PLP Celebrates Bolshevik Revolution

New York, November 23–Hope for a communist future was in the air as a multiracial, multigenerational group celebrated the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution with the Progressive Labor Party (PLP). This year we celebrated this annual event with songs, poetry, and dancing to honor the heroic events that led to workers taking state power in Russia. The Bolsheviks freed 1/6 of the world’s surface from the disease known as capitalism.
The events of the night explained the achievements of the Bolsheviks, while also acknowledging the weaknesses and mistakes they made. Progressive Labor Party’s history of learning from both the Bolsheviks’ mistakes and our own was also a theme of the evening. Through decades of struggle against the bosses and inside our party we have advanced our own political understanding.
Communist education
The program began with a PL’er speaking to an audience of over a hundred about joining workers in a call to action, asking everyone to join the fightback against the racist attacks on our brothers and sisters in Colombia (See article below for more details) and the role of the U.S. in this attack on our class. If we are to take ourselves seriously in taking state power, we must take action against all attacks by the bosses.
The program moved forward with a speech from a multiracial duo about the victories and achievements of the Bolshevik revolution. The Bolsheviks established the first worker-run state. They eliminated hunger and illiteracy. They fought racism and elevated women to many positions of leadership. They inspired workers around the world to fight against capitalism, and during World War II they almost single-handedly defeated the Nazis. The Bolsheviks also broke ties with capitalist elections, teaching the working class that the liberals were the same, if not worse, than the conservative parties, and that workers can only trust communists to fight for our interests. Today, as we learn from both their successes and failures, the Progressive Labor Party stands on the shoulders of these giants.
The speech then explained how PLP has advanced our political line. We have moved away from any cult of personality and we have abandoned all forms of nationalism. For over fifty years since our founding, PLP has concluded we must fight directly for communism and not fight for the stage of socialism first, because socialism inevitably leads back to capitalism. In our long history of being embedded in antiracist class struggle with workers, the Party has grown more international and more politically sharp. The speech ended with a call for the audience to join the fight.
Communist art
The tables and walls were decorated with art posters from the Sovet Union. The artwork helped  inspire and remind workers that we can take state power again if we fight for a communist world. We also sold shirts and stickers with “comunist revolution isn’t on the ballot”.
We also had a performance of the Langston Hughes poem “Good Morning Revolution” by a multiracial group of five young students, predominantly female-led. They are leading the fight against racism at their schools. Langston Hughes was a known communist who wrote many poems about how workers needed communism. In “Good Morning Revolution” he writes how the bosses tried to keep workers away from a communist revolution, and how the workers everywhere have a shared interest  and responsiblity in smashing this system and should declare themselves communist organizers in every country.
The program ended with a song/rap about how workers are trained through the bosses’ media that we should be pacifists. The song continued to explain that many workers tried to come in peace but the capitalist rulers have killed and arrested many of our leaders, leaving us with no other choice but to fight back. Then everyone sang the “Internationale” to emphasize that the workers of the world must unite and fight for communism.
The fight continues
This event was a true collective experience. Many different workers took turns in serving food, while others took turns helping with childcare. It’s only at events like these that various capitalist ideologies are left at the door, from sexism to individualism to racism. Through this event we start to envision a world without capitalism, without the profit system, without racism, where workers control all aspects of society; a true egalitarian world, made possible by a communist revolution.