WWP Detroit celebrates 40 years of struggle

WW photo: Alan Pollock

The 40th anniversary of the founding of the Detroit branch of Workers World Party was commemorated at a special dinner and program on Dec. 18. More than 70 people packed the WWP hall in Detroit to remember and celebrate the branch’s beginnings in 1970, during the height of the anti-Vietnam War and Civil Rights movements.

Four decades of struggle were highlighted in a talk by Jerry Goldberg and a photo slideshow by David Sole, both founding members of the branch. Kris Hamel spoke on the Party’s election campaigns in Michigan, and Larry Holmes, WWP secretariat member from New York City, talked about the branch’s legacy and what it means to commit one’s life to the working-class struggle. Secretariat member Fred Goldstein, author of “Low-Wage Capitalism,” also addressed the meeting via Skype.

Solidarity messages from branch founding members Tova Fry and Bill Sacks were read by chair Andrea Egypt, who also presented statements from other branches and WWP members. Friends from around Michigan paid tribute to the Party’s work over the years and many comrades took the microphone to express how they had found a political home in the branch, with its multinational composition and deep roots in the working-class struggle.

— WW Detroit bureau