May Day 2024: the communists are coming!

Across the world, hundreds of communists from the International Marxist Tendency were on the streets for International Workers’ Day, 1 May. In most countries, the experience was the same: a tepid offering from the ‘official’ reformist leaders, but also something else. Communist ideas are connecting, and generating enthusiasm in a way we haven’t seen for a generation.

Imperialist war is drawing a sharp line between the official reformist leaders of the labour movement – who increasingly tail behind their ‘own’ ruling class, or at best put up a moralistic and pacifist opposition to war – and revolutionary communists, who stand for revolutionary struggle against our own ruling class.

The trade union, labour and social-democratic bureaucracies are trying to dam up the anger in society, diverting it towards confusion, frustration and demoralisation. In some countries, like in Austria, hooligan methods were used to try and expel anti-imperialist and pro-Palestinian sections from the demonstrations.

But where the official ‘lefts’ have failed to lead, other points of reference are emerging. In the US and Canada, May Day this year coincides with an unprecedented bubbling over of anger with the spread of student encampments, who are expressing precisely the anger that the official labour leaders should be expressing.

This has made for larger May Day events in New York and elsewhere, where the communists have gained a powerful echo. In some areas, like Philadelphia, USA, and Edmonton, Canada, IMT comrades organised the biggest explicitly communist march in living memory.

In Copenhagen, Denmark – where we have recently founded the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) – the communists had a stunning success. Whilst the official May Day event has increasingly shrivelled under the leadership of the reformist leaders, thousands turned up to our ‘Revolutionary May Day’ event.

In Pakistan too, where the crisis of capitalism is reaching agonising proportions, the comrades of the IMT put on a breath-taking number of rallies, protests, lectures and cultural events. On account of their scale, we have put together a separate report, whilst including some of the highlights below.

The reformist leaders have allowed international working-class solidarity, the essence of May Day, to fall off their agenda entirely, even for as little as May Day speechifying. But there is another, genuinely revolutionary internationalist offering, and it is growing everywhere: the communists are coming, and now is the time to join us!

This June, we will be drawing together thousands of these advanced youth, including many of whom we are meeting today: at May Day rallies, Palestine protests, encampments, picket lines, street stalls, subways, and canteens. From every corner of the globe, communists will be attending, at watch parties and online.

You too are not only welcome, but urged to attend. If you are a communist, if you have been waiting for the call, then this is it! If you believe we must overthrow this system and build the tool for that task, why wait? Join us for the founding of the Revolutionary Communist International this June!

Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, Czechia and Slovakia, Denmark, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, USA, Yugoslavia

Argentina

This May Day was like no other for Argentina, as the working class is facing an unprecedented attack. Wages are falling, unemployment is growing, tariffs are rising along with the price of food and parliament is trying to pass laws to undermine the working class.

The workers have responded with small-scale struggles but also with mass mobilisations in January, March and April, which mobilised millions of people all over the country.

In this framework, the comrades of the IMT mobilised, raising the need to forge our class independence in order to build organisations capable of bringing down capitalism.

In Santiago del Estero we participated in the rally and demonstration in Plaza Libertad together with organisations of workers, feminists, native peoples and education activists. Two university teachers bought the latest issue of our paper. We also gave a speech denouncing the provincial and national government, the role of the trade union bureaucracy and calling for a workers' government.

In Rosario we took part in the rally organised by left-wing organisations, as the CGT trade union federation held its own rally behind closed doors. We set up a stall with our materials, leafleted and put up posters with the slogan “Are you a Communist?” and advertising the World School of Communism. We sold seven papers, two copies of América Socialista and met two communists interested in joining the IMT.

In Buenos Aires we were in Plaza de Mayo together with left-wing political, student and trade union organisations. The CGT leadership, as a result of their pact with the government for the labour reform, moved their mobilisation in order to shift the focus away from the Presidential House.

Faced with a strong police presence, we set up a stall with papers, books, magazines and leaflets. We were the only point of reference for revolutionary theory in the entire square. We distributed 450 leaflets together with invitations to the World School of Communism, sold four newspapers, four books, two magazines and one copy of the Manifesto of the Revolutionary Communist International. We met three communists eager to help build the IMT.

On this 1 May we took to the streets pointing out that the only alternative to save the working class from ruin is the consistent struggle for our living conditions, which can only truly be met with a successful communist revolution.

Austria

This year, the front page of Der Funke carried our main message at the May Day demonstrations: “Revolutionary – Communist – International: so that the working class can win”.

With this paper in hand, we intervened all over the country: Vienna, Graz, Linz, Bregenz, Innsbruck, St. Pölten, Tulln, Traiskirchen, Bad Vöslau and Gumpoldskirchen, at a total of 24 demonstrations and events. We organised various activities in 14 districts of Vienna, as well as a joint action with workplace activists at a big Viennese hospital. In Bregenz our comrades led the only May Day demonstration in the region, with 100 working-class activists marching through the city centre.

In total, we sold 970 copies of our newspaper. Significantly, the results of sales to the general working-class public went very well compared to the reformist and left spheres. The problem in the ‘official movement’ is a lack of confidence in the power of our class. The crisis of capitalism is especially complicated and deep in Austria, and reformism is doomed to fail.

But in specific sectors of various marches – like among the fighting vida-Union bloc and Palestine blocs, we found a mood of a deeper interest in discussing perspectives for the movement.

The leadership of Social Democracy and the Communist Party in Graz did their best to make our presence difficult. The award for worst behaviour however goes to the autonomous organisers of the Viennese ‘May Day’ who used hooligan methods against pro-Palestine marchers.

In order to keep the message in support for Palestine and the US-student activists out of the demonstrations, organisers even disgracefully used masked thugs and physical violence towards the pro-Palestine and internationalist layers at the demo. But through tenacity and solidarity, their methods were defeated. Both the so-called ‘radical left’ and the reformists found common ground in suppressing democratic expression of views and in joint support for imperialism in the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Palestine.

For the first time this year, we also organised public street festivals in Vienna and Bregenz. These were a complete success. Numerous interested guests came by to eat and drink, discuss politics, stock up on literature, exchange ideas or to just listen to the live music performances of international working-class songs.

In order to finance our annual Pfingst seminar, we collected over €7,500 in donations on the day, which along with donations received from our street festivals in Vienna and Bregenz, exceeded our expectations.

Dozens of communists expressed an interest in joining and building the IMT – 20 in Graz and 12 in Linz alone – with some joining our activities on the same day. The mood of the comrades is excellent!

Bolivia

Comrades of the IMT in Bolivia participated in the May Day rally in Cochabamba, handing out leaflets and energetically raising the ideas and slogans of communism. This year’s May Day was particularly important for our comrades in Bolivia, due to the recent founding of the Nucleo Comunista Revolucionario (Revolutionary Communist Nucleus), which is enthusiastically building the forces of the IMT among the revolutionary layers in Bolivian society.

Brazil

In Brazil, we helped organise and promote demonstrations by the Life Beyond Work Movement (VAT) in various cities across the country. The movement is calling for an end to the six-day working week that millions of workers are subjected to. VAT already has almost a million signatures on an online petition demanding more days off and a reduction in the working day.

The demonstration through the streets of the centre of São Paulo was very militant, with slogans against the bosses and capitalism. At the end, the Organização Comunista Internacionalista (OCI) bloc sang The Internationale, accompanied by other activists. On the day, the OCI launched the first edition of our new newspaper, O Comunismo.

The mood and character of this demonstration was in stark contrast to the rally organised by the big trade union centres, sponsored by the companies and employers’ organisations, and attended by President Lula, government ministers and political figures from the traditional parties. The tone of that rally was one of support for the current government’s conciliation with the bourgeoisie and preparation for the municipal elections in October. In other words, it stood apart from the real demands of the working class.

Britain

While Britain lacks strong May Day traditions, British communists did not confine themselves to inaction. From 3-6 May, the British section of the IMT held the founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party, bringing together over 500 communists from around the country for what was a truly historic event. We will publish a full report of the congress later this week.

Canada

This year, May Day coincided with the university encampments in support of Palestine, spreading to Canada.

On 1 May, the encampment at the University of Toronto began. The communists came out in full force to participate, helping defend the encampment from the threat of police and zionists, and arguing for expanding the camp and spreading the movement to faculty and staff.

Toronto joins McGill in Montreal, the University of Ottawa, the University of Victoria, and the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, where encampments were already underway.

Everywhere, comrades are raising the slogan, “Only the working class can stop the genocide!” In order to win, the movement must spread to the working class, and what better time than May Day to make that case?

At UBC in particular, comrades of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) are leading the encampment. They are demanding not just that the university divest from Israel, but to bring down the unelected board of governors, and for the campus to be run by students and workers.

At May Day parades, the communists brought these demands to the wider working class. In Montreal, where there is a strong May Day tradition, the RCP had a big contingent, which raised the idea that workers have to help the students and that the same union leaders that refuse to fight for their members are also refusing to fight against the genocide. In Edmonton, there is no tradition of celebrating May Day, so the comrades there decided to start one themselves!

In every city where the RCP is present, the communists’ ideas have been welcomed with enthusiasm by students who are searching for a way forward. Comrades have held teach-ins on topics such as imperialism and the revolution of May 1968 in France, which started with student protests. The RCP has sold hundreds of papers over the past week, and recruited dozens, which speaks to the kind of reception that the communists are receiving.

May Day celebrations are over now, but the need for the working class to take up the struggle for a free Palestine continues. The communists will continue to help spread the movement.

Colombia

May Day 2024 in Colombia was a massive affair, spanning 60 cities. Bogotá, the city in which we’re most active, saw Plaza de Bolivar – the main public square where the government is located – filled to its maximum capacity of 55,000 people. Huge crowds filled the streets that feed into the square, waiting to hear President Petro speak.

Petro’s government represents a school of reformism, through which the working class everywhere must go, in order to understand the inherent limits of capitalism and its inability to offer a way out of its crisis. However, his government is the conquest of the working class and youth that came out en masse in 2021. We therefore defend it and the reforms that it promises, while patiently explaining the need to break with private property.

The mood of the workers and youth we encountered throughout the marches shows that this was the correct approach. Many people were attending the demonstration for the first time, emboldened by the need to fight for reforms in healthcare, working conditions and pensions, but looking for a way to break through the political deadlock that Petro’s government has currently run into.

Eight comrades intervened energetically in the marches in two cities, selling 49 issues of our new magazine Revolución Comunista and 10 copies of the IMT’s quarterly Spanish-language theoretical journal, América Socialista.

Czechia and Slovakia

This year, for the first time, comrades of the Czechoslovak group of the IMT organised our own May Day event in the city of Bratislava. With this year marking the centenary of Lenin’s death, comrades organised a “Picnic with Lenin”. The event had little competition in Slovakia, since the largest official working class celebration was held in Nitra by the thoroughly discredited Socialisti.sk party, attracting a maximum of 50 people. While the mood in Nitra was gloomy, our event was marked by its enthusiasm!

A total of 18 people attended our event in a park in the city centre, including six who had never attended one of our events before.

Denmark

Never in the history of our organisation in Denmark have we had such a fantastic May Day. In the two largest cities, Copenhagen and Aarhus, we held hugely successful events, which have advanced the entire section massively. In October, we officially founded the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) in Denmark, but we used this May Day to plant our flag and make it clear to everyone that the RKP is here!

In Copenhagen, thousands of people attended our event ‘Revolutionary May Day’. Every year the official May Day events have shrunk, as the reformists try to brand it as a day of festivities, rather than a day of politics and struggle. We held by far the most revolutionary event, with a clear communist profile, and the attendance has never been higher!

Many people came to May Day explicitly looking for us, and a lot of them immediately went to our recruitment stall and waited for a comrade to formally sign them up as party members. They were communists, they knew us, and they wanted to get involved as soon as possible. We sold well over €4,000-worth of political material, showing that the people who came to our event were there for the political answers that the reformists could not offer.

In Aarhus, the second largest city, we likewise had a massive presence, and despite attempts to censor our event by the police, the union leaderships, their bureaucrats and the local council, it became clear that nothing could stop the communists. We had a very successful day where we filled the streets with revolutionary communist ideas, which resonated with many people.

Like a well-oiled machine, comrades set to work in the morning, shouting revolutionary slogans, selling newspapers and recruiting people on their morning commute. They then headed to our events and got stuck into the task of building the party. At least 20 people across the country joined us on the spot, and an additional 50-60 expressed interest in joining, many of whom will attend branch meetings in the coming weeks. We know from experience that these new members will not only advance the boldness of the branches remarkably, but they will also bring their friends, classmates and colleagues.

Our long-term goal of being 300 members has turned into a short-term goal. A new layer of communist youth and workers has advanced onto the scene of history and this May Day has proven to us that we have raised a banner that can boldly connect with this revolutionary layer.

El Salvador

Six comrades intervened in the May Day protests in El Salvador, selling 270 newspapers, despite the fact that a competitor organisation simply gave away its newspapers en masse, flooding the march.

We also sold $148 of Marxist literature, one of the best sales we have had in a long time, and five individuals interested in getting involved in the organisation signed up. 6,000 people or more participated in this year’s march, making it the biggest May Day march since the pandemic. The slogans were directed against the ‘regime of exception’, and called for freedom for the innocent, improvements in the cost of living, for decent pensions, payment of the debt to the national university, and in solidarity with Palestine.

France

After several years of big workers movements and mobilisations that have failed to win victory, the May Day demonstrations this year in France were smaller than previous years. This is due in large part to the leadership of the workers’ organisations failing to put forward clear and credible fighting perspectives to topple Macron’s government.

We intervened energetically under the slogan: “Construisons l’Internationale Communiste Révolutionnaire!” (“Build the Revolutionary Communist International”), in almost every town and city where we have a presence: Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon, Montpellier, Grenoble, Avignon, Cayenne (French Guiana), Annecy, and Epinal.

In Paris, Montpellier, Lyon and Toulouse, for the first time, we organised our own blocs in the demonstrations, with banners, slogans and flags. In Paris, our group gathered more than 50 of our comrades and a number of contacts. Our comrades also distributed leaflets, sold papers and gathered contacts amongst the young demonstrators.

In Marseille, after the demonstration, our comrades also intervened in the traditional festive banquet of the local trade unions.

Our interventions, our slogans and our open and sharp approach have had a big impact, putting us in touch with dozens of radicalised youths.

Germany

Berlin

For some new comrades in Berlin, this International Workers’ Day was the first ever demonstration they had taken part in as a member of the future Revolutionary Communist Party of Germany. The success of our intervention in the famous Neukölln Revolutionary May Day Demonstration proves the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of these young communists. A comrade who only joined our organisation two weeks ago sold ten newspapers on his own and met eight potential recruits.

Over 60 comrades, with flags and banners, marched through the district of Neukölln shouting revolutionary slogans. At the end of the march, we announced the founding of our party in November as well as the launch of the Revolutionary Communist International this summer. Comrades sang the Internationale and gave spontaneous speeches.

We sold over 100 newspapers and got many contact details. May Day was a huge step towards our goal of 500 members at our founding congress.

Munich

At the trade union demonstration on International Workers’ Day in Munich, our comrades received a particularly warm reception from young workers. Unlike some ‘communist’ organisations, we marched in the trade union blocs, sold our newspaper and gave speeches.

Comrades spoke on their experiences in their workplaces and exposed the leadership of IG Metall (the metalworkers’ union) for their support of German imperialism. We called for an end to the so-called social partnership and for a communist opposition in the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). The DGB’s local youth organisation now wants to discuss these demands with us.

We also took part in the separate Revolutionary May Day Demonstration in Munich. From the very start of the rally, we were recruiting new communists to our ranks. Many of them bought more than one newspaper, in order to directly get involved in recruiting more communists. We sold over 100 newspapers and put together a huge block of 70 communists for the demonstration! Of those, around 20 were new potential recruits we had just met.

Greece

This year’s International Workers’ Day in Greece took place amidst many government scandals that have shaken the stability of the regime, such as the complicity of the government in the Tempi train collision, the use of Predator spyware by officers of the prime minister’s office, and the revelations of ‘secret’ meetings between two ministers and the big shipowner Marinakis, that has exposed the behind-the-scenes deals by capitalists and politicians. On top of all these, massive inflation is dramatically reducing workers’ income.

The participation in the general strike and the demonstration on May Day was low, not because there isn’t anger and frustration in society, but because on 28 February we had an important strike of public workers and workers from some of the big private sector unions. This was preceded by a movement of peasants and coincided with a big movement of university students, with occupations of universities lasting for two months. There was no clear plan to escalate and connect these class fights to bring down the government, which held back the workers from mobilising en masse in the public sector workers’ strike on April 17 and on May Day.

The Revolutionary Communist Organisation, the Greek section of IMT, nevertheless intervened on May Day with comrades selling our paper Communist Revolution and forming our own bloc in the demonstration in Athens. Despite the small numbers participating, we sold 18 copies of our paper and marched with a dozen comrades under our own banner, which bore the slogan “Communism or barbarism – Revolutionary Communist International”. We also intervened in Patra, the third biggest city in Greece, selling our paper and distributing leaflets.

Italy

25 April, the day of celebration of the liberation from fascism is always a very popular event in Italy, sometimes to the detriment of May Day.

The Italian section of the IMT energetically took part in the celebrations, selling our newspaper Rivoluzione, with stalls and gazebos across the country. The national demonstration of the three main unions was held in Monfalcone, an important industrial centre in the north-east of the country.

In recent months, a worker lost his life in the city’s shipyard. The shipyard is not only one of the largest in Italy, it is also a symbol of exploitation. Out of more than eight thousand workers employed there, over 70 percent are immigrants, mostly from Bangladesh, blackmailed by many small companies that work for the owner of the Fincantieri shipyard. The comrades attended the demonstration, selling over 50 copies of Rivoluzione.

At the demonstration in Turin, our comrades organised a particularly bold bloc. In the city that was formerly dominated by FIAT, and is now home to the factories of automobile giant Stellantis, our comrades held a banner with the slogan: “Stellantis: billions for the boss, poverty and unemployment for us. The only solution is workers' control!” The banner and the slogans attracted the attention of many demonstrators, who on several occasions joined our bloc and shouted our slogans.

In total we intervened in 20 cities, selling more than 500 copies of Rivoluzione and the same number of our Palestina Rossa pamphlet, as well as other books and merchandise.

Mexico

The Revolutionary Communist Organization (OCR) just launched its new newspaper, Revolución Comunista. We took it to the streets at demonstrations in eight cities around the country this May Day, from the northern cities of Hermosillo, Nogales, Monterrey and Ciudad Juárez; to the southern city of Mérida; passing through the central cities of Mexico City, Puebla and Querétaro. Our comrades in Cancún also held an excellent political and cultural event.

We sold over 300 newspapers, as well as the magazine América Socialista – In Defence of Marxism, and other Marxist literature. In Mexico City, the communists congregated at noon at the Hemicycle to Juárez and dozens of our comrades marched to the Zócalo.

In Mérida, Yucatán, our comrades divided into groups and introduced workers to the OCR, explaining the importance of the revolutionary press, Revolución Comunista, as a collective organiser and a political tool.

In Hermosillo, Sonora, a group of comrades marched along the different unions present, raising the paper and shouting revolutionary slogans. Our comrades are proud of the new paper, which we believe has an attractive and combative content and design. It’s becoming known among the working class and youth, and we have every reason to anticipate that it will become an influential organ and an effective tool in helping to build the Revolutionary Communist Party that we need.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands the comrades of Revolutie (the IMT in the Netherlands) intervened at the national First of May demonstration in Amsterdam, organised by the main trade union, FNV. Seven comrades were present with revolutionary communist flags and placards and we shouted slogans for a living wage, against the right-wing parties, and against the complicity of the Netherlands in the war in Palestine.

The demonstration was more radical and had a higher attendance than in previous years. While on the surface it might look like the Netherlands has shifted to the right with the electoral victory of Geert Wilders’ party PVV last November, the year 2023 also saw the highest number of strikes in 50 years (!) and in the recent months we have seen radical solidarity protests with Gaza.

The FNV bureaucracy tried to keep the march quiet and silent, but since the beginning of the war in Gaza, a lot of young radicalised workers have mobilised around the appeal “Vakbondsleden voor Palestina” (Trade-unionists for Palestine). Organised in blocs, they gave the demonstration a more radical and youthful character and a higher attendance.

At the end of the demonstration we organised a stall with our revolutionary communist material just outside the venue where the march ended, where we had excellent conversations with a lot of workers and students interested in communist ideas and sold €91 worth of Marxist magazines, books and buttons. Definitely a great First of May!

Pakistan

Capitalism and the state are wracked by a deepening crisis in Pakistan, and the ruling class is bracing itself for the eruption of mass movements. Amidst all this, and an unannounced ban against rallies and protests, the communists of the Red Workers Front organised May Day events in over 30 cities.

These included major proletarian centres, such as Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Peshawar, Quetta, Islamabad, and other cities like Mirpur Khas, Tando Adam, Noshehro Feroz, Tando Jan Muhammad, Darro, Tando Muhammad Khan and Kandhkot (Kashmore) in Sindh province, D.G.Khan, Muhammad pur Dewan (District Rajanpur), Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Bhakkar, Taxila/Wah Cantt and Rawalpindi in Punjab province, and Loralai, Gwadar, Dalbandin in Baluchistan and Buner, Gilgit city, Rawlakot and other areas.

Such was the scale of the comrades’ marvellous intervention, that we have published a separate detailed report for our readers here.

The comrades have put together a selection of pictures and videos of the communists on the march across the country here:

We also share below a speech by comrade Paras Jan given to the demonstration in Karachi:

Finally, young comrades of the IMT also released a new revolutionary song in advance of May Day, “Sun Le Tu”, which was well received by workers wherever it was played and sung.

Poland

As in previous years, we can proudly announce the biggest IMT May Day intervention to date, with about 30 comrades and contacts from all around the country gathering in Warsaw. This year there were three demonstrations held – one organised by the parliamentary left as an electoral rally, one by our organisation alongside several other communist groups, and one by a small reformist party, whose leader declined any offers of cooperation.

We sent groups of comrades to all the marches, with most attending the communist one, where we sold our materials and invited interested people to our May School, themed around the ideas of Lenin.

We started off with a rally, at which our comrade spoke to an enthusiastic reception by the crowd, and started marching with radical chants for class struggle, socialism and anti-imperialism. At the march, one of our comrades was detained by the police for wearing a shirt with a hammer and sickle emblazoned on it, but was promptly released after we stopped and demanded his release, with solidarity expressed by everyone on the march. After the march, we ended the day with the opening of a successful May Day School, which we will report on in a separate article.

Spain

In Spain, our comrades intervened in six different cities. Due to the cowardly nature of the trade union leadership and their close ties to the establishment, May Day protests are typically small and split in half. In all cities there are two marches, one with the main two trade unions – CCOO and UGT – and the other with the smaller, alternative trade unions, such as the anarchist CGT-CNT.

In the capital, Madrid, seven comrades attended the demonstration, selling material from our stall, handing out flyers to promote a meeting we are holding next week to launch the OCR (Organización Comunista Revolucionaria). We sold plenty of papers, with the new front cover’s hammer and sickle connecting well with workers and youth.

In Bilbao 15 comrades from all across the Basque Country intervened. They sold 41 copies of our paper and almost 20 copies of the Manifesto of the Revolutionary Communist International which we have printed as a pamphlet in Spanish, Basque and Catalan.

We also took part in demonstrations across the Spanish State, with 10 comrades intervening in Barcelona where we had very comradely discussions with Moviment Socialista (MS) members whose bloc was by far the biggest at the event; a group of 8 comrades intervened in Seville; 5 Valencia where we had discussions with Palestine activists and a steelworker and ended the protest by joining the University of Valencia student encampment; in Mallorca where the paper sold well, in Malaga, and in Salamanca where a new branch was established in recent months.

Sweden

Less than a week after our founding congress, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) was out in full force this May Day in Sweden. We organised rallies, protests and public speeches in ten cities across the country.

The May Day edition of our newspaper, with the slogan “Free Palestine! Smash imperialism! For a socialist federation in the Middle East!” struck a chord with young people and workers, and 510 copies were sold. Comrades maintained a bold approach and gave revolutionary speeches, attracting 132 potential recruits, many of whom already saw themselves as communists and wanted to join on the spot. “Of course I’m a communist!” was the prevailing attitude.

We’re now also in contact with communists from smaller towns, who can set up their own branches. When we explained that they now had to build a branch in their town on their own – becoming what we call ‘communist pioneers’ – the response was: “Of course I want to do that!”

With our bold activity this May Day, we’ve started to take our rightful place on the left in Sweden. The day was a great stepping stone towards our first 500 members!

Switzerland

“Class struggle on 1 May belongs in the dustbin,” proclaimed capitalist representative and racist politician Bigler (SVP) on May Day in the Swiss capitalist press. The soon-to-be Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) replies: “Your system belongs in the dustbin!”

The Swiss ruling class has blood on its hands. UBS is supplying capital for Israel’s genocide and the government is still blocking UNRWA funds. While 200 listed companies have just paid out a record CHF 53 billion in dividends, 52 percent of working families are barely able to make ends meet.

The left offers no way forward. Instead of taking a stand against Israel’s massacre in Gaza and calling for the expropriation of its local accomplices in genocide, the Workers Party (SP) is currently supporting a CHF 15 billion expansion of the military. No wonder the left mainly spread pessimism at this year’s 1 May.

The revolutionary communists, on the other hand, declared: “Our goal is the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a society without exploitation and oppression. Today is the time for the return of true communism!”

The working class will also move in Switzerland – but for success it needs a revolutionary party. That is why we are founding the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP). The reaction on 1 May to the founding of the RKP was enthusiastic among broad layers of those attending. The fact that we sold 700 copies of our newspaper, Der Kommunist, (published in German, French and Italian for the first time) was proof of this fact.

In total, the RKP was present at demonstrations or rallies in 18 cities: Zurich, Geneva, Basel, Bern, Fribourg, Lausanne, Lucerne, Zug, St. Gallen, Sion, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Delémont, Thun, Solothurn, Biel, Liestal, Arbon and Bellinzona.

The founding of the RKP has struck a chord with the most radical layer. In Zurich, a student came to our militant bloc and said: “Yes, I'm a communist – but not yet in a party, I’m not yet active”. In Fribourg and St. Gallen, two communists joined during the demonstration and helped directly.

A student in Zurich said: “I’ve been looking for a way out since the pandemic, and I'm currently reading Lenin's State and Revolution. Today is my first time at a demonstration.”

In one demonstration, a social worker bought a newspaper and took two more to work. A little later, he wrote to our comrade: “I’ll study the manifesto thoroughly after work. I’m very interested!” In total, 70 new people have shown interest in attending our founding congress from 10 to 12 May.

Taiwan

On 1 May, the comrades in the Taipei area intervened in the annual May Day rally, which is traditionally called by right-wing trade unions, although this time certain more radical ones participated as well, alongside some labour NGOs and smaller petty-bourgeois parties.

The poor leadership of the rally made sure to dampen the mood, the weather assisting their efforts.

But despite all this, and despite the fact that most of our comrades are located in the south, the Taipei comrades still managed to mobilise for an intervention. They brought flyers and our literature, as well as a large flag with our logo on it, and marched with a member of the Worker-Student Solidarity student society in Fujen University, which we control.

Our work in Taiwan is still at the beginning stage. The class struggle is also in the early stages of developing. The comrades, however, are proud to represent the ideas of the IMT to a broader layer of workers.

USA

Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, the Revolutionary Communists of America built a grassroots campaign for May Day 2024 over the preceding two months. This campaign took the message of communism into neighbourhoods, workplaces, campuses, subways, and struggles across the city. In the course of this sweeping effort, the RCA spoke with thousands of workers and young people. Tens of thousands of stickers and posters advertising May Day reached untold numbers of others.

More than 200 people responded to the call, gathering in the heart of Philadelphia on International Workers’ Day for a determined and militant demonstration. This was the largest explicitly communist demonstration in Philadelphia in many years and a portent of revolutionary upheavals to come.

The event began with a speakout, in which dozens of workers and young people denounced capitalism and the conditions it imposes on us from the steps of City Hall. After this, the main rally commenced. RCA speakers addressed the history of May Day and the struggles of the working class in the USA and around the world today.

After the rally, hundreds of us marched to Independence Hall, the cradle of the First American Revolution. There we held a concluding rally, where we discussed how to organise the next American Revolution – the communist revolution! We sold over 50 copies of our paper, The Communist. Dozens signed up to join the RCA, including several who joined their party on the spot!

New York

With the brutal repression of the students at Columbia, as well as CUNY universities, the energy from the movement spilled into the streets for May Day this year. The crowd was far larger than in years past, but what really stuck out was the political character of the event. Slogans for Intifada and even workers’ revolution were commonplace.

Before the event started, comrades gave revolutionary speeches, gearing up the comrades for the event. A small crowd of onlookers formed around us, many nodding their heads in agreement. This drew the attention of several news outlets, including Fox News, Telemundo, and CBS, who interviewed our comrades.

In this context, we signed up nearly 100 people! Copies of The Communist flew out of our hands, with 65 sold. 35 of our comrades marched with red flags, leading chants, and giving revolutionary agitational speeches whenever the crowd stopped moving during the march.

Minneapolis

21 comrades in Minneapolis enthusiastically intervened in a local rally. Our communist bloc marched up to the forming rally flying RCA flags – immediately grabbing the attention of the attendees and local press. This boldness attracted several close contacts attending the rally independently to talk to us and a FOX 9 news reporter to interview one of our comrades.

Chicago

There was a combined event for May Day at DePaul University in Chicago. There was the ongoing Gaza solidarity encampment, as well as a strike of over 250 people that picketed and demanded better wages for students workers, graduate students and adjuncts. The union is newly formed and is connecting its struggle of the university workers to Palestine.

Comrades of the RCA set up a table earlier in the day before 11am and broke up into groups to agitate, picket and discuss communism within the crowd. We sold 32 copies of The Communist and 22 contacts signed up to learn about joining the RCA. Overall, we were extremely well received and people were eager to get involved in the fight for communism!

Yugoslavia

On May 1, we took part in demonstrations and rallies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Banja Luka and Sarajevo) and Macedonia (Skopje). In total 16 comrades participated in the May Day events. We sold more than 60 copies of our newspaper and pamphlets (20 in Bosnia and 40 in Macedonia). There were 7 comrades in Banja Luka and 2 comrades at the metal workers trade union protest in Sarajevo.

The May Day protest in Skopje was smaller than last year, with a significantly lower turnout from the youth compared to previous years. Despite this, comrades threw themselves into the event with great success. 7 comrades, carrying the flag of the Revolutionary Communist International as well as a banner, attracted a lot of attention. We distributed pamphlets including the Manifesto of Revolutionary Communist International, as well as our pamphlets: Why Workers’ Yugoslavia? and The Women’s Struggle and Marxism. We also sold the latest edition of the paper Nova Iskra, and we attracted a lot of attention and support, as there has been an absence of a bold communist organisation for over 30 years across Yugoslavia.

May Day in Banja Luka gathered a couple of hundred people in the city centre. Trade union speeches were lacklustre, with rarely anything substantial being said. Our comrades’ bold approach successfully attracted some attention from the mainstream media.