Thirty Years after the Rodney King Rebellion: Turn Anti-Racist Revolts into Communist Revolution
LOS ANGELES (USA), April 29—Thirty years ago, the acquittal of the four racist cops who brutally beat Black motorist Rodney King sparked a six-day multiracial working-class uprising here. Millions had seen a videotape of the beating, as King lay helpless on the ground. Like the 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstrations, the revolt reverberated around the world.
The terrified US rulers can’t forget it. Neither should we.
Videos of the 1992 rebellion ran 24/7 this week in China, South Africa, and elsewhere. The U.S. media emphasized friction between Black and Korean residents, trying to drown this historic outcry against racist police brutality in a sea of identity politics.
Spontaneous protests quickly overwhelmed the Los Angeles Police. The rulers called out the California National Guard and the United States military. Several federal law enforcement agencies deployed more than 5,000 federal troops to enforce martial law, including a ban on demonstrations. When the unrest ended, they had killed 63 people, injured 2,383 more, and arrested more than 12,000.
Communists Celebrate May Day, Break Ban for Whole Working Class
Here is the story – from comrades who were there.
Founding members of the International Communist Workers’ Party (who were then in Progressive Labor Party) organized a motorcade in Los Angeles on May Day 1992 to break the ban on demonstrations. We had come from San Diego, Bay Area, Seattle, and all over LA. Farmworkers had come from Delano.
Knowing there was a ban, we showed up at the usual assembly point in Downtown LA ready to march. When the cops stopped us, we were ready with Plan B. We got back into our cars and trucks, turned around, and drove through empty streets to the area in south LA where we had been organizing in schools and neighborhoods for at least ten years.
When we got to the Sports Arena, people jumped off the trucks and started distributing communist literature to the National Guard troops stationed there. “They were just very young men who had more in common with us than with the people who were telling them what to do,” a comrade remembered.
As we turned down Vermont, past a high school where two comrades worked, people started coming out to greet us. The cops disappeared. “They were more afraid of the people on the sidewalks than of what we might do,” said another comrade. “As well they should be.”
The motorcade proceeded as slowly as possible. We gave out more papers as neighbors walked alongside the trucks and cars proudly displaying our communist message. The May Day demonstration continued for about 4 miles through the heart of south Los Angeles. Comrades gave speeches from the truck the whole time.
After three days of rioting, many buildings had been burned. The bosses warned white people to stay out of the area. But on May Day, masses in the streets were thrilled to see our multi-racial group of white, Black, and Latinx comrades.
“I felt a little scared,” a Latino comrade remembered, “but afterwards I felt very strong with the support of the comrades and what I saw in the streets.”
“I was frightened,” admitted a white comrade, “but the reception was so overwhelmingly positive.”
At the end of the motorcade, we formed a picket line outside a supermarket. An all-Black National Guard unit from San Francisco was deployed to keep us out of the parking lot. A multi-racial group of comrades—including soldiers and former soldiers from Ft. Ord, CA, and Ft. Lewis, WA—talked to the Guard members.
We explained why we were breaking the ban on demonstrations. The soldiers relaxed and started to point their rifles towards the ground, with their fingers off the triggers. Then the LA cops reappeared. They rushed between us and the troops—no doubt afraid we would convince the soldiers to disobey their orders.
Our very successful May Day ended with a picnic in a neighborhood park.
“It is one of those experiences that made me realize that the ruling class is not all-powerful,” reflected a comrade. “Particularly the forty or fifty blocks when the cops just disappeared.”
“Beforehand we had gone to workers in the garment district, in transit, to pass out papers and leaflets,” added another. “I had a lot of confidence after. We felt the power: Here we are, and the people are accepting us. We were not just breaking the ban but coming to the working class with what we want and what we need.”
“It made me feel like the working class was unstoppable!” declared a third.
Build Communist Unity Among Workers, Soldiers, and Youth
When the U.S. ruling class had to call in the military and National Guard, they risked even greater catastrophe for their system. We saw that in the positive response of the National Guard soldiers and the panicky reaction of the cops. When troops were mobilized in LA in 2020, amidst the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, a group of us went to speak with some of them.
We could have made even greater headway in 1992 if masses of garment and MTA workers, students, and ex-soldiers had approached more National Guard and military with our Party’s plan to end racism with communist revolution.
Thirty years ago, communist soldiers with a base in their units could have brought us closer to revolution. Rebellions like the Rodney King uprising in the US are becoming more common worldwide as capitalist crises proliferate. The political work we do today in the military, workplaces and schools will prepare our class to turn the future uprisings into communist revolution.
Read our pamphlet: “To End Racism, Mobilize the Masses for Communism” here
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