TRENTON, NJ, April 16 — The Nazis of the National Socialist Movement celebrated Hitler’s birthday in Trenton and Progressive Labor Party was there to protest their celebration. New Jersey Governor Christie continually prattles on about not having enough money for schools, health care, or any of the other services that the working class needs. However, he had the funds to protect the Nazis with SWAT, attack dogs, armored personnel carriers, helicopters and other elements of the state apparatus. This is a clear slap in the face to the mostly black working class of Trenton.
PLP changed tactics on the ground after surveying the area in which the state would permit us to protest. The KKKops had set up a metal detector and a cage and were not allowing any signs or bullhorns. They wanted to set us up in an isolated area, many blocks away from the working class, and with a canal to our backs.
This was too dangerous a scenario due to the fact that we would be in the cage with the anarchists and the New Black Panther Party, whose beliefs are just as racist and destructive as the Nazis. We would not have been able to get to the Nazis who were demonstrating their “freedom of speech” to push hate and genocide, protected by the KKKops. But there was a big chance that the black nationalists would have attacked us for our belief in internationalism and multi-racial unity.
Instead of entering the KKKop’s pens, we chose to rally on a busy corner a few blocks away, where workers and their families were waiting for buses and shopping. While we picketed in front of a Bank Of America branch, the black workers on the corners surrounding us joined in with chants, and several, disregarding the very cold rain, joined our protest. Instead of giving in to the bosses by marching into their cages, PLP decided to stay where the workers were and distributed hundreds of CHALLENGES that were quickly read by workers driving and walking by. We brought communist consciousness to the workers in a way that we would not have been able to do trapped in the official protest area.
It was inspiring to see black workers join us instead of the black nationalists in the New Black Panther Party. Workers had the opportunity to do so, as the Black Panthers rallied across the street from us for a few minutes before marching to where the bosses wanted us to rally. Watching them posturing and then almost getting run over and endangering one of the families with them as they tried to cross the street highlighted the difference between PL’s mass line versus their elitist line.
Despite the cold rain and the state’s intimidation, PLP made an impact on Trenton’s working class. One young black worker in particular enthusiastically took our chant “The only solution, is communist revolution,” then picked up some CHALLENGES, walked across the street and helped to distribute the paper in spite of the cold downpour.
PLP is correct when we say “no free speech for racists” because the bosses need a fascist movement. The last time the Nazis were given free reign to organize, over 100 million men, women, and children died during World War II. The Red Army smashed the Nazis before, and we in PLP work hard to smash them again.