Communist organizations are promoting physical revolution and escalation of conflict in pamphlets given out en masse during the pro-Palestinian protests in New York City.
“Nobody is an outsider, when it comes to fighting injustice, everybody has a right and responsibility to do that. And we need to bring to them the way out of this mess, where it’s coming from, and why it can be ended. And how it can be ended to a real revolution. And the fact that right now is a time when revolution is more possible. This is something that we need to seize on,” Carl Dix, a representative of the Revolutionary Communist Party, said in the meeting.
A Zoom-based version of the meeting was attended by about 10 people.
One group, Revolutionary Internationalist Youth (RIY), takes credit for participating in many of the nationwide protests.
“The key is a revolutionary program and revolutionary leadership. ... It is vital to connect today’s struggles to the fight to overthrow this system through international socialist revolution,” the pamphlet states.
“Members of RIY and the Internationalist Clubs at the City University of New York (CUNY) are participating in the Gaza solidarity encampment at City College. As early as last October and repeatedly since then, the Internationalist Clubs have taken the lead in protesting McCarthyite repression against defenders of the Palestinian people at Hunter College and elsewhere in CUNY,” the pamphlet reads.
In addition, they wrote that they have been to multiple encampments in the Boston area, Emerson, MIT, Northeastern, Tufts, Portland State University, University of Southern California, and the University of California in Berkley.
The pamphlet continued: “Everywhere we have combined the call to link up with the power of the working class to the program for a binational Arab/Hebrew Palestinian workers state in a socialist federation of the Middle East.”
Another pamphlet written by Marxist newspaper Workers Vanguard titled “Escalate the Struggle! National Student Strike to Free Palestine” reads: “Strike committees are necessary to mobilize nationwide for a coordinated strike. It can be the spark that spreads a fire more broadly in society, crucially to the labor movement which has the power to stop arms shipments.”
It has phone numbers and emails for its different branches in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Oakland, California.
NYPD Aware of Radicalization
The NYPD has said it is aware that there are groups “radicalizing” students in the city.Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtry found evidence of this when police cleared Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, after protesters had occupied the building.
He said he found material teaching “how to take over a building,” and showed it to The Epoch Times from a photo on his phone.
“We found some propaganda at the NYU building. And then we also found some propaganda inside of the new school building. It seems that this is very well organized, that there’s somebody behind this pulling the strings. And it’s just sad to see our students falling into this, listening to this,” Mr. Daughtry said.
New York Mayor Eric Adams also said in a press conference that the protests at Columbia had outsider agitation.
“When I first started seeing the protests take place in the city, it just did not fit right,” Mr. Adams said in a May 1 press conference.
“I saw similar indicators from the Black Lives Matter march when it was brought to my attention that there were those who came to the city to disrupt our city,” he said.
“I know that there are those who are attempting to say, ‘Well, the majority of people may have been students.’ You don’t have to be the majority to influence and co-opt an operation. That is what this is about.”
The NYPD noted that since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, officers have responded to more than 2,400 protests, with 1,100 being related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“There is a movement to radicalize young people, and I’m not going to wait until it’s done and all of a sudden acknowledge the existence of it. This is a global problem that young people are being influenced by those who are professionals at radicalizing our children, and I’m not going to allow that to happen as the mayor of the City of New York. The men and women of the New York City Police Department should be proud of themselves,” Mr. Adams added.
The mayor noted that since it is an ongoing and evolving investigation, the Intelligence Division must be sensitive about releasing information.
“These external actors with a history of escalating situations and trying to create chaos. Not to peacefully protest, but create chaos,” Mr. Adams said.
The Epoch Times contacted the offices of Mr. Adams and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for comment.
