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Title: May Day Author: Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group Date: 1 May 2011 Language: en Topics: May Day Source: Retrieved on 12th October 2021 from http://anarkismo.net/article/19448 Notes: Leaflet of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG) distributed at todays May Day rally and events in Melbourne.
May Day began in the United States in 1886, where Anarchist union
organisers called a strike on 1^(st) May to win the 8 hour day. A
striker was killed and, at a protest rally a few days later, a bomb was
thrown, which killed 8 police and some others. Uproar followed and 8
Anarchist unionists were arrested and charged with murder. They were
convicted, even though the prosecution didn’t even try to prove they had
anything to do with the bomb. Four were executed. The campaign in their
defence spread around the world and initiated May Day as International
Workers Day.
Three years ago, the world was hurtling into the Global Financial
Crisis. Speculative real estate dealings and toxic financial products in
the United States came unstuck in a big way, bringing down several major
banks and endangering the rest in the US and Europe. The banks were
bailed out and the financial system rescued, but at ruinous cost to the
public purse. Now, the same financial markets governments bailed out are
demanding massive cuts to government spending so as to get public debt
under control. The result is a series of unprecedented attacks on the
working class, both in countries which have had to seek bailouts, like
Greece and Ireland, and countries which have not, like Britain. The
cutbacks, though, are cutting economic growth and government revenue, so
financial markets are baying for still more. Meanwhile, the United
States is spiralling into phenomenal debt, so much so that it is in
danger of having its credit rating cut — an event which would threaten
the world with financial chaos.
The Australian economy has largely avoided the troubles in Europe and
the United States, mainly because of the industrialisation of China and,
to a lesser extent, India. This sheltered position can only remain,
however, for as long as China continues to boom. Even here, though,
things are not going well for the working class. The wages share of
national income is at record lows and falling, home purchase for young
working people is virtually unaffordable, older workers are being told
they have to work till they drop and the Government proposes to tackle
climate change with a scheme that will make the rich richer and the poor
poorer.
Around the world, however, workers are fighting back. Last year, Europe
was rocked by a series of general strikes across numerous countries. In
July, 100 million workers in India went out, in the largest general
strike in world history. And this year, protests throughout the Arab
world have sent two dictators packing and shaken a dozen more. The
working class has been the most powerful force in the successful revolts
in Tunisia and Egypt, pointing the way to victory for other oppressed
peoples. It is by uniting internationally that we can defeat global
capital. We can end its crises and wars by making a workers’ revolution
to establish libertarian communism, a stateless society without classes
or oppression, where we can live in peace and co-operation.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE!