Letters of May 30

Israel May Day

Two hundred people marched in southern Tel-Aviv to mark May Day and to show the ruling class that we, the workers, refuse to be invisible. In the bosses’ society and media, we who build everything and provide every service are invisible while the rich dominate the media. We marched to show otherwise.
The march was small and led by liberal and fake-left misleaders. But, it was multiracial— including Israeli Jewish, Arab, and Black migrant workers. Some slogans included “the answer to privatization—revolution!” and “invest in the [slum] neighborhoods and not in prisons and deportations!” We marched as part of the Coalition for Direct Employment, a multi-racial, women-led organization fighting to smash exploitative contract bosses.
One PL’er spoke about how she’s fighting contract bosses and mall bosses who employ her in deplorable conditions in housekeeping.
As the brutal crisis on our sisters and brothers in Gaza worsen, as this apartheid state crushes Black, Arab, and Jewish workers alike, we need communism more than ever.

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PL shuts down politician at Haymarket Square
The “official” labor movement in the United States truly is in sorry shape. This fact was crystal clear at the May Day kick-off rally this year at the Haymarket workers memorial in Chicago.
The union hack misleaders had the gall to invite gubernatorial candidate JB Pritzker, a capitalist politician whose family has profited in the billions from their exploitation of workers, to speak on the international workers’ holiday.
As soon as Pritzker was poised to address the workers, a comrade from our Progressive Labor Party contingent boldly took to the bullhorn to shout him down. “Workers died on this spot fighting for their rights and their liberation! You don’t get to be here! Get the fu*k out of here!!” At first Pritzker tried to deflect what was going on and spew some of his lies, but the confrontation proved too militant and he was forced to make a hasty retreat.
After Pritzker bailed, various union hacks responded to our action with verbal attacks and got in the comrade’s face. The union was even successful in getting some of the workers that they brought around to start chanting “JB! JB! JB!” in defense of that capitalist scum.
But on the other hand, various workers came up to us after the confrontation settled down, thanking our comrade and the Party for saying what needed to be said and taking an issue of CHALLENGE.
It was another clear lesson on the need to continue taking bold actions as a Party, as well as the need to continue being involved in the unions in order to build class consciousness among workers, winning them away from the idea of a capitalist political “savior” and instead towards real workers’ power through communist revolution.
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May Day dinner: Korean Peninsula a hotspot for rivals
Our small May Day dinner in the Midwest was a success. The main speech was on ‘What the Korean peace talks mean, and why PLP fights against all forms of imperialism.’ This speech focused on North Korean boss Kim Jong-un as a capitalist dictator, and South Korean boss Moon Jae-in as a lackey of U.S. imperialism, and how the working class in the Korean peninsula should reject all bosses. I remember a saying by German anti-fascist playwright Berthold Brecht: “When rulers talk peace, you better get your helmets.”
The U.S. imperialists might gain a short-term geopolitical advantage on the Korean Peninsula,  but China and Russia will benefit in the long term against weakened U.S. imperialism. U.S. trade wars led by fascist-in-chief Donald Trump are a flashpoint that could lead to world war.
Only communist revolution led by PLP can give the international working class a fighting chance against a nuclear world war. One multiracial international working class, one party, PLP!
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