AUSTIN, TX, March 24 — Over 4,000 protestors descended on the state capitol to stand against cutbacks in education. Though the march was smaller than last year’s rally of 12,000, the crowd was much more militant, and the forces around the Party have grown substantially.
PL teachers and workers organized nearly 30 students and several parents to travel from surrounding cities to Austin. On the ride, one teacher organized students to make signs. After lots of discussion, one student made the connection between imperialist war and the budget cuts to education. Her sign declared “Less bombs, more schools!” Others made signs attacking the local school board and their decision to gut college readiness programs like AVID. One sign read “RIP Our Future” with the word “AVID” on the tombstone.
We also discussed how instead of begging the bosses to “Save Our Schools,” we should use slogans like “Students, Teachers, and Parents Unite to Fight School Cuts.” The latter declaration separates us from the enemy, the administrators and local school board members. One teacher pointed out a contradiction: even though the school board president and superintendent attended the rally, they are the ones implementing all the cuts.
At the march grounds, busloads from all over the state began assembling: student teachers in training all the way from the University of Texas, El Paso, and teachers, students and parents from Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. A student drumline in the front of the march set the militant tone. As the march proceeded, the chant promoted by the organizers “Save our schools” was seen by many as too weak. Many friends of PLP were won to chant the more militant, “When they say cut back, we say fight back! Cut back! Fight back!” When a group of students started the “Fight-back” chant, others around began joining in. Rally organizers quickly drowned out our calls to “Fight back” with their calls to “Give me a V, give me an O, give me a T, give me an E!”
The students who attended saw a distinction between the liberal call to “VOTE” and the calls in the PL leaflet for working-class unity and communist revolution. PL’ers sold the latest CHALLENGE and passed out over 500 PLP leaflets.
One student who read the PL leaflet said that he did not believe a passage that said schools are more segregated now than in 1968. A teacher who is a friend of PL’ers but not yet in the Party defended the leaflet, informing the student that the leaflet was correct and that racism in education is getting worse, not better.
In the end, students gained a valuable experience, reporting that they never knew there were so many people who were angry about the cutbacks in education and the new state exam called STAAR. For many of these students, this was the first march they have ever been to, and they now have more of a fighting spirit.
Many of the Party’s flyers and papers ended up in the hands of the students who traveled to Austin and many more were brought back to students, teachers and parents who were unable to attend. Over the next few weeks we are making plans for a study group around the flyer and other anti-cutback materials. Students are also organizing to confront local board members at the next meetings about the planned cuts.
The rally against the cutbacks in education was a huge success for the Party. As we move forward to May Day, we hope to gain many new fighters for the working class!