Seattle May Day here ♦ Friendly neighborhood communists here ♦
Seattle May Day Report
SEATTLE (USA), May 1— “Wow, this is really excellent!’’ said a young Boeing worker and activist when he saw the ICWP sign at the Seattle May Day rally. Its headline read, “Turn Imperialist War into Communist Revolution.”
Almost one-third of the thousand or so workers and students who marched and rallied on May Day in Seattle took copies of Red Flag. Some asked for more to share with friends and colleagues not at the march.
Comrades had frequent and sometimes lengthy discussions with participants and made nine new contacts. Many young people were interested in what our party thinks about what is happening in the world and about war in particular. During our discussions at our May Day dinner and the march, it became clear that these questions had intensified.
Our friends who work at Boeing and related industries are angry at the president of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union, who has been encouraging defense manufacturing across the USA. In a letter to Congress, he asked both Democrats and Republicans to “protect our national security.” He aims to build pro-war sentiment.
A longtime comrade who stayed by our literature table had a long conversation with a teacher who had traveled over an hour from Olympia for the march. We met him last year, and whenever he visits Seattle, we meet up at a local coffee house. Each issue he distributes twenty Red Flag newspapers in bookstores and coffeehouses in his neighborhood.
A young person who came to the table told the comrade there that she had just moved from Portland to find a job. She picked up the paper and said that she wanted to learn more about communism. We chatted and she said that she “liked to write.” The comrade mentioned that she and a friend were getting together to write an article on AI and its effect on culture, especially music. When asked if she would like to help write it, the young person said “Yes!” We exchanged phone numbers.
A student at the University of Washington told us about an attending physician in the UW Medical School who refuses to give feedback to residents of color. That medical school has been known to have discouraged Black students for decades. After the student and a comrade who had retired from the UW discussed this, she was happy to give the comrade her contact information.
The conflict between the needs of the capitalist class for war and fascism and the needs of the working class to end exploitation forever has become a very popular subject…especially among younger people. As more of them question everything this system has taught them, they are open to discussions of a communist vison for the future world.
The positive response of so many shows the potential for the battle to end capitalism with communist revolution. We encourage you to fight in your workplace or school, join the military to “turn the guns around,” and win the masses to communist revolution!
Letter: Friendly Neighborhood Communists
I’ve been working at Franklin High School since 2019. Early on I met D and L who passed out the Red Flag to students as they walked up the hill to school. After I got to know L and D, I dubbed them the “Friendly Neighborhood Communists.” They were so delightful to talk to! L and I became friends.
Over the years I’ve seen students reading the Red Flag at breakfast in the lunchroom.
One time I took a picture of a student with the Red Flag and texted it to L.
Recently, a student was reading the Red Flag at a table with several other students. I asked her if I could take her picture to pass on to my friends, L and D. She said no because she was only looking at the pictures. As I left the lunchroom, I noticed a boy who usually sat at the table with the girl reading the paper. He had the Red Flag in his hand and seemed excited about something…
—School worker in Seattle (USA)
Read Communist Education for a Classless Society here