“The kkkops, the kkkourts and the minutemen, all a part of the bosses’ plan!” shouted high school students as Progressive Labor Party (PLP) marched to commemorate the 125-year anniversary of May Day. In this immigrants rights march, 3,000 Asian, Latino, black and white workers marched through the streets of the Pilsen neighborhood surrounded by cops. Despite the presence of the bosses’ thugs, hundreds of CHALLENGES and leaflets were distributed to marchers and workers on the street.
Fake leftist groups were there en masse. One young friend of PLP asked, “What’s the difference between those groups and PLP?” They chanted, “The people, united, will never be defeated,” while we chanted, “The workers, united, will never be defeated.” The weakness in their chant is that bosses are also “people,” but they are only interested in exploiting workers, especially super-exploiting others.
Another group opposed federal spending on war in favor of jobs and education. All imperialist wars must be opposed, but the working class needs state power, not temporary jobs or mis-education from the bosses. Yet another group pushed the line of their individualistic leader. The young friend felt more assured that he marched with the party that had the best line.
During a time of rising fascism, it was unfortunate to see so few workers marching on our holiday. This reminds us of the need for PLP. With a communist analysis, we continue to build a base in the working class to fight the onslaught of the murderous bosses.
At our May Day dinner, young comrades took leadership, organizing the event, reciting poetry and re-enacting the pro-communist Langston Hughes play “Scottsboro Limited.” Other speakers highlighted the bosses’ attacks on black and Latino communities citing the deep cuts in Chicago Public Schools and Cook County Hospital. Local mothers spoke about their continued struggle against schools CEO Ron Huberman to keep their community center open. The speakers inspired the audience with descriptions of their PLP-led fight-back against the racist attacks.
Later that night, it was announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed. Obama claimed that terrorism has, therefore, been weakened. However, the biggest terrorists, the capitalists, continue to oppress, exploit, and murder the working class. Only with international working-class solidarity under PLP’s communist leadership of an armed revolution will we ever be able to celebrate May Day with the bosses off our backs.