NEW YORK CITY, February 14 — This past weekend, members and friends of the PLP from throughout the city met, guided by the slogan of “sharpening up the contradictions” between communism and capitalism.
We started on Friday by taking a collective of students and teachers to see the movie “Valentine’s Day.” This film was a piece of crap but the theater was packed and millions more went to see it over the weekend. So we figured we would too, and try to sharpen up the struggle against the racist, sexist and imperialist ideas the bosses need us to absorb.
Our estimate of the period is that the rulers need to win over larger segments of the population to such views. They also are very adept at providing the masses with endless options to escape a reality of economic crisis and war. So we went to the movie expecting escapism, racism, sexism and pro-war propaganda. Sure enough it was all there, and several of the students we brought were spot-on in identifying the bosses’ messages in this seemingly harmless film. We reconvened Saturday morning, veteran and newer comrades alike, and sure enough we had a study group to discuss the movie’s plotlines and politics.
Following the discussion was a very cold but enthusiastic march in Harlem. The march went past project buildings, a precinct where we denounced killer kkkops, a methadone clinic, corporate banks, and an army recruiting station situated in the heart of Harlem.
Response to our chants of “Imperialist war means we got to fight back!” and “The workers united can never be defeated!” was mainly positive. One resident encouraged us to keep marching after expressing his anger of methadone clinics in his neighborhood. Having drug clinics in a mainly black and Latino neighborhood is no solution for health care, and is a result of the ruling class’ racist attempt to oppress workers.
With CitiGroup receiving $45 billion in bailout money, we picketed a Citibank branch and encouraged people to join us. Barack Obama bailed out the banks and Wall St. with hundreds of billions this past year, yet teachers and students are facing cuts to funding for their classrooms.
We picketed an army recruiting station in a mostly black neighborhood. Along with bailing out banks, the bosses also target working-class neighborhoods for their imperialist war operations overseas. The bosses are desperate to gain soldiers for their oil wars by bribing scholarship money or citizenship to soldiers in return for their blood. Our picket received many words of encouragement from those close-by, who joined our chants and called for “death to the bosses!” We will be back in these neighborhoods.
Several young comrades gave street speeches for the first time. CHALLENGE and our chants were well-received in general on streets where major rebellions rocked the bosses system in the past and will do so again.
Sunday wrapped up our weekend with a study group on contradiction, the first law of dialectical materialism, our universal philosophy. We discussed the need to sharpen contradictions in our PL work. We shared common experiences of pushing forward political struggle with allies, of striking the balance of seeking out the points of disagreement with our friends even as we strive for greater unity in the relationship. We reaffirmed the vital importance of building these relationships in the context of campaigns to also sharpen up struggle against the bosses’ system and its attacks on our class wherever we are. We emerged in a stronger position to build towards a fighting May Day 2010.