Erica L, Brooklyn, NY
We arrived 30 minutes before the rally for a public political discussion to make sure comrades understood the situation and how to link the struggle against ICE terror with the need to build a revolutionary party. This attracted people from the crowd to hear us speak.
One young woman listened to the whole thing. Afterwards, she said it was her first protest ever, and she was looking for answers to her questions about politics and the world. She had been to meetings of other political organizations but didn’t find the answers she was looking for.
We went out in teams of two or three (pairing someone experienced and someone newer for training purposes) to hold the paper up and find receptive people.
One prominent speaker gave a “revolutionary” sounding speech, pointing out the problems with Trump and the Democrats, saying that we can’t change the world with a ballot. But then pivoted: we should still vote for Zohran Mamdani—the DSA’s candidate in this month’s Democratic mayoral primary—because, “We need an environment favorable to organizing, and Mamdani won’t sic the cops on us!” Much of the crowd cheered.
One contact—who later came with us during the march—was especially infuriated by this. He said, “You guys need to be way bigger. You need to be calling the rallies yourselves and bringing these ideas. Nobody else has them.” We appealed to him to help us build the party—and he agreed! At another point, the speaker also said something along the lines of blaming white people in general, and the crowd was uncomfortably silent.
The rally grew into a march of approximately 10,000. We ran up toward the front and stood on the side, holding the paper out and shouting slogans. People who agreed would come up excitedly and discuss, so this was a very efficient tactic. This was a young crowd very open to communist ideas—many of them would cheer as they walked by. I think they liked the “Marx Was Right” back cover the most, but I also got a great contact with “You Can’t Have Capitalism without Racism.”
At one point, the police allowed MAGA and pro-Israel counterprotesters into the crowd, instead of keeping them barricaded as usual. Some of them tried to provoke confrontations, but comrades stayed away—we were clear that we were there to build the party, not pick fights. Nothing got out of hand while we were there. We left before the march ended to have a debrief nearby.
We made 43 contacts and sold 38 papers for $188. Had we brought an RCA tabling banner and flags, we would have been even more visible. The quality of contacts was high. They were eager for answers and to read the paper when comrades showed them what was inside—especially the FAQ on China and the roots of racism article.