The CPUSA San Diego club participated in their local contingent of the national Jan. 18 People’s March. Members marched with the Party banner, and spoke on the main stage of the rally just before the march took off. They even made it on NBC 7 San Diego news!

After opening with a short land acknowledgement, San Diego Communist Party co-chair Janice Rothstein introduced the Party club, saying, “We are a part of the community.”

“Two days from now, Trump and his fascistic administration will be inaugurated, but this does not mean we will immediately have a full-blown fascist government,” Rothstein continued.

“We still have ample room for open and collective opposition. Our movement must become large enough, determined enough, and organized enough to reverse and stop the slide into full-blown fascism. We must distinguish between what Trump and his enablers want and what we can stop them from doing. We still have the ability to engage in struggle on many fronts. … We will engage in legal beatles, legislative battles, strikes, boycotts, petition campaigns, post card campaigns, electoral battles, demonstrations, civil disobedience, and personal acts of resistance.

“We need to oppose all attempts to restrict or eliminate voting rights, civil rights, and workers’ rights. We need to stand against every attack on women’s healthcare rights; on the right to a full, complex, and truthful education. These are just a few of the areas where resistance is essential. So, to build a movement massive enough, and united enough to stop fascism, we need to build this movement that speaks to millions of people.”

“Trump’s margin of victory was less than one-and-a-half percent,” Rothstein reminded her audience, “but the fascists did win major positions of power in all three branches of government. That means we must oppose their efforts at mass detentions and deportations, and oppose their plans to use the military in the streets of the U.S.

“Changing society for the better is a marathon; it’s not a sprint,” she concluded. “Together we can defeat these fascists! … Let’s march!”

Here are a few photos of the action:

Photos courtesy of Janice Rothstein and Molly Shapiro

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