May Day: Chicago

CHICAGO, May 1 — Friends from the Midwest gathered in Chicago on April 28 to celebrate and learn about communism at the Progressive Labor Party May Day dinner. The comrades and friends of PLP who attended the dinner were educated and entertained by a host of encouraging poems, speeches, songs and skits presenting the history of May Day. There was one common theme: Communism is the answer to smashing the ruling class worldwide!

May Day is a time to

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May Day: France

PARIS — Over 750,000 people demonstrated in 288 May Day marches and rallies across France today. The predominant theme was opposition to French president Nicolas Sarkozy and consequently support for Socialist François Hollande, his opponent in the May 6 presidential election.

However, this is no real choice at all. Hollande is a servant of the French bosses as much as Sarkozy, and will govern France in their interests. And the bosses’ interests are diametrically opposed to those of the working class.

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May Day: Germany

BERLIN — Nearly 35,000 workers and youth marched in May Day demonstrations throughout Germany, the largest being in Berlin with other marches in Nuremberg, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Kiel. Meanwhile, anti-racists stopped or routed neo-Nazis in Neumuenster, Neubrandenberg and Wittstock. 

Over 25,000 celebrated May Day in Berlin, marching through the city’s political center under the slogan, “Pressure is rising for social revolution.” They were viciously attacked by a mass of cops with riot clubs and tear gas. Many were injured and arrested. Left-wing and anti-fascist groups organized the march which included several Kurdish and trade union youth organizations. They declared

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Summit of the Americas: Philanthropy for Profits

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA, April 16 — At the Summit of the Americas, the celebrity singer Shakira sang the Colombian anthem. She portrayed a microcosm of what imperialism has in store for Latin America. 

Shakira announced that she’s sponsoring new educational projects throughout Latin America covering 6.200 children of the 35 million who have no access to any type of education. This educative philanthropic project, which earns her great economic dividends, will “resolve” the educational problems of 0.018 percent of the continent’s children. 

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Afghanistan: CIA Plot Led to 33 Years of Wars on Workers

In the first week of May a new underground youth group plastered Kabul with hundreds of posters depicting former warlords as criminals and denouncing the U.S. and Karzai who gave them government positions in 2001. 

April 28 was Mujahadin Victory Day, a national holiday celebrating the defeat of a Marxist government in 1992 by the fundamentalist warlords — known collectively as mujahadin — and the establishment of an Islamist state. For Afghans the day is a brutal reminder of the tens of thousands killed, the rape of thousands of women and children and the destruction of Kabul that followed as the seven groups that made up the U.S.-backed mujahadin fought for territory and power until driven to the north by Taliban forces four years later. 

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MAY DAY 2012

International Working-Class Solidarity Crucial; Imperialist Dogfight: U.S.-India Axis vs. China’s Bosses Would Kill Millions

On April 19, India’s capitalist rulers, quietly urged on by U.S. President Obama, successfully tested a long-range ballistic missile that can carry a nuclear warhead. The New York Times, the U.S. rulers’ leading mouthpiece, immediately boasted that the missile was “capable of reaching Beijing and Shanghai.” This account fostered the growing possibility of a third world war, probably nuclear.

An intensifying arms race embroils India, China and the U.S. It stems from growing competition among imperialists for global market share amid limited resources, especially energy. Capitalists, organized as nation states, need to threaten their rival exploiters with the deadliest military force possible. They must also have allies ready for the inevitable day when their jockeying for profit sources — like oil from the Middle East — explodes into global armed conflict.

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Students Get Communist Education at Anti-Cutback Rally

AUSTIN, TX, March 24 — Over 4,000 protestors descended on the state capitol to stand against cutbacks in education. Though the march was smaller than last year’s rally of 12,000, the crowd was much more militant, and the forces around the Party have grown substantially.

PL teachers and workers organized nearly 30 students and several parents to travel from surrounding cities to Austin. On the ride, one teacher organized students to make signs. After lots of discussion, one student made the connection between imperialist war and the budget cuts to education. Her sign declared “Less bombs, more schools!” Others made signs attacking the local school board and their decision to gut college readiness programs like AVID. One sign read “RIP Our Future” with the word “AVID” on the tombstone.

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PLP’ers Expose Racist Roots of Trayvon’s Murder

ROXBURY, MA, April 4 — The discussion topic, “We All Are Trayvon Martin,” drew the largest turn out this semester for Pizza and Politics.  Many students came for the first time, looking for some direction as to what they could do about this racist murder.  Students expressed their outrage at the lack of justice this system offers to black workers.  There was a sense of frustration at all the marches and symbolic hoodies, knowing that no matter how large the outcry, the crime could not be reversed nor would Trayvon be the last victim. 

The media was also roundly condemned for its role in criminalizing black youth, spreading ignorance, and distracting us from reality.  Everyone present knew how commonplace racist violence is, especially when committed by the police, and they were somewhat confused by the enormous attention this particular case was getting.

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Workers’ Counter-Attack Stops Pay Cuts

BROOKLYN, NY, April 9 — Radiology department technologists at a major medical center here turned the tables on the bosses, forcing them to back   down from their speed-up plan.

Three days ago a manager told five technologists that starting immediately our lunch-hour would be cut in half, from 60 to 30 minutes. Our 7-hour work-day incorporates two 15-minute rest periods which would now be eliminated. We have a 60-minute unpaid lunch-hour. So they intended us to work a 7½-hour day with no additional compensation, clearly violating our union contract with S.E.I.U. Local 1199.

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