“No Kings III? You’re just barking up the tree of the liberal bourgeoisie,” someone said when they found out we were attending the 8 million strong mass protests against the MAGA billionaire-backed agenda this past weekend.

That person had a point, or did they? Look, we are fighting the most powerful ruling class in U.S. history organized by MAGA. In order to defeat it, you need a broad movement. 

But here in one respect they had a point. You cannot leave that movement to the liberal bourgeoisie.  

The movement that defeated Bush under Obama was broad, and the same thing with the movement that defeated Trump and elected Biden. And we know what happened in both cases: progress in some cases domestically, but on U.S. foreign policy both implemented imperialism’s wishes. 

The movement not only has to be broad — it has to be deep. It has to have deep roots in the working-class. In fact, it has to be led by working-class people, not the liberal bourgeoisie. 

And that’s what’s been happening as labor and Civil Rights movements are making their presence and issues felt in the No Kings movement. 

We have to add the Communist plus by adding a working-class stamp on the struggle. That was Lenin’s lesson; to put a working-class stamp on the fight against reaction and on the fight for democracy.

That’s why Communists have to be there among the people. We have to be organizing, fighting for unity, and fighting for a working-class program.

What’s a working-class program? Taxing the rich, breaking up the big monopolies, fighting racism, sexism and homophobia. Add to that boycotting Target and other corporations that have backed away from equal opportunity. And let’s not forget cutting the military budget and ending the forever wars in the Middle East. U.S. imperialism must be defeated!

That’s why we attended No Kings III all over the country — from California to Detroit to New York City and everywhere in between.

And our party clubs raised important issues everywhere we were. We highlighted U.S. imperialism’s role in the cost-of-living crisis affecting working-class people, including the illegal U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the continued strangulation of Cuba through the blockade, and to free the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores from U.S. jails. 

We raised the banner of Palestine, for the genocide to end, for Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and right to return, and for people everywhere to determine their own destiny free from imperialist interference.

We raised important issues facing our working-class people, including an end to union busting, an end to the racist attack on civil rights and DEI, no to the fascists and billionaires, to FREE DC, and an end to the layoffs and plant closures happening all over the country.

Importantly, No Kings III also had a tremendous outpouring of support from organized labor and the trade union movement. Many national unions, including AFSCME, AFT, NEA, IUPAT, SEIU, and Unite HERE mobilized workers all around the country. The AFL-CIO even held mass-meetings online to prepare for this past weekend’s demonstrations. For us, organized labor’s role in the struggle is everything.

And get this: one of the main organizers for No Kings III, Ezra Levin of Indivisible, said that “the next major national action of this movement is not just going to be another protest.” 

He said “it is a tactical escalation… It is an economic show of force, inspired by Minnesota’s own day of truth and action. On May 1, on May Day, we are saying, ‘No business as usual,’” he said.

“No work, no school, no shopping. We’re going to show up and say we’re putting workers over billionaires and kings.”

The important thing is to keep deepening the struggle for democracy — fighting for working-class leadership and unity in the process. We have a few more way-stations along the way to the Midterms in November, including May Day and our CPUSA Election Conference. 

Let’s keep the struggle going and center the struggle for equality and dignity for all workers and oppressed people. Let’s continue to highlight the root cause of capitalism to our peoples’ problems and point out socialist solutions. Let’s continue to organize and build the people’s front against MAGA and the anti-monopoly coalition against the billionaires who fund them!

Images: All images CPUSA and Dylan Manshack / DC People’s World.