NEW YORK CITY, June 30— In the face of a nauseatingly capitalist-loving Pride march, an antiracist, antisexist group of Progressive Labor Party attracted passersby with the chant “no pride in capitalism” and the front page headline “communism is liberation.” To smash sexism in all forms, we need to smash the root cause of divisions and discrimination: class society.  

Our goals for this action included a) for some of us to try to meet anti-genocide protesters in the empire-loving main march, b) link up with any remaining PL’ers and friends from the liberation march at Family Pride, and c) bring some communist ideas throughout. We distributed CHALLENGEs and flyers. Many walked up to us for conversations, and we even met a long-lost PL’er from four decades ago who described his involvement in PLP as “the best time of my life.” 

The lesson is clear: our class is in search of the ideas and practices that will free all of us. That’s communism! By breaking the chains of profit and smashing the ruling-class dictatorship across all borders, our class can begin to build a world that enables us to live as our whole selves. No matter the struggle, our enemy has one true identity: capitalism. We must crush capitalism in order to live. 

To smash sexism, we must unite 

But first, some definitions. “Queer” is an all-inclusive way to refer to people across the spectrum of sexuality and gender. “Identity politics”is using one’s socially-constructed identity (as opposed to their class position) as the basis for unity and organizing. “Capitalism” is the inherently violent system of two opposing class forces: the exploiter and the exploited. 

Queer identity politics and capitalism can gaily coexist. Case in point: the fourth largest weapons company in the world, Boeing, whose bombs are murdering our class in Gaza, sponsored the St. Louis Pride parade ( The Nation, 6/27).  

While the U.S.-Israel commits genocide of 38,514 Palestinian workers & children, the Pride parade here—which originated from the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion(!)—basks in the blood money from some of Israel’s diehard supporters: JP morgan Chase bank, Deutsche Bank, mastercard,  L'Oreal Group, and more. It’s not revolutionary to merely expose the capitalist nature of Pride; it is, however, a start. 

While the Queer Liberation March started in 1994 in its attempt to break away from the corporate and state-sponsored nature of Pride, it too chokes under its own democratic and coalition-building paradigm. The international PLP differs from this by its rejection of both identity politics and electoral politics. Refuse to be misled by any group of politicians, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and culture! Refuse anything short of communist liberation of all members of our class! We do this by engaging in fightback, building working-class consciousness, nurturing relationships, recruiting to PLP, and committing ourselves to serve our class. 

Queer as in crush capitalism

Next year, we can organize to march in the Queer Liberation March under the banner of communism. Wherever we connect our local struggles to international struggles, we chip away at the borders (mental, physical, social) that divide us. Let’s gooo, qomrades!