Rally against genocide: confronting contradictions to build ICWP here ♦ Cal State Protesters Welcome ICWP here ♦
ICWP on picket lines in December 2023 at Cal State Los Angeles
Bakersfield Rally Against Genocide: Confronting Contradictions to Build ICWP
“Care for Red Flag? It is a revolutionary communist newspaper.”
“Great!” answered a demonstrator. “I’ve been looking for a communist party to join.”
“Great!” said our comrade, “Let’s exchange contact information and keep in touch.”
This took place at an energetic march in Bakersfield, CA. on Oct 12. About 120 people marched against the escalating genocide in Gaza.
It was organized by young people to honor the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians killed by the US-backed Israeli fascists. It demanded an immediate ceasefire and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
Two ICWP comrades participated, invited by friends they had met at demonstrations in Los Angeles. We distributed about 85 copies of Red Flag and our communist leaflet: “A Year of Genocide, A Year of Struggle. Lesson Learned: Only Communist Revolution Can End the Horrors of Capitalism-Imperialism,” available here.
We greeted some friends and met new ones, amidst discussions about genocide, imperialism, revolution and communism.
At dinner after the march, a participant said, “We love having you guys here with us. It’s great to share with older people who have been in the struggle for years.”
“We love being here seeing all you young people,” answered the comrades. “It is key that young people join and lead the struggle. To succeed, we need to fight to end capitalism and imperialism with communist revolution.”
Another marcher said he was inspired by our leaflet’s vision of a communist world without wage slavery, genocide or imperialism, where we will produce and share only for the masses’ needs and not for profits.
Confronting the Contradiction between Reform and Communist Revolution
A week later, the two comrades went to Bakersfield again, invited to an art festival. We met several of the marchers and discussed our leaflet.
The leaflet sharply criticizes the political line of the anti-genocide movement. It explains that demanding and marching for a ceasefire from the same imperialists who are funding the genocide won’t bring any change. Trying to convince or demand that politicians support a ceasefire gives the dangerous illusion that imperialism can be ended through reform. The imperialists are locked in a life-and-death struggle for markets and control of workers’ labor power. No reform can end that—only communist revolution can.
The leaflet explains that genocidal wars are an inevitable product of capitalist competition for maximum profits. This requires paying workers as little as possible. The capitalists who sell for the lowest price corner the market and make maximum profits. Those unable to do so must go to war to eliminate their competitors.
Therefore, we can’t end workers’ exploitation and genocidal wars unless we destroy capitalism-imperialism and wage slavery (working for a wage) with communist revolution.
One young man asked why we don’t fight for socialism, like in Norway. We explained that socialism keeps the wage system; it is state capitalism. Norway and the other European socialist countries are joining NATO to fight the rising China-Russia imperialist axis.
Although communist revolution seems like a longer-term proposition than demanding ceasefire, it is the only realistic path. Only communism can meet the needs of humanity and the environment without exploitation or genocidal wars.
At dinner with three activists, we talked about the importance of building community through creating relationships of trust and confidence. Communist community building.
Many people thought that if masses of people were in the streets, the imperialists would stop supporting the genocide. Now they know that won’t happen. They need a different outlook. They need to see that only communist revolution will end capitalism’s genocides and developing world war and allow Palestinians and all of us to be free and live in peace.
That is the urgent goal worth dedicating our lives to! It means reaching out to farm workers, industrial workers and soldiers – key sectors who can lead the masses in communist revolution and building communism.
It requires developing ICWP collectives in order to develop a mass party everywhere to lead a revolution and build communism.
The murderous imperialists are fighting for their survival. Revolution must end their rule. The communist masses will build a world based on collectivity, without competition, money or imperialist war.
Our modest ties are getting stronger and more solid. ICWP has a lot to learn from angry, energetic young people. ICWP needs you and you need ICWP.
Cal State Protesters Welcome ICWP Communist Message
October 9, Los Angeles (USA)—A group of professors and students gathered at Cal State LA to denounce the genocide in Gaza and the complicity of the Cal State system with it. This included attacks against professors for speaking out against the genocide. Some spoke of the ongoing steadfast resistance of the Palestinian masses.
ICWP has had a presence on the campus since the protests began. We have brought communist politics to the encampments as well as food and water.
A participant recited Refaat Alareer’s poem “If I must die”. Alareer was a Palestinian professor and poet murdered by an IDF missile. As the woman read each verse, the crowd repeated it in unison. It was very touching.
After more speeches, an ICWP member spoke, “I have seen the future.” He highlighted the collective struggle and sacrifice that has enabled the resistance to continue against one of the most powerful and brutal armies in the world. “I am a proud communist,” he continued. “Collectivity is the basis of communism. Not individualism, which is the basis of capitalism. The future is a communist future. A world without any borders, nations or money, where we work collectively based on the communist principle “from each according to commitment and ability, to each according to need.”
He spoke about the Boeing workers’ strike, explaining that the strikers are against exploiter Boeing’s attacks on them, but also against warmaker Boeing’s role in profiting from genocide. He added that the genocide in Gaza reflects the sharpening fight between the world’s superpowers. We also see this fight in Ukraine and over Taiwan.
Listeners applauded his speech. We had great conversations about communism and almost everyone there gladly took Red Flag and our flyer about Palestine. We will now follow up with our contacts and work to build communist relations with them.
–LA Teacher