LOS ANGELES, CA—Thirty five men and women workers from different trades participated in a social activity organized by our club of the International Communist Workers' Party (ICWP). The idea was mainly to discuss with them what they like about the newspaper, how they can help more with the distribution and also how to write for Red Flag.
A garment worker participated for the first time in an activity of ICWP. He brought something that he wrote about the bad working conditions in the factory where he works and asked that we publish it in Red Flag. We told him we would, together with a communist analysis of the situation in the factory, and he agreed. He has been reading the newspaper for a few months. In the factory where he works, another 300 workers regularly receive Red Flag.
Another worker also participated for the first time. She said she was impressed by the comradely atmosphere, because when she was invited to the meeting, she had many doubts about what a communist meeting would be like. Even though she had not met with us before, she wrote a letter in the last edition of Red Flag. She said that she wanted to know more about communism and that she was willing to participate in future Party meetings.
A comrade, an industrial worker, brought a friend, to whom she introduced to Red Flag for the first time, even though she had already presented revolutionary ideas to her before.
The comrade is writing a letter with questions and doubts about ICWP's point of view about religions and the belief in God. She said she is interested in a study group about this topic. We said we would have it as soon as possible and that we will write a report about the discussion in the newspaper.
A reader came with his family and a roasting pan with meat to cook. He is part of a large family, eight of whom were there. They are all very friendly and respect the Party, but the struggle is to involve them in participating more actively in marches and political meetings.
Workers gave economic donations for the newspaper, paid their yearly subscription, and many donated for the costs of the delicious food, coffee, and dessert. It was a nice evening politically, we took one more step forward in building a mass base for communist ideas. Self critically, we could have done more, sharpened even more the struggle with many of these readers, if the comrades present had taken the initiative to engage them in deeper discussions about communism. In future activities we will guarantee to prepare ahead of time to take better advantage of the great opportunity that these activities give us to expand the limits of the struggle for communist ideas.
This activity showed our potential to mobilize the workers, and it also showed the potential of these workers and readers to mobilize their friends and families to the Party's activities. The struggle continues; our next step is to increase the distribution of our communist newspaper Red Flag and to consolidate some of these readers as active Party members.