Workers’ Day 2020: CHICAGO

CHICAGO, May 2—Close to 50 multiracial Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades and friends gathered at a park on the city’s west side today, to celebrate International Workers Day. Proudly waving red flags, revolutionary banners and signs, we proclaimed to the masses our communist messages of antiracism, antisexism, internationalism and workers’ power.
Hardly a month and a half ago, our collective was unsure if we would be able to host our annual May Day celebration this year, because of the health risks posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. But collectivity, organization, and communist boldness go a long way. Today’s success shows how we continue to adapt and put our revolutionary line into practice in creative and inspiring ways.
As the racist pandemic continues to devastate workers the world over, the revolutionary spirit of May Day and need for organizing a mass PLP are as essential as ever. We are proud to carry on the generations of communist struggle represented by International Workers Day, and build the lifelong fight for a borderless world!
This is our time!
A handful of comrades arrived early at the rally site to begin preparing for our physically distanced demonstration. Along the points of the sidewalk and grass we measured out distances of six feet, and placed red flags in the ground to mark the space. N95 masks were available to everyone who participated. We decorated nearby bus stops, trees, and light posts with banners and red balloons. Using chalk, we wrote revolutionary communist slogans in large letters on the sidewalk.
As soon as the stage was safely set, we jumped right into our program. A veteran comrade kicked off the celebration by giving a brief history of May Day, including its origins and its true meaning as a communist holiday celebrated all over the world.
A total of five speeches were given, in both Spanish and English, delivered mostly by younger comrades. A spoken word piece written by a comrade working in health care blasted racist capitalism’s priorities of money and profit at all costs, over workers’ lives.
A college student comrade called out the bosses in Chicago for blowing up a toxic coal plant in a Latin working-class neighborhood recently, which covered much of the area in dust in the middle of the pandemic. She stressed the racist double standard and criminalization by the state of Black, Latin, and immigrant workers who are fighting to survive despite the system’s deadly neglect.
Two speeches completely in Spanish came next. The first was from a comrade who has long led struggles in public schools in a majority immigrant worker neighborhood. She detailed the racist response and treatment from Chicago Public Schools in how they are continuing their legacy of racist failure in “educating” working-class youth during the stay-at-home order. Another comrade condemned the racist death sentence handed down from the bosses to immigrant workers in concentration camps, and contrasted how a communist world based on workers’ needs would handle a pandemic far differently.
For the keynote speech, a teacher comrade reflected on his experiences years ago in Ferguson, Missouri after the murder of Mike Brown by racist cop Darren Wilson. As the capitalist bosses ramp up their fascist attacks during the pandemic, he reminded everyone present that “this is our time” and for all comrades to “pick up your gun” and step up for the fights to come.
Up to and including the point where PLP and workers violently take state power from the capitalists, our political ideas are our strongest weapons. The comrade correctly stated that each CHALLENGE that we put in another worker’s hands, each study group that we hold, every walk-out or strike we help organize is a shot fired at the capitalist class.
We wrapped up our rally by  singing the communist anthem “The Internationale” in Spanish and English. To finish, our caravan of over 20 cars enthusiastically navigated through working-class neighborhoods around the west side. Many workers who saw the procession pumped their fists in salute and came up to the cars to receive copies of CHALLENGE, of which we handed out over 100 copies!
May Day means… workers’ power!
As the crises of capitalism intensify, the international working class and our Party are presented with many dangers, but also with many opportunities. The celebration of May Day must serve as a vibrant reminder of our own multiracial unity as workers, collective power, and potential to transform the world through communist revolution. The words first spoken over a century ago still ring true today: Workers of the world, unite! We have nothing to lose but our chains!