OAKLAND — Progressive Labor Party members and friends marched as a communist section in a Coalition May Day March. The whole march had an anti- capitalist tone and was filled with young people from community groups, non-governmental organizations, and schools. Our banner and red flags spoke to our confidence in a communist future.
Earlier in the day, PLP and friends attended job actions around the Bay Area. Nurses struck eight Sutter hospitals. Golden Gate Bridge workers picketed the bridge and, together with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), shut down morning ferry service. The ILWU also shut down the Port of Oakland for one shift. Janitors marched in force in downtown San Francisco. The Occupy movement shut down banks, occupied Child Protective Services to protest its sexism, and marched in downtown Oakland.
As usual, the media put the stamp of “violence” on the entire May Day and justified attacks on demonstrators by the Oakland police. But they left unreported the more than 5,000 protesters in the streets and the growing focus on capitalism as the fundamental problem.
Amalgamated Transit Union Local 192, AC transit workers, called a morning picket in paratransit, which serves the most vulnerable riders: seniors, the disabled, and low-income families. Paratransit workers are mainly black, Latino and immigrants, at the lowest rung of the transit hierarchy. PLP and Occupy AC Transit put out hundreds of flyers, pointing out the racism in transit.
Our May Day message to transit workers and riders: “Capitalism has no use for those whose labor can’t produce a profit….PLP celebrates May Day as a revolutionary, international working-class holiday to advance and popularize ‘Production for Need’ as the future of the human race.”
On Facebook and Twitter, many quotes summed up the day:
“May Day, International Workers’ Day, in the Bay: La Lucha es Constante [The Struggle is Eternal], the times are changing!”
“We got a great reception to PLP and our banner along the streets, lots of raised fists, and smiles along the march route.”
“Our leaflets were well done….I saw them being distributed throughout the march.”
“I liked the camaraderie between different groups….”
Experienced comrades and first-timers distributed CHALLENGEs and we connected with some of the activists who organized in the May Day coalition.
At the beginning, we had a bullhorn rally in English and Spanish to greet those arriving on Bay Area Rapid Transit. A group of Latino youth behind us echoed our chants, and we picked up theirs. This call and response continued throughout the march. A real mobilizer was “Fight Back”: “Trayvon Martin means fight back, Oscar Grant means….School closings mean…Capitalism means….Racism means …..Internationalism means…”
At one point we interacted with a brass band that was playing the anti-fascist resistance song, “Bella Ciao.” They asked our comrade who was leading chants in Spanish whether he knew the words. He started singing, “Una mañana, del sol radiante…” Our contingent and others joined in. One young person told us that he was from Italy, where the song originated, and was reporting on the march. After looking at our banner and at CHALLENGE, he said that he would tell others in Italy that there are communists in the U.S.