May Day holds great historical significance within the anarchist movement and global social movements. Originally a mobilization in the United States in support of the eight-hour workday, which was brutally repressed, this day subsequently became a global movement, celebrated worldwide as a symbol of class struggle by unions, political organizations, and the people. While the ruling class has attempted 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: advanced economies are experiencing very weak growth, China has slowed from its previous rapid pace, and the rest of the world is failing to accelerate enough to close the gap. At the same time, the distribution of income and, above all, wealth has deteriorated to the point that the living standards of a large segment of the working class are declining.
The class struggle continues to intensify, while the organized labor movement has reached an extremely low point globally. At the same time, the far right has grown and, in concert with the bourgeoisie, is attacking the existing social protection systems and institutions that workers have won through decades of struggle.
Alongside this social destruction, all sectors of society are experiencing increasing militarization, which permeates every aspect of political life. One of the major issues today lies in the question of war and militarization, which serve both as a means for the bourgeoisie to accumulate more wealth, to save the crumbling capitalist economic system, and to divert the anger of young workers against themselves.
In many countries, the major unions are not yet able to form a united front against attacks from above, but there is nevertheless growing dissent within the rank and file and beyond. As protests, mostly spontaneous and violent, erupt around the world, a trend is emerging within popular movements toward strengthening militancy through neighborhood and union organizing.
Imperial Decline, Imperialist War
The economic power of the United States has been declining for several decades, but a turning point occurred last year. Instead of clinging to its own order, the United States has reinstated the law of the jungle and is waging wars of territorial expansion, political revenge, and outright plunder, with no justification other than its own capacity to do so.
The result is a world engulfed by bloody conflicts. Trump has transformed Venezuela into an imperialist vassal state whose oil industry is under American control and has launched a deadly war against Iran, in collaboration with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel, emboldened by the impunity it enjoys for its genocide in Gaza, 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 region.
The phase we are currently experiencing is proof of a historical truth: capitalism is not a harmonious system that can be rationalized or programmed, because the entire capitalist system is incapable of eliminating its internal conflicts, which sometimes erupt even violently with war as the inevitable consequence.
Wars must be interpreted in light of their concrete social and class dynamics: it is the bourgeoisies that "attack" each other, not the vast masses of wage earners, because in no country do the latter possess the capital and power that are the exclusive prerogative of these same bourgeoisies who fight to continue exploiting.
It is the "propertyless" masses those who possess nothing but their labor power who are exploited, attacked, and dragged into the bloody wars of capital: in Ukraine, as in Sudan, Palestine, Iran, and throughout the Middle East, as well as in the more than fifty conflicts that cause death, immense destruction, and force tens of thousands of human beings to flee their countries in search of better living conditions. It is essential to understand that global diplomacy is precisely constituted by these bourgeoisies attacking one another within the framework of a generalized imperialist conflict.
What must be done
As the crisis of global capitalism deepens and the international order collapses, a solution emerging from the working class is absolutely essential. We have the capacity to wrest power from the capitalists only if we organize to take control of our workplaces. This is the only means available to the working class. It is our leverage against the ruling class. It is our best weapon, and we must strengthen its power.
We must expand the struggles to defend the living conditions of the working classes and revive the libertarian communist project as the horizon toward which we strive. We must strengthen the internationalist unity of workers worldwide against militarism and imperialist wars, against the hunger, misery, devastation, and death they impose.
Let us celebrate May Day this year in the streets with our comrades to demonstrate our strength and international solidarity.
It is more important than ever to unite, to celebrate this day, and above all, to fight for our rights.
May 1st must not be a static day where we merely reminisce about the past. It must be a rallying point against capitalism, imperialism, and all forms of oppression in the world.
There is much to be done, because we have a world to conquer.
Joint statement from the Libertarian Communist Union (France), the Anarchist Communist Federation (Australia), Die Plattform (Germany), Black Rose Rosa Negra (USA), and Alternativa Libertaria (Italy), May 1, 2026.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Pour-un-1er-Mai-internationaliste
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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