BAY AREA, May 6—Today, Progressive Labor Party held a BBQ-social to share May Day history, solidarity, and struggle with our comrades and friends. On May 1, PLP members and friends joined an Immigrant Rights’ May Day March in San Francisco with our Red Flags flying high. There were about 400 participants, immigrants, families and supporters from many countries. We marched with the TPS (Temporary Protected Status) contingent demanding a path to permanent residency, adding our class-oriented chants to the march. We continue to  focus on the international working class as the power that can challenge capitalism in the U.S. and Imperialism around the world.

NEW YORK CITY--Several comrades attended a May Day rally and march on May 1 sponsored by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), Teamsters and other unions and community organizations. About 800 workers marched from Washington Square Park to Foley Square in NYC. We distributed 300 CHALLENGE/Desafio newspapers to workers who enthusiastically received it, many of whom already know the paper from PLP’s long term work in community organizations.

I send you revolutionary greetings from Israel-Palestine, on the forefront of the struggle against fascism. Here, the bosses' dogfight over state power and profits led to the rise of an openly fascist government. This administration makes no liberal pretense and viciously attacks the working class, especially women, workers from Palestine, and refugees.

The old, liberal wing of the ruling class opposes this, fearing that the end of the liberal charade will destabilize the regime and endanger their ties with the international business class, which also prefers to wear the liberal mask.

Meanwhile, the newer, less well-established wing of Israel's bourgeoisie welcomes the new regime, hoping that it will rob the older part of the ruling class and distribute the spoils among the newer wing.This led to mass protests of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly staunchly nationalist (Zionist) in character. We, as communists, participate in the Block against the Occupation, reminding the "patriotic" protesters of "The Elephant in the Room" they would otherwise gladly ignore, namely colonialism.

This May Day, we participate in marches in Nazareth and Jaffa against the regime, against fascism, and for one communist state from the River to the Sea, with equality and freedom for all working class people.March on May Day - smash capitalism and fascism!

As we start our march today, keep in mind that the only way we can create a society that works for our class is that we must fight like hell to get it. We will not win through the ballot box, we will not win it through prayer -- We will win it through building a conscious international working class that is woke to revolutionary communist ideas!

CHICAGO, May 6 –With these true and inspiring words, a veteran Progressive Labor Party (PLP) member helped kick off our International Workers Day (May Day) celebrations. Close to 70 multiracial comrades, youth, co-workers, neighbors and friends enthusiastically rallied and marched through the Uptown neighborhood this afternoon with open calls for communist revolution and workers’ power.
In contrast to many May Day events around the world which have become reformist circuses pushing the bosses’ ideas, PLP unapologetically stays firm in our fight for nothing less than a worker-run egalitarian world. Let the red flag of communist internationalism continue to unite us against capitalism’s racism, sexism, and endless wars for profit!

Rallying our worker forces
The decision to hold May Day in Uptown this year was made in consideration of the sharpened class struggle taking place in this part of the city. In the last year alone, Uptown has been home to some of the most militant fights against capitalist-driven displacement and rotten health care (See CHALLENGE, 9/7/22 and 1/19). Many immigrant and unhoused workers living in the neighborhood have given key leadership to these struggles, and we have been proud to fight alongside them.

Our initial rallying point for the day was a busy intersection next to public transit routes and a city college. Having held weekly CHALLENGE sales and rallies at the same site for months leading up to today, PLP and our communist politics have made an impression already with workers and students in the area.

As more of us filled up the rally area, a pair of comrades led us in chants (including some brand new ones) to get the energy up. We unfurled our communist banners as well as colorful signs that we designed at an art event the weekend before. Along with the veteran comrade’s kickoff speech, another Latin worker highlighted her work organizing among immigrant families in public schools and explained the pitfalls of nationalism:

Nationalism is another one of the problems that we have been fighting to abolish… Internationalism is the goal to end prejudice, injustice and exclusion among the working class.

Take the streets, spread communist politics
With our forces at critical mass, we took the streets and began our march. A security team of marshals helped protect everyone involved and helped guide the pace. A team of CHALLENGE distributors helped ensure the Party’s ideas got into the hands of the masses, getting out approximately 300 newspapers. Many honked their horns and raised their fists in support of our calls for communism. Some even heard our chants and spontaneously joined the march!

We made our way to the site of a clinic associated with Howard Brown Health, one of the bosses’ networks that infamously laid off dozens of workers just before the latest holiday season. At the site a comrade with experience working in nonprofits blasted their exploitative nature with a rousing speech:

We’ve seen schools and mental health clinics close across the south and west sides while racist politicians pour money into policing. Howard Brown is no exception; the cuts and layoffs are happening in the same places where they always make cuts, in Black and Brown communities.

We need to build collective power and abolish capitalism. Under communism we can begin to build a new system where there is mass participation, where workers have real power and control over their labor, and where we can prioritize people and not profits!

Get with the revolutionary program
We concluded our march close to the lakefront, just a stone’s throw from the site of the heroic #RiseUptown anti-displacement struggle last year. A comrade who lives in Uptown shared his analysis of that struggle and the international connections he has built in the neighborhood:

Capitalism can never be reformed… Let’s use the international ties that can be built in Uptown to export our Party’s ideas to more corners of the world, to the international working class!”

We were treated to a delicious lunch along with some pro-worker poetry, May Day greetings from comrades in other countries, and moving performances of Bella Ciao and the Internationale. Lastly, for the keynote speech, another veteran comrade highlighted the power of communist politics and the Party:
The imperialist crisis is providing an opportunity for the international working class and PLP. We are faced with the choice to follow the bosses down the road to war and fascism or to rise as a class to fight for communist revolution and workers’ power. Only communist revolution can end the bosses’ wars!

May Day represents a communist future
May Day will always be a celebration of workers’ power and potential. It is a day when we reinforce our unity, build morale, and are offered a glimpse at a communist future beyond capitalist ideas of race and borders. Let’s live every day like it’s May Day, and win the world we deserve!

LOS ANGELES–The 12 months since last May Day have been a hell of a year for the working class of the world. With Covid-19, imperialist wars, continued police murders and terror, unemployment, and lack of housing ravishing working-class communities, especially Black, Latin and Asian, it can be hard to imagine creating a better world for all of us. But May Day reminds us that we have a communist world to win and we can join together with our class brothers and sisters to fight to achieve that goal.

Celebrating struggle
This year in Los Angeles the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) hosted our own dinner in a local park. Our May Day event was organized by a committee made up mostly of students and close base, several of whom were attending their first May Day. On May Day, a multiracial, multi-generational group of 50 workers gathered to celebrate with speeches, songs, poetry, and food. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon filled with the collective efforts of comrades, friends, and family to bring together nourishment for the mind, body, and soul.

The program was emceed by a comrade and an enthusiastic student celebrating her second May Day. Another group of students shared a skit depicting the history of May Day. In between, musician comrades led us in lively renditions of Bella Ciao, Too Many Names, and Deportees. There was the ever popular Table Talk and CHALLENGE Quiz where we discussed what PLP is and fights for and what communism is and how we can achieve it. Even though not everyone agreed, we had lively discussions that will continue as we move forward.

Another highlight was a poetry performance hono
ring the first May Day fighter, Frederick Holder (who was killed by LA County Sheriffs two years ago), and all the impacted families out in the streets. We continue to fight alongside impacted families in Los Angeles and link their struggles to the world-wide fight against police killings.

The struggle continues
PLP has been involved in struggles against police terror for many years. In LA, we have continued to work directly with several victims’ families during the past year. These families have led regular rallies and protests, recently bringing the fight directly to the District Attorney’s neighborhood and very doorstep. Not only do the families speak about their experiences with the racist LAPD and the LA County Sheriffs, but we show our strength by taking over the street and collectively confronting the police. We have also been active in a tenants union campaign organizing in a building where the slumlord is refusing repairs and trying to evict tenants who are leading the struggle. All of these actions continue to be welcomed and supported by workers who live in these areas.

Many attendees were excited to learn more about communism and PLP. Two students are already planning to participate in next year’s May Day program and others are ready to come to the summer project. As a result of our ongoing work, many hundreds of people have been exposed to communist and antiracist politics and more people understand the strength of the working class when we unite. The future here looks bright for the growth of PLP and our movement to rid the earth of the capitalist exploiters and their henchmen in “law enforcement.”