CHICAGO (ROSEMONT), IL, April 19 —“Arab, Jewish, Black and White, Workers of the World, Unite!” rang out as over 200 militant workers at the Labor Notes Conference rallied in support of the workers of Gaza. These workers are facing famine, illness, death, and destruction at the hands of the terrorist Israeli State with the full backing of the U.S. ruling class. Led by members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and other labor organizers, the anti-fascist rally in front of the Hyatt Regency showed that workers from all over the U.S. are standing up to Israeli rulers’ fascism. It will take a global communist revolution to smash capitalist Zionism, and the PLP is building our Party to do just that.
Labor Notes
Labor Notes is a media and organizing project started in 1979 to “put the movement back in the labor movement” per their website. This year was their largest conference to date, with about 5,000 attendees including rank-and-file union members, local union leaders, and labor organizers. The revisionist (fake leftist) leaders of Labor Notes showed their lack of revolutionary spirit by inviting Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (and former Chicago Teachers’ Union misleader) to speak on the first night of the conference. While Johnson is credited with helping get a symbolic ceasefire resolution through the Chicago City Council, meanwhile his administration attacks the working class in Chicago. He has increased the budget for the Chicago kkkops and supported them when they murdered Dexter Reed with 96 shots fired. He refused to allow permits to protest the Democratic National Convention and set an impossibly short 60-day stay limit for newly arrived migrants in the city shelters. With that record, he should never have been invited to speak at a conference for labor organizers who want to build a militant labor movement. Fake left politicians like Johnson serve the capitalist class, as do all politicians. The liberals just use more honeyed words to cover their poisonous attacks against our class.
Communists called for militancy
A comrade raised the idea of a rally at an earlier meeting of Labor for Palestine and continued to work with another organizer to have a rally outside the hotel. PLP members in Chicago brought a sound system and militant signs and other protesters brought banners from their areas. The rally started just before the planned speech by lying Mayor Johnson. The rally was spirited with energetic chants–“U.S. Imperialism Means, We Got to FIGHT BACK!”—and had enough angry people mobilized to take the street. The young people outside the hotel contrasted with the entrenched union hacks listening to his speech. Outside, speakers called for an end to arms to Israel and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. A graduate student from Columbia University spoke eloquently about the bold fightback in support of workers in Gaza and against repression on that campus. A PLP comrade gave a speech calling out the inter-imperialist rivalries (mainly between the U.S., China, and Russia) that are making the world situation increasingly chaotic, dangerous, and headed for wider wars. The PLP member also pointed out the hypocrisy of Labor Notes having the Mayor as the keynote speaker when Black workers and newly arrived migrant workers in the city are being attacked by his administration.
Cops Attack
The cops tried to move the rally away from the hotel, but the protesters stood their ground and refused to move. The cops then tried to arrest two of the protestors. Workers shouted “Let Them Go!” and grappled with the cops to free them. The attack by the police changed the focus of the rally to getting our comrades back, though there were still many chants in support of Gazan workers.
With the leadership of PLP members and some of the Labor for Palestine organizers, it was decided to send forces from the rally into the convention with a bullhorn. The breakaway group of more than 15 militant workers charged into the conference to disrupt the Mayor’s speech and demand that he get our comrades out of police custody. The group scuffled with hotel security while fighting to get into the hall. A union hack inside threw a punch at one of the protestors to try to stop us. The mayor’s speech quickly ended and he left. Some workers in the hall were inspired by the disruption and stood up and yelled support in solidarity, while others were upset and one even cried about the disruption on stage. There is serious work to do in raising class consciousness and building a fighting movement.
Our modest action was a step in that direction! Outside at the ongoing rally, the suburban Rosemont police were outmatched in both numbers and commitment. We held the street and surrounded the police car that held our comrade for almost an hour. The cops finally let the protestor out to cheers. The other protestor who had been taken away from the rally, was brought back and released without charges. We were shocked but excited to see the cops capitulate! Once both protestors were recovered, we ended the rally, victorious for the moment. For some reason, about an hour later, about 25 cops, some on bikes and some in riot gear eventually showed up at the hotel. Too little too late to stop the working class!
Leadership from PLP was essential in this event and gave new members some experience in putting forward the Party and sharpening the struggle. We debriefed about ways we could have done even more and were energized to keep going. After all, if the labor movement called a general strike to stop the flow of weapons to Israel, the U.S. imperialists would have to reconsider their genocidal actions. As the U.S. imperialists get involved in more and bigger wars, organizing more such actions will be needed. And that will include building our revolutionary communist Party. To that end, over 300 CHALLENGE newspapers were distributed at the rally, which will lead to more discussion with other attendees at Labor Notes about the need to make a revolution against capitalism.
