From Ferguson to Flatbush
At 27 weeks pregnant, my partner and I packed up our car in Buffalo and headed to NYC to join in the May Day festivities. A couple of friends new to political activism, but eager to stand up for fellow workers joined us on the trip. Donned in all red, we arose from the subway at Flatbush and Nostrand. We walked towards the chanting and were soon greeted by a few of our PL comrades, who we’ve built quite a strong bond with over the last year, since first meeting during protests in Ferguson.
Our group of four from Buffalo ended up holding the leading banner at the front of the march, which read “Long Live Communism!” We each grabbed one of the custom screen-printed “Revolt Don’t Vote” shirts.
A flatbed truck with over 20 speakers pulled up and positioned itself at the front of the march. We got pumped up when we realized the speakers would be bumping some classic hip-hop and dancehall instrumentals througgout the march, as comrades chanted in unison to the beat. My partner and I absolutely love the idea, and first used music during protest a couple years back in Buffalo to commemorate Fred Hampton. Music is as powerful as the people who create it and can change the entire dynamic of an action, centering and energizing the people.
It was a beautiful sight to behold. With Mom and Dad side by side, screaming “Koupé tet!” [“cut off their heads” in Haitian Creole], my unborn child, right at the front of the march, got his first taste of uprising. With swollen ankles and smile on my face, I pushed on to the end and finished off the two-mile journey at Prospect Park. The crowd remained and listened intently to voices championing the power of the people. The revolutionary spirit was truly in the air.The crowd was rejuvenated by the speeches and at their conclusion all were welcomed to enjoy a May Day picnic in the park.
We were asked to do a quick interview at the conclusion of the march for an upcoming PLP video. We offered our perspectives on first meeting the PLP in Ferguson, growing our relationship with the Party, and how impactful these developing bonds have been in our lives, both personally and politically.
Later that evening, I shared some of the images from the day with friends back home, one of which was a shot of my garishly swollen ankles. One concerned person remarked, “that can be a sign of toxemia!” I assured them I was fine and just needed rest, and that the only thing toxic to my baby’s health was capitalism. Walking a couple uncomfortable miles is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the lengths my growing family will go to see the fall of the bosses and the rise of commUNITY.
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Bronx Experiences at May Day
This year, students and education workers took a bus from the South Bronx to Brooklyn. Our bus ride was spirited and militant as we shared our reasons for coming to May Day and sang songs together. Here are a few reflections about May Day from our group.
My first May Day march was a great experience. I like how people reacted to the march sympathetically. I think it’s great to fight for our rights and against the injustice that is going on.
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I had a great experience at May Day. There were so many different groups of people. It was a beautiful experience to see a wide range of working class people come together and fight against the ruling class. In the moment, I felt that me and everyone else felt a sense of invincibility. Before going to May Day, I had my doubts about the working class becoming powerful enough to overthrow the wealthy class. After May Day, I believe that united we can change the system and make a world that works for us.
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The march was well organized and synchronized before and during the journey to the park. I liked seeing people of all ages, mothers and parents with their children, young women and men. It was really exciting to see all these people united, chanting, waving flags and their hands to show their lack of conformity with the system.
Moreover, I was impressed how drivers honked and people through windows in the building made signal of support and agreement all the way to the park. At the beginning of the march, I saw people enthusiastic but as it progressed there was more joy! I enjoyed the way people behaved before and during the march.
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I loved the sound truck. The group was dynamic and moving as they led chants and beats through the streets of Flatbush. I knew some of the women on the truck and know that they had lost a family member at the hands of the police. It was truly an inspiration to see and hear them on the sound truck!
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Salute to the Fierce Women on the May Day Truck
The Brooklyn May Day march this year was inspiring beyond words. On the truck were Black and Latin women whose loved ones—sister, brother, daughter, son—were murdered by the despicable kkkops. These women are living proof that kkkapitalism is a murderous system and that our loved ones deserve communism, nothing less.
This one woman in particular led me to tears. As she screamed the names of each youth murdered, and we responded with “Shut it down!” I felt the anger in her voice. The music paused. Her raw voice echoed down Flatbush. It was the sound of a woman who has to face the fact that capitalism murdered her sister—and no amount of police reforms will bring justice for Shantel Davis. It was the voice of a woman who still dares to fight back.
I salute this working-class woman. She is my hero, as are all the other working-class women in and around the Party who model how to fight, how to respond to crisis, and how to spread the fierce working-class love for a communist world.
I’ve seen many organizations, many countries, and many people. Only in Progressive Labor Party have I witnessed such a staunch example of anti-sexism. Only in PLP did I get a glimpse of what women will be like under communism.
I had joined PLP for many of the obvious reasons—a world without racism and sexism, no borders, no war, and no money. A world where everyone gets what they need and live their lives to potentials never dreamt of in our current material reality.
But there’s another reason that I joined. This reason is one I get to witness in my lifetime. I joined PLP because of the way the Party treated Black workers, especially Black women. I grew up in a capitalist culture where I learned anti-Black racism before I learned to speak English. I was taught to be thankful that at least I am not Black, though I always got hurt for being “too black, too dark, too angry.”
I saw how women are beaten, degraded, and exploited until they have internalized the racist sexism of this society. I’ve witnessed women rise against this sexism, their resolve to continue fighting day in and day out, but still lost without a communist vision. That’s what global capitalism does to the working class.
So to witness an atmosphere where Black workers, Black women workers, give leadership—that’s powerful, to say the least. I am grateful to be part of this international communist movement. Being part of PLP showed me how resilient and inspiring the working-class is. Today reminded me of the PLP song, “Streets of London,” the line that goes like this: “so how can you tell me you are lonely and say for you that the sun don’t shine.” One day, every child, woman, and man in every corner of the earth will bask in the glory of the red sun.
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Another Smashing May Day
Another smashing May Day! The workers of Brooklyn welcomed us in grand fashion.
My first May Day march was 70 years ago in 1946 in New York City — 250,000 workers and youth streaming down 8th Avenue in Manhattan from 34th Street to 17th Street and then east to Union Square.
That one was organized by the old Communist Party. But just as they accommodated themselves to capitalism and abandoned the fight for communist revolution, they also abandoned May Day marches by the early 1950s.
However, in 1971 it was Progressive Labor Party that picked up the banners of the international working class as part of the fight for communism and has celebrated and marched on May Day ever since — an achievement to be proud of. PLP truly represents the future. Congratulations comrades!
BROOKLYN, NY, APRIL 30—For those few hours, the streets belonged to the working class. The Progressive Labor Party led a march of over 500 people down Flatbush Avenue chanting, “This Whole Damn System — Shut it Down!” to the beat of “Murder She Wrote.”
Workers from delis, salons, and stores put their fists in the air and chanted along. A number joined our march and gave us their phone numbers to be contacted. Every person — over 3,000 in all — along the two-mile route bought CHALLENGE, anti-racism/anti-sexism buttons, or a “Don’t Vote — Revolt” T-shirt. The long line of communist flags flooded the streets red.
Marchers hailed from all five New York City boroughs, Buffalo, NY, New Jersey, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Boston and were led by middle school, high school and college students. The marchers’ multiracial composition was received enthusiastically in the predominantly Black and Latin working-class Brooklyn neighborhood.
A sound truck with a DJ playing beats at the lead maintained the chants loud in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole, and the atmosphere militant! Drivers honked their horns in salute. Before the march, speakers described many of their struggles, including those against racist deportations and the fight for higher wages at Columbia University. A family member of Tyrone West, a Baltimore Black man murdered by the racist kkkops in July 2013, described the weekly protests they’ve organized in the struggle for justice against racist police murder.
Lastly, a young Russian-Latin woman described why she recently joined the Progressive Labor Party:
When I entered college six years ago, I wanted to become a politician. I wanted to help people, and I recognized politics as the primary driving force of the world. I abandoned this aspiration by my sophomore year. It became clear to me quickly that politicians do not help people, they just talk a lot of hot air and do their best to stay in office. I resigned myself to tuning out politics. Without the ability to make change, political engagement with the world felt like nothing but a depressing burden.
I worked my ass off, I played by the rules and still came out a loser. Meanwhile the CEO of Apple gets rich off of virtual slave labor, people can’t afford basic health care, and innocent workers are being slain by drone strikes every day. Where the hell is all that change and hope Obama promised us?! I’m committed to PLP because it offers everything that politicians don’t: clarity, support and hope. We in PLP fight to expose the root cause of the international working class’s suffering: capitalism, a system founded upon mass exploitation of workers in order to maximize profits.
Fighters Against Kkkops Join Reds
As our march proceeded past intersections where the police have murdered Black youth, a group of mainly women led the marchers’ chants to “shut this racist system down!” The only answer to these racist police murders is to join PLP and help us continue to build a fighting international, revolutionary Party. From the Americas to Africa and Asia, working-class women, men and youth involved with PLP are spreading this communist struggle across the globe.
On the sound truck, one of our chant leaders was the sister of Shantel Davis, a 23-year-old woman killed by the racist NYPD in June 2012. Since her sister’s murder, this emerging communist working-class leader has responded to PL’s urgent approach towards agitation and our patient approach towards base-building. She’s overcome many illusions about getting justice for her sister from the bosses’ political system and has rejected the anti-communist lies from politicians and preachers.
Other family members of our working-class brothers and sisters murdered by the kkkops also joined with, and gave leadership to our march, including families of Kyam Livingston, Eric Garner and Tyrone West. Each of these families in the march is a precious steel nail in the coffin of capitalism.
Bosses Can’t Erase Our Militant History
The spirit and militancy of the march showed that PLP is a real alternative to the false promises the bosses’ politicians make every four years, when it’s time to elect a new imperialist-in-chief. Our May Day march marks the day we review our forces in our fight to become a mass working-class Party, organizing with the goal of communist revolution! Our future is bright: marchers and some workers on the sidewalk raised their fists as we chanted, “What do we want? COMMUNISM! When do we want it? NOW!”
At the conclusion of the march, the keynote speech given by a Black transit worker connected the current conditions of the international working class and the need to fight for communism. He began:
What a time to be alive! We have just finished another successful May Day march, a tradition that goes back to 1886, when our bothers and sisters were murdered by the cops for fighting for the 8-hour day. The fight and killing of our predecessors is motivation for communists to overthrow the bosses’ society and build the system of communism.
The bosses rule society through a violent and coercive state. They spend billions to legitimize their murderous system, yet every dollar they have spent has fallen short of covering up the inherent flaws of their system.
From the beginning of capitalism, racism and sexism have been the key tools the bosses used to divide and conquer the working class and today is no different. Today they sell the myth to ALL workers, but especially to Black and Latin workers, that white workers are responsible for hundreds of years of their exploitation under capitalism.
Meanwhile, they sell the myth to white workers that they are protected from exploitation and the bosses’ terror because they are “privileged,” thereby they have more in common with slave-owners and war-makers than their fellow workers.
The truth is that from the very inception of capitalism historically workers have fought alongside each other. The bosses, politicians, universities, media coerce us away from seeing that the only group who’s responsible for, and benefits from racism is the ruling class.
Who benefits when the bosses pay white workers a little more than Black workers or pay men more than women?
It’s not the white workers or men! It’s bosses who reap the difference! They’re the only group that wins from a divided working class.
One major challenge for us is the pessimism built about the possibility of unity between Black and white workers, women and men. Living under the bosses’ system, they have tried to erase our class’s memory of a time when Black and white, women and men workers lived and fought together against capitalism and for a better world.
After citing examples of global fightback, he ended this inspirational speech by saying: “The fight for communism can’t stop, won’t stop because workers can, workers did, and workers will continue to fight back! Long live communism! Power to the workers! Join PLP!”
We then sang the Internationale, the communist anthem, in both Spanish and English. We ended this amazing day with a picnic in the park with delicious box lunches. Some sang Creole songs around a drum circle in the park.
PLP is a fighting international Party, and our fight to build a mass, multiracial communist movement is growing. This May Day in New York City, in the belly of the U.S. imperialist beast, was both a celebration and a call to refuse to vote in the bosses’ elections but instead to join the revolutionary fight for communism by joining Progressive Labor Party!
Oakland, May 1—More than 40 members & friends of PLP had a well-organized and enthusiastic contingent in this year’s May Day March. Annually, a coalition of immigrant rights and community groups organizes for May Day. We represented the multiracial, multi-generational, international working class.
Our banners and chants in English and Spanish put communism up front. We shared chants with other groups, and some joined in with ours. “Fight for communism, Power to the workers!” (more next issue).
HAITI, May 1—Revolutionary greetings to all May Day marchers from PLP and our friends in Haiti! The Progressive Labor Party here has given communist leadership at a march in the capital, organized a workers’ study group in another provincial city, and concluded with the Internationale in Creole and calls to join the fight for communism.
This May Day, PLP continues to create confidence in the working class, strengthening and enlarging our base of communist fighters and friends. Marching in Port-au-Prince, the capital, with several trade unions, we led the marchers with chants such as “Down with capitalism, long live communism!” and “We workers have nothing to lose, let’s march on the bosses!”
The main demand of the unions’ march was to increase the minimum wage to 500 gourdes/day (9$USD). Our leaflet took a sharp look at the conditions workers here and worldwide are facing, concluding that the international working class needs an international revolutionary communist party, the PLP. We said that workers must unite in a single struggle and build the Party that will lead workers to victory, to communist revolution and an egalitarian society that will meet the needs of workers who create all value. “Workers, unite, as one class, we have the same problems and must have the same struggle.”
Elsewhere, in a provincial city, PLP organized a meeting with about 30 people, rural and unemployed workers, students and professionals. Our mission was to see that we are part of a single class. We talked about the history of May Day, showing how the bosses give their watered-down idea about this historic day to try to erase from our memory the long history of struggle—often victorious—of the working class.
Down with Capitalism! Now What?
We talked about different workers’ struggles around the world and showed how capitalism is what links them together: we are all fighting the same enemy. We also unmasked the role of capitalism in underpinning the bourgeois state. The participants criticized the capitalist system and came to the conclusion that it must be overthrown. Of course, once this was agreed upon, the next thought is to question how to do this. A PL’er noted that this was the question Lenin asked in his book What Is To Be Done?
Some friends replied that we need solidarity between workers to struggle against the bourgeoisie. One PL’er went further, calling to build a revolutionary communist party that fights for an egalitarian society, without different social classes, a society based on providing for the needs of workers, a society without money.
Another comrade added that we shouldn’t be fearful of communism and invited the participants to continue to organize activities that will sharpen the contradictions between the bosses and the working class, and to join the PLP! After the meeting, comrades and friends continued the day with a dinner, some sharp discussions and the singing of the Internationale in Creole—the first time for all of us, singing the same words as workers around the world, in our own language.
In all, our modest contribution to May Day has inspired us to keep on fighting and building the PLP.
To our fellow workers, comrades, friends and supporters of PLP we send militant and warm greeting from Colombia. We’re getting ready to celebrate May Day, the International Workers’ Day. This is yet another year of bearing the capitalist yoke and its nefarious consequences, aggravated by the economic crisis product of inter imperialist contradictions, and their push for maximum profits and over production, which create the threat of another world war.
The gloomy outlook and reality that’s the life of the working class is almost the same around the world: Wage slavery, unemployment, lack of medical care, poor education, drug addiction, pollution, deforestation, fascism, sexism, individualism, racism and nationalism reinforced by religious zealotry and alienating demo-cretinism. In short: all the evils of capitalism.
For these reasons, comrades and workers of the world, we must steel ourselves against adversity: Now more than ever we need to develop PLP’s line. We must be self-critical of our work to build a stronger party both in quality and quantity. The dark night must come to an end, but we need to sharpen the class struggle, be more creative, consistent and dialectical to bring it about, and demonstrate the historical viability of a communist revolution. The imperialists and their revisionist accomplices want us to believe that revolutionary struggles are illusions, a thing of the past or obsolete and that now we must work hand in hand with our exploiter, that there is nothing better that class collaboration.
Everything we do for the communist cause counts. In this corner of the world we are organizing and lending our support to our class brothers in their rightful struggles. We’re trying to establish new party clubs, and with our literature and revolutionary messages we participate in political meetings with workers and students. Onward, comrades of the world, for an international communist revolution we struggle to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat and build a new communist society.