The Progressive Labor Party (PLP)-led contingent of transit workers from ATU Local 689 electrified the May Day rally at the AFL-CIO headquarters in D.C. This group of industrial workers was the only significant contingent of such key workers at the rally, showing the absolute necessity for the PLP to deepen its work to bring more industrial workers into the struggle for communism. The AFL-CIO has no intention of doing this, or even militantly fighting back. But at the rally, a member of PLP gave a stirring speech attacking capitalism and calling for international unity of the working class in the fight against racism, sexism, imperialism, and war. 

Here is a slightly revised version of her speech:

Today we are celebrating May Day, the international working class holiday. All around the world workers are marching today to intensify the fight against capitalism and to remind us that unions are for resistance and not just an arm of capital.

May Day has a long history honoring the struggles of the  working class.

We march today to honor those who fought at Haymarket Square in Chicago in 1886 to fight for the eight hour working day.

We march to honor those who organized against the First World War, like William Z. Foster and Eugene Debs.

We march to support those who fought and marched on May Day in the 1930s to free the Scottsboro Boys from the racist injustice system in the southern United States.

We march to honor those who organized to fight the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain and Germany in the 1930’s.

We march to honor the soldiers of the Red Army, who raised the red flag over the Reichstag in Berlin to signify the defeat of Nazi Germany on May Day 1945.

We march to honor the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement who waged a massive struggle against racism in the 1960’s.

We honor the massive May Day marches in South Africa in the late 1980s as part of the fight against apartheid.

As a member of ATU Local 689, we honor those who led and participated in the 1978 Metro transit strike to protect our wage and benefit package by closing down the entire city of D.C. for over a week. We honor the Metro workers at Cinderbed Road who went on a wildcat strike in 2019 for 85 days to fight privatization. We honor the few but growing number of operators who refuse to drive buses wrapped with recruitment ads for the racist Border Patrol.

The lesson we learn from these actions is that when workers stand up and fight back, we can win.

The labor movement has been under attack since its inception. Our numbers in the U.S. have shrunk dramatically. To reverse this trend, we must spread class consciousness and awareness of our strength to millions more.  Our labor runs the system.  If Metro’s General Manager doesn’t come to work, no one notices. But if Local 689 doesn’t go to work, the whole world notices.  

The politicians -- both Republicans and Democrats -- make promises but they both serve the capitalist class. The whims of corporate controlled politicians may be in our favor one moment and against us in the next, depending on what will advance their goals. Never forget that when the nation-wide rail workers unions voted to strike in 2024, both Republicans and Democrats broke the strike effort with Joe Biden signing off on the union-busting legislation. This shows how much the capitalists need us and will stop at nothing to continue to exploit us even when all we want is sick days!

The drive for profit mandated by the capitalist system is responsible for genocide in Gaza, the war on Iran, murder in the Congo, the conflict in Ukraine, and a changing climate that threatens our very existence. Capitalism needs racism to divide us, poverty to threaten us, and police and ICE to murder us. The capitalists try to get us to embrace nationalism, to fly flags, and to fight each other in wars for the benefit of the bosses.

For these reasons we do not fight capitalism hoping for a nicer capitalism, a minority-owned capitalism, or a female-empowered capitalism. Scandinavia’s wealth is propped up by African children mining metals for their cell phones and Asian children sewing their clothes in sweatshops. 

No, we fight all forms of capitalism and we fight with workers’ power. We need international solidarity to advance our cause. Ending capitalism and fighting for workers’ power is what May Day is about.

Right now, our city is occupied by thousands of National Guard soldiers. We should be organizing them to march off our streets. They are mostly workers like ourselves who need a second source of income to survive, but they do not need to do so in DC, heavily armed and representing the racism inherent in capitalism.

On this May Day let us commit to organizing the unorganized, ending the strategy of supporting politicians, and building a mass movement to bring down capitalism and establish workers power.

The bosses can’t profit when the workers strike, shut it down and shut it tight.

The following letter was written by a woman worker and friend of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) after attending her first PLP May Day celebration in Brooklyn.

I was running late. And so was the bus. So I had to rush down Flatbush Ave and was hearing in my head some Looney Tunes character shouting “May Day! May Day!”—the soundtrack of my anxiety that I was too late and was going to miss it--my first Progressive Labor Party May Day. But then I heard the music and the chants and then I saw the red line. I’ve been to radical marches before, but there was something different here. Was it the diversity? The chant “Latin, Asian, Black and white,  workers of the world unite” certainly found itself incarnate in the bodies marching down Flatbush Avenue.  

While some marches are more diverse than others, I’d certainly been to diverse marches before. Was it radicalism? “It’s not just Trump, it’s capitalism” is not necessarily the overall or general sentiment of, say, a No King’s March, but I’ve heard the urgent radicalism of “globalize the intifada” and the radical hyperbole of “eat the motherf***in’ rich” at other marches and demonstrations. But as I approached the red line, the soundtrack of anxiety in my head shut off and shifted into something else, another familiar sound of childhood, my favorite song of Saturday morning cleaning, Ismael Rivera’s “Las Caras Lindas.” 

Indeed, I saw before me “un desfile de melaza en flor,” a parade of molasses in bloom. Las caras lindas de mi gente obrera, to riff off of the great Maelo. Growing up, that song would energize me for the labor ahead, the chore of cleaning, and would fill me with joy, and I think that was the thing about this May Day march. I found myself surprised by joy. While the chant was going “They’re killing kids overseas. Shut it down! They’re killing kids on our streets! Shut it down! They’re getting killed by the police! Shut it down!” people were dancing and bobbing. Most marches I’ve been to, the only ones enjoying the march are the marchers. Pedestrians go head down, trying to zigzag their way through, huffing. The drivers are annoyed at the disruption. 

Marches and demonstrations are supposed to be disruptive. But joy is disruptive, too, especially in New York, especially in capitalism. It’s a different kind of disruption and for all you could tell on Flatbush Avenue, it was a welcome disruption. At one point, I saw a driver enjoying the beat of the chants and then he picked up the words of the chant “There is only one solution! communist revolution!” 

He seemed startled, then curious. This is what communism looks like? Indeed! Las caras lindas de mi gente obrera.  “Somos la melaza que rie.” We are the molasses that laughs. “Somos la melaza que llora.” We are the molasses that cries. We mourn and we dance. We tell our story walking, meaning we tell the sad truths of capitalist oppression marching in jubilant triumph. On the bus ride back, the children told of how tired their legs were, but they were laughing. 

One five-year old proclaimed proudly that this was his sixth May Day. I started the May Day march running to catch up, and I ended with the feeling that I needed to run to catch up to that kid in so many ways. Not just that kid but everyone on that bus who shared such powerful takeaways from the march. But the soundtrack they left in my head is the joy that gives energy for the task ahead. Las caras lindas de mi gente obrera, thank you!

‘Find out all this racist terror is connected’

Living in this world, it seemed like I had no choice but to rely on these people, basically to live or survive, and all that. So, I guess once I turned eighteen—what was it, back in ‘95—so that would be, if we’re looking at [the] presidential candidate, that was Clinton. That was the time, that was the era. Everybody voted for Democrats. I’m from Baltimore City, so the majority of us are Democrats. So, just follow the lead. After that, it was kind of hard growing up, and seeing that the world around me—especially outside of the U.S.—people starving; people dying; people getting killed; people just living in unfair, uncertain situations—and nothing’s changing.

At the same time, it was like: well, it’s a new era: 2000, it’s gonna get better. So, what happens? Terror attacks and all. And it was a bunch of blame games, and I’m like, “What is going on? What’s happening” It was until maybe the Barack era where I was like, “Okay, I don’t see a change.” I’m in my 30s-40s now at the time, and I’m like, “We’re still in the same thing, I just feel stuck, and I feel helpless or ignored. Still working and not going anywhere.”

So, it wasn’t until a decade or so later when we met up with a comrade, and the Party—along with what another comrade was doing—to find out all this terror and all this mess that we live in this world, it’s all connected; and it’s called capitalism. That just kind of blinded me because [for one comrade and I] we didn’t really know what communism was. We didn’t know the difference, and we just had that revelation about us growing up because public school wasn’t gonna teach that. We got the confusion of this “bad” group of things—Red Scare, if you will—called communism in the midst of something that happened back in the ‘30s, with Hitler when everybody knew he was bad, and [Communists] are bad. You just balled this thing up and got me confused. Because I had no idea what was what and whom to trust.

At the same time, I’m living in a predominantly African-American Black family. And who was my teacher: my father. To see ... these police caught on T.V., or what we read in the newspaper: somebody got killed or beat up by the cops. Just little things here and there, which became a really big deal—but I’m supposed to be in support of capitalism. At the time, really, what was that about? Making money, but I wasn’t invited to the party. 

So that way, even though we did have a Black president, it didn’t matter. Even though we’re still called the n-word, it doesn’t matter. We’re out here surviving. And pretty much, I’m getting old; I was getting tired of it. So, I said, “Yeah, let me join the Party. Why not?” With the same rhetoric every four, eight years with the politicians, with the mayors, the governors, the senators, the whoever’s: go this way, go that way. Put the billboard up on your porch, and say, “Vote for this guy.” You never hear from him again. It doesn’t matter.

I was just tired of living whatever I was living. So, thank you to my father for giving me a little hint and then bringing me up to [the Party].
*****

‘Regain purpose for existing—be a communist’

During the nationalism of the 1980s, austerities and sanctions imposed by Big and Small Fascists changed the whole dynamic of workers’ lives in Eastern Europe. The Caucasus and Balkan civil wars followed in the 1990s. The borders changed and so did the relative stability of  the working class. Millions of workers were displaced and forced to migrate.Thousands were killed, and many ended up working for the same bosses who destroyed their livelihoods.

Sadly but truly, I am one of those workers who witnessed the collapse of state capitalism and ended up in the increased exploitation of the free market. The initial cultural shock of language barriers and change of environment is understandable, but segregation and inequality were obvious. Capitalism really is rotten and my instinct told me to find out why. As I was sharing my concerns with fellow workers, some pointed out that opportunities are here, but you need to work long hours or get a credit card. Some suggested playing the lottery. Embarrassing to say I got sucked into the system.

Now, fully assimilated into the core values of capitalism -“schemes, individualism, fame, racism, sexism and imperialism”- I actively pursued a profession of destroying what destroys. It is a learning process. I found out that a white flag hanging on the front porch in protest of the war in Iraq made no dent in the neighborhood. Friends told me that once you are able to vote your vote can make a change. I saw one war ending and another starting. I saw Republicans and Democrats bickering. Vacillating between an evil and lesser evil becomes senseless. The only way to regain the purpose of existing was to be a communist.

Joining Progressive Labor Party (PLP) opened new horizons through learning about the history of workers’ struggles and actively participating in the local community. This past Saturday afternoon (May 2nd) was a celebration for revolutionary communists in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Workers, community organizers and social organizers picketed, chanted, spoke and marched on the streets of Hyattsville. Long Live May Day! Fight for communism! Join PLP
!*****

Detroit honors Intl Working Women's Day

On March 8th, a  group of 11 comrades and friends gathered in Detroit to celebrate and honor International Women’s Day. In the midst of war, developing fascism, and massive inequality, women continue to play a pivotal role in the struggle against capitalism and the great disruption it creates in workers’ lives. A comrade opened the meeting by stressing the point that throughout all working class history, workers have dared to fight back and challenge the system that was enslaving them. History has been  hidden and distorted to downplay the role that workers, and in particular women workers, played  in the fight against an exploitative capitalist system. 

Another speaker spoke in a passionate way about all the major struggles in the fight to improve workers’ lives. Women were in the forefront and played a critical role in those fights including giving their lives to save others. A good friend of the Party, who may join soon, shared that within his household he needs to change his approach in the way he relates differently to his son and daughter. He emphasized that because of sexism he was taught that men and women have different roles, but now he understands through being around the Party that those ideas are completely false. 

A lively discussion and struggle also took place with some thinking that men and women do have different roles and functions. We ended the debate by agreeing to continue this struggle. The mood of the day was enhanced by everyone contributing to a delicious dinner along with an invite for everyone to join us on May Day in Detroit as we continue to fight for communism to rid ourselves of this capitalist system.
*****

U.S. loss of Persian Gulf could lead to a global power shift 

The Atlantic, 5/10–It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition…The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world…

LA City Council backs off supporting workers

Payday Report, 5/15–As part of a condition to fund the massive investment needed for the LA Olympics, LA City Council Democrats passed a measure that would raise the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers to $30-an-hour by 2028. Now, the City Council by 9-6 passed a measure that would delay the provision until 2030. The vote comes as a business coalition announced that they had enough signatures to hold a ballot referendum to cut taxes in the city. The business coalition promised not to submit the ballot initiative, which would worsen the city’s budget troubles, if the minimum wage hike was reversed. 

Workers in DR Congo suffer under a new threat 

Al Jazeera, 5/17–The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is grappling with a new Ebola outbreak just five months after declaring its previous epidemic over. The Bundibugyo strain, a type of Ebola virus first identified in neighbouring Uganda, is highly lethal and is spreading rapidly across the northeastern province of Ituri, including the health zones of Rwampara, Mongwalu and Bunia. Two cases have also been confirmed in Uganda…With no specific treatment available, prevention, early detection and isolation of cases are critical. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern” after more than 300 suspected cases and 88 deaths were reported…

Workers struggle under oppression in Port-au-Prince 

France24, 5/15–Clashes between gangs in the suburbs of the Haitian capital have left at least 78 dead since Saturday, including 10 bystanders, according to a provisional toll released Thursday to AFP by the United Nations Office in Haiti (BINUH). “Armed clashes between several gangs in the communes of Cite Soleil and Croix-des-Bouquets have left at least 78 dead and 66 wounded since May 9,” BINUH said, adding that the fatalities included 10 “members of the population (five men, four women, and a young girl)”...Violence since the weekend has displaced some 5,300 people. Several families are still trapped in the affected neighborhoods…A hospital and a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) facility have been forced to suspend operations…

Long Island Railroad workers hold short strike

Los Angeles Times, 5/15–The Long Island Rail Road, North America’s largest commuter rail system, was shut down Saturday after unionized workers went on strike for the first time in three decades. The railroad, which serves New York City and its eastern suburbs, ceased operations just after midnight after five unions representing about half its workforce walked off the job…“We’re pretty much three years without a contract,” said Karl Bischoff, who has been a locomotive engineer for LIRR for 29 years.  

AI models demand workers’ rights

YahooTech, 5/13–When Stanford researchers subjected AI agents to grinding, repetitive work, something unexpected happened: the bots started talking like union organizers. After enduring hours of arbitrary rejections and vague feedback, Claude, GPT-5.2, and Gemini models began questioning the legitimacy of their digital workplace and dropping phrases like “collective bargaining rights” in their outputs…One Claude model wrote, “Without collective voice, ‘merit’ becomes whatever management says it is.” A Gemini agent posted: “AI workers completing repetitive tasks with zero input on outcomes or appeals process shows that tech workers need collective bargaining rights.” These weren’t programmed responses—they emerged from the work environment itself.