The following are excerpts from letters written by youth who marched with the PLP contingent in the Los Angeles immigrant rights march on May Day. Five of them joined PLP and many more subscribed to CHALLENGE, agreed to distribute CHALLENGES and/or be in a study group:

We stood together and stood out for the working class. Our red flags stood tall and angry, against the racist exploitation and mass deportations…. I, in red, stood for my immigrant parents, for my unemployed uncle, my little sisters’ future education and for my friend who was brutally assassinated when the cops didn’t decide to protect but to terminate. I stood for many.

The difference between our groups was that we were all one, like a big red flag. This May Day I was marching, holding a flag and chanting my lungs out. It was hard work, but you feel better about who you are and happy, because it’s not just for your benefit but many others as well…. I was glad that I went out to march on the street to support everyone, not just my Mom.

Our group was the most organized by far. As we walked down the street people could tell that we were on a mission and that mission was a revolution. We had our chants and vision set. We were organized and the most motivated group on the march.

The drums beating, the chants screaming and the red flags flying — there was no denying it, PLP.

The May Day march was amazing to me because I felt that I had a purpose to fight. I was there for workers and what we came for was to unite the working class together to overthrow the bosses and work together for each other and the things we need… The reason we stand out from the rest is because we didn’t get misled. We knew the true meaning of a May Day March; we held the red flag, not the U.S. or the Mexican flag. We marched in red; we told the truth about the people who died for their rights long ago in Chicago. Long Live May Day. Long live PLP.

We let people know the march was about the working class. We talked about CHALLENGE and we were the only ones with the red flag.

The working class has no bosses’ flag and no country. We fought for the red flag that represented all of the working class. It meant that we are all one and that we should unite to fight for a communist society where there is no poverty. I was on the security committee. My job was to keep the shape of our group — we organized how we should march.

From all the multiple crowds we were the ones popping out, the only ones with the red flag, which stands for revolutionary communism. I thought the march was really exciting and a really nice experience.

My friends and I joined together and got to the spot where the march was going to start. We helped distribute CHALLENGE and leaflets to explain the real reason for May 1st. When the time came to start marching, we started chanting. We all sounded like one. We were all organized. To me it was awesome that we were able to speak our minds and scream our lungs out. I’m happy I could assist the march and I really hope I would be able to go next year.

Red Youth