No. 9
May 11, 2025
May
Day 2025
Militant Actions Around the
World
Havana, Cuba
Millions
of workers across the world celebrated the 135th anniversary of May Day
with rallies, demonstrations, marches and seminars. They highlighted
their conditions and determination to carry on fighting in defence of
rights.
From Palestinians to farmers in India to
workers, women,
students, immigrants, faculty and people from all fields of endeavor in
the U.S., including many unions and social
organizations raised
the demand Workers
Should Have Power Not the Billionaires,
highlighting the problem of marginalization of workers and people from
making decisions that affect their lives. They called upon people to
take a bold step in defence of the rights of all.
Solidarity with the heroic people of Palestine fighting for an end to the occupation and the U.S./Israeli genocide, and with workers and peoples fighting against tyranny and oppression infused many of the actions, including demands that the U.S. and other countries which are complicit in the genocide end their support for the Zionist occupation and fulfil their responsibilities under international law.
In Cuba, May Day marches were held across the Island expressing the unity and commitment of Cuban workers to the revolution and their solidarity with workers of the entire world. The May Day March in Havana, attended by delegations from all over the world including many Canadians, was spectacular.
In
the United States, the mobilization on May Day was unprecedented,
showing profound and widescale opposition to the tyranny the Trump
administration is imposing on the workers and oppressed sections of
that society and the resilience, heroism and determination of the U.S.
working class and people, with the youth boldly taking their place in
the front lines opposing the administration's impunity. Massive rallies
took place in all 50 states with an estimated 250,000 participating in
some 1,100 actions. They condemned attacks on workers, women,
immigrants, students, Blacks and all the toiling people.
All over the world, the workers and oppressed peoples showed that their
decision is to rise up against a rule of law, both domestic and
international, which protects the interests of international financiers
and oligarchs, including the genocide of the Palestinians and the civil
wars they foment in more and more countries in order to protect their
interests. The more the rulers face the rebellion of the masses of the
people, the more they strive for domination, the more crimes they
commit.
The rulers have embarked on a very dangerous course. The May
First marches and demonstrations showed that it is the resistance
struggles of the working class and peoples of the world which will
prevail.
CANADA
Montreal
L'Assomption
Abitibi
Quebec City
Chicoutimi
Sept-Îles
Hull
Ottawa
Toronto
Hamilton
Hamilton and
District Labour Council gathering at the Workers' Arts and Heritage
Centre
London
Winnipeg
Edmonton
Calgary
Prince George
INTERNATIONAL
United States
Boston, MA
Hartford, CT
Trenton, NJ
Williston, VT
New York City
Buffalo, NY
Albany, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Baltimore, MD
Washington, DC
Richmond, VA
Raleigh, NC
Atlanta, GA
West Palm Beach, FL
Detroit, MI
Cleveland, OH
Valparaiso, IN
Louisville, KY
Milwaukee, WI
Chicago, IL
St. Louis, MO
Jackson, MS
New Orleans, LA
St. Paul, MN
Des Moines, IA
Topeka, KS
Tulsa, OK
Kalispell,
MT
Denver, CO
Boise,
ID
Reno, NV
Phoenix, AZ
Vancouver, WA
Salem, OR
Oakland, CA
San Francisco, CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
Valdez, AK
LATIN AMERICA
Havana, Cuba
Prior to May 1, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez issued the following message (translated from Spanish by Granma International) to the Cuban workers and people:
Dear compatriots:
May 1st, International Workers' Day is coming in tribute to those who produce and sustain life.
More than 30 years ago, after the fall of socialism in Europe, the massive celebrations of this day were limited to a few countries, Cuba among them.
With legitimate pride, today we can say that in the midst of the hardest shortages we never ceased to raise the banners of socialism.
During the following years, delegations from all over the world arrived and still arrive to celebrate the day in this small and exceptional nation where the workers rule.
They want to witness and share in the strength of our difficult, yet joyful resistance.
They do not want to miss the impressive example of this people, capable of celebrating the rights won, even under the worst economic conditions and at the same time criticizing and demanding that even with a blockade we are capable of defeating our own inadequacies and mistakes.
That is what the working class was empowered to do since the triumph of 1959, and that power was strengthened when Cuba declared itself the first socialist state in the Western hemisphere.
These days are no better than those, when utopia was an invisible horizon under the weight of the defeat of socialism in other latitudes.
Just as then we paraded celebrating the sustained power of workers and peasants, creators and artists, today we are here ready to parade to continue celebrating.
The hurricane winds of imperial power have blown and are blowing today over our economy, with more force than ever and determined to erase from the universal political map this example of daring creative resistance.
Let us demonstrate once again that we are not alive and standing because the greatest enemy of the Cuban people wanted us to be. We are alive, standing, resisting and creating by the will of Cuban men and women.
And this time with a special inspiration. May 1st marks the 25th anniversary of Fidel's historic speech in the Revolution Square full of people, when he called on us to act with "a sense of the historical moment," to "change everything that must be changed," and to "emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts."
As Fidel said at the time: "Revolution is unity, independence, fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world."
Let us parade on May 1st showing the strength of unity. For our independence and our dreams of justice.
Against the blockade and fascism. Against the genocide in Gaza and against the silent genocides provoked by the sea of injustice that threatens our species.
Let us parade for the better world that Cuba wants and deserves.
See you on May 1st in the
Revolution Square!
San
Juan, Puerto Rico
Mexico City
Guatemala
El
Salvador
Honduras
Panama
Colombia
Medellín
Bogota
Cali
Caracas, Venezuela
São Paulo, Brazil
Santiago, Chile
Montevideo, Uruguay
Buenos Aires, Argentina
AFRICA
Tunis, Tunisia
Mali
Sharpeville, South Africa
ASIA
Türkiye
Istanbul
Rize
Palestine
In Palestine on the occasion of International Workers' Day, the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas issued a statement on April 30, calling on human rights and humanitarian organizations around the world to fulfill their responsibilities in exposing the escalating Israeli crimes and violations against Palestinian workers, to pressure the occupation to lift its unjust siege on the Gaza Strip and the cities, towns, and camps of the occupied West Bank, and to prevent the occupation from restricting workers' rights to freedom, livelihoods, and work.
Hamas affirmed that the suffering of Palestinian workers is part of "the tragedy that our people are experiencing as a result of the occupation, which has continued for more than seven decades and has been escalating for more than 18 months." It stressed that "there will be no end to this suffering until the occupation is put to an end," and that all Palestinians will remain committed to their rights until their aspirations for freedom and self-determination are realized.
The statement hailed the stands taken by "free trade unions and labour federations around the globe, which have always supported our people, their legitimate rights, and their just cause, and have taken action in support of Gaza and condemned the aggression against it. We call on them to continue and escalate all forms of action against the Zionist occupation until it stops its aggression against our people and land."
Hamas called on international labour movements and trade union federations to declare May 1 a day of struggle to renew support for the Palestinian people by organizing solidarity events, raising the voice of workers against "Zionist aggression and criminality, and demanding an end to the genocidal war and occupation." It called for labour unions in transport and port sectors in particular to "escalate the boycott of Zionist and international shipping companies involved in supporting the occupation and supplying it with arms to kill civilians and commit crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people."
Tehran, Iran
Karachi, Pakistan
India
Delhi
Bangalore
Colombo,
Sri Lanka
Hetauda, Nepal
Dhaka, Bangladesh
China
Guangyuan
City
100th anniversary of All
China Federation of Trade Unions celebrated May Day 2025
Changsha
Hechuan
District
Hainan
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Bangkok, Thailand
Indonesia
Jakarta
Surabaya
Manila, Philippines
Pyongyang, Korea
Seoul, Korea
Tokyo, Japan
OCEANIA
Auckland, New Zealand
EUROPE
London, England
Edinburgh, Scotland
Belfast, Ireland
Paris,
France
Brussels,
Belgium
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Germany
Berlin
Chemnitz
Vestre Toten, Norway
Sweden
Umeå
Malmö
Hämeenlinna, Finland
Portugal
Porto
Lisbon
Madrid, Spain
Rome, Italy
Athens, Greece
Belgrade,
Serbia
Lodz,
Poland
Minsk,
Belarus
Russia
Saint Petersburg
Moscow
Penza
Kirov
Ulyanovsk
Novosibirsk
(Photos: TML, Granma, FTQ, FIQ, CSN, Carrefour de Quebec, Aadonisyoub, ipls.ca, @mcquenchie, labour4palestinewpg, @bostonpsl, J. Ingalls, @byrneout44.bsky.social, pslvermont, @peoplesforumnyc, National Nurses United, @ourcityaction.bsky.social, Just Brenda, @MaketheRoadNJ, @5050avirginiaT.F. Miller, @pslatlanta, @meallent.bsky.social, @psldetroit, @pslcleveland, L. Nicole, J. BruskyMTEA, Roost Photography, @milwaukeeweddingcollective, @CTULocal1, @RefuseFascism, @brucebarth.bsky.social, @antiwarmn, 50101mt, @denverpsl, artcandee.bsky.social, @liberal_latino, @dannie2533, M. Chavez, @50501nnv, @mitch.leslie.3, @movementphotographer, bayareapym, @psl_losangeles, @ranowlan.bsky.social, @shanahstone.bsky.social, Cuban presidency, MINH, SME, Otra Guatemala Ya, M. Funes. De La Paz, M. Rios, Presidencia Colombia, @infopresidencia, Indigenous CIRC_Cauca, G. Bolivar, TeleSUR, portal CTB, @pcdob, ANEF, Prensa Latina, PIT CTN, UTE, @michalspina, @ITFglobalfoundation, S.A. National Union of Mineworkers, @kikilbil, HakisKonfederasyonu, MuhammadShojaee, NTUF, CITU, G. Karki, BLF, @psmsosialis, @newinreallife, @srpablo, @robertuspudyanto, KMU, KCTU, @NjXRBcTZeZlxOP, @nz_psa, @camila_belich_mp, P. Marshall, RMTunion)
(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca