WORCESTER, MA July 17 – This summer, members of the Boston area Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  chapters hosted a commemoration of the Boston’75 Summer Project. In the summer of 1975, PLP organized over 150 volunteers to join the successful Freedom Ride to Boston in the spirit of building multiracial working-class unity. People came from across the country to oppose the racist policies of the Boston City Council and the violent segregationist movement.

In the spirit of that solidarity, the Worcester PLP club, along with our Boston comrades from near and far, had a militant anti-ICE demonstration on July 17. Just before our demonstration, a silent vigil in for  Congressman John Lewis was held, and we invited those attendees to join us in our fight. We rallied against the racist deportations of our working class brothers and sisters in Worcester, and against the ongoing genocide in Gaza by the Israeli fascists and U.S. imperialists.

Militant antiracism in full force!

On the steps of City Hall, we gathered about 25 PLP members from Kentucky, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond. Our contingent of young people added their militant voices to the rally and march. Our chants of “Asian, Latin, Black, and White, Workers of the World Unite!” were well received, as well as our most popular rallying cry: ” ICE Out of Worcester Now!” The bilingual chants in Spanish, led by new PLP members, were met with cheers from people driving by. Some of our signs in Spanish said: “Fuera ICE!”, and “Alto a las Deportaciones! Unidad entre Trabajadores!”

PLP members gave speeches in front of both City Hall and the Federal Courthouse about topics ranging from the role of the KKKops in supporting state-sanctioned violence against workers, to the inability of the Democratic Party to bring about radical change, including their role in channeling anti-fascist action against ICE and the Trump administration into support for liberal fascism. As we marched to the park behind City Hall, led by our anti-ICE banner, cars honked their horns in support.

Sharing experiences

After our rallies and march, we wanted space for PLP members to reflect on their experiences during the summer project, and to further build unity among members from across the country. Some workers who saw us marching came by and spoke with us about how happy they were to see us here. We shared our pizza with them, discussed their experiences organizing in the city, and distributed our flyer and issues of CHALLENGE to them. We took their names and plan to contact them in order to mobilize more of the community against ICE’s fascist terror.
The Boston Summer Project involved a lot of effort and time in planning the demonstration, marches, food, and literature distribution. It was a real collective effort across both the Boston and Worcester PLP chapters. Of course, none of this would have ever been successful without the enthusiastic participation of the PLP members who flew in from around the country to advance the banner of communist revolution.
50 years after the Boston ‘75 summer project, the struggle continues!