Dallas, TX – On Saturday, April 25, cities and towns around the country mobilized for a National Day of Car Protests to demand the cancellation of all rents and all mortgages for homeowners, small landlords and small businesses for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. Demands included halting payments for utilities and internet, as well as implementing hazard pay for all essential workers.

El primer de mayo es Día Internacional de los Trabajadores. Es día para celebrar los logros de nuestra clase y para mirar hacia al futuro. Enfrentamos a verdaderos retos. La elite corporativa – los capitalistas monopolistas que gobiernan – no pueden hacer nada correctamente. Están hipnotizados por las ganancias y los beneficios a corto plazo. Es lo mismo para sus representantes en la Casa Blanca y en el Congreso. Decenas de miles de personas quienes podrían haber vivido han fallecido por la pandemia. El capitalismo se ha demostrado una vez más que es un sistema fallido. En 2020 durante el Primer de Mayo estamos comprometidos a poner fin a la hegemonía de este sistema criminal.

May 1 is International Workers Day. It is a day to celebrate the accomplishments of our class and to look to the future. We have real challenges in front of us. The corporate elite – the monopoly capitalists, who rule this country – can’t do anything right. They are mesmerized by profit and short-term gain. The same goes for their political representatives in the White House and Congress. Tens of thousands of people who could have lived have perished in the pandemic. Capitalism has once again shown itself to be a failed system, and on May Day 2020, we stand committed to ending the reign of this criminal system.

Chicago, IL – These are hard days for people the world over. The COVID-19 virus has forced billions of people to stay at home, bringing the global economy to a near standstill. At the moment of writing, nearly 3 million people have been confirmed to have COVID-19 across the world, and over 200,000 people have died.

St. Paul, MN – Over 30 cars occupied the parking lot of Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, April 26, to call on her to denounce President Trump’s attacks and sanctions on Iran. Trump has escalated the threats against Iran by announcing on Twitter, April 22, that he told the Navy “to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.” Unlike Minnesota’s Representative Ilhan Omar, Senator Smith has remained silent while Trump again threatened Iran with further acts of war.

New York City, NY – On Sunday, April 26, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Central Committee members Frank Chapman and Masao Suzuki gave talks in the livestreamed webinar “Pandemic + Racism = Genocide: Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Oppressed Nationalities & How We can Fight Back!”.

Jacksonville, FL – Around three dozen cars joined a Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) protest on Friday evening, April 24, calling for a mass release of Duval County inmates in the overpopulated Duval County jail. Along with the JCAC, the New Florida Majority, Dignity Florida, Northside Coalition of Jacksonville along with other organizations and community supporters came out Friday evening for a caravan protest to demand that Melissa Nelson and Sheriff Mike Williams #FreeThemAll. The protesters taped signs to their vehicles that demanded the release of prisoners, to avoid the Duval County Jail becoming a death trap during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demand justice, transparency, community control of police

Tallahassee, FL – A caravan of nearly 20 vehicles circled the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) Headquarters, April 25, to demand transparency and justice for the March 20 killing of unarmed father of four, Mychael Johnson, 31, by Tallahassee Police Department officer Zackri Jones, who is now a two-time killer cop. Officer Jones’ first killing in Tallahassee was in 2015, and he serves under recently-appointed Chief of Police and fellow killer-cop Lawrence Revell.

Plymouth, MN – AFSCME members from Local 2822 and other Hennepin County library and service center workers were out protesting for the second week in a row on Friday, April 24. The protests revolve around Hennepin County’s unsafe decision to keep some libraries open for curbside pickup of books even while businesses all around have been shut down and the state is under a Stay at Home order from Governor Tim Walz.

Minneapolis, MN – On April 17, more than 60 cars, filled with union members and supporters, packed the parking lot outside the Ridgedale Library. This action, one of the few worker actions happening in Minnesota during this pandemic, is part of an effort by AFSCME Local 2822 to keep Hennepin County buildings closed and keep workers paid. Joining this protest were members of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, Saint Paul Federation of Educators, Teamsters Local 320, members of other AFSCME Locals representing workers in Hennepin County, Ramsey County, Saint Paul, and the University of Minnesota, and members of community organizations including the Anti-War Committee and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar.

Tampa, Fl – On April 21 Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) had its most recent email-in for the University of South Florida (USF) to end unnecessary summer tuition fees. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person classes and certain activities at the USF are canceled for the summer semester. Instead of canceling additional tuition fees, USF is planning to charge them at a reduced rate. One of the fees Tampa Bay SDS demands be removed is the distance learning fee, which is a fee per credit hour of online courses. Tampa Bay SDS demands USF remove these unfair fees entirely for summer tuition due to the extra costs that they add to students during the pandemic.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Luis Jalandoni, Member, Executive Committee and National Council, National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

New claims for Unemployment Insurance now total 27 million over the last 5 weeks

San José, CA – More than 4 million more Americans filed for Unemployment Insurance, or UI, benefits last week according to the latest Labor Department report on Thursday, April 23. This brings the total number of new claims over the last five weeks to 27 million.

Union demands: End library curbside and service center drive through, expand remote services and internet access

Plymouth, MN – Last week, over 60 cars converged on Ridgedale Library and Service Center in Minnetonka to demand public health and worker safety. Now Hennepin County union library and service center workers represented by AFSCME Local 2822 and supporters will be gathering at Plymouth Library parking lot, 15700 36th Ave N, Friday, April 24, 12:30 pm to press their demands to: end library curbside pick-up program until the spread of COVID-19 is better understood in Minnesota; end the DMV drive thru window at Maple Grove Licensing Service Center, and delay drop box service at service centers until workers can process motor vehicle transactions remotely.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the Legalization for All Network (L4A)

New York City, NY – On the evening of April 22, the North East chapter of the International League of People’s Struggle held a webinar titled “Rent Strike: What it is and how to do it.”

Chicago, IL – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) will be marking International Workers Day virtually with talks from leaders of workers struggles in Chicago. The Sunday, May 3 forum will be streamed from the FRSO Chicago page via Facebook Live at 4 p.m.

On April 22, 1870 the great Russian revolutionary Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was born in a small city of Simbirsk near the Volga River. Lenin stood at the forefront of Russia’s revolutionary movement, at the helm of the world’s first socialist country, and simultaneously brought into being the modern international communist movement. Lenin’s thinking and the movement he helped create shook the world, and with our collective efforts, will shape the future.

Chicago, IL – 100 cars surrounded the Thompson Center in Chicago’s Loop, April 20, during Governor J.B. Pritzker’s daily press briefing on COVID-19. The caravan protest was held to demand Pritzker free police torture survivor Gerald Reed and all vulnerable prisoners at Cook County Jail, Illinois Department of Corrections prisons and ICE detention centers in Illinois – especially those over 60, those with medical conditions, and those who the governor’s own Torture Commission has already confirmed are victims of police torture and therefore wrongfully convicted.

To mark the 150 birthday, April 22, of the outstanding revolutionary V.I. Lenin, Fight Back News Service is circulating his famous article ‘Letter to American Workers.’