LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA, March 18—Today, this southern town known primarily for the college started by arch-racist Jerry Falwell, held its first protest over the next imperialist war! Over 50 Lynchburg residents marched against Trump’s proposed budget that would slash environmental protection and education funding and add over $52 billion to the U.S. war budget.
Under the leadership of the Seven Hills Progressive Society, marchers started at the African American Legacy Museum and marched through the neighborhood to the circle. This action built on an earlier rally (CHALLENGE 3/8) that protested Trump’s ban on Muslim immigrants and his fascist wall to keep out Mexican workers.
Friends and members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) helped ensure the success of the march with leaflets, chants and stirring music pumped through the bullhorn. The music of Bob Marley and Phil Ochs helped the marchers up the Virginia hills. A range of chants against war and racism energized the march, “System Change— Not Climate Change” and “Health Care is a Right—T hat is Why We Fight!” Drivers honked their horns in support of the militant calls for workers to fight back while pedestrians eagerly reached for leaflets. Workers here are woke and ready to fight. We can reach workers everywhere!
Marchers also circulated a petition to the Governor demanding that the Virginia Prison System re-institute “parole” to reduce the racist impact of mass incarceration. In the mid-1990s, the Virginia government abolished parole, meaning that all incarcerated people, disproportionately Black, had to serve their entire time, even for minor drug offenses.
The protest, made up of mainly white workers, many of them retired, reached out to Black workers to ensure multi-racial unity in the fight against the bosses. PLP members discussed the upcoming May Day March in New York City on April 29 with many marchers. It seems likely that we will have a Lynchburg contingent at that march.
Dare to struggle, dare to win! The entire working class can move forward to revolution!