NEW YORK, NY, March 30 - A multiracial, multigenerational, and international contingent of 30 members and friends of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) marched to commemorate the 48th anniversary of Land Day, bringing masses of workers our revolutionary communist message. On this day in 1976, masses of workers in Palestine broke with nonviolence and embraced militant rebellion in response to Israeli-launched fascist land seizures and the murder of six unarmed workers. Across the U.S. in 2024, on an almost constant basis, thousands of workers and students are demonstrating against the U.S.-funded genocide in Gaza.
In New York City, PLP, with its dozen red flags and communist ideas and chants, joined the crowds chanting, “Joe Biden, you can’t hide. You’re committing genocide,” and added our own sharper political line, “Capitalism, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide.”
We also countered the nationalist chants with internationalist chants of “Asian, Latin, Black and white, workers of the world unite!” and chanted “Fight for communism, now’s the time!” to let the masses now that communism is the only way the entire planet and working class will be free from violent displacement and genocide.
From Palestine to Mexico smash ALL capitalist borders
During the march, we distributed more than 700 copies of CHALLENGE-DESAFIO and the same number of flyers written specifically for the event with the help of young Palestinian women workers who taught us a new chant. The chant which says that “from Palestine it has been decided we will smash the seige” contains the arabic word“hisar” which means seige, but hisar also has a second meaning: border. This chant reveals what workers in Palestine already know: Israel’s fascist blockade of Gaza exposes the inherent racist class violence essential to ALL capitalist borders. Only communism can realize this chant’s full meaning.
Fightback against genocide exposes growing fascism
Prior to the demonstration, PL members reached out to their friends from workplaces, schools and neighborhoods to march with us. One retired faculty member from a college in New Jersey was joined by her friend, also a teacher, who had come under attack by her campus administrators when she posted a political cartoon criticizing the Israeli military and government for its mass killing of Palestinians, including thousands of students. This teacher was targeted by the Zionist gsroup Canary Mission, which trolls the Internet to identify faculty and students who are critical of Israeli policies and then reach out to Zionist community groups and student campus organizations to file complaints. This faculty member was the victim of such a complaint. Her response was to get more involved and to not retreat.
Aware that at recent demonstrations, police have been aggressively confiscating bullhorns and arresting protestors, PLP kept our contingent tightly organized, allowing us to bring our message of international solidarity and vision of a communist future to the workers surrounding us. Each person had a buddy and phone numbers in the event of police interference. The large crowd also helped provide security to all the protestors.
The sharpening attack, with the U.S. expanding its aid to Israel for the war abroad and aggressively targeting organizers who are protesting these policies at home, reflect the deepening crisis of U.S. capitalism. According to the civil rights organization, Palestine Legal, more than 2,000 faculty and students have been disciplined or fired for their protests against policies of the U.S. and Israeli governments. The spirited demonstration and our careful planning and organizing left our participants with a new resolve to build for the upcoming May Day march and to reach out to more of our friends and co-workers to win them to the importance of building a mass movement for communism.
Fight for communism for a free Palestine
As communists in the PLP, we understand that only when the working class runs society will workers and the land will be liberated. Neither fake elections nor Palestinian misleaders can do the job. As masses of workers in Palestine chant, “From Gaza, it’s been decided, we will smash the siege!”It is clear that workers there and everywhere deserve nothing less than a communist world without borders. From Gaza to Mexico only communist revolution can break the siege and smash the nationalist borders genociding our class. Join the PLP and let’s make these words a reality.
