MAY DAY 2020: LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES, May 1—“When they say get back, we say fight back!” The coronavirus is causing some of the most horrific attacks on the international working class that we have seen in decades. Yet in the spirit of fightback against this racist profit system, Progressive Labor Party (PLP) here organized a 25-car-strong motorcade to celebrate May Day 2020. While practicing the proper health measures, we were determined to find a way to honor the revolutionary history of May Day and be a beacon of light for our class. The fight against capitalism must continue no matter what external conditions may exist!
Workers take to the streets by any means (safely) necessary
We protested with a motorcade through Inglewood and Los Angeles that included three rallying points symbolic of our fight.  As cars filed in to the meet up location, they received packets with maps and information on protesting while maintaining covid-precautions.  We decorated our sound truck and leading car with red flags, signs opposing racist gentrification, and a 6-foot banner commemorating Alex Flores and the fight against racist police that we have used in our Flores Friday marches.  Cars were also adorned with signs like “Capitalism Kills.” We were covered by masks and gloves yet the spirit of May Day was all around us.
Supporters came from many areas of work outside of the Flores family struggle and tenants work including high school teachers and students, healthcare workers and those involved in a local jail fight.  Chants rang from our sound truck which set the tone that on May 1st, the international working class will fight back! Led by two PLP members and the sister of Alex Flores, we made our way to the first rallying point.  The first target was an apartment building that was being deliberately allowed to deteriorate by the landlord because it sits in the shadow of the massive Rams football stadium being built across the street, the unmistakable symbol of racist gentrification.  As our chants, “racism means… gentrification means, we got to fight back” rang out, passersby and cars driving by raised their fist or chanted in support!
Speakers called out the landlord by name, describing their horrible living conditions, including an immigrant worker and tenant we are working with who have  a history of celebrating May Day in Mexico.  The sister of Alex Flores, who has been fighting against the racist police murder of her brother for the last six months, gave a sobering speech about the role of police in our society. A comrade called for those fighting racist police murders and gentrification to join Progressive Labor Party and fight for a communist world.  He offered a moving metaphor asking those listening to think about “contact tracing” (a method to contact those who could be spreading an infectious disease). Listeners were asked to apply that logic over the last 500 years to the source of all ills, whether it be unemployment, police murder, gentrification, or imperialist war, back to capitalism.  
As we left Inglewood and entered Los Angeles, we received massive support from workers in front of their homes, walking down the street or driving by in their cars.  The working class of South Central is clearly fed up with ridiculously high rents, killer cops, and many other aspects of capitalism.
Uniting mass work on May Day
In preparation, Progressive Labor Party united the work within a tenants’ mass organization with the fight we’ve organized with the Flores family against racist police murder (see CHALLENGE, 4/15). Our theme for May Day 2020 was  communism is the solution to a capitalist system that kills workers in our homes and in the streets.
We connected these struggles politically in the planning meetings. For example, in one of the meetings, a PLP member stressed how the police are used to oppress the working class whether it be through physical violence in the streets or the sheriff’s department evicting families from their homes. A friend from the tenant’s organization wanted a particularly heinous landlord and the broader issue of gentrification to also be included in the list of targets. The proposal was for May Day to call for the cancellation of rent and to abolish the police with the understanding that we can only do this by smashing capitalism.
The fight for Flores lives on
The third leg of the motorcade took us to the neighborhood of Alex Flores where we have been protesting weekly for the last six months. An entire family on a small street jumped and screamed in their front yard as we passed by.  We coursed through the neighborhood, taking small streets that we had been canvassing over the last couple of weeks and passed the corner where another person was killed less than two weeks ago by LAPD after a car chase.  We have yet to get in contact with anyone from their family at this point.  We continued to Newton police station, where we have marched every Friday since November, ending on a spirited note.
From start to finish, it was four hours long, longer than anticipated.  Unfortunately, this meant that many people left the motorcade before getting to the end.  Nevertheless, we pulled off a major feat by seizing the streets in this period of “sheltering at home” and stretching clear across the city, connecting two key struggles.  It was clear that workers are receptive and are searching for answers. We must continue to build the fight for a communist world!