Communist and socialist activists joined mainstream Democratic organizations at the nationwide “No Kings” protests Saturday, openly calling for a May Day economic strike and distributing Marxist literature while waving flags for Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
According to Fox News, the largest rally took place at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. Activists with the Party for Socialism and Liberation sold a manifesto titled “Socialist Reconstruction: A Better Future for the United States.” Nearby, Kevin Dwire, a U.S. Senate candidate from the Socialist Workers Party, sold copies of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ “Communist Manifesto” to passersby.
In the middle of the St. Paul lawn, flags for the Islamic Republic of Iran, Venezuela and Cuba flew alongside a banner from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which describes itself as a Marxist group.
The protests were organized by roughly 500 groups with a combined annual revenue of approximately $3 billion, according to the Fox News report. The coalition included traditional Democratic organizations such as Indivisible, MoveOn and the American Federation of Teachers, alongside the Party for Socialism and Liberation and local chapters of the Communist Party USA.
Several of the openly pro-communist groups marching alongside Democratic activists are tied to a global network funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born tech tycoon now based in Shanghai. The network promotes messaging that portrays the United States as a “fascist” and “hyper-imperialist” power while defending the governments of China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba and Iran. Singham, who sold his tech company for roughly $800 million in 2017, has provided $22.4 million to the People’s Forum, $1.3 million to CodePink and $1.1 million to BreakThrough News. The ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation have received support through their relationships with the People’s Forum.
After the St. Paul rally wound down, protest crews dismantled the stage. Two American flags were left in the grass beside a pile of garbage bags, discarded by the crowd that had just marched against authoritarianism.
Iran’s state-run propaganda outlet, Press TV, amplified the protests Sunday with a headline reading: “Regime change begins at home: No Kings, No War protests held across US.”
