BROOKLYN, NY, March 11–As part of our monthly series preparing for May Day 2023, a multiracial group of over 30 students, parents, teachers, and workers engaged in a sampling of historic May Day events led by Progressive Labor Party (PLP) since our party resurrected the holiday in the U.S. in 1971.
The common threads of revolutionary communist boldness, creativity, militant class struggle, confidence in the working class, and our ever-evolving line of dictatorship of the proletariat and fighting directly for communism, and our uncompromising antiracism and multiracial workers’ unity, was all in full display over a series of events we studied.

See-Think-Wonder about May Day!
After an icebreaker, we took a gallery walk in groups around the room, looking at images over several decades of May Day marches and demonstrations, each person commenting on what they “see, think, and wonder” on chart paper (see photo). Here are some initial reactions of participants:
     “Seems very militant and organized,”
    “I love the bold/ambitious vision: building a worldwide movement,”
    “They are brave!”
    “What is martial law?”
    “Workers on the streets waving their fists in support,”
    “They must have been so disciplined and organized in the days before cell phones,”
    “How did they plan this?”
    “We need this in every city!”

May Day through the decades
Then, each group sat down to investigate one of the May Day events depicted in the photos—as one comrade observed—reflecting larger struggles PLP had been involved in for quite some time.

1974 – PLP organized a nationwide motorcade (including workers from Canada) that originated in almost a dozen cities, traveling to over a dozen more, organizing scores of rallies and demonstrations around factories, universities, and communities where the Party was actively organizing, and converging in Washington, D.C. for a grand May Day march. Marchers represented 30 U.S. cities and almost 30 different countries.

1975 – As part of a long campaign to smash a rising fascist group called ROAR (Restore Our Alienated Rights) in Boston, PLP mounted a valiant and victorious defense of our May Day march against a physical attack by racist ROAR thugs, backing up our revolutionary communist ideas with disciplined and organized physical force en route to destroying ROAR as an organization forever.

1979 – PLP went on the offensive to rout Nazis from Marquette Park in Chicago, which had outlawed Black/non-white workers from as far back as anyone could remember. Following a military-style antiracist/communist-led raid on Nazi headquarters just a month before, PLP’s bold contingent led hundreds of multiracial workers to actively integrate the park once and for all, breaking the back of Nazi organizing efforts.

1992–Amidst open antiracist rebellion by Black, Latin, and white workers in response to the sham Rodney King verdict (a Black man brutalized by a gang of racist LAPD thugs), the rulers declared martial law in Los Angeles, banning all demonstrations. But PLP didn’t let that stop us from boldly carrying out a May Day caravan through Los Angeles, defying the law, outwitting cops, and engaging hundreds of workers, youth, and National Guard soldiers with communism and militant antiracism.

2002–In the wake of the 9/11 attacks and Patriot Act crackdowns on protests and in the throes of rising fascism and imperialist war in Afghanistan, PLP boldly and creatively planned spirited May Day marches and dinners in multiple locations to confidently put forward our communist line and allow workers to participate in our international holiday.

Group participants actively debated our line and our practice to more deeply understand each event, its time period, and lessons for building the communist movement today.

In our share-out, commenting on the prominent multiracial character of our demonstrations and vital Black and Latin leadership throughout our Party’s history, one young participant made the point that these events obliterate the ruling class’s racist anti-communist lie that the communist movement is “white” or that communism is for “whites only.” One of the large banners highlighted in one of the marches punctuated the point by proclaiming “Racism Hurts All Workers.”

The presence of some high school students with their parents reflected PLP’s dedication to building a student-parent-teacher alliance in the schools.

Confidence in our class
These historic events on the whole also showed the development of PLP’s line through the years, advancing from advocating for “Socialism” in the ‘60s, ’70s, and ‘80s to fighting directly for communism over the last 35 years. Our long experience leading class struggle proved to us that workers are open to communist ideas.

In fact, studying these events, one can see how when we have confidence in the working class—that they would defend their homes from the fascists, that they would take the offensive against racist and sexist divisions, that they would travel across the country for communism, defy the bosses’ laws, even defend our party’s line with revolutionary violence when necessary—we grew as an organization capable of leading the working class to victory.

Indeed, the only way to guarantee the dictatorship of the proletariat (working class) in the long run is to fight directly for communism now.

BIG, BOLD COMMUNIST MAY DAY 2023!
After our share-out, participants shared their ideas for a May Day theme for this year’s NYC march. Some of our ideas included “Capitalism Divides Workers—Fight Back with Revolutionary Communist Optimism!” “Resilient Rebels on the Road to Revolution,” “Getting Ready for Revolt/Revolution,” and “Fight Capitalist Divisions with Communist Internationalism.”

People left the forum inspired! Now we must use our newfound understanding to inspire our friends to learn and participate in this proud communist, anti-racist, working-class heritage, for we—all of us—are making history, and EVERYTHING we do counts.

CHICAGO, February 26 – Around 50 Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members and friends gathered on the city’s south side today to celebrate our fifth annual Black and Red event. The multiracial, multi-generational and international crowd in attendance engaged in an interactive program that highlighted the invaluable leadership and contributions of Black communists in past, present, and future revolutionary struggles.
Our local collective began organizing this event five years ago as a response to the many anti-communist distortions and outright lies by the bosses that falsely claim communism to be a political movement limited to white workers. The truth is that Black workers have always given key leadership to the fight for communist revolution, correctly understanding it as the only force to destroy the racism, sexism, and exploitation inherent in the capitalist profit system.
In contrast to the bosses’ Black History Month celebrations, which emphasize the need for more Black-owned businesses and individual success, PLP emphasizes the importance of Black workers leading the Party with comrades all over the world to put an end to racist capitalism once and for all. To be Black and red is to be an antiracist revolutionary!
Working-class Black history is communist history
We began our day at the DuSable Black History Museum, a south side landmark for over 50 years. The museum was founded by Margaret Taylor-Burroughs and her husband Charles, two Black organizers with well-known communist affiliations. PLP members made a list of scavenger hunt questions for our group to engage with the different exhibits and highlight the more radical history of various freedom movements.
We next headed to the local fieldhouse for lunch, socializing, and an event program. After dining on some delicious West African dishes, a new comrade kicked festivities off with an impassioned reading of “Good Morning, Revolution” by Black communist poet Langston Hughes. Although modern sources prefer to ignore or minimize Hughes’ embrace of communist internationalism, any serious analysis of his works such as this poem demonstrate his commitment to revolution.
Another veteran PLP member then took the mic to give some historical context to the violent mass struggle to end chattel slavery and the influence that struggle had on the theories of the communist Karl Marx. Through his work as a journalist reporting on the Civil War in the United States, Marx was able to better develop his understanding of how racism is essential to the profits of capitalism and how one could not be seriously fought without fighting the other.
We next watched a short video also highlighting the influence of communist theory and practice on countless antiracist mass movements in the 20th century, including the defense of the Scottsboro Nine against legalized lynching during the Great Depression and the struggle against the brutal apartheid regime in South Africa. Far from being confined to the history books, the lessons learned from these brave struggles continue to inform our fight in the present day.
Lastly, to give the keynote speech, another veteran comrade drew on her decades of experience as a Black communist in PLP and how that has guided her fightback against racism and sexism in profound ways:

“The earliest comrades of our Party realized that the people who had this generational commitment to fighting the capitalist power structure had to lead this revolutionary movement for it to ultimately win.
Along with this leadership being mandatory for this Party to win, multiracial working-class unity also had to be a defining factor. Our Party views antiracism as more than just a ‘good feeling.’ It is dedicated fighting action in just about every way imaginable.”

Black workers are key revolutionary force
In the fight to destroy capitalism, the international working class must rely on the leadership of those workers most exploited and oppressed by this rotten racist system to truly win an egalitarian communist world. We salute our Black comrades and fellow workers for their ongoing role as an indispensable revolutionary force.

Fight back and crush the bosses’ traps

Wage theft in New York City, despite the existence of laws that “protect” the worker, is very much a common thing. We know about the law against wage theft, but it is increasingly difficult to find justice, since for any claim they divide the workers so that they make these actions only individually.
At the beginning of this month, a group of more than 40 workers from different community organizations met, marched and held a sit-in in front of a luxurious hotel, on 60th Street near Central Park. The action was taken because the hotel bosses fired, unfairly and without reason,and stole wages from a worker with many years of service. That worker had not been informed of her dismissal and she was not allowed to go into work when she had arrived to do so.
The organization, where several Progressive Labor Party comrades are members, accompanied her and we chanted our classic slogans in the march: “Workers United Will Never Be Defeated!” … “This Fist Can be Seen, Workers in Power,”and other chants. At the door of the hotel, the letter was delivered to those in charge of the administration on duty, and we hope soon for the solution and reinstatement to the worker at this employment.
The bosses make the laws and the traps; the workers must fight and crush their traps.

*****

Capitalist disaster steals lives
After viewing daily media video on the Turkey-Syria earthquake, two contradictions emerge, the first being the total absence of any steel beams in the concrete-wire mesh debris from endless photos of modern high-rise buildings that collapsed over each other. The second contradiction was many perfectly intact high-rise buildings right across streets from rows of collapsed homes. Turkish leader Erdogan had granted amnesty to housing contractors who’d defied safety codes and regulations using wire mesh instead of steel beams to provide faster, cheaper building frames. Not only did the cheaper constructed buildings fail to prevent the earthquake from flattening them, but the wire mesh debris has prevented rescuers from digging victims out. There are also protests over a missing billion-dollar fund collected after the last earthquake to build aid stations and care for victims of future catastrophes. Because of capitalist greed and corruption, Turkey is approaching 50,000 casualties and 13 million homeless.
Meanwhile in the US, a two-mile long 150-car train crash in Ohio is flooding thousands in poor communities with toxic gasses and poisoned water. Railroad companies are profiting big time in cuts in their workforce, maintenance and safety.
Today’s events prove capitalists will sacrifice to the last worker for their own profits and will stop at nothing to stay in power. Progressive Labor Party calls for a communist revolution to replace our profit dominated social system with a communist society without wages, profits and divisions.

*****

She was a comrade to look up to
A comrade to look up to. The day after the family of Raymond appeared in a Bronx court, I called Carolyn to find out what happened. She said she debated with herself whether to go to the court and decided to go. Raymond’s mother and our comrade hugged and shared a few words. An example of Carolyn’s confidence and undying love of our working class.

*****

Workers call out China CP’s sellout
Some older people in China seem to remain boldly supportive of real communist principles, and critical of the Communist Party’s sellouts.
The following passage is from a New York Times article yesterday about recent protests in China against cuts in government-provided medical insurance.
“Video footage that circulated online indicated that large crowds gathered around Zhongshan Park in Wuhan, as the police tried to divide them by imposing barricades. When police officers tried to push the crowds back, older men and women refused to back off and shouted in officers’ faces. Some sang songs like “The Internationale,” an anthem employed by both the ruling Communist Party and by protesters, who have used it to suggest that the party has strayed from its ideological roots.”

NEW YORK CITY, February 23—NYC’s City Council held hearings on a bill that would cut city sponsored health benefits. These cuts are coming because capitalism is in crisis and at war. The bosses are trying to manage their crisis on the backs of the working class. The bosses view the lives of retirees as expendable since they no longer produce profits. At the hearing city and union leaders spoke on the need to control costs by cutting benefits. Retirees spoke against decreasing access to health benefits or increasing the costs to workers when they use these benefits. The struggle to stop the reduction of city sponsored health benefits to these and the current workforce continues. The racist cuts are also exposing once again that the union’s leadership is loyal to the bosses system and will do whatever the ruling class needs them to do.Progressive Labor Party (PLP) members active in this struggle are urging our friends to join our movement to build a communist world where healthcare will be free to all based only on their needs.
Workers are fighting back!
CHALLENGE has reported on efforts by retirees to stop these givebacks which have been agreed to by the New York City government and the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC), an umbrella of all city unions having contracts with NYC. Demonstrations at city hall and union headquarters as well as mass letter writing and telephone call campaigns have expressed our anger at attempts to privatize our medicare benefits. This attempted change will mean less access to needed health treatment and will affect low-income workers the most (disproportionately. Black, Latin and women). Now this same gang is pressing for similar reductions for the active workers. Similar cuts are going on or have taken place throughout the U.S.
War and economic crisis driving attacks on health benefits
The U.S. bosses are facing the increased likelihood of war as they face off against their main imperialist rival China and its ally Russia. To prepare for war, bosses want to divert billions to the war budget. They know that healthcare costs as a share of the U.S. gross national product have risen from 5 percent in 1960 to 19.7 percent in 2020 (USA facts.org). Lowering these costs potentially would free up money for the war chests.
The war is related to the economic crisis being felt around the world as imperialist powers like the U.S., China and Russia compete for profits and power. As hospitals merge and grow into larger conglomerates, they demand higher rates for their services. For example the cost of a colonoscopy can range from $1,100 to $3,700 for the same procedure depending on where you go (Choicehealth.com). The pharmaceutical industry is charging whatever the market will pay for new life saving drugs. New cancer drugs cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for those who can afford them or have insurance that will pay for them. National total health expenditures are expected to grow by at least 5.1 percent from 2021-2030 (USAfacts.org). The biggest bosses, who control policy, want to cut these costs so that they can compete against their imperialist rivals.
Fight to learn, learn to fight!
As we engage our class enemy, we need to learn about how capitalism works. We are building PLP study groups to help build more communist leaders/fighters in this battle. Join us to build a healthier world under communism!