May Day has a long tradition in the anarchist and global social movement. What began as a mobilization in the US for the eight-hour workday, which was brutally suppressed, evolved into a worldwide movement celebrated today by unions, political organizations, and citizens alike as a symbol of class struggle. Even though the ruling class has tried to strip it of its origins as a day of struggle and class solidarity, we must never forget its true roots. ---- Global stagnation and struggle ---- The global economy has slowed in recent years: industrialized countries are experiencing only very weak growth, China has lost momentum compared to its earlier rapid pace, and the rest of the world cannot close this gap. At the same time, the distribution of income and especially wealth has deteriorated to such an extent that the living standards of broad sections of the working class are declining.
The class struggle is constantly intensifying, while the organized workers' movement worldwide has reached an all-time low. At the same time, the extreme right has gained influence and, together with the bourgeoisie, is attacking the existing social systems and institutions that workers have won through decades of struggle.
Alongside this social destruction, all areas of society are experiencing increasing militarization, which permeates every aspect of political life. A central debate currently revolves around the question of war and militarization, which serve both as a means for the bourgeoisie to accumulate wealth and to save the collapsing capitalist economic system, and as a means of channeling the anger of working-class youth against each other.
In many countries, centralized trade unions are not yet able to form a united front against attacks from above, but growing resistance can be observed at the grassroots level and beyond. While protests worldwide are mostly spontaneous and violent, a tendency can be observed within popular movements to develop militancy through organizing in neighborhoods and unions.
Imperial decline, imperialist war
The economic power of the United States has been declining for many decades, but last year saw a break. Instead of adhering to its own order, the United States has reinstated the law of the jungle, waging wars for territorial expansion, political revenge, and outright plunder, with no justification other than its own power to do so.
The result is a world sinking into bloody conflict. Trump has turned Venezuela into an imperial vassal state whose oil industry is under US control and, in cooperation with Israel, has unleashed a murderous war against Iran. Meanwhile, Israel, intoxicated by impunity for its genocide in the Gaza Strip, is de facto annexing southern Syria, intensifying its ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and is now invading Lebanon with the aim of occupying its southern part.
The phase we are currently going through is proof of a historical truth: Capitalism is not a harmonious, rationalizable or plannable system, since the entire capitalist system is incapable of eliminating its internal conflicts, which sometimes erupt - even in violent form - with war being an inevitable consequence.
Wars must be interpreted in light of their concrete social and class dynamics: it is the bourgeoisies who "attack" each other, not the broad masses of wage laborers, since the latter do not possess in any country the capital and power that constitute the exclusive advantage of those very bourgeoisies who are fighting to continue exploiting them.
It is the "propertyless" masses-those who own nothing but their labor power-who are exploited, attacked, and dragged into the bloody wars of capital: in Ukraine as well as in Sudan, in Palestine, in Iran, and throughout the Middle East, and in the more than fifty conflicts that bring death and immense destruction, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their countries in search of better living conditions. It is essential to recognize that world diplomacy is shaped precisely by those bourgeoisies who are fighting each other within the framework of the omnipresent imperialist conflict.
What to do?
In light of the deepening crisis of global capitalism and the collapse of the international order, a solution by the working class is indispensable. We have the opportunity to wrest power from the capitalists if we organize ourselves by taking control of jobs from them. This is the unique position that only the working class occupies. It is our leverage against the ruling class. It is our best weapon, and we must strengthen it.
We must expand the struggles to defend the living conditions of the working class and revive the anarchist-communist project as the goal we strive for. We must strengthen the internationalist unity of workers worldwide against militarism and imperialist wars-against the hunger, misery, devastation, and death they bring.
Let us celebrate May 1st this year on the streets together with our comrades to demonstrate our strength and international solidarity.
It is more important than ever to unite, celebrate this day, and above all, fight for our rights.
May 1st must not be a stagnant holiday where we merely wallow in memories of the past. It must be a rallying point in the struggle against capitalism, imperialism, and all forms of oppression in the world.
There is much to do, because we have a world to win.
https://www.dieplattform.org/2026/05/01/heraus-zum-1-mai-2026-internationales-anarchistisches-statement/#more-3580
_________________________________________
Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten