The Republican National Convention (RNC) has never been a welcoming place for communists. With Trump being shot two days prior to the start of the RNC, the stakes were even higher. During a tense time and an extremely hot day, 20 Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends were able to overcome a lot of fear and bring our line to the working class of Milwaukee. While navigating through a sea of revisionists and single issue groups, we reminded everyone around through our chants and our literature that communism is the only solution.

Planning a summer project in a city 30 minutes from where 17 year old Kyle Rittenhouse shot three workers - two fatally - for standing up against racism in August 2020 was no easy feat. Everyone involved felt fear particularly about the open carry status of Wisconsin and the potential for crazed MAGA supporters to show up. Through collective planning and action though, confidence took the place of fear and determination positioned us to provide leadership to the working class.

Local bosses, kkkops offer nothing but fascism

Milwaukee is historically one of the most segregated cities in the country. The working class there was left behind decades ago when bosses abandoned the city, moving their factories in the search for cheaper labor. Vacant lots, boarded up buildings, and encampments of unhoused workers just outside of the downtown area demonstrated the state in which the city has been left. The $200 million RNC bill after just four days could have certainly been put to better use for workers there.

A chunk of that huge bill went to showing workers of Milwaukee fascism up close and personal. 4500 cops were brought in from around the country in addition to the local city and state police, as well as the Secret Service. Concrete barricades were used well outside the perimeter of the convention to prevent residents from driving around downtown. Cages were set up ready to handle protests in the event of mass arrests. 
There were dozens of security checkpoints. Cops used horses, bikes, and boats with M240 belt-fed machine guns to cover maximum ground.

Beating back revisionism

We bravely stared fascism in the face and carried out our plan to provide political leadership to the march. As revisionists and misleaders chanted “Si se puede'' and “Power to the people',” we interjected, “Trump and Biden, all the same, racist terror is the name of the game” and “Free, free Palestine, fight for communism, now’s the time.” Many marchers joined our chants. Even those affiliated with the revisionist parties commented on their appreciation for our chant’s revolutionary fervor. 

One young woman stayed with us the entire route. We shared a CHALLENGE with her and asked her why she chose us out of all the groups there. She said we are communists and she is a communist. Although only 16, she came to these ideas on her own and identified them in us through our chanting. She shared her address to receive a subscription to the paper and said she will join our events and potentially our organization once she turns 18.

Another woman was driving and honking alongside the first lap of the march, so we got her a newspaper. She came back around the second lap of the march and held CHALLENGE out of her car and screamed enthusiastically about what she read.

Workers need a real solution!

At the end of the day, everyone in earshot of the march knew that there are choices beyond Trump or Biden. They may not be ready to make that choice yet, but they will certainly remember that whether they were there to protect abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, or something else, PLP was there to remind them that abolishing capitalism and setting up a communist world is the only way to actualize their vision. We will take this momentum and use it to prepare for bringing the same message to the DNC next month. The struggle continues!

Some of us Kentucky comrades went to the Republican National Convention (RNC)  to protest and immediately ran into fascist cops on old-school horses and bikes as well as boats in the water (when did the pigs learn circus tricks!). I used my scream-singing pitch for megaphone chants. It was a hit! It was cool to see other organizations we don't necessarily agree with coordinating chants and drums together. We also struggled with them by inserting our chants about class struggle as more and more of the crowd followed along. We took the road of "struggle with, struggle against!" We were able to distribute CHALLENGE widely including to many liberals, who were at least condemning genocide in Gaza. They were ready to criticize Small Fascist Republicans but not the Big Fascists (see glossary on page 6), so we included chants targeting both. One worker had a tattoo of our logo, the fist and star and didn't know the Party, so we gave him a CHALLENGE with the logo!

Next day, heading back to the RNC , we found out that the Ohio KKKops killed a homeless man in a Milwaukee encampment. That morning we also found out that a Black worker was murdered by hotel security and that family members of both murdered men were going to be there.

Despite just hearing about these murders that morning, the Party was on the go! We were all over the place this week, very flexible, jumping into action very quickly. It was intense and bold on a level that Appalachian comrades weren’t used to. My initial thought was that Ohio state cops murdering an already-displaced Samuel Sharpe outside their jurisdiction (when their one job was to be at the RNC) would be a bad look for them.

But the bosses and their cops know no borders! Neither should workers! We should resist letting them sweep workers away like we’re trash before their circus events! Cops claimed they saw Sharpe’s knife when they were 30 feet away. But the KKKops pulled guns out before confirming a weapon and ran up on him and murdered him. Using the justification of having a small knife, F___ that! That man was living in a tent and had nothing. His homie said they shot him on the sidewalk, moved the body to the grass then moved it back. "They got that yellow tape so they can investigate themselves and cover up their tracks!" he said.

The workers living in the encampment were militant towards the bosses’ media and solid with each other. They told us to “get on outta here” until we said we're not reporters. One said, "I got information but you ain't gonna get it without some money!" But they quickly opened up when we showed solidarity, and the same guy ended up asking us for a paper! They all took copies of CHALLENGE. We had conscious political conversations near the yellow tape where the KKKops could hear "F___ Tha Police!" blasting from their car. The encampment had a community garden. One man told us that "when you're living like that y'all gotta take care of and protect each other, collectively.” A man with a walker said, "And these are the people who supposed to protect us?" A comrade responded, "They protect the rich!" He laughed "right!"  and dapped us up. A woman walking from across the street saw our numbers and must have known we were Org'd up. "Power to the people!, she yelled. I ran over there and gave her CHALLENGE before we dapped everybody up and headed back to the hotel in preparation for the dual-racist murder protests later that night. During the vigil we chalked the wall "racism means we got to fight back” with the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) logo.

I was also interviewed by Hot 91 and promoted the necessity of the working-class revolution.There were choppers and drones and a cop car sitting in the hotel parking lot specifically to spy on us. PL’ers were leading pro-worker chants and some of members from Party for Socialism Liberation (PSL) and other revisionist groups who were open to us  joined in. I spoke to a couple of PSL members here and there. After overhearing one of them saying the Nazis are in Tennessee again, I asked him if he'd like a paper. "We're here internationally but I'm from Kentucky so that's just the kinda fascism we're dealing with" (and I'm from Brooklyn! a comrade behind me interjects). He declined the paper, then thought about it silently after I said that and was like, alright, and took a copy.

Meanwhile, comrades were breaking off from the march to the sidewalk to hand out CHALLENGE to the community, leaving them on porches and fences. I ran across the street to an apartment complex, their windows were open and people in every apartment were cheering for us. One raised up her CHALLENGE yelling, "I already got it!" LOL! Good work PLP!

Watered-down liberal misleaders hold back the working class, trying to shut down our chants as well as trying to shut down a distraught and grieving Black worker who witnessed the shooting. "He had his hands up! I've got it on my phone!” Our chants were louder than the liberal crowd and they had a bullhorn!

In Appalachia, we can win poor white workers to communist ideas with little resistance. Our main danger comes in the form of revisionist, liberal misleaders. The revisionist would've compared the socially conservative views of Appalachian workers to the ideas we heard today and say, "At least they're starting to become radical". We don't need merely "radical". The working class need state power! We need communism! Smash identity opportunism! We dealt with it at home so we know it when we see it. The liberals talked about "outsiders", how they're not willing to visit the encampments (but we did! They are our brothers and sisters!). Then they let one "outsider" speak while isolating the worker who lived there and witnessed the shooting trying to tell the crowd about the cover up! Under PLP leadership no worker is an outsider, we are all right there with our comrades in Gaza!  Palestinian liberation is impossible without the international working class refusing to collectively make and ship the bombs to the Zionist fascists!

The working class is open to our revolutionary antiracist ideas and militancy, so let’s keep it up as we move on to the Democratic National Convention!

MILWAUKEE, July 16—Members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) joined scores of enraged community members to protest the racist murder of Samuel Sharpe just hours after five Ohio killer KKKops shot him eight times in the back. Samuel’s friends and neighbors told us that the cops were 30 feet away and that he may have been in the midst of a mental health crisis when the police killed him. Samuel was displaced and living in an encampment near where he was murdered. 

Under capitalism, the police exist to protect the bosses’ property and serve the ruling class. In this case, 4000 extra police officers from outside the city flooded Milwaukee to, as a neighbor put it, “protect a rich Republican” (WISN12.com, 7/11). Displacement is a byproduct of the capitalist need to profit from the ownership and sale of private property. It is displaced workers like Samuel that are victimized all over the world by these profit- driven schemes and puts them at a higher risk of being terrorized by the police. 

We responded quickly to Samuel Sharpe’s murder and arrived at the crime scene around two hours after Samuel was shot. His friends and neighbors were outraged at the dozens of cops with machine guns who had blocked off the area. One of his friends said, “They got that yellow tape so they can investigate themselves and cover their tracks!"

No good cops in a racist system

Once we made it clear that we were not reporters, workers were very receptive to CHALLENGE and shared sharp ideas about what had happened to their friend. They expressed anger that Samuel’s murderers, the Columbus, Ohio Police Department, were only here in the first place for the RNC and explained that there had been encampment evictions in the area not long before the murder. Many agreed that neither Democrats or Republicans will change conditions for workers, and some spoke of the need for multiracial unity. One of Samuel’s neighbors blasted N.W.A.’s “F— Tha Police” from their car while we had political conversations. 

Some of Samuel’s neighbors argued that Milwaukee, not Ohio kkkops should have been in the neighborhood. All KKKops serve as the bosses’ army, and all terrorize the working class. The hands of Milwaukee police officers are just as drenched in blood–they murdered Sylville Smith in 2016 and Dontre Hamilton in 2014.

Liberal misleaders hold back the working class!

Later at a vigil and protest, liberal misleaders did their best to redirect the anger of the working class into reformist politics. The leader of the vigil, who did not know Samuel, refused to let a PLP comrade speak saying he was not “from the community” and criticized "outsiders" claiming they are not willing to visit the encampments (we did!). He then let someone from Philadelphia speak while shutting down a distraught worker who witnessed the shooting. As this worker yelled in anguish, "He had his hands up! I've got it on my phone,” the vigil leaders surrounded him and drowned him out with chants. 

The family of D’vontaye Mitchell, another Black worker murdered by Hyatt hotel security for no reason other than being a Black man living under racist capitalism, came to the protest in solidarity. But the vigil leaders did not allow them to speak either.

It’s clear from the mass deployment of KKKops to Milwaukee that the bosses and their servants know no borders. Neither should workers! In the fight for communism and collective liberation, no worker is an outsider. None of us are free until we are all free, and the end to police murder is impossible without the efforts of the international working class.

Workers want and deserve more!

During the march PLP members passed out CHALLENGE. Other comrades sharpened the politics of the reformists’ chants, which got a positive reception. Instead of “What do we want? Community control!” we chanted “What do we want? Revolution!” Even without a bullhorn, our chants were often the loudest in the crowd. Police drones and helicopters flew overhead, and representatives of the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service were there to “keep the heat down,” which really means to control working class anger about state murder!  As we ended the march, one comrade led us in a rousing and energetic, “Fight back, fight back, we want freedom, freedom! All these racist killer cops-– we don’t need em, need em!” It was evident that workers want more than reforms and performative rituals. Join us in the fight that workers need and deserve—the fight for communism and a world free of police murder, genocide, and ruling class elections. Join Progressive Labor Party!

July 3, 2024, Philadelphia, PA—Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends joined other members of the National Education Association (NEA), for their annual convention. On the agenda were several new business items (NBIs) related to Palestine that education workers have been fighting for including specifically teaching about the Nakba and genocide, undoing the NEA's endorsement of Genocide Joe Biden for president, building solidarity between education workers and anti-genocide protesters, and calling for more funding for education instead of war. 

We have been struggling against war budgets in one district where they were underfunded by $55 million but managed to contribute more than $400 million for nuclear weapons to weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Then the district laid off teachers, closed its virtual academy, and cut back pre-kindergarten programs. Just another example of the priorities of capitalism to fund profit and imperialist wars over educating working class children. PLP linked their local struggles to the struggle against capitalism which can only be destroyed by organizing workers for a communist revolution.

Rally against genocide

To kick-off the convention, attendees organized a rally and march in support of the NBIs and against the genocide in Palestine. The rally was inspirational and energetic. The multiracial group of educators held signs, flags and wore keffiyehs in support of the proposed NBIs. Zionists staged a counter-rally a mere 50 feet from us, where they were (of course) protected by the police. At our rally, each NBI proposer came to the microphone to explain the rationale and importance of their proposal to cheers and applause. Jewish teachers spoke passionately about their support for the end of the genocide. A PLP member spoke about attempting to pass a ceasefire resolution in their local union that was ruled “out of order”(CHALLENGE,3/16). When they denounced capitalism and made the call for the working class to break free and create a new life, where we would all get what we need, the crowd applauded and shouted words of support. 

As the Zionist counter protests became louder, the speaker yelled at them to shut up! Our group showed that we were unafraid and ready to fight back. They ended the speech with the chant “Arab, Jewish, Black, white, Latin, and Asian - to free Palestine and all nations we must unite!” Other PLP members distributed about 30 CHALLENGES headlined “Communism is Liberation.” A leaflet also detailed the demands of teachers who are fighting back against false charges of antisemitism because of their support for Palestine and criticism of the U.S. and Israel's role in the genocide.

After a few more teachers spoke, it was time to march! The multiracial, multi-generational group of educators marched enthusiastically through the streets of Philadelphia chanting, “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel's crimes!” and “Not another penny, not another quarter, no more money for Israel's slaughter.” At the park, we engaged in more chants and then heard from teachers who have been experiencing repercussions for speaking out against the war. One teacher's students created a podcast to discuss the genocide in Gaza and, despite being approved by the administration, another teacher leaked the students’ photos and address to dangerous Zionist groups. Two more teachers talked about their experiences of being placed on administrative leave for speaking or posting in support of Palestine and against the ruling class of Israel and the IDF.

Convention canceled

Fortunately, the conference did not go on as planned; it was shut down  by the workers who make the NEA, and the imperialist system it defends run, so none of the NBIs were debated. Conferences like these provide an opportunity to advocate for our class siblings in Palestine, and also to meet and befriend more educators who are interested in good causes and with whom we can discuss alternatives to capitalism.

We need to continue to bring our message of antiracist, working-class solidarity and class war against the capitalists. A united working class is an unstoppable force that can truly make a change. Joining the PLP is the way to create worker unity and topple capitalism once and for all! Power to the working class! Join us!