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May 1st 2024 will mark 134 years of May Day, International Workers Day. It is borne out of the continuous struggle between the exploited working class and the exploiting ruling class who own the means of production and the vast majority of the wealth.
It was first marked to celebrate the anniversary of the historic victories of workers in Chicago who, through militant and combative struggle, were able to win an eight-hour work day. Since then, the spirit of May Day has been celebrated and carried forward by workers across the world and serves as a reminder of the power which the working class can wield to defeat the Capitalist ruling class. In Britain, we celebrate May Day to carry forward and commemorate the historic and powerful struggles of our working class. From the General Strike of 1926, the Miners’ Strike of 1972, and into this year with the wildcat strikes of courier workers; the rebellious nature of the British working class has continued and the people have continued to fight for their rights courageously.
May Day gives many vital lessons to the workers of the world. Mainly, we cannot hope to win against those who exploit us without rebellion and combative action. Many workers in the unions understand this, and have been fighting to build a militant struggle to improve pay and conditions. Despite this and the worsening conditions that workers are facing, the leadership of the unions seem as eager as ever to sit down with the bosses and work things out non-antagonistically. This is not in the interests of the working class, and consistently leads to the workers being made to accept subpar and below inflation pay-rises.
May Day is not simply to mark the past, but to fight for the future. This is as important as ever, the Capitalist-Imperialist system which bleeds us dry is undergoing its continual and inevitable decomposition, it is getting weaker by the day. Imperialism is a paper tiger, when it gets weaker it must project its ‘ferociousness’ in the most violent of ways, this is why the US Imperialists are undertaking such an abominable and genocidal campaign of violence in Gaza currently. Their rotten system is doomed to failure and the victory of the working class is certain, but this can only be realised when the workers themselves organise to combat the Capitalist class.
It is in this optimistic and combative spirit that we call on the workers of Britain to celebrate May 1st. Workers across Britain will be out in force, and anti-imperialists and revolutionaries on the ground will be in attendance rallying the masses. For those looking for an opportunity to get involved in this momentous occasion, particularly in London, there is no better time.
Workers of the world unite!
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