Los Angeles
Comrades and friends of Progressive Labor Party marched proudly through downtown. Our revolutionary communist group of high school and college students, workers and teachers, made themselves known to the thousands of fellow marchers in the local May Day/Immigrant Rights march. The March organizers wanted workers to focus on voting and immigration reform, but PLP made it loud and clear that May Day is the day for international working-class unity and fight-back.
We carried our red flags proudly while friends carried signs that attacked capitalism and reformism. We reached out to the workers and students around us, winning them to chant, “Queremos un Mundo Sin Fronteras; Tendremos un Mundo Sin Fronteras” (We want a world without borders; we will have a world without borders) and “Este Puno Si Se Ve, Los Obreros al Poder” (the fist that you see will bring the workers to power). A group from two churches marched together in our LA May Day march. It was the first time we’ve linked the two churches, both of which pride themselves on their “social justice” efforts. It was an integrated gathering and we were able to get CHALLENGE to our friends during the march.
Friends and Party members discussed aspects of our line in the march. One woman from a church thought that what we needed was a “charismatic leader” to bring the fragmented and reformists politics together. The PL’er argued for the need for a revolutionary communist Party, the Progressive Labor Party, to unite our class. He said “Wasn’t Obama that charismatic leader?” She said “yes,” but he was never “for the workers.” She’s been close to other comrades and her participation reflects our potential to build the Party within mass organizations engaged in some form of class struggle. The struggle continues! Happy May Day and power to the working class!
The Dinner
“I felt a big responsibility to communicate the message of May Day,” said the young Latina emcee for this year’s May Day Dinner. Kicked off by the energy and enthusiasm of our two young emcees, this year’s dinner offered a night filled with communist celebration, songs and speeches.
The evening began with a brief speech about the importance of fighting for communism and joining PLP. Our other new emcee was a young comrade industrial worker. He shared why he decided to join PLP as a high school student, when he realized that racism, exploitation, and imperialism were products of capitalism.
Over 60 comrades and friends celebrated May Day with PLP. One friend performed two poems, one about embracing anti-sexist politics. A comrade recited a poem written especially for May Day that cast the growing crisis of capital and the expanding wars of U.S. imperialism side-by-side with the slowly rising tide of proletarian resistance around the world. Entitled “Within the Dark Night,” the poem stressed the urgency of joining PLP to help build a worldwide communist movement to end capitalism and its racism, sexism, and genocidal wars.
The comrade also spoke about the upcoming Summer Projects, and invited everyone to join PLP this summer in serving the working class and raising communist politics around the world.
Everyone was blown away by the live musical performances. A band made up of longtime friends of PLP performed a number of politically-charged songs, including a rock version of “Bella Ciao” that got everyone in the room clapping and singing along. A recent friend of the Party delivered a stunning performance of the Latin American songs “Sueño con Serpientes” (Sleep with Snakes) and “Todo Cambia” (Everything Changes).
The songs were punctuated by the speech of an immigrant female worker who spoke about her struggles against sexism, racist exploitation, and the daily hardships of being an undocumented factory worker in Los Angeles. Falling ill to rheumatoid arthritis, she had been fired and left to fend for herself and her children. A collection was started to help her financially.
The night’s main speeches focused on the growing political work PLP is organizing in Los Angeles. A comrade high school teacher shared the struggle on her campus around the cutbacks and the firing of custodial workers and teachers. Under capitalism, profits always come before the basic needs and livelihood of working families, and she stressed it’s no different with education. Her students presented a short “horror-comedy” film about the cutbacks at their high school.
Another comrade spoke about his work within the labor movement and the need to organize for communist politics alongside fellow workers within the mass organizations. “Many of the participants were disillusioned with electoral politics and open to discussing alternatives to elections and capitalism,” he said. Another friend of PLP spoke about his work with community members over issues of affordable housing and racist slumlords. He emphasized the importance of serving the needs of our working-class brothers and sisters by getting directly involved in their day-to-day struggles.
The evening’s main speech discussed the current global crisis of capitalism. While millions of workers are losing their jobs and homes, U.S. corporations and banks enjoy record profits. In the last fiscal quarter, U.S. corporations broke 60-year-old records by making$1.659 trillion in profits. According to the Wall Street Journal, it was estimated that in 2010 a record-high $144 billion would be paid to employees at 35 of the largest banks, hedge funds, money management firms, investment banks, and securities exchanges. Obama’s “Shared Sacrifice” continues to mean workers’ sacrifice so capitalists can continue to profit.
Yet, thousands and thousands of workers from Tunis to Cairo, from London to Wisconsin, from Oaxaca to Athens, are resisting the brutal racism and exploitation of wage slavery and its insatiable need to squeeze ever-more profits out of working families. We urged all present to take CHALLENGE and to join PLP in organizing at our workplaces, at our high schools and college campuses, and in the military to build the needed revolutionary communist movement to smash capitalism. On this May Day, we have nothing to lose but our chains!