TEL AVIV—This Year’s May 1 fell on on the Israeli Independence Day, so various left groups, including the Histadrut union federation, held the May Day march on April 27. A few thousand participated, including the Progressive Labor Party (PLP).
Gov’t Withhold Wages from Black Refugees
The best part of the march: African refugee workers fighting back. Many protested against the racist wage deduction law for refugee workers.
There are over fifty thousand refugees from East Africa, whom the racist Israeli government tries deport to their near-certain deaths. Most have fled the monstrous fascist state at Eritrea or the genocide in South Sudan. While many are granted visas, they are still not granted the right the work, so they work without documents. Bosses pay them far less than the minimum wage and work them for long hours (see box about the condition of Black workers in Israel.
Effective May 1, the government will be deducting 20 percent of asylum-seekers’ wages. The money will be returned when they leave the country. Employers will deposit the deducted wages in a fund managed by Bank Mizrahi-Tefahot (Surely that fund will be making even more money for the bosses.) The fund was approved under the racist Prevention of Infiltration Law.
The law is intentionally driving Black workers to further destitution. The racist Israeli government’s intention is to force workers to leave. Instead, they marched on May Day (see photos with signs in both depicted in Tigrinya and Hebrew) demanding an end to the racist law and for better pay and work conditions.
Direct Employment
The Coalition for Direct Employment was also present. Some chanted for the end of contract employment and for workers’ rights. There were very few revolutionary slogans, although we PL’ers did raise such calls.
The Coalition for Direct Employment is an organization fighting against ultra-exploitative and often racist contract bosses. Part of the Coalition’s work is organizing contract workers into study groups so they can better fight their bosses for better working conditions.
Greetings to Workers Overseas
We, PLP supporters in “Israel”-Palestine, send our Mayday greetings to comrades and workers overseas. Here, we are faced with life and political work in a country overrun with fascism. The government has won many Jewish workers to racist ideas. The bosses’ state has forced the majority of Palestinian workers to despair. The bosses have also passed laws to prosecute opposition groups.
While things are monstrously hard, we retain our hope that with slow and patient work, revolution and liberation will eventually come. If not in our generation, then in our children’s generation, and if not in our children’s generation, then in our grandchildren’s generation. This is the reason we keep fighting - the glimpse of hope for a better world where workers will take control over their lives and work from the bosses and build a future of freedom and equality.
We say—Jewish, Arab, and Africans—unite for workers’ revolution!

STANFORD, CA, April 27—A group of students staged a sit-in demanding sanctuary for undocumented students in front of hundreds of admitted students, families, and administrators during the main University Welcome event. About a dozen students walked onto stage with signs stating, “ICE is not welcome,” and sat down for an hour, chanting intermittently.
One parent yelled out, “Only legal immigrants are welcome here,” so the students chanted, “ALL immigrants are welcome here! No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” People from the audience joined in. Several later thanked them for their actions.
Administration did not know what to do with themselves! The Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Richard Shaw and Provost Persis Drell looked flabbergasted. At the moment they said the protesters were doing this because they love Stanford, and “this is one the things that makes this place so special.” Later, the University released a statement in the Stanford Daily expressing “disappointment” in the students’ tactics. The university bosses’ liberalism only hides their true nature: to perpetuate and normalize the class inequalities—this includes borders and differences based on citizenship.
The next day, even more students stood outside the auditorium with a banner, signs, and chants (see photo).
It was a weekend of action for the over-forty multiracial, multigender students determined to show the incoming class an example of fightback against the racist policies on campus, and to demand that Stanford be a sanctuary campus. Stanford is one of many campuses across the country where students, faculty and campus workers are fighting to safeguard against president Trump’s deportation plans.
Progressive Labor Party applauds the antiracist actions of these students. They are part of a long-term struggle to abolish borders. Wherever there is an opportunity to expose the deadly liberalism of universities and their role in endorsing racism, there is also an opportunity for the fighters to become working-class leaders for a border-less and egalitarian world.  
The Battle for Sanctuary
Since the election of Trump, Stanford Sanctuary Now (SSN) has been working to make Stanford a sanctuary campus. Their demands include:

• Supporting students offering need-blind admission (the college doesn’t consider family’s finances when deciding to admit) to all students, including undocumented and international students.
• Protect campus workers, as they are the most exploited and at-risk of harassment. SSN considers them as much a part of Stanford as the students and faculty, because without them, they would not have food to eat and clean classrooms
• Stanford should refuse to cooperate with Immigration Customs Enforcement (immigration police)
• Provide free legal services to all students, campus workers, and their families
• Divest from private prisons and detention centers and all other corporations that profit from displacement and exploitation of immigrants, refugees, Black, and indigenous communities.

For the past few months, the students have been meeting with administration to push these demands. After several meetings, their intentions were clear. The racist administration has sanctuary, hurting undocumented students and workers on campus.  
What’s more, the university bosses counter that a sanctuary campus will endanger the lives of the undocumented. They have also have patronized and ignored the formerly undocumented students who are leading the movement, telling them that Stanford has “plenty of undocumented applicants.” The bosses have gone on to claim the only place where undocumented are targeted is at the southern border. So much fake news, so many lies for a university that prides itself on intellectual superiority.
The meetings with administration have exposed the university bosses for the rotten capitalist goons they are. It was then they decided to escalate to direct actions. It is evident that students can only rely on themselves and the campus workers to fight back.
The students and workers at Stanford can benefit by arming themselves with communist politics and a fighting organization. Progressive Labor Party fights to abolish borders, when all of the working class belongs to one world. To find out more about PLP, follow us on twitter @PLPchallenge.

CHICAGO—“Workers from Chicago to South Sudan to Mexico must unite to smash this capitalist system” were the closing words from a comrade who gave a speech at the Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) rally for International Workers Day: May Day. It was a rainy and cold day in Chicago but that didn’t stop about 50 PLP members and friends from calling out capitalism for its destruction of the lives of working people. We chanted and distributed Challenge to workers walking by and in their cars. Some joined our chants as they passed, and many more honked in solidarity.  In this heavily Latin community, our call to smash deportations and fascism was especially well received.  
Get Involved In Fighting Back
At the dinner later that day, a comrade summarized the year of struggle we had in Chicago. From marching on racist, murdering kkkop Jason Van Dyke’s house, to helping organize a march on the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), to fighting back against the racist lead poisoning of workers, we have immersed ourselves in the class struggle against capitalist attacks.
Recommit To Communist Revolution
Another comrade called for all members, and friends to commit and recommit themselves to the revolutionary struggle for communism. We want more than just a few reforms. As the capitalists plan for more imperialist wars and more racist attacks on the working class, we say that a better world is possible! With about 100 in attendance, our comrade called on our friends to join the Party. We need to sharpen the fight against fascism and imperialism and everyone can contribute. He then told a story about a young mother in the Soviet Union during World War II. During the battle of Stalingrad, after dropping her child at the communal daycare, she and her older daughter went straight to their volunteer work digging anti-tank trenches. Everyone has a role to play in fighting for and building communism. When the working class is under attack, we need everyone to step up and be part of an organized fightback. These fightbacks are the building blocks of our future world without sexism and racism; that’s communism!
The past and future of our party were exemplified by a moving tribute to a veteran comrade, and a heartfelt speech by a new member about why he joined. Spoken word and musical performances enlivened our May Day celebration.
Join the Progressive Labor Party
May Day is a celebration of workers’ struggles but it is also a time for people to recommit themselves to the revolutionary communist struggle. It is a time to get inspired, and to get involved fighting back against school closings, cut backs in healthcare, imperialist wars, and police terror. A united working class is destined to win. Get off the fence! Join the Progressive Labor Party!

BAY AREA—This year’s May Day dinner in the Bay Area was multiracial, multi-generational, and inspired working class unity. Over 70 comrades and friends participated. Some travelled from far distances to continue their tradition of celebrating International Worker’s Day with Progressive Labor Party (PLP). The room was filled with posters, banners, and flags that celebrated the power and revolutionary history of communist workers around world. We had two comrades emcee the event, and they did an amazing job setting the tone by telling the history of May Day, leading us in chants, and guiding our “table talk” discussion.
One of the highlights of the event was the table talk. Each table discussed a question like “how do we fight fascism” or “describe a time when you witnessed immigrant labor under attack”. It was inspiring to see so many people, many who didn’t know each other, get immersed into the process of thinking collectively about how we can strategize on fighting growing threats to our class.
At the end, each table shared the highlights of their conversations, allowing folks to see how we have all faced similar oppressions and exploitations as workers under capitalism.
Welcome New Comrade
One comrade gave a speech about why he joined the Progressive Labor Party, and explained his process of political development. This comrade told his story of being a child laborer because his undocumented single mother couldn’t make ends meet, even though she worked day in and day out. He worked for Latinos for Obama because he “truly believed that by working within the system [he] would be able to bring about change in [his] community.”
He soon became disillusioned by the work he was doing, because he saw that the Democratic Party was the same as the Republican Party, and that both feed false promises to the working class. He realized that revolutionary communism was the only way to worker’s liberation. All of his stories of struggle and resilience were stark reminders of why we must continue to fight, and why the PLP is vital to the triumph of all workers trying to survive this age of decaying capitalism.
Turning Despair into Working-Class Rage
Another young comrade spoke about the importance of turning the sadness, something we often feel when looking at the state of the world, into working-class rage. She explained that it’s okay to be distraught by the fact that half of the Syrian population has been turned into refugees by imperialist war. She described the pain that she feels every time she thinks about all the children who are separated from their parents as they await deportation in private prisons.
Her speech challenged us to turn that pain into class anger. Our class anger propels us to take action against the assaults our brothers and sisters face daily. We will liberate ourselves from our capitalist enemies, and we are confident in the capacity of workers to break their chains once and for all.
Whens we looked around the room, we saw the multiracial, multigender, multigenerational unity. People all around the world are overcoming racist, sexist, and nationalist divisions. For this, we have a reason to be confident and joyous on May Day.
Overall, the dinner brought new and veteran comrades together and inspired a fightback spirit to fuel us for the long-term struggle. Many people walked away feeling like they were energized by seeing so many people being unafraid, unapologetic, and about their commitment to communist revolution.
This May Day celebration was a reminder of how important it is to build community as we struggle for communism, and to reflect on how powerful our class truly is. After this May Day dinner, our Bay Area comrades are feeling more energized to continue the struggle.