LOS ANGELES—"This May Day March was something I won't forget. You've got all these people marching for legal rights and different things. Then there we were, marching for communism!" said a young participant.
In preparing for this year's May Day March we youth and workers were mobilized for communism. Prior to the march the ICWP organized a political dinner that included speeches, communist songs and plans for the march. The youth took great leadership in all of this.
On the day of the march we piled onto a bus that would take us downtown. On the way we practiced our communist chants: "Este puño sí se ve, los obreros al poder," "Long live communism, power to the workers," and more.
We got off the bus and quickly organized our communist contingent. Under the banners of "Mobilizing the Masses for Communism" and "Production for Need, Not Profit" we marched through the streets.
"Covered with red shirts, we filled the streets with banners and chants and, most of all, we marched with great pride," said a student organizer.
"I liked my particular task of distributing Red Flag to people on the sidewalks because I got to speak with them about the march and helped get the word out about communism," added another young organizer.
Many comrades and friends distributed communist literature wo workers and youth who eagerly took it. We distributed 1850 Red Flags and 1500 copies of our manifesto Mobilize the Masses for Communism. We also distributed some 3000 leaflets denouncing the deaths of garment workers in Bangladesh at the march, at garment factories, and at transit divisions.
Another student commented that he didn't know everyone in our contingent, and that meant that Red Flag was getting bigger. "We were down with the red, down with the ICWP and we were down for every worker of the world!"
Another marcher said, "Almost everywhere I walked there were people reading Red Flag. It was just amazing, something like never before. I'm not a communist yet nor a Red Flag comrade but I know that soon I will because I believe that communism is the right way to live life to make this world a better place. Mobilize the masses for communism!"
All in all, our participation in the May Day March was a great advance. Our small but powerful multi-racial and international communist contingent shone like a bright red star. From leading chants, to carrying the red flags and banners, to the distribution of literature, to the political and physical security of the march, youth leaders and older comrades, men and women, all played their part.
At the end of the march, a student who brought friends and led the chants said enthusiastically, "I have never seen such a sight! For a group to get together and express their opinions and thoughts with such strength and devotion was amazingly unbelievable. I'm so glad and fortunate to have participated in such an event."
We invite this student, and everyone else, to join the International Communist Workers' Party.