Progressive Labor Party (PLP)  members joined comrades, family, friends, coworkers and neighbors to celebrate May Day, International Workers’ Day in the San Francisco Bay Area.  We attended marches in SF and Oakland, May 1st and had an exciting May Day dinner, May 3rd.  We have an ongoing study group about capitalism, dialectics & the struggle for a communist world which expanded the limits of our May Day celebrations. Here are some of the highlights:

The May Day marches

The mass marches were  attended by thousands and presented an opportunity to spread our ideas  across generations of workers.  The political character of the marches ranged from from anti-Trump to a more generalized anti-capitalism. Additionally, the Oakland March started with an indigenous group dancing and many youth groups led chants. There were also delegations from the ILWU, Teachers’ Unions, National Nurses, Day Laborers, and Labor for Palestine.

The tide is turning:

More and more working people are uniting with immigrant workers and are struggling against US Imperialism’s war budget and Israeli capitalists’ genocide in in Gaza.  In Oakland, there was a text message that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) trucks were at the end of the march. Marchers were ready to confront ICE but no one showed up.  We led a chant: *Kick ICE in the Ass, Power to the Working Class.” 
Our red flags flew high above the march:

We distributed our May Day flyer about the potential for a communist world and lessons learned from previous communist revolutions in the USSR and China. We led chants on the class nature of current struggles:  *Workers’ Struggles have no Borders! ¡Las Luchas Obreras, No Tienen Fronteras!                                                                                                                                                                  

Our May Day Dinner was a collective effort:

PLP members & friends cooked, developed the agenda with table talk questions, brought literature, and developed the cultural expression of communism in poetry & music.  One comrade narrated a history of PLP’s years of celebrating May Day; our example of Communist International Workers’ Unity.  There was art about international class struggle, class consciousness, and communism.  In table talk, we discussed personal experiences that help us to grow in these times.  Recognizing the importance of culture, we announced the formation of a movie group to socialize around a communist critique of popular movies or tv shows.  Everyone helped with set up and clean up duties.

Presentations about the struggle for communism                                                                                                        

A PL’er opened with the international nature of May Day..  He talked about his own personal/family connection to the struggle in Congo and how most people immigrate to the US because of US wars, imperialist competition for natural resources and labor, and capitalist destruction of life where they came from.  One report from table talk discussed the history of communal relations in a small town in El Salvador in the 60s-70s in spite of a capitalist system of individual wages and the ruling capitalists’ moves to corporatize local agriculture.

A teacher PL’er  spoke about ongoing the struggles at all level of education to teach about the Zionist attack on student learning about US Imperialism, Israeli fascist genocide/mass murder, and the erasure of Palestinian workers struggles.    In response in many schools and colleges, teachers, students and parents united against school administrations which try to limit the growth of international class-consciousness among students

A  transit worker PL’er  addressed the struggle to fight capitalist ideology among coworkers.  He said that having a collective was helpful.  While encountering coworkers who “just want to make it” & accept capitalism as necessary, he has found unity and sympathy with many passengers. 

He said “times are changing”,  “what you do counts”.  Many coworkers are now coming back to him saying “you are right” when he explains why this system can’t work for us.  We ended with an enthusiastic, loud singing of “The International” in English and Spanish.

After the dinner, comrades discussed strengths such as bringing our friends and expanding our circle of influence. We also examined areas that need improvement such as focusing more on why we need a communist party in this period of capitalism.

Pakistan, May 1—This May Day, cities across Pakistan echoed with the thunder of marching feet, raised fists, and chants for justice. From Lahore’s historic streets to Quetta’s rugged terrain, thousands of workers, students, peasants, and public service employees poured into the streets. Their message was clear: the struggle for liberation continues.

Red flags soared as processions denounced deepening inequality, political repression, and the erosion of labor rights. Amid economic crisis, authoritarian rule, and rising fascism, International Workers’ Day became both a solemn remembrance and a call to revolutionary action.

Progressive Labor Party (PLP) played a pivotal leadership role, aligning with independent unions, dissident worker groups, and grassroots alliances. Chanting against unemployment, inflation, and imperialist interference, PLP members in Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to communism and revolutionary change.

Workers anger at capitalism reverberates through the streets

Speeches across cities captured the shared anger—and hope—of an awakened working class. A textile worker in Faisalabad declared: “The mills run on our blood and sweat—but we remain disposable. Today, we say: no more. We demand dignity, protection, and power!”

A PL’er said: “Fascism is rising. The ruling class fan the flames of division—sectarianism, nationalism, misogyny—to keep us weak. But today, we marched as one class. We will not be silenced.”

In Karachi, gig workers, home-based women workers, students, clerks, trade unionists, and app-based drivers rallied against liberal imperialist exploitation: “We are treated like data points, not human beings. The system is rigged for profit—not people. We’re here to change that.”
From Sindh’s cotton fields to Sialkot’s factories, workers are trapped in a system that thrives on insecurity and weakens collective bargaining. “This is by design,” shouted a speaker in Islamabad. “Capitalism doesn’t fear elections—it fears worker unity.”

Traditional trade unions faced sharp criticism for compromising rather than confronting. State-aligned entities were accused of settling token deals while suppressing grassroots movements. “They negotiate crumbs while we starve,” said a union dissident in Lahore.

Identity politics is poison for the working class

Religious extremism and state-sponsored nationalism were also condemned for fragmenting the working class. Another PL’er exposed how elites weaponize identity—through issues like Kashmir and blasphemy—to divide and distract. “The coal miner in Baluchistan and the factory worker in Punjab fight the same system,” said a peasant leader in Sindh. “Our solidarity must rise above borders and national identities.”

Anti-imperialist slogans rang out. China’s CPEC projects and U.S. militarization were both condemned as faces of global capitalism. Speakers stressed that imperialism and class struggle are inseparable. “From Palestine to the Philippines, Sudan to Venezuela—we stand in global solidarity,” chanted students in Kashmir.

At the heart of May Day 2025 was PLP’s focus on political education, unity, and class consciousness. Study circles and campaigns are organizing landless peasants in Sindh, students in Kashmir, and gig workers in Lahore. “Revolution starts with clarity,” said a student organizer. “And clarity comes from study, struggle, and solidarity.”

As the processions ended with chants of “One world, one party, one fight: Workers of the World, Unite!” One thing was clear: Pakistan’s working class is rising—not just in resistance, but with revolutionary vision. “This is a historic moment,” that’s when a PL’er  said. “Faced with imminent climate collapse and AI-driven exploitation, we stand at a crossroads. We either remain crushed—or we rise, united, to build a new world.”
The struggle continues. Long live the international revolutionary communist PLP!

The following are excerpts from a tri-part speech given by young PLP veterans: a teacher and community worker, and a  young community worker who joined the Party recently on Saturday May 3rd at the New York/New Jersey May Day celebration.

Greetings, comrades! Happy May Day! We are teachers, community organizers and members of the Progressive Labor Party continuing the fight back against this racist, sexist, capitalist system–from Newark to New York, from Palestine, to Mexico! 

Today, May Day, is about the U.S. celebrating OUR legacy, OUR power as the working class, OUR fight for a communist future and raising the red flag against fascism! As we march down Flatbush today, we want everyone to raise those red flags! AND Raise them high!!
From every corner of the globe, the spirit of internationalist fightback lives on — here are just a few powerful moments:

In New York City students at Bronx Community College have been denied access to decent food by a racist administration whose only function is to normalize cutbacks that target Black and Latin working class students. But students are fighting both to demand their own access to food and show their classmates the connection between their own hunger and the hunger felt by workers all over the world, and to see that in all cases it is the bosses who are taking the food from our mouths. 

In East Los Angeles,  students walked out last year to demand bilingual education and the right to organize without punishment. They stood up against racist deportations and fascist detentions, fighting to protect workers of the entire world!

In Palestine, students are bombed in their classrooms, with entire universities being leveled, just so American imperialism can maintain its outposts in the Middle East. But this does not stop students from organizing protests and civil disobedience against Israeli settlements. In just one example of this bravery, students in Palestine demonstrated to open up Shuhada (Sho-ha-dah) street in Hebron where the racist Israeli rulers have denied them access for two decades.  
-Teacher & veteran PL’er
*

When the bosses close our hospitals, cut our jobs, and abandon us to deal with the disastrous results of their murderous system, we in PLP build worker, patient unity to care for one another in and out of the medical rooms. We storm the bosses' public health conferences and affinity groups and show our fellow workers how to fight to make a health system that benefits us–under communism!

When the landlords hike up rent prices three fold and make it impossible for us to secure housing, or sicc the murderous cops on us to evict us or exterminate us during a period of endless mental health crises, we as working class fighters house each other, feed each other, show up to court en masse and set up communities based on mutual aid that show the working class that we CAN build a moneyless, antiracist, antisexist society.

Only building for a communist future will heal the wounds of our class. Having comrades — here and around the world — who have your back and fight alongside you will transform your life. 

-Community worker & veteran PL’er
*

In the greater sense mutual aid is just one example of the self-organization of our class; that workers can organize society for each other. We must take this a step further— if we arm ourselves with communist ideas we can build a revolutionary movement to run society.

This is working-class solidarity and an act of resistance against the bosses who want us to believe we need them. We don’t need them—we have each other, always. We engage in building relationships and spreading communist ideas because mutual aid alone will never be enough to free us from capitalism. We must continue to care for our fellow workers, to listen, to build friendships, to defend one another, and to love each other.

It was, in fact, an act of love that brought me into the Party just a year ago. I was at a protest for Palestine, standing in the pouring rain—alone, without an umbrella—just chanting, soaked to the bone. A Party member tapped my shoulder and offered to share their umbrella with me. 

We began chanting together, then talking. I met other Party members who showed me kindness, and after the protest, I joined them for my first-ever communist study group. 

And now I’m super hyped to be here at my first ever May Day march!

We must share the giant, Earth-sized umbrella of communism with one another—so that, at last, we can all be dry and warm together.
As we march forward into a new day, fight for communism! Now more than ever is the time to up the ante! 
- A new PL’er and community worker

Praise of Communism
           By Bertolt Brecht

It is reasonable.

You can grasp it. It’s simple.

You’re no exploiter,
 so you’ll understand.

It is good for you. 

Look into it.

Stupid men call it stupid,
 and the dirty call it dirty.

It is against dirt
    and against stupidity.

The exploiters call it a crime.

But we know:

It is the end of all crime.

It is not madness but
The end of madness.

It is not chaos,
But order.

It is the simple thing
That’s hard to do.