NEW YORK, NY — The Summer Project showed that PLP is all about trying to create a fighting mass party. Participants came from around the world and boosted the confidence of the youth-led Summer Project, which led up to PLP’s 2010 Convention (see page 3). We sold over 7,550 CHALLENGE’s and improved our tactics of talking to workers when distributing the paper to make contacts and asking workers to pay for the paper. We collected over $2,000 and made dozens of contacts.
We sold CHALLENGE at factories, bus barns, hospitals, schools and working-class neighborhoods. One group spent a day at a military base distributing CHALLENGES and GI Notes and making contacts with soldiers.
Study groups were held on how to build a base for communist revolution and how the fall of the old communist movement affects our fight today.
One of the most significant events of the Project was a demonstration in front of the Council on Foreign Relations where U.S. bosses plan how best to attack workers and wage imperialist war. Another was a demonstration in Staten Island where a few black workers who have been temporarily won to the bosses’ racism have brutally attacked immigrant workers (see article above). PLP is fighting for working-class unity of all workers, immigrant and U.S. born, who have more in common with each other than with the bosses.
We also screened several movies like “Cradle Will Rock,“ a movie about the politics of art and “Salt of the Earth,” an anti-sexist movie about a miners’ strike.
Letters from the Summer Project
As a 28-year-old student from Palestine, I was positively surprised by the readiness of U.S. workers to accept our line. Before I came here I thought that anti-communist
attitudes were prevalent here but now I know that the U.S. working class is very open to our ideas.
We sold a very large number of CHALLENGES at the schools, one hospital and a bus barn. We also held two
rallies. Workers passing by were quite supportive of us and many were ready to buy CHALLENGE. I think that U.S. workers are open to our ideas and that Party clubs should sell CHALLENGE on a routine basis and in regular locations for workers to be able to get our paper every two weeks on the street. I was also impressed with the revolutionary determination of the Party members over here and their comradely spirit as our hosts. I think that the Party has the potential to change the world and establish a better world — the worker’s world — once and for all.
A Comrade from Palestine
The future of PLP is bright. The dedication and commitment of young comrades from many areas is very inspiring. Their desire to get up early in the morning, sell CHALLENGE, and study the Party’s ideas is a testament to the Party developing new leadership. One of the most impressive aspects of the project was the collectivity among comrades.
People of all ages worked together to figure out meals, transportation, housing, CHALLENGE sales, and social events. In addition, the willingness of our young comrades to strike up conversations with workers during our paper sales shows tremendous potential in our efforts to build a base in the working class. For the future, we could do a better job in discussing ways in which contacts could be made with some of the workers during these conversations.
Finally, an important lesson for all of us was how CHALLENGE can truly become a mass paper. In one location, we were able to distribute over 400 papers in 45 minutes and 250 in 20 minutes in another location.
Project volunteer
I sold CHALLENGE for the first time, which was amazing because I got money. I got to meet new people in the Party and got to reunite with friends I met at the John Brown march in West Virginia. I got to learn what it means to be a comrade and what it means to be in the Party. I received $20 selling CHALLENGE, which I thought was amazing for one day. I learned how many people are not informed with what is going on and how some people know and agree with us, which is awesome and feels good that you have some support. Overall, I think that this Summer Project was a wonderful experience that I learned a lot from and will always remember.
Project volunteer
When I sold CHALLENGE I learned that the bosses are taking away people’s money because the bosses want more money. When I sold CHALLENGE I made $3.56. I also gave the bus drivers CHALLENGE because the bosses were taking the MTA jobs away from the bus drivers.
10-year-old Project volunteer
Generally, it was incredible and overwhelming to see how the Party operates on a huge scale,
especially for us, comrades from a remote club. I could see the U.S. working class very open to communist politics especially in very oppressed
areas like Bushwick in Brooklyn and at the CHALLENGE sales in front of high schools which were also located in working-class areas such as in Queens and the Bronx. For me it was a unique visit to see New York not as a tourist but as a worker who lives in the city. It was also impressive to see the dedication and devotion to the revolutionary communist cause in the heart of the imperialist beast. It was incredible to meet comrades from all over the world and to get inspired by their sacrifice in order to build the international revolutionary communist party.
In conclusion this visit emphasized the need for proletarian internationalism and the correctness of the line of the workers’ communist revolution and how the old slogan is still relevant.
Workers of the World Unite!
A comrade from the Middle East