EAST HARLEM, November 8 — Fascism is imminent, but the future is bright for the working class. Youth are ready to learn and to fight. Progressive Labor Party’s College Conference to Smash All Borders helped youth realize their potential to lead a communist revolution.
The conference drew over 80 youth and professors from California, Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, DC. This conference was a product of our practice in fighting racist police brutality against black and migrant youth. Throughout a rally through East Harlem, the willingness to fight back under PLP’s leadership was evident.
We Don’t Just Talk, We Fight
After a day of discussion about fascism and fighting back like Ferguson, we did just that: fight. Fifty protesters began picketing at the corner of a train station on Lexington Ave and 125th Street. The entire rally and march was led by new and young PL’ers and friends. For nearly everyone who volunteered and stepped up, it was their first time making a speech, leading chants, holding a banner, or helping with security. For one student who kept the march disciplined in rows of two, it was his first time at a rally! Everyone learned how to lead on the spot. Our disciplined militancy drew a lot of workers’ attention.
We disrupted traffic and marched to the public housing projects with “Hey hey, ho ho! This racist system has got to go!” In June, the cops raided and arrested 39 black workers and youth at the Grant and Manhattanville projects (see CHALLENGE, 11/12). They broke down doors with battering rams, trashed whole apartments, and handcuffed the elderly and children. A comrade who is fighting these fascist terror attacks spoke about the blatantly racist nature of the New York Police Department and called for everyone to pack the courts on November 17, the next court date for victims of the raid. Project residents responded by taking CHALLENGE and putting their fists in the air.
The cops also took notice. Two NYPD cars drove up to our rally, blaring their sirens in an attempt to drown out the chant of “NYPD KKK!” Instead of being intimidated, we chanted louder. More cops followed us for the remainder of the march: at least four cars, two vans, and two detective cars. “Get off the streets!” they shouted. We continued to march. A group of middle and high school students joined us, chanting, “If We Don’t Get It, Shut It Down! Ferguson! Shut It Down! Harlem! Shut It Down!”
In that moment we felt powerful. Residents nodded their heads and smiled. The cops did not expect a group of multiracial communists denouncing capitalism in a working-class neighborhood like East Harlem. As we marched, the cops’ attention to us reflected just how powerful organized youth and workers can be.
Fight like Ferguson
The rally would not have been possible without PLP’s actions in Ferguson, Missouri, where the rebellion has taught the Party’s youth a lot about how to fight. Ferguson demonstrates that black workers are the key to communist revolution. The very foundation of global capitalism is racism. Black youth are hit the hardest, as a measure for the bosses for how far they can go in oppressing and dividing the working class. Militant black workers have served as an inspiration for the international working class, beginning with Haiti, the first country to abolish slavery after a violent rebellion. Ferguson confirmed our communist understanding that anti-racism must be at the forefront of every struggle. This is reflected in the growth of PLP’s college work and in our black, Latin, and South Asian leadership.
Internationalism
A woman comrade from Mexico informed the participants about the rise of fascist conditions and the murder of 43 student fighters in Mexico City. Comrades from Haiti and Switzerland sent solidarity greetings. While there are many ruling classes, we see only one international working class. When student fighters in Mexico City are killed, youth in the U.S. should rally on campus, at the Mexican consulate, in immigrant neighborhoods.
In the keynote speech, a student leader from Chicago said, “Police murders of black youth will only intensify and deportations will only increase. But we have to do our part and organize resistance so that we can ultimately follow in the footsteps of that Red Army in the Soviet Union that crushed fascism where it stood. Wherever workers are met with fascism, they are also fighting back. And as revolutionaries we have to throw ourselves into these fights, because we must view every struggle as a school for communism and as a platform to build deeper ties with the working class.”
Professors and students have the task of carrying out the lessons from the Conference back to their local areas. We will continue to fight like Ferguson, to be bold and on the offensive against racist violence on our campuses and in our neighborhoods.
Fighting fascism ultimately means building one communist organization of billions across the world. PLP’s College Conference sowed seeds for that revolution. We are a fighting organization with tremendous potential to grow among youth. That’s why we say our future is bright.