San Francisco, Oakland, and Valley collectives of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) held an exciting and inspiring May Day Dinner at the end of April. Close to 50 multi-generational, multiracial, international workers and students gathered at a local art center. This growth from last year shows “the times they are a-changin.”

The walls were decorated with PLP historical, and international art posters about working class struggles from Mexico, Iran, Greece, and El Salvador, to name a few. This was best summarized by a quote and image from Bertolt Brecht: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”

Newer and younger members of our collectives planned and led the program. They are shaping the future towards communism. There were lively discussions throughout the program about the history of May Day and our current struggles within the movement against fascism and genocide in Gaza and around the world. We discussed how we are growing our collectives through our involvement in the mass movement. Our comrades from the Valley collective talked about their future as communists and new members of PLP. They brought drums and guitars to accompany rousing renditions of "Power to the Working Class," "Bella Ciao," and of course "The Internationale." Throughout the event we emphasized the necessity of uniting all workers regardless of race, country, or gender into an international party dedicated to the fight for communism. Only a communist revolution can destroy capitalism and create a share and share alike communist world.

This gathering was the culmination of several months of heightened activity. The external, capitalist world we live in is changing qualitatively and we are responding. PLP members of all generations have participated in many struggles. We have agitated with CHALLENGE and leaflets, held personal and social events, collective planning, and study groups. Education workers held an important and successful teach-in with teachers, students and community members about Israel-Palestine and developed study materials. On campuses, we have supported members and other students who came under attack for fighting tuition hikes and fighting U.S. imperialism/genocide with encampments which demand cease fire and divestment. On the job, we tied the genocide and imperialism to the “financial crisis” that public agencies claim justifies severe cuts in services like public transit, in schools, in jobs, in wages and working conditions. In neighborhoods, cultural groups, and families, we have had many discussions of why anti- imperialism and anti-Zionism are not antisemitism. Our emphasis on class, the structures of capitalism, internationalism and no borders is key. In the streets, we joined mass demonstrations, rallies against the war industry, imperialist genocide, Israeli Zionist capitalism and attacks on immigrants. We have connected with other groups, such as Bay Area Labor for Palestine, which organized in collaboration with immigrant groups for job actions on May Day and helped plan May Day Marches.

Following up on the energy of the May Day Dinner, PLP members participated in May Day marches in three areas: San Francisco, Oakland, and the Sacramento Valley. Our poster, “No War But Class War” and the CHALLENGE headline “Smash Genocide in Palestine” was well received. The May Day Marches responded to a call from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions to stand with Gaza on May Day. In Oakland, the May Day March planned to shut down the port. The strength of on-the-job workers was front & center. Rank and file port workers in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) carried on their tradition of May Day actions resulting in both morning and afternoon shifts stopping port activity. The Port Authority shut the port down in response. This is a small victory for international workers’ unity. We must continue to bring our communist analysis and organize for the final victory, a communist revolution!

On the occasion of International Workers' Day, Pakistan reverberates with the echoes of solidarity with the international working class as we celebrate May Day 2024. In cities and towns across Pakistan, large rallies and parades mark the occasion.This annual celebration serves as a reminder of the hard-fought battles for labor rights and to honor workers’ struggles against the bosses for wage increases and on the job benefits enjoyed today, victories slowly being eroded.

Workers from various sectors, including factories, agriculture, construction, and services gathered to raise their voices for better working conditions, fair wages, and labor rights. Banners and placards carried slogans demanding justice, equality, and respect for the dignity of labor. Some people were also chanting slogans against the Israeli genocidal attacks on Gaza as well.
Comrades in the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) brought workers and students to the rallies, explaining to them how we can get freedom from exploitation through communist revolution.

Workers’ power

We must rethink the old-fashioned lines towed by different leftist organizations because as the past shows, socialism carries the essence of capitalism, like wages. We explained that without a correct line we cannot get out of the clutches of barbaric fascist rulers.
We explained the current drive of the government of Pakistan to privatize all big public enterprises to the local and international bosses. Privatization has always led to job insecurity, decreased wages, and weakened labor rights. As state-owned enterprises are sold to private entities, companies often undergo restructuring to cut costs, leading to layoffs and downsizing. This is a clearly racist attack against Brown workers who make up the country’s majority.

Racist and Sexist attacks on workers

Our comrades explained that as now we have very limited labor rights ,and those rights will be eroded further under privatization. Private companies will certainly exploit loopholes in labor laws or engage in anti-union practices to suppress workers' rights to organize and negotiate for better working conditions. This lack of protection will surely leave workers more vulnerable to super-exploitation and abuse. These attacks show reforms can never be a substitute for revolution.
While analyzing the working class’s economic conditions, we described the tactics used by bosses to divide working-class people to keep intact this horrible, exploitative capitalist system. We stressed the need to fight for  protection of workers' rights, and against the sexist disparity of wages based on gender. Daily-wage laborers in construction, agriculture and domestic workers in Pakistan face especially tough conditions under capitalism.These workers usually have no job security, they are least paid and do not have any benefits like health insurance or paid leave. They are used to working long hours in unsafe conditions just to meet some of their needs.
Fighting for a future without exploitation
Under capitalism, the focus is on making profits, so these workers are often treated as disposable resources rather than human beings with rights. The capitalist system prioritizes the interests of business owners and investors over the well-being of workers. 
May Day in Pakistan is not just a day off work; it's a day of power, solidarity, and fightback. It honors the sacrifices of those who came before and inspires hope for a future where every worker is treated equally. Only an international communist revolution under the red banners of PLP can give workers the lives they deserve. Long live communism, long live PLP.

LOS ANGELES, May 4- Progressive Labor Party (PLP) celebrated May Day with a multiracial crowd of about 85 workers and students. The day started with a group of PLP members and base setting up tables and musical instruments along with banners and flags calling for communist revolution and justice for families who’ve encountered police terror. The collective effort in setting up the event made it so that all aspects: security, food, drinks, and political content were handled.

Our May Day event was held in a neighborhood park that is significant to a struggle against police terror that PLP has been involved in since November 2019 (See CHALLENGE issue 11/07/19). Leading up to the event a group of workers and students including both Party members and friends worked on a committee to plan the event and evaluate the speeches that were going to be made during the program. The program was a mixture of speeches, songs and poetry as well as activities to ensure everyone was able to meet new people.

Since last May Day the working class has continued to see the ruling class carry out war and genocide while neglecting the needs of students, particularly Black and Latin students. In the weeks leading up to May Day, Party members and our base have been involved in protests on campuses and meetings about school closures in Inglewood. We have PLP members and friends at colleges that have set up encampments and we took a moment to applaud the courageous students across the U.S. and around the world who have put their bodies and academic careers on the line to protest the imperialist genocide Israel is carrying out with U.S. dollars against the workers of Gaza. Students shared their work within mass organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine. Neighborhood organizers around the school closures in Inglewood joined our May Day and shared stories about their struggles dealing with a system that values stadiums and parking lots more than the education of Black and Latin students.

One student member who recently joined the Party emceed the event with another student. The event opened with a performance from an Aztec danzante group. They have supported actions for justice against police terror that the Party has led and joined in the past. Throughout the event we had members and friends read greetings from PLP members worldwide which discussed their struggles and commitment to communist revolution. We had different group performances of “Bella Ciao,” “Should I Ever Be a Soldier?,” “Too Many Names,” and “The Internationale'' in both English and Spanish. Participants also joined a “speed dating” activity where younger people were paired with the older generation and shared why they came to May Day and what was the biggest thing in the world they wanted to change.

One of the biggest highlights was hearing speeches from a member who was attending his 51st May Day and another member who had joined the Party a couple months ago. The veteran member spoke about the journey from campaigning for Nixon to working within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and becoming a communist through joining PLP. He then symbolically “passed the torch” to the new member who spoke about how joining the Party filled a need he had to fight for a better world.

A poem with drums and a musical beat was performed by two Party members. The poem included verses about the police murder of Dexter Reed and the imperialist genocide taking place in Gaza. It touched on the catastrophe of global warming and the chemical spill in Ohio from a derailed train. It called for unity among all students and workers. It was critical of nationalism and electoral politics while calling for more people to join PLP.

The final speech was given by a veteran member of the Party which highlighted the power of “yet.” People in the world are definitely starting to see that capitalism doesn’t have anything to offer our class. The majority have not “yet” joined the Party to fight for communism, but they still can. People may not have “yet” joined a study group to learn more about communist politics, but they still can. People may not have “yet” read or distributed CHALLENGE, but they still can.

People who attended are not only excited about next year’s May Day, but also committed to the day-to-day struggles that PLP is involved in. Members and friends are reinvigorated to join student encampments. There is a growing west coast education collective that is having monthly study groups. PLP will continue to be involved in mass organizations in order to bring communist politics to the forefront of the struggles and recruit as many members as possible. We have a world to win. Happy May Day!!

DC: Workers from Iran remind me that we’re communists

On May Day, the Progressive Labor Party was joined by a group of Iranian workers, men and women, at Malcolm X Park in Washington, D.C. for our annual March for Communist Revolution. Their hatred of capitalism and the Islamic Republic of Iran was palpable. “What do you think about Hamas?” I asked. “Fascist!” was their immediate emotional response. I realized then that I had been too cautious about raising criticisms of Hamas’s nationalist misdirection of the Palestinian liberation movement at the many protests calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid to Gaza. Listening to these workers’ description of Hamas as an organization that silences any debate within Palestine made me realize that I have to call for communism at every turn. They said, “Of course, that’s what we have to do.”

These workers also spoke to the fact that Iran’s government cares only about its power base. One of them pointed out that “Iran did not fire a single bullet” in support of Palestinians -- until three of its generals were killed in Syria. The Iranian Islamic ruling class does not care about working-class Palestinians. They enforce a reign of terror against workers in Iran as well. One worker referred to the music being played in the park and said that there was no freedom to play such music in Iran. He continued, an Iranian rapper is facing execution by the state! State violence against women has led to an organized movement called WOMAN LIFE FREEDOM. Their large banner shared this message. Another called for the destruction of the Islamic State. 

The U.S. rulers have tried to co-opt (in the minds of U.S. workers) the outrageously sexist character of Iran’s ruling class and government. An essay in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) laid out the horrors facing women in Iran and called for us to care about internationalism and listed Afghanistan and Sudan as well -- without any mention of Palestinians or Gaza. The essay thus served the U.S. bosses by attacking Iran without any support for Palestinians against whom the U.S. and Israel are waging genocide. The NEJM has gone to great lengths to avoid any mention of the 6-month-long genocide in Gaza despite a recent self-criticism of their failure to mention the oppression of Jews in Nazi Germany from 1933-1945. (Only after World War II was over did the NEJM cover the Nuremberg trials). Palestine has yet to get a mention! A joint letter to the journal by comrades pointing this out has not been published and most likely never will. Major medical journals have suppressed support for Palestinians. The American Medical Association has refused to consider any resolution even for humanitarian aid and their journal (JAMA) has only written essays in support of Israel. 

At the conclusion of the May Day rally, the Iranian workers sang the Internationale with us and then sang it in Farsi, to great applause from the other May Day marchers.As a result of these conversations, I plan to sharpen my conversations with pro-Palestinian protesters to call for organizing for communism and not just another capitalist nation-state. There are lots of examples in the past where national liberation was won but capitalist oppression and exploitation persisted. The failures in South Africa and Vietnam are the most familiar to U.S. audiences. My thanks to the workers from Iran who helped me think more clearly about this. 
*****

Brooklyn Nakba rally open to communist ideas

Recently a group of members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) participated in a Nakba day rally protesting the war and genocide carried out by the terrorist government of Israel, against the people of Palestine. This war has already claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people, more than half of them children, even newborns, a crime that is being condemned by all the peoples of the world.

During the protest, where there were thousands of repressive, racist and criminal police, we distributed hundreds of CHALLENGEs, which were received with great enthusiasm by many people and we also spread the line of our Party.

Before the march took off there were many police squads in riot gear and other repressive forces of the city who surrounded us on the sidewalk. As hundreds more protestors trickled in and with the leadership of hundreds of brave young people, we eventually took all streets and avenues in all its breadth, disrupting traffic on several streets in that sector of Brooklyn. So even a large squad of hundreds of police could not stop the disruption for several hours. But eventually at the Manhattan Bridge numerous arrests were carried out.

It was an eventful day of great militancy where our PLP group once again demonstrated our role and commitment to the masses and with the
conviction that only a communist revolution will end the war and destroy the capitalist imperialist system and all its evils.

*****

‘For workers in Palestine’

Below is the poem given at our May Day celebration dinner in Chicago

Well I’ve never been there, so I wouldn’t know,
but it seems it's a place where watermelons grow      (Palestine).
To give you a clue about where it’s at,
They once had a leader named Arafat.

But divide and conquer is the bosses’ game,
their political parties — they’re all the same.
To undermine Yasser and the PLO,
Israel funded Hamas and Genocide Joe.
5.3 million over decades you know,
AIPAC gave the money to Genocide Joe.
Schools, hospitals, they had mosques, even steeples,
smaller than Chicago, about 2.3 million people.
Vibrant and beautiful, it all had to go,
bombed into rubble, thanks to Genocide Joe.

In Haiti, in Pakistan, all over the map,
more and more workers are now fighting back.
The students are too -– more encampments you’ll see,
at Northwestern, at Emory, at USC.
The reps went to Columbia, they were hoping for a rout,
the students in the camp said get the F___ out!

Back in Chicago, you’re likely to hear,
chants far and wide on May Day each year:
“Working People Have No Nations,
Smash Racist Deportations”

The fight against nationalism you know that we need,
it’s definitely a message I’m sure we should heed.
For workers in Palestine, it won’t be a win
if all we can do is get a new capitalist in.