“Whose day?! Our day!! What day? May Day!!” A multiracial, multigenerational, and multi-gender group of hundreds of communists and friends rallied and marched in Brooklyn on May 4 to celebrate the fight of the international working class and our march towards communism. This year's May Day came seven months into the intensified genocide in Palestine driven by Israeli and U.S. bosses. Workers in New York City have since launched countless actions in protest, from blocking bridges to occupying spaces on college campuses. While many chant, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," we sharpened this with internationalism to say, "From all the rivers to all the seas, communism will set us free!"
Nothing short of a communist revolution will achieve true freedom for workers anywhere. The main speech embodied this idea, highlighting the dangers of nationalist ideas like Nazism and Zionism: “Nationalism is a fire that will engulf the world in conflict. From all the rivers to all the seas, only communism can put out that fire. It will set us free!”
Following this came a speech by an education worker who was removed from his teaching position for openly supporting students when they wrote a letter to demand the school administration create a space to mourn the death of workers and children in Palestine. He highlighted the power of fighting back as part of a party, specifically as part of Progressive Labor Party: “Ultimately, it was PLP that helped me and my entire school community fight against silencing and isolation. They helped give us the support to overcome cynicism and turn it around into a fight with the capitalist school system.”
Before we kicked off our march, a veteran comrade who had just been arrested that week for supporting students at an encampment spoke, “there’s no better time to talk about communism with the youth than when you’re all zip-tied by police.”
Energetic beats shook the streets as we chanted, “NYPD, KKK, IOF, they’re all the same!” and “Fight for communism, now's the time to free, free Palestine!” The community chimed in with us, some danced along, and several workers in the neighborhood joined the march. We marched past the blocks where Kimani Gray and others have been murdered by police and made sure to remind the NYPD and the community that we have not forgotten the kkkops’ crimes: “How do you spell racist? N-Y-P-D!” One attendee remarked, “This is the most receptive I’ve seen the community be on May Day. People were open to the chants and ideas.”
At the end of our march, two student leaders from the CUNY Gaza Solidarity encampment spoke.
They reminded the crowd not to buy into the bosses’ fascist lies about what the encampments stand for. A new comrade gave a rousing speech about why she joined the Party and encouraged the rest of the crowd join too, “The working class is divided by local bosses and held captive by nationalist ideas; the ruling class does not want us to see that we have more in common with the Pakistani farmer, the Congolese miner, and the migrants on Staten Island than we do with fascist Eric Adams or genocidal Joe Biden. Our destinies as workers of the world are interconnected. We depend on each other to live and fight another day.” We closed by singing the Internationale.
As capitalism falls further into decay, its crises and fascism are on full display. Many have woken up to the lies of “freedom” and “democracy” that uphold this system. As they call for a new one, let us answer that call by saying, “The only solution is a communist revolution!”
