On International Workers’ Day, the remnants of OWS are true believers of the hard Left.
By Charles C W Cooke
‘Around the world, people have taken to the
streets,” the speaker shouts to the crowd gathered in Manhattan’s Union
Square. “There are 90,000 people protesting in Moscow!” I think to
myself that, if they’re anything like this crowd, they’ll feel right at
home marching through Red Square.
In 2011, the Occupy movement had
a distinct lentils-and-patchouli air. Now, it has taken a hard leftward
turn. Che, Lenin, Mao, and Chávez all make appearances on signs
distributed by a group calling itself the “Red Youth.” Flip their faces
over and you’ll find either “Long Live Marxism-Leninism” or the more
modern “Long Live Kim Il Sung!” written on the back.
“Down with Capitalism! We need Communist Revolution!” reads another group’s banner. Next to it, “Revolution — Nothing Less!”
The
“League for the Revolutionary Party Proletarian Revolution” is here
too, handing out its home-printed magazine. One young man, replete with a
characteristically scrofulous beard, boasts a CCCP T-shirt.
Hammers and sickles are ubiquitous. It strikes me that the loneliest
person here must be the Obama-flag saleswoman. She is not doing much
trade today. In speeches and on flyers, the president is cast as a fully
paid up member of the enemy class, although I note that the emcee feels
no guilt in simultaneously slamming him for being a sell-out and
appropriating the UFW slogan that he helped make famous. “Si se puede!
Si se puede!” she shouts.
“When workers’ rights are under attack,” she continues. “What do we do?” “FIGHT!” the audience shouts, joyously. “FIGHT!”
Eliminationist
rhetoric? Nah. Being on the left, Occupy will remain immune from
accusations of that. But the signs are revealing: “Revolution,” “Smash
the state,” “Communist Revolt — No substitute.”
Borders take a
bashing too. The protest is billed as a “Unified Rally for Immigrant
Rights & Worker Rights,” and the transnational crowd is out in full
force. “The rally will be a mix of speakers and entertainment drawing
attention to the struggles and victories of labor unions, workers,
immigrants and the 99%,” promised Occupy’s website. It didn’t
disappoint. “No to E-Verify” chants the Socialist Workers Campaign,
which is supporting its own member, Dan Fein, for mayor. Next to the
subway station, the Workers World Party flies its flag: “La Lucha Obrera
No Tiene Fronteras!” (“There are no borders in the workers’ struggle”).
A series of speakers explain that they are illegal immigrants and feel
oppressed by America’s “unfair laws” and “racist deportation.” Across
the road, a handful of counter-protesters from the “New Yorkers for
Immigration Control and Enforcement” stand behind the barriers. They
can’t compete with this.
You know you’re in hard-left territory
when Chuck Schumer is your bogeyman. He appears on a host of placards,
the poster boy for the loathed Gang of Eight. Schumer is a “racist” and a
“fascist,” apparently, standing against the people on behalf of the “1
percent.” He and Obama are described as “frauds,” who oppose “full
citizenship rights for all immigrants.” Predictably, Schumer’s
co-religionists are scorned, too. “Smash the Jews,” one guy with
anarchist patches on his jacket shouts. “Terrorists!” (A guy from
Breitbart, who almost started a brawl for defending Israel amid the maelstrom, had his camera rolling, so hopefully he caught this.)
Occupy attracts malcontents, May Day doubly so. The hard fringe is out in force today. The woman who told
me in 2011 about the scourge of “Nazi bankers” is here with her
ever-silent husband. They’re both carrying signs with Che Guevara on the
back. A few other hangers on are here. I see a smattering of Planned
Parenthood buttons and anti-fracking slogans; the Save the Post Office
brigade has a stall; one girl is wearing a Guy Fawkes mask; another man
tells me that 9/11 was an “inside job” that was carried out to justify
“repression” against people like him. He goes oddly quiet when I ask how
he manages to protest with impunity if that is true.
But Occupy
in 2013 is different than was Occupy in 2011. Then, it was an inchoate
mess, a public meeting for generally disaffected people who were drawn
to protest like so many moths to a flame. Now, a collection of more
serious provocateurs — people who sincerely want to tear down society
and start over. This is May Day qua May Day, and the second of the month cannot come too soon.
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