NEW YORK, November 15 – Communists in Progressive Labor Party (PLP) scored another victory today for the working class, playing a pivotal role in uniting Uptown Manhattan at a neighborhood demonstration that drew upwards of 200 people and took a major step forward in breaking down the racist barriers that have kept our neighborhood segregated for many years. Working collectively, we made new contacts, strengthened old ones, distributed about 100 copies of CHALLENGE, and publicly put forward our line on capitalism and international communist revolution.
Fierce struggle against liberalism and nationalism pays off
When communists work inside the mass movement, we see the class struggle as a school for communism, drawing lessons about what workers need to truly solve their problems. In Uptown right now, for example, we are focused on mobilizing our neighbors against ICE raids and deportations, but at the same time we are seizing the opportunity to expose the entire capitalist system and its racist and nationalist divisions, in the process building multiracial unity and class consciousness. Seen this way, anti-ICE organizing goes beyond “resistance” to fascism and moves towards building a communist movement to smash capitalism once and for all!
This “Day of Community Action” was organized by Hands Off NYC, an arm of Indivisible, which is itself a front group for the national Democratic Party machine. Indivisible has been giving the Democrats a “militant” face, telling workers that it is President Donald Trump who has caused their problems, and channeling their justified working-class anger into the usual electoral dead end. To their credit, some of these liberal workers have been devoting themselves to antiracist community organizing, conducting Know Your Rights and Neighborhood Defense training and mapping out Uptown on our way to establishing neighborhood patrols. These actions are vital! But their major weakness, apart from their loyalty to capitalism, has been a lack of contact with the very immigrant neighbors they wish to protect.
On the flip side is the uptown Coalición por la Defensa de los Inmigrantes (Coalition for the Defense of Immigrants), a largely Spanish-speaking coalition that has organized two successful multiracial marches Uptown (see CHALLENGE 6/4/25 & 10/29/25). This coalition has often found itself isolated—due to its die-hard nationalism—from its non-Latin neighbors, often ignoring or discounting “white” workers who want to unite with them.
Enter the communists, who have been diligently organizing inside both groups for months now, and struggling with both to connect with each other. In the runup to the demonstration, little wonder that the organizers asked one of our PLP members to be the MC, which instantly made the entire event bilingual. After some insistent, sharp struggle, several members of the Coalición agreed to attend the demonstration and one agreed to speak, which instantly and qualitatively improved the character of the event.
In the days leading up to the demonstration, other comrades sprang into action. One joined the organizing committee and agreed to speak in Spanish and English. The other arrived at the event armed with CHALLENGE and proceeded to claim the best spot at the busy intersection to set up a table to distribute the paper.
Shout down these racist politicians!
Even as much of the organizing focused on grassroots, community speakers, and empowering our neighbors with anti-ICE whistles and Know Your Rights packets, there was an internal debate among the organizers about whether we should allow politicians to speak. Several argued yes, but said we should try to “get something” in return and “hold them accountable.” When one organizer wondered if we could tell them that our goal was to elevate community voices and suggest they speak to people one-on-one, again one of our comrades intervened, arguing that politicians “take up all the air,” and urging the group to simply ask them not to speak and instead support our neighbors taking the lead.
That position seemed to win out until the day of the event when organizers slipped back into allowing them to say “a few words,” which is like telling a politician to be honest: it’s impossible. When Adriano Espaillat, our local racist, pro-genocide U.S. congressman, ignored our requests to keep it brief, members of the community, again led by a comrade, began to boo and interrupt his speech with cries of “Stop the genocide!” and “What are YOU doing?” We should have shut him down completely!
Luckily, due to his racist, pro-boss/anti-worker positions, he has become very unpopular and had to beat a hasty retreat, and the event continued, centering multiple neighbors in a community speak-out expressing their rage at ICE, the genocide of Palestinians, and in the case of our comrades, the entire capitalist system.
What’s next?
Plans continue in our neighborhood to educate and train more of our neighbors and build functioning anti-ICE patrols. The Coalición continues to soul search for its mission, keeping the rest of the community at arms length. It’s up to us communists to continue the fight on all fronts.
Most important is our Party’s base. Multiple workers have expressed curiosity about our Party. Many receive the paper regularly, and a number of them have attended recent study groups, enriching our discussions and coming away impressed with what our Party is putting forward. It is our job to get to know these workers better and convince them that taking the next step and JOINING our Party is essential for the working class Uptown to make true inroads in the class struggle.
A comrade’s speech: Unite against fascism!
I’m here because it’s crucial that we unite our neighborhoods against the fascists who scapegoat our immigrant neighbors and blame them for the failures of their own rotten system.
The struggle is worldwide
We see this tactic all over the world: in the Dominican Republic where Haitians are dehumanized, and in Puerto Rico where many resent Dominican migrants. These borders—whether between neighborhoods or nations—are invented to convince us that other workers are a threat. But the truth is we all want the same things, and we are all under attack by capitalism: a system built on oppressing the working class, especially Black workers, immigrants, women, and other marginalized groups. Racism is one of its strongest tools—one that numbs people to the suffering of the Congolese, the Sudanese, the Palestinian people, and so many others who have more in common with us than any billionaire ever will.
The world feels divided but today proves the fascists haven’t won. They want us scared, silent, obedient. We’re here to do the opposite: to fight back and to unite across race, age, gender, and neighborhood. We cannot rely on any capitalist party to protect us—we protect each other.
Fascism is rising globally, and the working class everywhere is under attack. From Gaza to Congo, from DR to right here in our city, segregation and division serve profit. Real safety comes from solidarity and integration—across borders, across communities, across struggles.
A multiracial, united working class can and must fight back. And today, we’re showing exactly what that looks like.
