On May Day 2010 rallies, seminars and processions were organised by the PTUDC (Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign) in 52 cities across Pakistan. This shows the degree to which more and more workers, peasants and youth are looking for a revolutionary alternative to capitalism in the country. We provide reports from some of the cities and towns where comrades from the PTUDC and the BNT organised programmes in order to pay tribute to the martyrs of Chicago.

After having mobilised the masses for a five-day general strike, the Maoist leaders in Nepal called it off without having achieved any of their demands. The mass movement potentially has immense power and it could overthrow the present regime and move towards a Socialist Nepal. The Maoists have a huge responsibility in this situation. Time is running out. They should take the power.

Comrades of the Struggle in Pakistan have sent us this picture gallery of mobilisations on 1 May across the whole of Pakistan from Karachi in the south to Kashmir in the north. A report will follow.

The calling of a general strike in Nepal is an important turning point in the situation. The Maoist leaders are using the classical method of the organised working class. It has the potential to go well beyond the drafting of a new constitution. The potential is there for the working class, backed by the peasants, to come to power.

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign (PTUDC) will be intervening on the many May Day rallies across the country and have produced a special poster for the occasion which we make available here for our readers.

In 2008 the people of Pakistan voted into office the PPP, hoping that this would bring genuine change, i.e. a real improvement in their living conditions. Instead we have a worsening economic situation, real suffering of the millions of poor, and warfare killing many innocent civilians. Meanwhile the PPP leadership is busying itself applying the IMF-imposed policies of cuts and privatisations. In these conditions it is not surprising that many are asking themselves what democracy has meant for them.

Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation held a protest in Rawlakot on 15^th April to support the strike of 450,000 government employees in Indian Jammu and Kashmir, who are protesting for the payment of their salaries. The participants of the rally supported the Joint Action Forum which is leading the protests and raised slogans against the state authorities which are attacking the workers.

A worker has lost his hand while working in the unsafe conditions of Unilever in Rahim Yar Khanu. Management have attempted a cover up by taking the worker to a hospital where no one, including the unions, are allowed to visit him. The PTUDC is raising a campaign of protest.

After eight years of war in Afghanistan, the inability of Western imperialism to quell the insurgency has entered into a period of crisis. Cracks and divisions within the central government are becoming more and more critical as the military and political situation becomes ever more unstable. Major conflicts within Afghanistan’s Western-backed ruling clique were first brought to a head in August during the presidential elections. The accusations of fraud have left Karzai’s grip on power extremely strained and have left Karzai wondering whether the NATO mission is more hindrance than help.

The dramatic events unfolding in Thailand – with 21 people killed by the army in the last few days – highlight the weakness of the present regime and the power of the mass movement. It is an indication of the impact of the present worldwide crisis of capitalism on this South East Asian country.

The revolution in Kyrgyzstan has de facto overthrown the old hated regime and led to a new interim government being installed. Now a stand-off is developing between the two forces. The movement that led to this situation was a revolution from below, an uprising of the most downtrodden layers of society, who organised themselves in their own elected councils. Now there will be an attempt to emasculate these councils and divert attention away from the real issues.

The government of Kyrgyzstan has fallen! According to reports this morning President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who opened fire on his own people, has fled. The government has been dissolved and opposition forces have begun to assume power. Yesterday we received a report from a comrade in Russia, which gives a graphic account of these events.

Five years ago Kurmanbek Bakiyev came to power in Kyrgyzstan on the back of the so-called Tulip Revolution, only to slavishly follow the dictates of imperialism and enrich himself and his entourage at the expense of the working people. Now the workers and poor have had enough and have risen up once more. Here Isa Al-Jaza'iri looks at the background to the tumultuous events taking place.

What is going on in Thailand? What do the yellow and red shirt movements represent? Leaders of the Red Shirts have been pressurising Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down and call elections after weeks of protests that have shaken the country. Here our correspondent gives some background information to the conflict presently unfolding in the country.

The work of the Pakistani Marxists of The Struggle has been noted, both by our friends in the labour movement and also our enemies. The work has been extremely successful. Unfortunately, in the course of building a principled Marxist tendency, some comrades can fall victims of opportunist adaptation. This is the case of former IMT member and ex-member of the National Assembly, Manzoor Ahmed. In this Statement of the EC of The Struggle we set the record straight on what happened.