Kentucky, October 18—Kentucky members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLers) in Richmond and Owensboro attended the national “No Kings” protests going on across the country. Recognizing it as a liberal-led event that only seeks to redirect workers’ energy into supporting the Big Fascists’ faction of capital, we understood that it would be an opportunity to introduce more radical ideas and show that it’s not just President Donald Trump, but the entire capitalist system that is to blame. Workers were receptive to our ideas, and although the march maintained a liberal character, we had an impact and made contacts who we hope will become more interested in the PLP.
Why we need communism
The protest in Richmond was held at the Madison County courthouse. We were the first ones to show up. Before long the crowd grew to cover the entire front of the courthouse. As people showed up, we handed them CHALLENGE and had conversations about our communist politics. Many of the younger folks that showed up were students who already knew us from our organizing activity at the local university. There were also others who were unaware of our presence and expressed interest in coming to our study group. One person came up and asked us “Why communism and not Democratic Socialism?” We explained that the state is built around the interests of the capitalist class, and that we can’t abolish capitalism without also getting rid of their state apparatus which is designed to protect private property and maintain capitalism through both force and reform. Acknowledging this, the question became more about how we can make sure that after a revolution we don’t go back to the same capitalist system, to which we explained the importance of internationalism and spreading the revolution rather than relying on nationalism and only focusing on trying to build a new society within borders imposed by capitalism. They thanked us for our patience in explaining our view points and took a copy of CHALLENGE!
Ramping up our chants!
In order to combat the piss-poor politics of the liberal misleaders, we also started introducing more radical chants that attacked capitalism and racism rather than focusing solely on the current administration. We chanted “ICE out of Kentucky now!” and “Genocide means – We got to fight back!” One comrade also started a chant “Asian, Latin, Black and white–Workers of the world unite!” but was too nervous to continue in a sea of pro-capitalist U.S. flags until suddenly a multi-racial group of younger workers next to us shouted “Keep going! That one was good!” which showed that we shouldn’t immediately expect our message to be rejected. When workers hear our line, they know whose side we’re on.
Liberals expose themselves as class misleaders
In Owensboro, PLers came out to engage with the masses and spread word of our upcoming lunch and learn, as well as hand out issues of CHALLENGE. What we came upon was what hardly anyone would consider a protest. Live music, people dressed up in costumes, and signs saying “Marry me” with a photo of Andy Beshear or Gavin Newsom. The liberal misleaders of Owensboro have for very long exercised a strangle hold on the local working class and their energy. However, through our engagement with the masses, we found many of them, specifically the younger workers, had grown quite disillusioned with the liberal leadership in town, expressing frustration at how the liberals had lost the local fight to keep the library inclusive, as well as their rolling over to the local fascist organizations who pushed this agenda.
What we learned is that the masses here are receptive to our message when given the opportunity to speak with us. They have been held back by the liberal old guard in town, and by the revisionist socialist organizations that have cropped up recently. We learned that we must continue to struggle against revisionism and neo-liberalism in our movement, and only then will we be able to properly exert our power as a class. No Kings in Owensboro taught us that there are hundreds of younger workers ready to take the fight to the bosses. We just have to take the time to meet them where they are and bring them into the fight through proper education, agitation, and mobilization!