind and rain could not dampen our spirit as we rallied around the communist red flag and our international fight for a world free of racism, sexism, borders, and exploitation.
Every May Day is important to our Party and the working class, but with an impending inter-imperialist war,  the stakes are even higher. Competing imperialist blocs of the United States and Western Europe squaring off against their ruling class rivals in China and Russia threaten to engulf the planet in another world war over power and profits. This year, we wanted our class to know wide and clear that there is only one path out of this capitalist nightmare - communist revolution.
What makes May Day so inspiring is that it provides a powerful glimpse of the communist future that we are fighting for. Workers united in common purpose, rejecting the bosses’ poisonous divisions, and boldly demonstrating that the international working class shall be the human race!
Workers unite for communist revolution
This year’s May Day took place in the Bronzeville neighborhood, an area home to thousands of Black workers and with a deeply radical history. The area was a hub of communist organizing throughout the early 20th century, with Black and white workers united in  struggle against racist terror, segregation, evictions and unemployment.
Today we were proud to not only carry on that revolutionary legacy, but  advance it. PL’ers and friends traded off leading chants on the bullhorn, such as “The workers united, will never be defeated!” and “Whose day? Our day! What day? May Day!” With our ranks fired up, we lined up to begin our march down 35th Street. Workers along the route raised their fists and honked their horns on sight. Many were eager to receive copies of CHALLENGE, of which we easily distributed 400 copies. With our Party having fought against racist police terror in this neighborhood for many years, we were primed to receive a warm welcome!
Target capitalist contradictions and take state power
Our first target on our march route was the headquarters building of the racist and fascist Chicago Police Department (CPD). These vicious attack dogs for the capitalist class hardly need any introduction when it comes to their racist terror committed against working people of the city, particularly Black and Latin workers.
A veteran PLP member gave a fiery speech at the front door, blasting the racist thugs in blue for their history of state-sponsored terror and ongoing role in maintaining the capitalist status quo:
“Cops provide the bosses’ security and control of workers as we labor for their profits locally. The military is used to enforce those same racist and anti-worker interests internationally through imperialism… We have to compare these actions to show that our fights for revolutionary communism must be as international as the capitalists’ attempts to crush and silence workers who fight back!”
Our next target was an immigrant worker concentration camp hidden in plain sight. This jail for workers and youth represents just one of the many facilities locally and across the country that are profiting handsomely off contracts with the bosses to detain and oppress our class. Those profits drive racist criminilization against undocumented workers.
A PLP high school teacher and a student both gave powerful speeches that called on workers everywhere to fight back and build the Party. The student detailed the brutal experience of her family at the hands of the racist bosses’ deportation machine, and in both English and Spanish, called us to action:
“The kids that are in this damn detention center, their parents, their loved ones -- none of these stories are unique! We are at war. Bosses have always been waging war against us. I have not come across a group or party that is willing to actively fight back other than PLP… If there are bosses, there will be a war against our class. People will be imprisoned, killed, and deprived of the necessities to live. PLP is fighting for revolution. If you are not fighting for revolution, you are not fighting to end this war!”
Build for a communist future TODAY
We concluded our day’s action in a nearby park. After some tasty lunch and socializing, we heard more speeches, including a report back from one of the workers involved in the University of Illinois Chicago Graduate Employees Organization strike (see CHALLENGE, 5/11). The inspiring keynote speech from another PLP leader reminded us that under the gathering storms of imperialist war, the time for our class to fight for communist revolution is NOW. Finally, we were entertained by some class conscious stand-up comedy from a young worker and finished by smashing a piñata in the shape of a capitalist boss!
The time is indeed now for the international working class to double down on our commitment to build the Party and fight for communism. Here’s to another successful May Day, and the long fight ahead!