Indiana — A group of students got together and organized an anti-police terror rally on campus. The rally was organized by three student organizations, Students for Social Change, Black Student Union, and the Latin Cultural Club, where PL has a solid base.
The aim of the rally was to show solidarity with Walter Scott in Charleston, South Carolina, Justus Howell in Zion, Illinois, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore. PL’ers and friends gave speeches detailing the injustices of capitalism and how it needs racism and police terror to sustain itself. Connections with the struggle in Ayotzinapa and Palestine were made as well.
Building Leadership
In the initial planning of the rally, there were some questions as to how the university, which is very bureaucratic, would respond to an unplanned protest. Despite this uncertainty, we continued with having the rally and dared the administration to stop us. They never did.
The number of students at the rally was small. Initially there were about seven, but that number grew to fifteen after some students passing by decided to join.
We managed to get out about 30 CHALLENGEs even though the area we selected (mistakenly) wasn’t as highly trafficked as we had at first thought. Even though we didn’t find as many passersby as we wanted, friends who are new to giving leadership were strengthened and politicized by organizing the event.
After the rally, they were already saying, “When are we organizing the next one?” and “The next one should be at City Hall, so we can call out the mayor.”
Communism: A Long-term Struggle
Campus work in Indiana is very modest and is rebuilding itself. But even with these slow gains, the work is solid and has a sound foundation. We have learned first-hand that quality is primary over quantity, and that students can be won to multi-racial unity. We are continuing the struggle to win our base to communism, not just in theory or practice, but in both.
This takes a long-term outlook on revolution, because even after the eventual seizure of state power, the actual revolution is just beginning. Taking power will be a hard task to complete, but reorganizing society will be an even harder one. However, it is what is to be done if we wish to have a world free from exploitation, wars, racism, sexism, and any other obstacle that oppresses the working class.