Washington, DC, June 8 — “ARAB, JEWISH, BLACK AND WHITE! WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE!” chanted several dozen Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades and friends marching around the White House. We joined thousands of workers and students from around the U.S. gathering to form a “red line” demanding an end to genocide in Palestine. A busload of almost 40 PL’ers, students and friends from New York City joined comrades in Washington, DC and both raised internationalist communist politics and learned valuable lessons to carry the anti-imperialist class war forward.
With the confirmed death toll in Gaza exceeding 37,000, and the estimated numbers missing many tens of thousands higher, Israel, the rabid, mad-dog, fascist, puppet state of the U.S., has stirred masses of youth and workers into action. The revolutionary communist PLP salutes the brave masses facing down riot police in daily protests against genocide, and we fight to unite the entire international working class to smash this entire imperialist system once and for all!
Learning to fight, fighting to learn
For the bus ride down, young Party comrades planned and led a study group on nationalism vs internationalism, based on the 1968 PLP text, Revolutionaries Must Fight Nationalism, whose lessons are just as relevant today. Millions of youth and workers are appalled at the Israeli fascist genocide. Meanwhile opportunist groups uncritically praise the armed resistance led by Hamas, attacking any criticism as “dividing the resistance.” As communists, theory and practice are inseparable — and it’s the opportunists who divide the working class by hiding capitalist ideas in nationalist and religious dressing.
The study group discussion was vigorous and disagreements were sharp, with every person participating and sharing their views. While there were mixed views on nationalism, sharp points about how nationalism has not actually liberated the working class came from several workers/students from Puerto Rico, Lebanon, Ireland, and the Dominican Republic among others. And, despite some disagreements on the question of nationalism, one student joined PLP and will continue struggling with us. Others agreed to join or consider joining regular Party study groups. Our fight to unite the working class for an armed revolution for workers’ dictatorship from NYC to Gaza continues!
PLP brings red line to “red line”
We arrived in D.C. to what was more of a festival than an actual protest. There were discussions about the massacres in Palestine and a people’s court. Hundreds of youth and workers held a symbolic “red line” made from fabric around the White House’s gates which had the names of workers murdered by Israel. We soon found out that police presence was low because march organizers had a permit for the action and there was a pride parade happening nearby (in fact anti-Genocide LGBTQ+ protestors who rallied next to the parade were some of the only protesters attaked by police that day). The main “red line” action seemed like a performance that complied with the capitalists' laws despite the angry mood of thousands willing to break them! Some of the organizers of the march even walked around asking people to sign a sheet to get candidates elected in the presidential campaign.
After evaluating the situation, we decided to turn up the energy and bring our own political red line to the protestors. We led a march around the White House, which a crowd of protestors joined, encouraging those holding the red cloth to yell red chants. Throughout the day, we distributed 1,000 CHALLENGEs and over 1,100 leaflets calling to smash the genocide in Palestine with communist revolutions that will burn this system to the ground.
Comrades and friends debriefed on the day before departing back to NYC, and the consensus was our Party-led injection of militancy and energy into the protest was both necessary and well-received against the sedated, election-oriented event organizers. It also became clear that political disagreements on nationalism were unresolved among some of our friends. In particular, some students questioned if focusing on internationalism and anti-imperialism “de-centers” the legitimate aspirations of workers in Palestine for freedom. Essentially, their question was: how are we as communists engaging in the struggle against Israeli genocide?
“From the masses, to the masses”
Part of how the disagreement on the bus was handled reflects our task to sharpen our political skills and build a mass base for PLP. Self-critically, one of the things we could’ve done better was to first invite the students who came from the encampments to share their experiences fighting back in sharp antiracist struggle. These courageous students exemplify the militant student-worker unity that our Party fights for. much to learn from. And we should emulate their bold struggles. We could’ve also presented our chants earlier on, discussed and provided clarity about why we do the chants that we do.
At the same time, our Party’s line, shaped by six decades of sharp struggle, is an invincible revolutionary weapon in the hands of these students and the masses. PLP fights for internationalism because there is a class basis in international, working class solidarity. We oppose nationalism because we have the history proving that despite tremendous struggles like in Vietnam and South Africa, it’s a dead-end solution for the working class. Vietnam today is a global center for sweatshop factories, while South Africa’s African National Congress is in alliance with the same apartheid fascists the international working class waged a decades-long armed struggle against.
Communism is liberation
If we know that nationalism leads back to capitalism — and racism, sexism, and imperialism — we must fight for liberation by opposing it! Capitalism is our enemy no matter the gender, skin color or religion of whatever politicians are the face of it. than ever the working class is looking for actual solutions - not another fake “progressive” form of capitalism.
That same day of the march, Israel committed another massacre killing 274 more of our class siblings at a refugee camp. Our task is to crush imperialism or it will keep crushing us. The imperialists are preparing to plunge the international working class into another World War for their profits. PLP’s solution is to organize the international working class to fight for a communist world that is run by and for the working class, where there are no genocides, wars or nations that divide us. PLP is a party for ALL youth and workers with antiracist, anti-sexist and anti-imperialist ideas — JOIN US!
