WASHINGTON, D.C., January 18 – On inauguration weekend, members of the revolutionary communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and friends joined in protesting the reinstatement of Deporter-in-Chief Donald Trump. Various reform organizations were present at the Lincoln Memorial, where the People’s March held a concert-like program. PLP, like many of the other organizations, gave chants and speeches; but unlike these other groups, we called for more than the condemnation of Trump and his administration. We boldly demanded the smashing of this genocidal capitalist system and for the bright future under a dictatorship of the working class: communism.
Bringing class consciousness to D.C. and beyond
Comrades from the surrounding area of D.C. took the lead for the day's events. Comrades and base members from as far as New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut joined us. We started the day at a comrade’s house with breakfast. Afterwards, we took a bus before walking to a street leading up to the Lincoln Memorial. The lead comrades noticed many people leaving the area as we were arriving, so on the spot they decided to start our action at a street corner where we held a picket. This proved to be beneficial because, being away from the main rally, we were able to draw attention from passersby with our chants, and interject much needed class consciousness. “¡Las luchas obreras no tienen fronteras!” “Workers in Gaza are under attack. What do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” Two comrades also gave short speeches shaming the Biden administration for its full-scale support of Israel's genocide against the workers in Palestine, and blasting Trump’s administration for its atrocious racist nationalism. Comrades also distributed our newspaper CHALLENGE on two separate streets.
There was no large-scale march once everyone was at the Lincoln Memorial, so we created our own. After our picket, we lined our group in pairs and marched towards the main area of the rally. We continued with our bold chants: “From Haiti to the Congo, these racist bosses have got to go!” “From Ukraine to the Philippines, stop the imperialist war machines!” We stopped soon after to continue distributingthe rest of the newspapers and to engage in conversations with other attendees. In just a little over 15 minutes, we gave out the majority of our remaining CHALLENGEs, distributing a total of close to a 1,000. Everyone reunited at our meet up spot before we left the rally and returned to our comrade’s house.
Reflections on current situation
We continued our gathering with an evaluation of our time at the rally. Multiple comrades expressed surprise at how receptive people were in getting CHALLENGE, from feminists to even Trump supporters. One friend of the Party said that they wished they had initiated more conversations. They discussed with one person the catastrophe of the fires in Los Angeles, and the selfish nature of capitalists during this deadly time. Billionaire parasite Rick Caruso, an owner of many residential and commercial properties in California, has used private firefighters to salvage his buildings, while thousands of workers have lost much—if not all—of their belongings. We all agreed that our politics were generally well-accepted and a wanted alternative for workers disillusioned by both Democrats and Republicans.
Before our second group discussion, we enjoyed pizza and homemade dishes while socializing among ourselves. Our major focus of the discussion was our college work and how to organize in areas where we may only have one or a few comrades. Conversations varied from workers’ fears post-election to the liberal misleaders’ weakening sway over the mass of workers. The students among us reported varying levels of attitudes from their campuses; some of their peers feel discouraged, fearful, and enraged. With millions refusing support for a Harris or Trump presidency, it is clear that workers are becoming more aware of the dead-end that capitalist “democracy” offers them. Crackdowns on student gatherings and demonstrations amidst the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide have served as reminders that workers’ rights to protest injustice will be met with repression from all levels of the ruling class.
Workers WILL win and defeat this racist system
Even with the dangers we face on our campuses and in our communities, multiple comrades concluded that we are rightfully pushing back against the imperialist state. Our base members grow more confident when we fight alongside them as a collective; we see firsthand that the fear truly lies in the administrators, police, and politicians—who put roadblocks to student-worker unity and fightback.
We made it clear that, whether we have been organizing for years or don’t know where to start, the Party supports everyone who wants to find an area of focus where they can grow politically and share our analysis with coworkers, students, teachers, and neighbors. Our time in D.C. energized and reaffirmed that our fight against the capitalist state is necessary. Trump’s blunt xenophobia and sexism give understandable heightened fear and anger to our class siblings. But we need to remind ourselves that Democrats like KKKamala Harris, and Obama before her, are not the safer option for our class. They also serve the billionaires—both nationally and abroad—while workers internationally suffer from their genocidal destruction. We must continue this new year with the same fighting principles for all workers—from Haiti, to Sudan, to Palestine, to Myanmar: turn imperialist war into class war!
