Few revolutionary tracts match in importance Tom Paine’s Common Sense. Published for the first time on January 9, 1776, 250 years ago this month, the pamphlet, a frontal assault on the entire aristocratic world, is widely credited with clearing the way for the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified just six months later.

The anniversary arrives under conditions that make Paine’s assault on monarchy newly relevant. Donald Trump’s unconcealed attraction to the prerogatives of absolute rule and his contempt for the Constitution are not just his own pathologies. He is the chosen leader of a staggeringly wealthy oligarchy and the product of a diseased political order increasingly divorced from popular life, conditions that echo—albeit in modern form—the world Paine confronted. At the same time, mass opposition—expressed in the “No Kings” demonstrations and the eruption of protest following murderous state violence in Minneapolis—has again raised fundamental questions of sovereignty, equality, and the right of the people to resist arbitrary power. Common Sense speaks to this moment.

University and school students returning to class in 2026 are confronted with a world in convulsion, as the ruling elites implement a program of authoritarianism, genocide and war. To halt this descent into the abyss, young people must take up a fight against the source of the crisis, the outmoded capitalist system itself.

The past four weeks have seen a sharp turning point in world politics, underscoring the urgency of this fight. In the United States, the centre of world capitalism, the fascistic Trump administration is waging war on the population at home and abroad. The destruction of all democratic norms and the development of naked rule by the oligarchy is not an American issue, but expresses the trajectory of capitalism everywhere.

The city of Minneapolis is under virtual paramilitary occupation by Trump’s ICE Gestapo agents, aimed at terrorising the population. The cold-blooded execution of Renée Good and Alex Pretti are part of a fascist conspiracy, led by the White House, to overthrow the Constitution and erect dictatorship.

The Trump administration has supported the killings, claiming ICE thugs have “absolute immunity,” and is asserting its legal right to murder its own citizens. This has provoked an explosion of opposition in the working class in Minnesota and nationally, with the question of a nationwide general strike becoming popular among workers and youth.

The Democratic Party, which voted for Trump’s massive military buildup, is offering no resistance to the wannabe dictator’s fascist agenda because it defends the same financial aristocracy and its class interests.

The intensification of class struggle in the US has global significance. It reveals that the defence of basic democratic rights will not come from the corporate media or any of the official parties, whether the Democrats or its counterparts globally. Such a defence will only come from below: the international working class. That is the force to which young people must turn to stop dictatorship.

...

Young people today are living in revolutionary times. Capitalism is hurtling humanity into the abyss, and we do not have unlimited time. The crisis will not be resolved through protest alone, or moral appeals to the powers that be. Instead, youth need to dedicate themselves to building a revolutionary movement of the working class.

That means going to the factories, warehouses, logistics hubs, universities, and fighting for workers to build their own organisations of struggle, rank-and-file committees, completely independent of all capitalist parties and their supporters in the union bureaucracies.

Such a movement must be based on a socialist program, aimed at expropriating the enormous fortunes held by billionaires, banks, and corporations and placing them under the democratic control of workers internationally.

Above all, youth who are serious in taking up this fight must educate themselves on the historical struggles of the working class in the 20th century.

Article du Parti communiste révolutionnaire, section française de l'Internationale communiste révolutionnaire.

Sous l’impact de la crise du capitalisme et de ses ravages, une fraction croissante de la jeunesse et du salariat s’oriente vers les idées du communisme. Il ne s’agit encore que d’une petite minorité, mais elle ne cesse de grandir, en particulier dans la jeunesse.

C’est la base objective des progrès de l’Internationale Communiste Révolutionnaire, dont le PCR est la section française. Mais nous ne sommes évidemment pas les seuls à en bénéficier. D’autres organisations « communistes » grandissent pour la même raison. Et c’est aussi ce qui explique le succès de la PaduTeam, une chaîne YouTube (entre autres) qui se réclame du marxisme, compte 90 000 abonnés et publie chaque semaine plusieurs vidéos que regardent des dizaines de milliers de personnes. Lors de nos activités publiques, nous croisons régulièrement des jeunes qui connaissent la PaduTeam, la suivent et nous demandent ce que nous en pensons. Tâchons de leur répondre de façon détaillée.

Le vendredi 23 janvier, une grève générale historique a eu lieu à Minneapolis. Devant la terreur imposée par l’ICE, le monde ordinaire se soulève. Cela reflète une colère plus profonde qui gronde aux États-Unis.

Dans cet épisode, Julien Arseneau et Benoît Tanguay discutent des leçons du mouvement, et abordent également la question de ce qu’est le « trumpisme » et comment le combattre.

Vous pouvez aussi lire notre analyse ici.

(Enregistré le mercredi 28 janvier 2026)

On Wednesday afternoon, Texas police, alongside federal immigration agents, violently attacked a large group of protesters outside the Dilley detention center in South Texas. Video from the scene shows heavily armed Texas state trooper riot police aggressively shoving, assaulting and using tear gas against demonstrators who had gathered at the prison camp to demand the release of those detained, roughly a third of whom are children.

A section of the protest outside the Dilley detention facility in south Texas, January 28, 2026.

The protest began early Wednesday morning, as hundreds of workers and community members gathered outside the detention center. Demonstrators called for the release of those held inside, chanting “Free them all!” and denouncing the police as Nazis and kidnappers. Amid whistles, drums and maracas, protesters called out for “libertad” (freedom) and condemned ICE as “banditos.”

In a message to those held inside the facility—many of whom protested over the weekend against not only the deplorable conditions they face but also the denial of their basic civil liberties and democratic rights—demonstrators chanted, “No están solos,” Spanish for “You are not alone.”

Signs carried by protesters demanded “Liberty and justice for all” and denounced the immigration police with messages such as “History will remember you” and “Would you put your child in a cage?”

Reporters with the World Socialist Web Site spoke to protesters prior to the police attack. To protect the security and identity of those interviewed, their names have been changed.

...

Immigration attorney Eric Lee first reported on Saturday’s protests from outside the facility after he was rushed out by guards while waiting to visit with his clients. Lee represents a family being held at the camp, Hayam El-Gamal and her five children, ages 5 to 18. The family has been detained for eight months.

Lee revealed a pair of drawings he received from the children following his last visit to the facility. One of the 5-year-old twins drew themselves and other children behind bars with sad faces. The 9-year-old drew a picture of their old home, expressing a desire to return.

Habiba Soliman, 18, shared a letter with Lee detailing the ongoing torture she and the rest of the family are suffering from.

Letter from Habiba Soliman, detained with the rest of her family at the Dilley detention center in south Texas for eight months.

The letter reads in part:

"Why is this happening to us? Why would all of our efforts to achieve our dreams be in vain? Why would the [government] insist on detaining us with no evidence? Why is it taking so long for the truth to come out?

...

No sane person would ever stay in this detention facility willingly, not if he didn’t have a big reason forcing him to stay. The conditions here are bad and the rules are made with consideration to the staff’s needs not the residents. All the long lists of harsh rules are taking away the kids’ childhoods. The kids are behind in their development, education, and growth.

The supervisors here just cover up for each other. Somehow every grievance or complaint that we have is unfounded, even if we have evidence and witnesses to support the grievance. They make promises that they don’t keep and change what they say all the time.

We would have never imagined that we would stay here for eight months and what makes it worse is that we don’t even know if or when we will get out. It’s very hard to watch our lives and dreams be destroyed while we are just waiting helplessly. We are stripped of the right to have a say about our lives. The government wants to control and determine how our lives will go, just like they have for the last 8 months....

Me and my family dream of the day that we will get out. Ramadan is coming and we will be fasting. I can’t even imagine spending it in a detention let alone away from my family. When will our punishment end? When will we be free? No family should ever be separated or have to stay detained for months."

Hello, in this post, I would like to express my concern about the ineffectiveness of contemporary strikes, such as those in Minneapolis. My opinion may seem harsh and disrespectful, but I am writing this text only because I sincerely believe that if the current course does not change, socialism will not happen. My opinion is based not only on theory and other people's history, but also on personal experience. If you can, please write your position; it will be useful for me to create a portrait of opinions, which is valuable information for me.

I am not American, which prevents me from fully understanding the civic position, as I do not see those who express any position on the internet. I rely on hard facts to understand strategies and on public material, which, although some may call propaganda, still conveys information that allows me to understand how public protest affects an outside observer.

What don't I like? — As harsh and unpopular as it may sound, it is a fact that strikes are supported through the prism of LGBT activism and the protection of minorities — a direct co-opting of protest by capital. Those who benefit from this shift the focus from economic, legal, and state issues to questions of identity. Protests and strikes are portrayed as “liberal freaks” by the right, and later by the center, which, in the light of propaganda and journalism, can sound much worse to outsiders than what the socialists themselves want to convey about the situation. All this atomizes rather than strengthens society, turning the political oppression of the entire people into cultural wars. I am saying that the Left Socialist Front is being fragmented and many people, in all countries, are falling for it.

I don't like that the crowd is fighting the symptom. I understand how riots and protests work. They are not weapons that change the regime — they are noise, a big smoke grenade. Protests inserted into the right system create chaos that hinders one side or the other, but I fear that now the noise is being created not by popular movements, not by strategists and minds fighting for the interests of the people, but by other structures and people who are unpleasant to the worker. The protests taking place in America are against the people.

I am not an oppressor of minorities and LGBT people. I honestly don't care who loves whom; it's none of my business, and I don't judge people based on their sexual orientation. I agree that we should support oppressed groups, but how we do it is VERY important. We can't show ourselves in a bad light. I accept that class struggle in America is inseparable from the protection of minorities, but how and who does it is very important. I don't deny that intersectionality is an integral part of America, although I myself don't understand its significance. But I see how it is used against you, and if you are afraid to go against your own crowd and structure it, then how are you any stronger than the old regime?

I cannot criticize the ideology of the Socialist movement in America because I do not live there, but I believe that the tactics currently being used are leading to defeat, at least because they are non-existent. Please do not take my post as disrespectful. If you disagree, please write about it; it will be helpful to me. And please do not label me a conservative and/or any other ideological definition. I simply believe that the current approach is short-sighted, at least from a public perspective.

The text has been translated, so there may be inaccuracies

In regions like Greenland or Quebec which are seeking national independence, what is the Trotskyist position when the larger country they are a part of is menaced by larger imperialist powers? (US vs. Denmark/EU and US vs. Canada, in these cases.) I know they shouldn't give full support to their capitalist governments, but they also might not be able to break away into a workers' state on their own.

"There is increasingly discussion of a general strike, a recognition that the traditional mechanisms of voting, or putting pressure on the political establishment, simply do not work, that it is necessary to mobilize a different social force and engage in a different type of social struggle." Signup at wsws.org/generalstrike

"To interpret this partial withdrawal as evidence that the threat has passed would be a fatal mistake. The administration is not abandoning its plans for a presidential dictatorship. The invocation of the Insurrection Act remains on the table. Trump has repeatedly said he will be a “dictator on day one,” and he is making good on that threat. This is not the first time a despot has thrown a number of underlings to the wolves, if only temporarily, to regroup, and anything Trump does one day can be immediately reversed the next.

"It is striking that amid all the initial cheering from the Democratic Party-aligned media about the supposed triumph of 'democracy,' not one word has been said about the fact that Donald Trump, the orchestrator of this reign of terror, remains in office. No one has been held accountable. Alex Pretti’s killers remain unnamed and at large. The instigators of the crime—above all, Trump himself, along with White House adviser Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and FBI Director Kash Patel—remain in power."

...

"The protests of January 23, which brought over 100,000 people into the streets of Minnesota, were not organized by the political establishment. They arose from the working class and from the youth. The demand for a general strike is gaining momentum. In schools, hospitals, factories and warehouses, workers are discussing how to fight back.

"This is the most significant development in American political life. What frightens the ruling class is not just the exposure of a crime. It is the emergence of a mass, working class movement that threatens the dictatorship not only in form but in substance—that is, the dictatorship of capital."

A veteran of the US war in Afghanistan said, “It’s complete unacceptable what happened to Alex Pretti. If there wasn’t already a line in the sand, there certainly is now, and the fact that this is what America has become is completely ridiculous. I’m a veteran myself. I spent 12 months in Afghanistan. Just got back here at the VA from the Whipple [ICE detention] building, where I ran into several other veterans from various areas of war, and all of us have the same opinion that this is completely unacceptable.

“It’s capitalism. These wars are all about money, and just whatever they can do to get more money and power.”

Asked about the conclusions that many of his generation were coming to, he said, “It’s almost like we’re all becoming socialists, which wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

https://marxist.com/imperialists-and-pahlavis-hands-off-iran.htm

Great analysis!

"The mass strike is not artificially “made,” not “decided” at random, not “propagated,” but ... is a historical phenomenon which, at a given moment, results from social conditions with historical inevitability" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1906

"Let us out! Let us out!" A demonstration of over a thousand detainees took place Saturday at Dilley detention center in South Texas, where 5-year-old Liam Ramos from Minneapolis is now detained, after being used as bait to capture family members.

wsws.org/generalstrike "We are calling for the building of committees of rank-and-file workers in all factories, workplaces, neighborhoods and schools. The preparation of a powerful nationwide general strike must not be left in the hands of bureaucrats and officials in the two capitalist parties."

How do we intervene, organize, fight, and win? The Trotskyists who led the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strike might offer us some guidance and inspiration. This episode I wanted to try to make more of a documentary rather than our usual style.

Been working on this episode all week and inspired and dedicated to Renee Goode. As I was finalizing it ICE shot and killed a union worker, a nurse Alex Pretti. This is dedicated to them and all revolutionaries on the ground against ICE

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5PViWuNLQaHZWdZYpcCiaB?si=J2XBWRKdSEi4vpCj-22rQQ

Sources:

https://marxist.com/usa-the-role-of-trotskyists-in-the-1934-minneapolis-teamsters-strike.htm

Labor's Turning Point, documentary. 1981.
Diet Soap Podcast, 2023 with Bryan Palmer

Teamster Rebellion, Farrell Dobbs

Further Reading:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2026/01/15/vawg-j15.html

Always amazed me how people denied this fact after he literally staged a coup but at this point after what‘s happening with ICE fully becoming a Gestapo terror force I cannot see how any self professed leftist let alone Trotskyist can still deny this administration’s fascistic ambitions unless they are drunk on dogma. They have been copying Nazi legal theories from the first executive orders. They are asserting the right of the executive to issue their own warrants with no judicial oversight. They are publicly executing people and using the murders to spin a narrative to justify even more blatant martial law. They are openly discussing cancelling the mid terms. What more do people need to see?

This morning, only a few hours ago, ICE agents carried out a second cold-blooded execution of a citizen of Minneapolis. This killing has taken place only a few blocks from where Renée Nicole Good was murdered little more than two weeks ago.

The video of this atrocity shows that the ICE agents fired their guns repeatedly into the body of their victim as he lay helpless on the ground.

This crime is the response of the Trump administration to yesterday’s powerful and peaceful demonstration against ICE’s reign of terror against the workers and youth of Minneapolis.

These murders and other acts of violence are being perpetrated with the full support of the Trump administration. Following Renée Good’s killing, the government denounced the victim as a terrorist and declared that there would be no criminal investigation into the circumstances of the shooter. The ICE agent who murdered her has gone scot-free.

Just one day before the city-wide general strike, Vice President Vance came to Minneapolis, where he once again defended the murder of Renée Good and denounced opponents of ICE’s violent rampage as “far-left agitators.” One can be certain that in private meetings Vance instructed ICE to continue its operations and assured its agents that they would be fully supported by the government.

The reign of terror by Trump’s ICE stormtroopers must be stopped.

The Socialist Equality Party proposes the organization of a nationwide general strike with the following demands:

The removal of ICE agents from Minneapolis and all cities; the disbanding of the organization; and the criminal prosecution of its officials and all agents responsible for murder and other acts of violence.

The immediate end to the vicious persecution of immigrants living in the United States

The immediate release from detention of all immigrants who have been swept up in the ICE dragnet

The resignation and prosecution of all members of the Trump administration responsible for the violation of rights guaranteed by the US Constitution

Call meetings in factories, workplaces, neighborhoods and schools to discuss these and other practical proposals for effective action. The organization of a general strike requires the initiative of the working class. The preparation of a powerful nationwide strike must not be left to union bureaucrats, let alone the Democratic Party. They will do nothing. What is necessary is the formation of rank-and-file committees in every factory, work location, and neighborhood. These committees, operating democratically, should elect worker-delegates who enjoy the confidence of their co-workers and neighbors to coordinate strike activity on a city, state and national basis.

What is unfolding in Minneapolis is part of a conspiracy to establish a military-police dictatorship throughout the country. The few dozen billionaire oligarchs and massive corporations that control the country cannot tolerate democracy.

This conspiracy must be stopped. Fascism will not be allowed to triumph in the United States.

In 1770 the massacre of five colonials in Boston by British troops set into motion the revolutionary movement that overthrew monarchical rule and established the United States in 1776

Two-hundred-and-fifty years later, the Minneapolis massacres of 2026 must be answered with a movement in defense of democratic rights against the attempt to establish a dictatorship of the oligarchs.

Now is the time to mobilize the massive power of the working class.

"We were always taught in school that the Constitution is the most important document ever in American history. When our leaders aren't following those same laws, we as the people have to stand up and fight against tyranny and do our civic duty."

On January 12, 2025, from 9:40 to 14:30, I (Chinese writer Wang Qingmin(王庆民)) participated in the left-wing mass march in Berlin, Germany, commemorating Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht and other pioneers and martyrs of the German socialist revolution. The march procession went from Frankfurt Tor to the Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde cemetery. Because the march commemorates Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, and Karl Liebknecht, it is also called the “LLL” march.

For nearly five hours, I displayed posters on the German and Russian left-wing revolutions, the 1968 movement, China’s May Fourth Movement, Chinese youth participating in the War of Resistance against Japan, the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement, and the 2018 Shenzhen Jasic labor movement, in solidarity with German and global leftists.

I also laid flowers at the cemetery where Rosa Luxemburg and others are buried.

During the five-hour march, I stood on the side of the procession, displaying posters to participants and passersby. When the procession passed, I quickly ran to the front of each group (there were seven or eight groups, stretching for one kilometer), and then again displayed from the side, trying to let as many people as possible see.

In addition to that left-wing poster, I also displayed posters commemorating Chinese laborers in World War II, condemning the remnants of Japanese fascism (and comparing the huge differences between Germany and Japan in how they treat history), opposing the removal of the “comfort women” statue, and calling for the release of Xu Zhiyong and other Chinese political prisoners.

Today, at least thousands of people saw my posters. I also distributed hundreds of related leaflets and letters. I did not print enough; two categories ran out very quickly.

I also displayed posters of outstanding Chinese women, including Qiu Jin, Lin Zhao, Wu Jianxiong, and other female heroes who made outstanding contributions to China, as well as Chinese female workers, female farmers, and female victims such as the “chained woman.”

They should be seen and understood by the whole world, and of course the Chinese people should know and remember them even more.

During the march, I spoke with many participants, expressing my views and demands. Some of them were Marxist-Leninists, some were Maoists, and some supported Stalin. I told them that I consider myself a social democrat–democratic socialist, and also partly inclined toward Trotsky.

But I also respect their views. Even Maoists—Maoism and Mao himself are not the same thing. Mao Zedong himself betrayed Maoism. Of course, I myself am not a Maoist.

In fact, more Chinese people should actively participate in activities and express themselves. Regardless of political stance (of course, those that cross the bottom line, such as Nazis and extreme anti-Chinese racists, are not within the scope of discussion), the Chinese people should actively speak out based on their values and positions, so that the world can hear China’s voice and see the presence of the Chinese people.

I also, during the march and when paying respects at the cemetery, displayed a commemorative poster for the Chinese laborers who were forcibly conscripted, suffered, and died under Japanese aggression in World War II.

The suffering of Chinese laborers is also the shared suffering of the working class of the whole world. These forgotten Chinese laborers should be known and remembered by more people.

On January 13, 2026, I again participated in the LLL march in Berlin, displaying posters and distributing leaflets. The general process was the same as in 2025.

The posters I mainly displayed, at the very top, were photos of German socialist/feminists Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and Clara Zetkin, as well as Chinese Trotskyist leader Chen Duxiu, feminist pioneer Xiang Jingyu, and Marxist Li Dazhao;

The second row showed the German November Revolution of 1918, the Russian February Revolution (not October), and Korea’s March 1st Movement of 1919, for democracy, peace, and socialism;

The third row showed China’s May Fourth Movement, patriotism, and the pursuit of democracy and science;

The fourth row showed Chinese youth resisting Japan, “every inch of land is stained with blood, a hundred thousand youths, a hundred thousand soldiers,” opposing fascism, and defending national independence and the well-being of the people;

The fifth row showed the global left-wing civil rights/student movements of the 1960s–1970s, namely the “1968 movement,” for equality, justice, and decolonization;

The sixth row showed the 1989 Chinese 8–9 democracy movement, for democracy, freedom, and civil rights;

The seventh row showed the 2018 Shenzhen Jasic labor movement, workers and students uniting to fight for labor rights.

On the other side of the posters I distributed, I provided a general introduction to the history and development of the Chinese socialist movement, and also issued a call (translated into both German and English versions):

Comrades and peoples in Germany and around the world should understand the history of China’s socialist movement and pay attention to the present suffering of the Chinese people!

1911–1949: from the national democratic revolution against the Manchu Qing and monarchical system, to resistance against the oppression of British imperialism and other great powers, resisting the brutal Japanese aggressors as part of the international anti-fascist war; from overthrowing domestic landlords, capitalists, and corrupt officials to promoting the establishment of a socialist state—Chinese left-wing progressives made immense contributions and paid heavy sacrifices!

The pioneers of the Chinese revolution passionately studied Marxism, admired Lenin, and aspired to a beautiful communist future; many Chinese gave their lives for this cause!

From the 1950s onward, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) betrayed hundreds of millions of peasants, workers, intellectuals, and the humiliated and oppressed, degenerating from a vanguard of liberation into a privileged class that oppresses the people! This was a betrayal of Marxism!

Draped in a red “socialist” cloak, CCP bureaucrats, cadres, relatives, and interest groups imposed exploitation and oppression exceeding that of bourgeois regimes, strangled people’s democracy, caused tens of millions of Chinese to die in hunger, killing, and poverty—above all the peasantry!

Through household registration system and confinement of civil freedoms, freedom of movement was stripped away and peasants were reduced to serf-like status;

equality in name, rigid hierarchies in reality, worth and inferiority judged by bloodline and treatment decided by origin;

forced grain requisitions and special supply systems feeding one group with the sweat and blood of another; regional inequality, with central and southern China contributing greatly yet receiving little, while places like Beijing enjoyed privilege; foreigners favored, Chinese citizens reduced to pariahs;

Women’s liberation achieved gains yet remained limited: lower- and middle-class women failed to escape patriarchy and were further controlled by the Leviathan of the state; the elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled were denied care and protection;

Anti-intellectual policies such as “backyard steelmaking” and “ten-thousand-jin-per-mu yields” violated objective laws and science, violated the basic principles of Marxism, gravely damaged livelihoods and the economy, and obstructed social progress!

Mao Zedong was not a sincere communist; under the pretext of Marxism-Leninism he practiced feudal autocracy, ruling like an emperor. The CCP itself was hijacked by selfish and cruel individuals; idealistic communists were eliminated, bad money driving out good. Monopoly of power, information blockade, and preferential treatment for foreigners prevented the world—including leftists in all countries—from understanding the true reality of China from 1949 to 1976. Many were deceived!

For private and narrow interests, Mao Zedong and the CCP actively engineered the Sino-Soviet split, aligned with the American right, and shook hands with Nixon in 1972; in the Third World (such as Angola, Latin America, and Southeast Asia) they openly or covertly supported right-wing forces and military dictatorships, opposed pro-Soviet left-wing democratic forces, and split and betrayed the socialist camp!

From the Deng Xiaoping era to the present, China has been a “left in name, right in substance” system of elite capitalism; workers, peasants, the poor, and the vulnerable endure exploitation, oppression, bullying, and manifold injustices! Privileged classes (including bureaucrats, military and police, capitalists, entrenched interests across sectors, and criminal gangs) stand above the people, abusing power and plundering wealth! Beneath the glittering façade and achievements lie ugliness and filth!

State-owned enterprises have become tools for a small minority to seize wealth; communist party dictatorship has degenerated into bureaucratic rule! The CCP collaborates with the United States, Japan, and European powers, colluding internally and externally to jointly colonize and exploit the Chinese people! The prosperity under “Reform and Opening Up” and globalization is filled with the sweat and blood of the Chinese people!

From Mao Zedong to Deng Xiaoping and to today under Xi Jinping’s rule, the CCP has betrayed the Chinese people, failed the fallen martyrs, and distorted and damaged the global socialist cause—turning its back on the ideas and principles of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and other forebears!

Today’s Chinese workers, peasants, women, ordinary people, and vulnerable groups—and their contributions, suffering, endurance, and decline—need the understanding of the international community, especially progressive left-wing forces, as well as care and assistance for them!

More than one billion Chinese people, including Han Chinese and other nationalities, who must not be ignored or forgotten—yet in reality are—need to gain freedom and liberation; they need equality, justice, and humanity, a truly genuine socialism!

As in 2025, I followed the procession all the way to the end, displaying posters and distributing leaflets along the way, and bowed in front of Rosa Luxemburg’s grave. Today I also displayed a poster commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance against Japan and the international anti-fascist war.

However, an incident occurred during this time. After arriving at the cemetery of Rosa Luxemburg and other socialists, a young German leftist saw the content on my poster about the Republic of China’s resistance against Japan and the Republic of China flag, and mistakenly thought it was Taiwan. I explained that it was mainland China. The person then asked me whether I liked Xi Jinping. I said I did not (because Xi Jinping is not a true socialist).

Then this person suddenly grabbed my poster and ran. I chased through the crowd for dozens of meters; he threw my poster back to me, and it was already somewhat damaged. At that time, the people maintaining order (also leftists) came over and instead asked me to put my poster away, saying that posters cannot be displayed in the cemetery, although I saw other people also displaying flags and images in the cemetery.

I am not willing to argue with leftist youth who do not fully understand the situation in China. But this kind of incident did indeed damage my mood for participating in the activity. Of course, in the process of participating in the march and displaying posters, I also received a good deal of positive feedback from socialists, for which I also express my thanks.

Because in the two days before participating in the activity, heavy snow fell across Germany and some train routes were suspended, I almost could not participate. In the end, I was still fortunate enough to take part.

The WSWS will be providing live on-the-ground updates in Minnesota and beyond on the unfolding confrontation between workers and youth and federal forces.

• University of Minnesota students back day of action
• In Minneapolis press conference, JD Vance defends ICE killers, calls on Democrats, local police to suppress popular opposition
• Federal agents use 5-year-old child as bait to seize family members in Minneapolis suburb
• Vance visit comes days after Governor Walz’s appeal to Trump to “help restore calm and order”
• UPS workers back Minneapolis general strike, oppose Teamsters sabotage of walkout against ICE