The far left-wing groups that organize illegal immigration protests don't go too far out of their way to hide their radicalism.

A group called Power to the People Collective marched in Oxnard (where else) for "solidarity" with other workers across the world on May Day.

According to the Ventura County Star, May Day was established by the International Socialist Congress in 1889. The Star noted that since then, "most of the world observed May 1 as Labor Day, and it was strongly identified with socialism, communism, anarchism and grim faced old duffers atop Lenin's Tomb reviewing endless columns of Soviet weaponry."

The meaning of the day did not seem to be lost on the protesters, who describe themselves as "members of the collective."

John and Mary Tolian of Oxnard were at the rally and march in support of workers. "I think it's important to come out on May Day," John said. "I wish they did more in the city of Oxnard."

The Power to the People Collective doesn't just have a name that seems sketchy, its mission statement sounds like it was copied and pasted from the New Black Panther Party or the KKK.  The group's mission statement calls for "organizing for the self-defense and empowerment of our community as a response toward the escalation of repressive measures aimed at migrants, families, and workers."

Organizing for self-defense?

There's more--the group's website states that "engagement and communication with those forces that oppress and attack our community are inevitable..."

 What are they going to do when they engage the "attackers?"

The website has a contact email address with the domain riseup.net. Riseup is a self-described revolutionary group that states that its purpose is to "aid the creation of a free society...where power is shared equally. We do this by providing communication and computer resources to allies engaged in struggles against capitalism and other forms of oppression."

Riseup also declares that a society's "means of productions should be placed in the hands of the people," the definition of communism.

The word "liberation" is sprinkled throughout Riseup's website, a theory that is central to the Party of Socialism and Liberation, another revolutionary group that organized on May Day for "workers' rights."

The PSL regularly holds workshops on Marxism and calls itself a "militant" group.

To the casual reader flipping through the newspaper, the Power to the People Collective is merely a coalition of concerned citizens. A few minutes of Googling, however, reveals the group is sympathetic to a revolutionary, militant, Marxist ideology. 

The Party for Socialism and Liberation, a self-proclaimed militant Marxist group, is getting more attention from conservative thinkers in light of their support for protests in the Middle East as well as for unrest domestically, as in Wisconsin. The fact that hard leftists are playing a prominent role in the street is hard for some to admit, but it's undeniable.

There aren't fly-by-night operations, either. The PSL, which has offices across the country, has a pretty robust website with high-quality writing, holds regular classes and seminars (mostly on the evils of capitalism), and even has its own Droid app.

The PSL recently sent organizers to Wisconsin who wrote about their experience.

This writer, a member of the Illinois Education Association union and a Midwest organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, joined the protests this week, along with dozens of other PSL members.

He's in a teachers' union and a revolutionary Marxist group, and is taking a part in a union protest. This stuff isn't hard to dig up, folks. The case that hard leftists are mixed up in protests from Egypt to Wisconsin makes itself.

A significant portion of the handmade signs at the protests referenced the Egyptian revolution. From talking with the students and workers on the ground, it is clear that the example of Egypt is very much on people's minds. It has had a material impact on the Wisconsin struggle.

The PSL fashions itself as the anti-Tea Party and is flying high over the Wisconsin protests.

When the right-wing, anti-worker Tea Party decided to mobilize explicitly for the purpose of taking away the basic right of collective bargaining, many people around the state saw the danger and the necessity of coming to Madison. With 100,000 people on the side of labor and a dismal fraction of that with the Tea Party, one thing was clear: the active and conscious people of Wisconsin want to move forward, and not backward 100 years.

In the PSL and the Tea Party, we can see two polar opposite worldviews express themselves. One wants global Marxism spread by violence and chaos. The other wants unfettered capitalism secured by peaceful protests.

Time to take sides.

My favorite Marxist group, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, seems to be everywhere these days.

I've followed them closely the last couple of years--the group is partly responsible for episodes of civil unrest that usually follows police violence--and while they seem like a small fringe group at first they have a wider reach than even I anticipated.

Consider this photo of a protest in San Francisco in support of the Egyptian demonstrators. The yellow signs have the PSL's website printed on them.

The PSL--a self-described militant organization--would like nothing more than to ignite similar bloody street protests here in the United States.