By Daniel Randall, Editor
On May Day, people all over the world will take to the streets to celebrate hundreds of years of working class struggle. From the Haymarket Martyrs, to the Matchgirls' strike, from the miners' and fire-fighters' strikes of recent years to the Great Russian Revolution, from the Spanish Civil War to the Solidarnosc shipyards, May Day commemorates those times when working class people stood up for their rights and fought back against their oppressors.
What does May Day mean? It's about solidarity - working class people in all countries standing together to fight oppression and exploitation.
Workers are in struggle right across the globe. In Indonesia, an increasingly militant trade union movement is fighting back against a neo-liberal and the capitalist fat cats who are the government's closest allies. In Mexico, workers in garment factories are fighting the bosses who force slave wages and inhumane conditions on them. And in Iraq, the working class movement is beginning to mobilise to fight for democracy against the US occupation.
The international working class is fighting back. May Day is a celebration of that struggle.
The working class struggle isn't just taking place abroad. Here in Britain, workers all over the country are saying they've had enough of New Labour's war-mongering, anti-working class policies.
The Trade Union leadership as a whole hasn't adequately fought for the interests of the working-class. It's bureaucratic. And before the war, every single Trade Union rep on the Labour Party National Executive Committee voted with the government on the war, and against union policy. The fight for workers in this country also means reclaiming their unions and making the leadership accountable to the people they're meant to represent - the workers themselves.
It's time for workers in Britain and elsewhere to join together and say 'your struggle is our struggle.' Only upon international solidarity of the working class can the possibility for socialism be built.
You can join the fight to build solidarity by getting involved with No Sweat - the UK campaign to end sweatshop labour. No Sweat fights for workers' rights and free trade unions all over the world - in Indonesia, Mexico and here in Britain. Trade unions like the pcs & rmt are affiliated to No Sweat, and by joining it and getting involved, you can help fight for workers' solidarity.
So, on May Day, go to a demo, bang a drum and wave a flag. But don't stop there. Get involved with Bolshy - write for us or take some copies to sell. Get involved with the anti-war movement and help turn it into a movement for democracy - support the Iraqi working class! Join No Sweat and affiliate your school or college to the organisation.
With international working class solidarity, we can cut the roots of war once and for all. We can bring an end to poverty, and we can stop environmental destruction. With workers' solidarity, we can build a better world.