No. 30
May 1, 2024
May Day 2024
International Day of Working Class Unity and Struggle
Red Salute to the Fighting
Workers and
Oppressed Peoples of All Lands!
Video
• From May Day
to May Day
Achievements of the Workers' Movement in the Past Year
Essays by Hardial Bains
• History
Cuba
May Day 2024
International Day of Working Class Unity and Struggle
Red Salute to the Fighting Workers and Oppressed Peoples of All Lands!
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
On this May Day 2024, the
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) sends revolutionary
greetings to workers across Canada and Quebec, as well as in the
United States, Mexico and to our fraternal comrades and workers
in all countries. We especially greet the Palestinian people
fighting for their lives and right to be in the face of the
brutal acts of U.S./Israeli genocide they suffer every minute of
every day. We support the students, faculty and activists
fighting on campuses across the United States and also on
campuses in Canada and Quebec. In the U.S. in particular, they
are defying the Biden administration's all out assault on public
opinion via its brutal attack on liberal education and
institutions which uphold civil rights, especially the right to
conscience, assembly and speech.
We vehemently oppose attempts by the U.S., appeased by Canada and other countries, to connive with the government of Israel to put a humanitarian face on the imminent invasion of Rafah and forced evacuation of the Palestinian people from their homeland. We call on the workers, women, youth and students across the country to double and triple their support for the Palestinian resistance and right of return. Ceasefire Now! End the Occupation, Now! Release All Palestinian Political Prisoners and Dismantle All Settlements! Canada Must Stop Arming and Financing Israel! University Administrations Must Stop Criminalizing Supporters of the Palestinian People and Opponents of Israeli Zionism!
So too on May Day, let us pledge to put our full weight behind the peoples of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Europe, Oceania, and the United States fighting against imperialist enslavement at home and abroad and wars of destruction carried out first and foremost by the U.S. in its striving for global hegemony with the support of NATO members under its control. Horrendous crimes are being committed in the name of human rights, opposition to extremism, terrorism and autocracy to justify attacks on the rights of minorities, women, youth and migrants. Never has it been so clear that the security and future of working people everywhere lies in their own fight for the rights of all.
Everywhere, working people are fighting for what belongs to them by right. They are writing new chapters in the history of the peoples' striving to exercise control over the decisions that affect their lives. Progress in the struggle is thanks to all those who set their own agenda and build the organizations required to be effective and achieve results. Progress in this fight ensures that the all-sided crisis in which the world is mired is not resolved on the backs of the workers and oppressed peoples of all countries, in favour of the rich or by embroiling workers and youth in wars of aggression, occupation and destruction.
The struggle of workers to realize the
claims they are entitled to make on society provides rights with
a modern meaning, beyond the limitation of constitutions which
only recognize rights as privileges, available to some and not
all. Unfolding events reveal how the rulers in the United
States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany and other
countries are desperate to prolong the lives of states which
have been taken over by narrow private interests. Laws are
manipulated so that rights are presented as something that can
be given and taken away based on these private interests in
control. Rights belong to people by virtue of being human. They
are affirmed by activating the human factor/social consciousness
in the course of humanizing the natural and social environment
and fighting for peace, freedom and democracy.
The ruling elite who serve narrow private interests claim the denial of rights is done in the national interest and for national security. By doing so, these elites deny the necessity for a modern nation-building project led by the working class which must constitute itself the nation and vest sovereignty in the people. Denying rights and integrating Canada into the U.S. war machine, the neo-liberal agenda is not national or nation-building but nation-wrecking.
Reflecting on the struggles waged over the past year confirms that only when the working class and their allies position themselves to control the decisions affecting their lives can they put an end to being at the mercy of those who currently hold economic and political power. These struggles to take hold of their lives open prospects for themselves, their families, communities and the country itself.
Considering the present national and international situation, it has become clear that the capitalist class in power in Canada and in most of the world has no solution to any of the social and natural problems facing the people, their societies and humanity. They are committing unprecedented crimes as in Gaza and all over the world. These problems demand immediate solutions. For this to happen, the working class must take matters into its own hands and speak and act in its own name. CPC(M-L) calls on workers, women and youth to become worker politicians who are not beholden to the cartel parties and their mafia governments, which keep the people at the mercy of the rich and their narrow private interests.
Across Canada after three decades of nation-wrecking through implementing the neo-liberal anti-social agenda, the representational forms of government lie in tatters. The self-serving character of the decisions taken by governments said to be representative cannot be disguised as something positive. People need a mass democracy where they can participate in arriving at decisions at every level and take direct responsibility for their implementation without having their voice, thinking and actions usurped by so-called representatives, especially those who pledge allegiance to a foreign King.
The dangerous international situation demands the establishment of an anti-war government that makes Canada a zone for peace in the world. This begins by taking Canada out of NATO and NORAD and transforming parliament so that it becomes a truly democratic decision-making body, where mass democratic forms enabling the people to participate in decision making at every level are developed.
A worthy government must set the aim of the economy to serve the needs of the people, not the war profiteers and other narrow private interests. It must take all-sided measures to make sure trading and all international relations are based on mutual benefit and development and that exploitative arrangements are abolished. Resolving problems among nations without the use of force is needed.
Such a government would provide status for all workers, migrants and refugees making sure no one is illegal. On this occasion we salute all those fighting for the rights of migrant, guest and oppressed immigrant workers as well as warehouse and gig workers, and international students.
Importantly, Canadians require the immediate restoration of the hereditary rights of the Indigenous Peoples and payment of reparations for crimes past and ongoing.
Our security truly lies in the fight for the rights of all. Fighting for an anti-war government is an aim that unifies the fighting forces and opens a path for a modern form of government that empowers the people.
The demand for social programs to meet the needs of the people is a central immediate aim. This includes the right to housing for all, properly funded transportation and communications systems throughout this vast country, educational and health care institutions, senior's care and day care serving all equally. Modern democratic institutions as defined by the people not the rich are needed that serve all and meet the requirements of a modern society.
Success in these endeavours can be achieved when workers position themselves to play their role as individuals and collectives in defence of the rights and claims of all.
The warmongering, lies, disinformation, identity politics, scandals and defamations designed to keep the people divided and ineffective lead to war spending, handouts to the rich and special powers to deny rights and the voice of the people. They form part of the anti-people agenda that must be rejected.
We salute the workers organized in unions who are speaking out and all those who are coming forward to discuss and take serious stands about what they need and how things should be organized. In this regard, a red salute goes to the youth who are fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people, rights at work, and to humanize the natural and social environment and raise the slogan, Not a Single Youth for Imperialist War!
Canadian and Quebec workers have never accepted the servile condition of having no say over their living and working conditions. They have not accepted this in the past and will not accept it in the future. They do not agree to people being left to fend for themselves within a modern condition of being born to society and a socialized economy. They do not agree with or accept economic and political subservience to narrow private interests of a ruling elite and U.S. dictate and hegemony. They do not accept the assertion of the financial oligarchs that Canada cannot have a self-reliant economy with friendly relations with all nations.
At this time, the conditions call on the working class to take up its historic role to lead all working people in action to fight for their rights in a manner that upholds the rights of all. The working people must bring a new world order into being where the condition for the peace and prosperity of any nation or people is the peace and prosperity of all nations and peoples.
CPC(M-L) calls on its organizations across the country to make sure workers' forums are held which bring out what is pertinent and decisive in today's struggles. Speaking out, taking decisions and acting together develop the confidence and perspective required to open a path forward that humanizes the social and natural environment and requires governments to stop funding war, stop paying the rich and increase funding for social programs.
On the Occasion of May Day 2024, Red Salute to
the Fighting Workers and Oppressed Peoples of All Lands!
Video
From May Day to May Day
Achievements of the Workers' Movement
in the Past Year
Essays by Hardial Bains
Two Worlds in Combat
Hardial Bains speaking at May Day meeting in Toronto, May 1,
1994.
(Originally published in TML Daily, May 1, 1996.)
There are two worlds in combat today. One is the world of the bourgeoisie, counter-revolution, retrogression and the anti-social offensive. This world of reaction and war tramples underfoot the right of the peoples of the world to chose their own system. There is another world, the world of the working class and all progressive humanity, the world of revolution and the opening of the door for the progress of society. This is the world of pro-social programs, the world of unity and struggle of the peoples of all lands.
While the world of the bourgeoisie is decaying, the world of the working class has to be created afresh, anew. The world of the working class is not ready-made nor will it emerge on the basis of reforming the old world. On the contrary, it is a world that must be consciously created on the basis of the most advanced and revolutionary forces engendered within the modern conditions. May Day must remind all the progressive forces to double and triple their efforts to create the new world.
The old world is relying on everything anachronistic in order to hold itself together. In the sphere of the economy, it has the vain hope that the making of maximum capitalist profit within an institutionalized global system, in the end, will be the basis of its continued prosperity. In the political sphere, it has the vain hope that its unrepresentative democracy, in the final analysis, will guarantee that political power remains in its own hands. In the sphere of relations between peoples, it hopes that the destruction of the very idea of the independence and sovereignty of nations will guarantee its eternal worldwide domination.
The world of the working class, the new world, is relying on modern definitions. It is based on dealing with the outstanding problems of each major sphere of human endeavour. The working class would organize the economy with the aim of guaranteeing a livelihood to all as a human right on the basis of the most advanced techniques and the continuous raising of standards of living. In the sphere of politics, the working class will establish a system of modern democracy in which the representatives are subordinate to the people, and the people directly participate in the selection and election of candidates, and in governance. The working class, in the sphere of relations between peoples, will uphold as a modern principle that all peoples have the right to chart their own course.
May Day presents all progressive humanity with a challenge. It is the challenge to reject everything old and decadent by waging a merciless struggle against it, while creating the new on the basis of the modern working class and on the most advanced thinking and theory coming out of the contemporary conditions. These are exciting times for all those who wish to create the new world. The basic ingredients for this new world are already in existence. The working class has its own experience of revolution and socialism of well over one hundred and fifty years, especially during the twentieth century. The ingredients of this experience are all too precious to be frittered away. The time is now to use these ingredients anew and add fresh ones for the destruction of the old and the building of the New.
Let everyone take their place in this historic combat by leaving the old behind!
History
(Extracts from the essay titled History, published in the book Communism, 1989-1991, Hardial Bains, Ideological Studies Centre, 1991)
"Social phenomena are sometimes like the harnessed waters of a
mighty river kept in check by the dam of history. When the dam
bursts suddenly, it is not history that crumbles into oblivion.
No. To the contrary, every drop of that mighty flow resulting
from the radical rupture nurtures the soil from which history
bursts forth.... the outcome depends on how far the people see
and grasp the necessity for change, the necessity to bring about
the
deep-going transformations demanded by history."
It is
difficult for us to accept the commonly used definition of
history, namely that everything which is past is history. The
word "history" is actually used as a synonym for "past." Young
people have even coined the colloquial expression: "He (or she)
is history," to mean that a person or an event is finished, no
longer an issue for us.
One of the features of history is that it is past, but this is not the most important one. The most important one is that history exists. It prevails, it spreads its wings, and it takes over. History is the kind of irresistible force which does not leave anything alone. No human consciousness is possible without history, and no human history is possible without human action. This much is very clear.
[...]
It is generally known that amongst the primitive people, the extent of discussion and daily exchange was extremely limited, while, at the present time, the possibilities are virtually unlimited. In spite of this, the actual discussion and exchange are still limited, because many things in society and in the lives of people remain spontaneous and in many ways out of control. Not only are they out of control, but we have an increasing consciousness of this fact. We perceive history as something out of control. It is there, but somehow it is beyond us and cannot be touched.
[...] The present generation has to reckon with what has gone into history and what has not. It is not just a question of memory, but also of determining what exists and what does not. In actual fact, another chapter has been added to what is now history in the conventional sense.
History, as it is usually conceived, presents in its finished form a panorama of what has taken place. There may be disputes about this or that part, the role of this or that event, or the role of the individual in history. History in this instance is something like an after-thought, a creation in the mind through the study of things and events past, history as a benign phenomenon separate and apart from our lives. Such history appears as totally inconsequential to the living. But is this really the case? Are we so detached from history that it has no influence on us whatsoever? Is history like the space and time within which the earth moves? Or is it something more?
If history had no influence whatsoever, then we would not have known about it; but it is just as impossible to conceive of human life without human history as it is to imagine the earth without its own history or matter without its forms and its motion. Space and time constitute the conditions in which forms of matter come into being and pass away. Is there an equivalent of this in social life?
[...] all of human development, the present and the past, has relevance to the future. History is one continuum with breaks, making it possible to perceive that it is not a void, but full of life. History, in fact, is in dialectical relationship with all that is, speaking in the social sense, because what is is becoming what has been, and what has been has become the soil on which what is is to flourish.
The notion of history comes into being at a definite stage in the development of human civilization, the stage when human beings begin to develop productive forces through interaction with nature and between themselves. The law of social development, the contradiction inherent to human living, begins to assert itself. The increase in population and the depletion of resources, besides other factors, emerge as the objective contradiction which either must be resolved in favour of human society or else human life itself will come to an end. The rise of agriculture and animal husbandry is the first human act which breaks the spell of the elements of nature. It gives human beings not only the consciousness, but also the confidence that the condition for human living can be created by conscious planning, without leaving it to chance. Thus came the prelude, the first step towards the creation of human history.
This notion of history during its prelude is extremely self-serving, as it is not cognizant of the profound role of the objective laws to which human actions had given birth, and for this reason it is also negligent of what nature really had in store for human life in the objective sense during this entire period. Such a notion could only lead to enslavement, a new kind alongside the old. The old enslavement was to nature, and the new one is of one individual to another, beginning with chattel slavery and proceeding to the modern kind, where enslavement has assumed the most grotesque form – not only wage-slavery, but also bondage to the financial institutions which, in the present period, hold the entire world in their grasp.
Human action had to go through several millennia before the prelude itself was to come under question. This notion of history during the prelude finds its expression in the class society in the self-interest of the dominant classes. History itself is turned into the slave, meaning that the slave-owners shut their eyes to the great possibilities which history had created for human development. They rejected these opportunities, including history, thus condemning everyone to different forms of slavery and to millennia of groping in the dark. This led to the present conflict between the exploiters and the exploited, between the prelude and history itself.
We have come so far in development that we have now a class of people whose self-interest of emancipation means the emancipation of all humankind. The antithesis to those who had shut their eyes and did not take advantage of history is now on the verge of realization. The eyes are about to open wide. Some have already opened, and others will follow suit. History will come into being. When the working class demands the end of wage-slavery and the end of the system based on exploitation of persons by persons, who will not be affected by it? Besides the working class, there are also the men and women of enlightenment, those who proceed in their work not from prejudice and self-interest but from the interest of science and the advancement of society. What will now stop the advent of human history?
The emergence of such a class and stratum of individuals signals the beginning of the end of the prelude to history. This prelude, this pre-history, besides other things, involves this class and this stratum in open clashes with the unknown, with that which hitherto has been considered as hidden or taboo, as the sole preserve of the nobility and of the ruling caste. They begin to present themselves as those who must create the new society. This prelude to history becomes the era of the greatest assault against any kind of obscurantism, whether clerical or other, because both the class of people who are workers and the stratum of those who seek enlightenment cannot live with the demand of the past that they must accept their condition as preordained. The worker, the servant of the one who gives the job, and the enlightened, the servant of the one who pays, cannot accept this condition because of their nature and the essence of their work and profession in the objective sense. This gives rise to consciousness and to clashes between what they want to be and what condition they are placed in. Thus arise the strain and the tension where the prelude to history is now transformed into history itself. What comes before strives to become the after. The prelude to history becomes history.
But this transformation is not spontaneous and objective alone. There is a pressure that the prelude to history must remain as such. If this were merely a matter of someone's taste and did not affect anyone's life, it would be a different matter, but such a pressure on the prelude means that all the problems must remain unsolved, whether in economy, politics or culture or on the question of peace and progress of the peoples of all countries. There is also an opposite pressure, the vital condition of all the oppressed and exploited, who want the prelude to become history itself. The result is the great conflict of our times. This clash between the two interests is not benign, and it must be resolved.
It is not uncommon for history to be presented not merely as a thing of the past, but also in a completely static and lifeless form. Nothing can be learned from such a pedantic rendering of history, nor yet can such history have any vital role. The aim of this pedantic rendering is to obstruct the prelude to history from becoming history. It does not set history within the change, development and motion of real life, and it ensures that history does not appear as an all-sided vital force in any period. On the contrary, its role is to eliminate the vital force and make society regress. It wants to prolong the period of banality and every form of degeneration. It finds its freedom in this act, an act which is revolting to many but which is, all the same, also the condition for progress.
This pedantic rendering of history has today condemned the past and has theorized and moralized that, because of "human nature," no progress has been made in the past and no progress will be made at the present time in so far as the existence of the basic problems of society is concerned. According to this notion, the prelude to history the exploitation of persons by persons, will always remain. This runs counter to actual facts, which testify that there is progress, but that there is also retrogression. This progress has been so dramatic in every field from economy to culture that the prelude to history is more and more turning into history, a history created by work and serving the need of this and the coming era.
But there is a retrogression as well, where all the progress in different fields has been turned into its opposite. The scientific theory of evolution is confronted with the medievalist theory of creationism. Socialism faces various schools of bourgeois twaddle in the form of [...] "free market economy." Economic revival today has meaning only on the front of technique, not in the perfection of relations between people. The drive to end the exploitation of persons by persons faces all kinds of apologists who consider the reversion to spontaneity, under the supervision of technical experts, to be an advance over central planning carried out by the working people themselves. We have only to look at this world which is so pregnant with change, while at the same time, the integuments of the status quo are becoming ever so rigid and inflexible. Two world wars and so many clashes of varying intensity point to the character of our era, where history is knocking at the door, demanding the end of the prelude.
There is not a single problem in this world which we do not recognize in one form or another, from the acute problems of the economy and the environment to problems at home or the danger of another world war. But what is being done quite matter-of-factly about them is that they are still being looked at only according to the interests of those who constitute the ruling class. In the case of Canada and many other countries, the capitalist class constitutes the ruling class. Those constituting the governments refuse to be objective about the problems, and instead of finding their solution, they are perpetuating them. Cynicism and indifference are promoted, and the greatest pressure is exerted on people that they must shun their civic responsibility and keep away from politics and politicians. Many do not even want to speak about the problems, because they are afraid that, if they did so, they would be condemned as communists and persecuted. But this does not mean that the problems somehow disappear. On the contrary, they keep becoming acute and the dangers increase. History is calling for their solution. The moment they are solved, they pass into history, and history begins.
[...] if the prelude to history is being prolonged, this is not the end of history. The capitalist system does not have the power to prolong the prelude into eternity, because capitalism has contradictions which are tearing it apart. These contradictions cannot remain without resolution indefinitely. The demand of the working people for economic well-being and security, for peace and the protection of the environment, and for progress in every field cannot be ignored forever. Most importantly, the demand to end all exploitation of persons by persons, the root-cause of all other problems, can no longer be ignored. As long as such contradictions exist there will be attempts to resolve them, and when the contradictions are resolved, the prelude to history will turn around and declare, I AM HISTORY.
Such declarations have already been made before in this century, but with each such declaration, which gives a glimpse of history, the form and content of this history becomes clearer and better. It has become all the more clear, now that communism is requiring the invocation of the highest of techniques and the most developed social relations between people, so that not a trace of backwardness remains. History is demanding that the aim of all production must be the satisfaction of the individual and collective interests and their reconciliation with the general interest of society. An individual's desires have to be satisfied. When individuals work together as a collective, the individual desires cannot be satisfied without satisfying the interest of the collective. An individual worker cannot satisfy his desires without the entire collective fighting for them, and the individual and collective interest cannot override the general interest of society without risking serious conflicts.
History is putting everything on the table for solution. This includes the problems of the economy, politics and culture, of peace and the environment. Everything is clear and concise, but it is within this situation that a setback has come. The mere fact that [there is] so much damage is no reason to hesitate to find solutions to real problems. But there is hesitation. This hesitation is not spontaneous or aimless either. It has an aim, the aim of prolonging the prelude, of perpetuating all the problems. Those who are in the dominant position can pursue no other path, but this does not and cannot stop the billions in the world who are the victims of this prelude. Their struggles are like ocean waves pounding the shores of the old world, and with each and every wave the message becomes ever more clear: The prelude must come to an end.
For a while, it looked as if the prelude had come to an end. This was the period after the Second World War. People all over the world, especially in Europe and Asia, celebrated the victory over fascism on May 9, 1945. By 1953, several other countries had carried out people's revolution, and along with the Soviet Union [...] the prelude to history had come to an end in this part of the world. A conscious plan to deal with problems became the watchword.
[...] The U.S. and its allies were afraid that if the prelude actually did come to an end, it would have repercussions in the U.S. and other countries as well. The capitalists and those whose interests lay in domination and exploitation did not want the prelude to end. They gave birth to the Cold War, the war between those who wanted to end the prelude, headed by the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, and those who wanted to prolong it, headed by the Anglo-American alliance. Within a short space of time, there arose preachers who presented a completely distorted picture of the world in order to ensure that the prelude does not come to an end. [...]
[...] In the name of democracy, everything socialistic has come under fire [...] socialism again began to be equated with dictatorial rule and fascism. The spectre of communism was brought back. Far from being the dawn of history, it became another stage in the prelude, before the advent of history. Another dark cloud has cast its shadow over the world, postponing the dawn, but the dawn has not disappeared. There is no turning back.
These victors of the prelude have already come under scrutiny. The struggle for history has not come to an end. In spite of the setbacks, the struggle for socialism and democracy that is, for history versus "ideological and political pluralism" and "free market economy,",] the extension of the prelude, has begun again in earnest. This is the epochal struggle between the prelude and its antithesis, history. At this stage, world capitalism, the forces favouring the prelude, hold the advantages, while world socialism as a system does not exist. The forces favouring history are in retreat. World capitalism gives the impression that it can guarantee prosperity and real democracy, but therein lies its weakness. The claims which are made are not verifiable by facts, and as time passes, these claims ring ever more hollow. In any event, the contest between the two, prelude and history, has entered a new phase.
The question arises: Is this the end of history? As long as the struggle between the prelude and history remain, there can be no end of history. There is a suggestion that the end of the Cold War heralded the final victory of capitalism and that all the world's problems are now resolved. This is tantamount to saying that historical development has come to an end. But such a suggestion is based on false premises. The present developments [...] do not prove, as it is being claimed, that capitalism has self-corrective powers, that it can overcome its ills in the course of its development. Even if this were the case, it would still not spell the end of history. It would mark the beginning of the "self-corrective" phase of capitalism, a historical "turning point". History may look as if it is turning back, but this is not quite true. There is retrogression, but in fact history is going through pre-history to its complete affirmation.
The apparent turning back to the original position is the springboard for even deeper and broader changes, a revolution which will end capitalism and create a new society. The bourgeoisie has not raised the spectre of communism for nothing. It wants to avert the big bang: the transition from the helplessness and desperation of working people in the face of history to the working people not only humanizing, but actually creating history as the first step towards the total transformation of the human animal into a human being. The seeds for such a transition have been sown all over the world. The prelude is bound to give way to history.
Cuba
Call for May Day
The Central de
Trabajadores de Cuba and its national unions call for a day of
mobilization to celebrate International Workers' Day, in the
year in which we carry out the organic process of the 22nd
Congress of the CTC, presided over by the slogan "For Cuba
together we create."
We will celebrate this May Day involved in the efforts for the economic recovery of the country, which today is the fundamental task, in which as part of the broad participation of our people, each labor group discussed and continues with the implementation of the Government's Projections to correct distortions and boost the economy during the year 2024.
The Revolution assumes this complex, urgent and decisive challenge as it has always done, with the conviction that the conscious support, the contribution of every compatriot, and especially of the workers, is decisive to materialize it and to advance in the strategic development programs that we have proposed, in the satisfaction of the needs of the people and in the improvement of working conditions and salaries.
The current context of economic siege requires us to promote creativity in each sector and job position, to maximize productive reserves, especially in areas related to exports that represent income in freely convertible currency, as well as to strengthen the Socialist State Enterprise and its linkage with new economic players, the only way to create more goods and offer efficient services. On this path, food production is vital for self-sufficiency to the greatest extent possible and to reduce the very costly import bill.
At the same time, we demand an energetic and effective fight against abusive and speculative prices, which directly reduce the purchasing power of wages and pensions. But at the same time, we are aware that the essential factor to achieve this is to raise production and labor productivity.
During this day there will be a tribute to the legacy of union leaders such as Lázaro Peña, Jesús Menéndez, Aracelio Iglesias, Armando Mestre, and Alfredo López, in addition to this year's commemorations of the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution, the 171st anniversary of the birth of José Martí and the 85th anniversary of the founding of the CTC.
International Workers' Day coincides on this occasion with the greatest crime ever committed against a nation: the genocide of the people of Palestine by the Zionist government of Israel with the complicity of the United States. Workers have raised their strong condemnation of the indiscriminate bombings that have taken the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children, and demanded to ensure their access to humanitarian aid.
Along with this demand, we will hold high the banners of solidarity with the international trade union movement and workers around the world who live in conditions of exploitation and discrimination, as a result of the multidimensional crisis of the capitalist system and its neo-liberal policies.
We invite friends and trade unionists of the world to join us in the activities for the International Workers' Day, and in particular in the International Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba.
Fellow countrymen:
We call for the organization of combative and colorful rallies in squares, towns and workplaces, as a reflection of our unity, the greatest strength of the Revolution. It will be an occasion to demand, once again, the elimination of the criminal economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed on our homeland by the US government, and the absurd inclusion of Cuba in the spurious list that it draws up, unilaterally and arrogantly, of alleged countries sponsoring terrorism.
We will celebrate the feast of the world proletariat, aware that the challenges are huge, but at the same time convinced and ready to face them with the same firmness as always, and with the invariable determination to continue advancing in our dreams of equity and social justice, certain that victory will be ours.
Long Live May Day!
Long Live the Revolution!
Long Live Fidel and Raúl!
Ever Onward to Victory!
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Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca