Chicago, April 25 — “After all this time of being around and not seeing things getting better, I finally understand the need for a party to end capitalism,” said a long-time supporter of PLP here who has now joined the Party at this year’s May Day celebration. The decision for her to join was a reflection of years of friendship, exposing her to class struggle, Party culture, and a class analysis of the successes and failures of our work in mass organizations. She, and another new comrade who joined after the dinner, represent rays of light climbing out of the capitalist oppression our class is in now.
May Day, the International Workers’ Holiday, has its’ roots in Chicago and is the observance of the Haymarket Massacre of May 4, 1886. Workers on a citywide strike marched in protest against police attacks and for the right to an eight-hour workday. After a police agent threw a bomb from the crowd, the cops attacked and started a full-scale riot. In the end, seven labor leaders were tried and convicted of conspiracy, resulting in the public hanging of four comrades on November 11, 1887. May 1 was chosen as the international day of remembrance for those killed in the massacre.
The theme for this year’s dinner was “Celebrating 50 Years of Class Struggle.” With comrades we hadn’t seen for a while, new members, and our base, we enjoyed delicious food and heard reports of our local work in the city and surrounding areas, national activities, and a report from comrades involved in international struggles. There were performances of spoken word and poems by high school and college members, and a rousing call to action for the Summer Project and the PLP Convention. We took time to give a fond send-off to a very dedicated comrade who was moving away after decades in the fight for communism in the area.
The highlight was the report from our friends from Ferguson and St. Louis, Missouri, on the status of their work and the impact of PLP’s support. The Party took up a collection for the group, as they announced they were making their way to Baltimore to support the struggles there against the murderous police and a racist system of injustice. Mike Brown (Ferguson), Rekia Boyd (Chicago), and Freddie Gray (Baltimore) are just three of the thousands of people slaughtered by a capitalist system that sacrifices our class for their profits. In every city, we see the carnage left behind by killer cops and fascist politicians in their efforts to terrorize and exploit working class people, and super-exploit Black, Latin, Asian, and migrant workers.
Criticism of our dinner included the modest attendance. Also, we agreed to re-commit ourselves to expand our distribution networks , and write for, CHALLENGE, the only newspaper for the international working class. We will continue to struggle with each other to deepen our commitment .
As one of our new comrades expressed, the need for a mass Party to end the suffering of working-class people is ever-growing. During May Day, we celebrate the struggles we have come through and the resolve to continue fighting in this dark night of imperialist oppression. We must work harder to turn the quality of people we win to our fight into the quantity of workers needed to win the war against capitalism. Power, power, power to the Workers!
Mexico City, May 1 — Today, members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party, marched with flags and banners while we chanted communist slogans. Our group represented a beacon in the midst of the dark night of capitalism in crisis and on the brink of wider imperialist wars. Amidst the passivity and opportunism that the reformist, electoral, and phony “communist” organizations pushed amongst the working class, our slogans calling workers to fight for communism and the dictatorship of the proletariat had an impact on thousands of workers. Workers in the march listened carefully to our communist slogans and chants, and many took pictures of our banners and of the children who marched with us carrying red flags.
We distributed more than 6,000 flyers to groups of teachers, electricians, miners, telephone workers, students and other groups that participated in the International Workers’ Day celebration. On the eve of the elections on June 7, our principal slogan is to reject the electoral process and denounce the bosses’ democracy as a bosses’ dictatorship.
Before the march, we organized three dinners with our friends, where we talked about rejecting the electoral farce and imperialist wars. We discussed the importance of committing our lives to organizing a communist, revolutionary party: PLP.
Los Angeles, May 2 — Today PLP marched through the neighborhood where we had begun organizing against the racist murders of Ezell Ford and Omar Abrego by the LAPD. The day before, we participated in the reformist march to greet marchers with our communist politics.
Today’s march is a communist revolutionary march for May Day. One new member described it as “small but spirited.” Workers supported from the sidewalks and cars beeped their horns in support, and for the most part, we were able to march in the street without any interference from the police.
Afterwards, we met at a nearby park recreational center for our dinner. We kicked it off by singing “Bella Ciao” which was followed by inspiring speeches from four new members who spoke about why they joined the Party and called on others to join. Another young leader talked about the history of PLP’s first 50 years.
As we reflected on the year’s activities, we realized the Party here has the great potential to be a mighty force against racism and sexism. PLP participated in the upswing in the fightback surrounding the racist murders of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Ezell Ford here in Los Angeles.
We organized a BBQ prior to May Day. A family member of Ezell Ford attended, among others. We are also witnessing growth in our mass activities, including a new PL member from a local church.
Looking forward, many in the collective recognize that we must respond to these attacks swiftly and mobilize our friends in the process. We should also see May Day as an opportunity to re-dedicate ourselves to winning the working class to our politics. Our Party is moving forward! Happy May Day, comrades!