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By Eric Chester, International Commission Chair and Rune Lund Danish member of parliament representing the Red-Green Alliance May Day is a day to be in the streets, reaffirming our commitment to a truly just society. It is all too easy to forget the sacrifices made by past generations to win significant improvements in the wages and working conditions that have been enjoyed by many workers in the industrialized capitalist countries. It is also a time to remember that colonialism and imperialism have kept most of the working class in the less industrialized countries in dire poverty. The spread of a globally integrated capitalist economy is further undermining the well-being of working people. As a few become grotesquely wealthy, and powerful, the many confront acute poverty and economic insecurity. As democratic socialists, we remain dedicated to building a broad movement- at the ballot box, on the streets, in our homes and neighborhoods and in our workplaces- that can create a new society based on cooperation not individual greed, equality not misery. We continue to see signs that people around the world have had enough, and that they are prepared to struggle for fundamental change, for a new world. Unfortunately, as people mobilize to confront the ruling powers they find that many of the traditional working class institutions act to defend the existing system. In Europe, social democratic parties have moved into the forefront of those pressing for the privatization of essential social services. Most of these parties serve as nothing more than apologists for capitalism, providing a thin veneer of progressive rhetoric to the grim reality of global capitalism. In the United States, as in most advanced capitalist countries, mainstream business unions no longer defend the wages and working conditions of their members. Instead, the leadership of these unions openly seeks to cooperate with transnational corporations, helping them to become more competitive in the world market by slashing wages and benefits, while speeding the pace of production. Working people need to work within existing organizations to transform them into a force working for a new society, while building new organizational forms for the coming period. Grass-roots militancy can and must replace passive resignation and blind obedience. During the last year, we have seen the spirit of resistance growing as the dire impact of a globally integrated capitalist economy becomes painfully apparent. On May Day, we celebrate this spirit of resistance, as we reaffirm our commitment to a new society. In Oaxaca, Mexico, militant teachers demanded higher wages and better working conditions. The teachers realized that their claims could only be won within the context of a wider movement for fundamental social change. They sparked the formation of a broad coalition of hundreds of community organizations that called for the removal of the autocratic governor of the state. Demonstrators occupied the main square of the capital and a people's assembly began deliberating as an alternative to the discredited state government. Only the armed assault of the national police could temporarily disrupt this revolutionary movement. Throughout Latin America, workers and peasants have been demonstrating in opposition to global capitalism and for an end to U.S. imperial domination of the region. This wave of resistance has challenged the control of the transnational corporations that have looted the natural resources of this region for far too long. In Denmark, there is a strong popular will to defend and extend the social welfare system, which is a result of 100 years of struggle. The current neo-liberal Danish government remains in power because of its ability to hide its steady transformation of Danish society into one that relies entirely on the market and individualistic competition. During the last year, several large demonstrations have been organized to protest welfare cuts. These have changed the political agenda. The Left has to go further, demanding a new government, and new policies that point the way to a new society. This can only be done with a strong, radical left-wing with the Red-Green Alliance at its core. In Copenhagen, Denmark, a youth house that had been a center for alternative culture since 1982 was sold by the town council to a Christian fundamentalist sect, and then demolished. The destruction of the youth center was a deliberate provocation, a challenge to all of those who spurn the crass materialism of contemporary society. For democratic socialists, the right to be different, the struggle to uphold diversity, and a tolerance of different life-styles, have always been fundamental values. Throughout Western Europe and North America, hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in solidarity with the Iraqi people and for an immediate end to the U.S. occupation of Iraq. This demand needs to be linked to a critique of U.S. imperialism. We have to construct a movement that can confront the U.S. government as it uses its enormous power to grab vital natural resources from around the world for the benefit of a few powerful corporations. In the United States, last May Day saw hundreds of thousands of immigrants protesting proposed legislation that would have criminalized immigration. This May Day the Socialist Party USA joins this movement in demanding the end of ruthless sweeps of undocumented workers, and the creation of a meaningful amnesty program that will enable hard-working immigrants to become U.S. citizens so they can organize unions and defend their rights. Global capitalism threatens the survival of the planet. The increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is drastically altering our climate. As the earth grows hotter, ice caps melt, deserts expand and hurricanes become more destructive. We need to develop alternative sources of energy, sources such as wind power and solar power, as we vastly expand mass transit. The market cannot do this. Democratic decision-making must supersede corporate profit making. This can only happen when we bring the energy corporations into social ownership and control, and use the revenues thus gained for research and development of renewable energy sources. Only a democratic socialist society can provide a way out of the morass of global warming. Global capitalism has restructured the entire world. Class conflict has become harsher, and it has become harder and harder for working people to defend their most basic rights. A global economy provides the ruling class with enormous leverage, but it also creates the material basis for a genuinely international working class movement, as well as for global movements for the environment, peace and justice and women's liberation. On May Day, we reaffirm our commitment to the creation of a democratic socialist society throughout the world. We stand with those that reject capitalism, patriarchy, bigotry and theocracy, and who struggle for justice, democracy and the abolition of every form of oppression. |
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