WORLD WORLDWIDE SOUTH AMERICA BRAZIL - news journal UPDATE - (en) Brazil, OSL: May Day: Strengthening the struggle with class independence! (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 Another May Day is approaching, and there are many reasons to keep the

flame of the struggle of the global working class alive. The OSL calls
on everyone to attend the demonstrations on International Working Class
Day, a historic date that continues to be very important as long as
there is exploitation and oppression. ---- History ---- The origins of
anarchism are closely linked to the history of May Day. The great strike
of 1886 in Chicago, USA, with a strong anarchist presence, aimed to
reduce the working day to 8 hours a day - when workers were working up
to 14, 16 hours a day. The demonstrations were violently repressed, and
the police soon chose their scapegoats: 8 anarchist workers, some of
whom were sentenced to death, who became known as the Chicago Martyrs.
May 1st became a day of struggle for the working class around the world,
with the slogan of an 8-hour work day and social revolution.

In Brazil, May 1st demonstrations began at the end of the 19th century,
along with the growing industrialization that exploited men, women and
children. Immigrant and Brazilian workers organized themselves into
resistance leagues (the embryos of unions), and armed with anarchist
ideas and other socialist movements, they forged strikes and resistance
movements. The beginning of the 20th century also saw a strong black
presence, in categories such as dockworkers, railway workers and
construction workers. This period was marked by revolutionary
syndicalism, an anarchist strategy that had the General Strike of 1917
as its greatest historical moment. Keeping this memory alive is a task
that is carried out in the daily struggle.

Global crisis

Today, the global working class still faces a brutal scenario. The
massacre perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza is one
of the bloodiest examples of how the capitalist-statist system acts to
violate the fundamental rights of the oppressed classes. Solidarity with
the Palestinian people must be a duty of all working class
organizations. Countless other wars and massacres around the world,
combined with climate change and the rise of the far right, are serious
threats to the continuity of human life.

Technological advances alone do not promote the fundamental
transformations to change this scenario. In the era of artificial
intelligence and space tourism, hundreds of millions of workers live in
poverty around the world. In Latin America, about half of the employed
people are in the informal sector, a situation that affects women and
young people the most.

Brazil

Despite the recent reduction in unemployment, the working class remains
largely precarious. 50% of Brazilian families have an income of up to
R$3,400 per month, when Dieese calculates that the minimum wage to
support a family should be R$7,400. There are millions of people in
precarious jobs, with low wages or who depend on social programs or
Social Security, who live with uncertainty and debt.

The rising cost of living puts pressure on the income of the poorest
families, with basic foods becoming increasingly expensive - a
phenomenon that is happening all over the world, with economic,
political and climate instability. The Lula-Alckmin government, which
sells the illusion of reconciling the interests of the poor and the
rich, gives everything to the rich and only takes cosmetic measures to
curb extreme poverty. While the income tax exemption bill for those who
earn up to R$5,000, if approved, will only be valid for next year, the
fiscal adjustment policy with spending cuts has been in place since the
first year of government, including cuts in programs such as Bolsa
Família, Farmácia Popular and Auxílio-gás, which serve poorer families.
Hostage to Congress and without any proposal for change, the
Lula-Alckmin government continues to serve those at the top.

The need for struggle

This whole scenario shows that fighting is the only alternative for the
working class. Some recent examples, from below, prove that much can be
done to turn this around.

The fight against the 6x1 work shift is an issue that has gained support
from workers all over the country. Started by the Vida Além do Trabalho
(VAT) movement, the issue has been embraced by several categories and
unions, and has already motivated some specific strikes. The end of the
6x1 work shift is one of the major current struggles, which emerged
outside the bureaucratic structure of official unionism, and focuses on
the constant increase in working hours, which is one of the pillars of
labor exploitation.

Another important struggle is the Apps Break, led by delivery workers
who work for apps, one of the most precarious categories in recent
years. Treated as "partners" of giant technology companies, these
workers understand that they are exploited and that only collective
struggle can wrest achievements from those at the top.

The fight for better living and working conditions takes place both
within and outside the legally recognized union structure. In combative
and organized unions, unionized workers confront employers more openly
to build collective mobilization. Among those outside these entities -
especially precarious, informal sectors or those without union
representation - independent collectives are formed, building new forms
of struggle and organization for rights from the ground up.

By acting from below, independently of politicians, governments and
employers, workers are organizing collectively and thus strengthening
themselves in their daily struggles. On this May Day, we are inspired by
150 years of struggles by the international working class to fight the
battles that lie ahead. Let's fight, comrades!

To the streets on May Day!

Preserve the memory of our struggles, fighting for the urgent needs of
our time!

Libertarian Socialist Organization
April 2025

https://socialismolibertario.net/2025/04/23/1o-de-maio-fortalecer-a-luta-com-independencia-de-classe/
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