ISRAEL-PALESTINE, May 1—In opposition to demonstrations organized by anti-communist organizations on May Day, Progressive Labor Party brought revolutionary communist ideas to the masses.
The first rally was in Nazareth, organized by the phony “Communist” Party. Despite being festooned with red flags, the message was one of making “peace.” They never even mentioned communism. A PL’er distributed CHALLENGES and leaflets in the crowd to spread the real message of communist revolution.
In Tel-Aviv, there was a march of up to 300 people. PL’ers came with red shirts and several types of our literature, which were welcomed by the marchers. There were antiracists at this march, including an anti-fascist block that held a banner reading “Destroy Zionism.”
On May Day itself, the Histadrut, the Zionist union federation, and related youth movements, as well as the “Labor” Party, organized their own march. It was a farce, as most marchers were from the liberal-Zionist youth movement. But, a small block was fighting against the wage-slavery of contract workers. We marched with them.
Though the mass movement here may be filled with racist ideas, and the fightback may seem small, Progressive Labor Party knows there are always pro-communist people among the crowd. To the anti-racists, the anti-sexists, the anti-war workers and youth—there is another alternative to capitalism. We can’t look to unions, liberal institutions, and phony communist organizations to bring the communist politics or the internationalism. They are all in one way or another tools of the ruling class—to repress, mislead, or outright attack the working class.
PLP stands for a world without profits, imperialist wars, racist borders, or oppression of women. We aim to build one world with a united working class giving leadership through PLP. With effort, we can bring more people to May Day next year and have the spectre of communism haunt the bosses and their agents.