“Everyone in my village is a communist,” a man in a bright orange turban casually tells a comrade. “I’m from his hometown. My grandfather went to school with him,” gestures another toward our imposing banner of Bhagat Singh, a famous Punjabi Communist, whose image was a magnet at this year’s Vancouver Vaisakhi.
This festival celebrates the spring harvest and is a key day in the Sikh religion, drawing hundreds of thousands. No one bats an eye at Communist here—revolutionary politics have a vibrant history in the subcontinent, where workers have been exploited by imperialism for centuries.
Today, the Indian diaspora makes up some of the most exploited workers in the country. They clean hospitals, drive buses, and pay extortionate amounts in tuition.
Our involvement at Vaisakhi is relatively new, this being our second year. But we are received excitedly, including by the Gurdwara organizers, who tell us this type of political organizing is our Seva, or “selfless service” in Sikhism.
Comrades might do a double take when the idea of going to a religious event arises. But if not us, who? The only other political presence are the Liberal and Conservative tents who pander for votes, only to ignore this group when elections end. Communists should go where the masses are, regardless of the context.
Our main message centered on the election: no parties represent workers, and we must rely on our own strength to struggle on the streets. This struck a chord, and we distributed hundreds of dollars of literature and met workers who wanted to join our Party.
One mother bought her excited seven and twelve year olds $40 of literature, the latter ecstatic at his new copy of Lenin’s Left Wing Communism.
-Enrique M, Vancouver
