May Day Greetings from a Metalworker in South Africa here ♦ Another Communist Wave Will Advance here ♦ Capitalism’s Contradictions Show Urgent Need for Communism here ♦ Communist May Day Message “Spot On” here ♦
May Day Greetings from a Metalworker in South Africa
Recently, we all celebrated May Day as workers all over the world.
Here in the Eastern Cape, there were two separate May Day celebrations. This is because of the fragmentations in the trade union movement, which only helps the bosses.
There is also one political party which declared on this day that it opportunistically intends to form its own trade union. This comes from what transpired somewhere in the country where workers booed the Bourgeois nationalist president of the country as it was his turn to address the workers.
Workers in the North West province, mainly in the mines, have been on the strike for two months. They are demanding, among other things, a lousy R1000 (US$62) and the employers are refusing them, only offering R850. The strike is continuing.
As I was indicating, there were two main celebrations in the same area of Motherwell. In one venue, workers were not there in numbers, but in the other venue there was massive support.
As workers arrived in numbers, already singing and dancing along, waiting for the arrival of the keynote speaker, I was asked to address the workers about the significance of this day.
I did not hesitate. I took to the podium and took the workers through what happened on 1st May 1886 in Chicago, USA. I learned from May Day celebrations as ICWP, here in Port Elizabeth. So it was just easy for me drawing lessons from those past celebrations.
And again, as history tells a story, before 1994, as workers we used to celebrate this day by staying away from work until the Apartheid regime made some concessions and declared the May Day as a public holiday. So this day did not come on a silver platter; workers had to lose wages, limbs, and lives.
This is what I reminded workers about as we waited for the keynote address.
I also pointed out that we are celebrating this May Day at the backdrop of two main world events. One, the Covid-19 pandemic which has taken millions of lives whilst the few capitalists were making millions of dollars, Rands, etc. Whilst workers suffered stagnation to their wages, the bosses doubled their take home pay in the form of huge bonuses.
Second, the US/ NATO escalation of war against Russia in Ukraine which has seen the devastation of workers in those countries. Workers in Russia and Ukraine stand to lose in the escalation of war, so the significance of this May Day should be to mobilize workers in these countries to unite together against the capitalist bosses and reject the proxy war.
That was my message to the workers on May Day.
Viva May Day Viva! Viva ICWP Viva! Viva Communism Viva!
Another Communist Wave Will Advance
We went to May Day last week. It was a catalyst for us to reflect on the Party’s work here in South Africa and internationally. The upcoming Party meeting is an opportunity for us to reflect on our failures and successes. We have had waves of advancing before. Now it is the time for another wave to advance.
We have made concrete plans for the Communist school this coming weekend, and to distribute our material, working toward the Communist school and beyond to consolidate the work we have done. So in the next week we will be concentrating on that.
The impetus for this came from the recent meeting to revive the commitment of the comrades, to remind them of the historical task to overthrow capitalism. I think it was very productive.
—Comrade in South Africa
Capitalism’s Contradictions Show Urgent Need for Communism
On May 1st I joined the comrades passing out Red Flag for the May Day March down Market St. in the center of San Francisco.
I spoke with people preoccupied with the global warming catastrophe funded by Wall Street and the trillion-dollar corporate industries, which continues unabated. Meanwhile the US war machine is revving up with weapon production, military budgets zooming up, the threat of nuclear war looming again over all of us.
We passed the homeless and the hungry, trying to survive in the shadow of new gleaming multi-million-dollar condominium and office buildings. Workers marched with their unions who had struck for wage increases that they had just seen eroded by mounting inflation.
We marched with teachers who can’t afford to live in the city they teach in, whose students are traumatized by their families’ struggle to find work and make it, hearing that their schools are being closed. Closed to make way for privatized charters or sold to real estate developers. The richest country in the world, one of the richest cities in the country, but the capitalist system hasn’t got the money to feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate the children, pay their workers a living wage?
I’m proud to advocate for a different system, the communist system: “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs”.
—Bay Area Red
Communist May Day Message “Spot On”
It was so good to join with ICWP in this year’s May Day! A good turnout for our contingent in the march, and I thought great representation for us, the working class.
I particularly thought what was said by the woman and man on the bullhorn was so spot on. I’m glad it was stated so emphatically to the May Day crowd. I concurred as they called for ending exploitation of slave wage workers, racist police attacks and murders, and the criminalization of Communist demonstrators and protesters around the world.
It was an honor to help in the struggle.
—Worker in Los Angeles (USA)