On May 4, the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site hosted an International May Day Online Rally. More than 2,000 participants from over 90 countries listened in to speakers from the United States, Germany, Britain, Sri Lanka and Australia. The text and audio of the speeches are available at the May Day web site: internationalmayday.org.
Those attending the rally left 800 comments (archived here). Participants were also invited to fill out a survey and leave a statement of support. Hundreds of people left their feedback. Below, we publish a selection of comments from around the world.
Hello all dear comrades. I, Pathak Rajender from New Delhi, India, congratulate all of you for organizing the International Rally on May Day. In India on this day I regret to write that 148 comrades/workers of the global automobile company Suzuki have been in judicial custody since July 18, 2012 for alleged offenses which they never committed! I being their counsel in court am watching them suffering. Please pray for their early release.
Pathak, India
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“It was a great political event, a milestone in the development of an international movement against the threat of world war, and for a new socialist society”
Gerald, Georgia, USA
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“The liberation of humanity can only be socialist. Today’s international May Day rally has laid the foundations for this to happen. It gave a platform to workers and to young people to fight for their interests in the spirit of equality and fraternity.”
Chris, UK
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“I fully support May Day Rally organized by ICFI because I want to live in a just and peaceful society and not in an oligarchy.”
Dusan, Slovakia
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“May Day is the real day on which we celebrate the role of working people in building a democratic society and truly fair economic system. My congratulations to the WSWS and International Committee for organizing this event.”
Bob, New Jersey, USA
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“The celebration of May Day connects with the leadership role of the working class in qualitative social transformation worldwide: abolishing private ownership of means of production, the profit system inherently anti-democratic and constructing a world that is fundamentally human centered.”
Atta, Ghana
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“The lies and distortions of the Obama administration with regard to Ukraine are so blatant and obvious that if it were not for the propagandists in the US media, there is no way anyone would not see through it. Thankfully, we have the WSWS, which provides the truth to anyone seeking to find it. Through its analysis of current events, the writers at the WSWS expose and break down the falsifications of these so-called ‘journalists,’ such as the exposure of the New York Times’ publication of pictures which it erroneously said proved Russian troops were secretly leading the uprisings in Donetsk and other eastern Ukrainian regions.
“Along with the truth, the WSWS also provides the working class with hope. This comes in the form of a program for a way out of this present situation of poverty, lies, and social misery, a program based on working-class solidarity and Marxist principles, such as the public ownership of the means of production. As the WSWS states, these principles can only be attained by the working-class itself, not by appealing to the Democrats or any other segment of the ruling class for reforms.
“The fact that over 2,000 people registered for the International May Day Rally on May 4 is an encouraging sign that this message of truth and hope will soon be spread to workers all around the world on a bigger and bigger scale.”
Adam, New York, USA
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“Holding the May Day rally reverberated across the entire world and cut across nationalities, amidst the breakdown of capitalist world order. The resurgence of the contradictions of capitalism in the form of fascism and unrestrained imperialism, particularly of American imperialism, inevitably leads to a Third World War, which will be even more catastrophic and horrible for humanity than the two previous world wars. These imperialist aggressions, and their internal contradictions, not only provide a path to war, but also create the objective conditions for the working class to overthrow the rotten capitalist system, which breeds inequality, fascism, racialism, wars and unemployment.
“The ICFI provides a genuine revolutionary leadership, based on a world revolutionary perspective, to the world working class and oppressed masses of the underdeveloped countries. It is not accidental that the ICFI emerges and provides the leadership to the world working class. It is the product of prolonged struggles waged by the ICFI since its founding, particularly against the Pabloite revisions of Trotskyism and all other forms of political opportunism.
“The WSWS plays the decisive role for the cadres—ideological and political education along with the independent mobilization of the working class internationally. It acts as a beacon for inspiration to overthrow of capitalism and replace it with scientific socialism.”
Zayar, Pakistan
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“A serious movement against imperialist war has to built. After all historical experience it can only be a socialist movement based on the fight of Trotsky.”
Vladylen, Russia
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“This is a world-historical event that could only be realized by the one true representative of the world working class against the global capitalist system—the International Committee of the Fourth International. It is the only global Marxist party and the only socialist organization that understands that the goal of the working class in struggle must be the conquest of state power by the working class worldwide and in the interest of the working class globally.”
Eugene, California, USA
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“For the first time in history, the means by which to celebrate International Workers’ Day on a truly international scale are available and being put to use by the world workers movement.”
Justin, California, USA
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“Internationalism, the unity of the international working class, on the basis of the program of the abolition of private property and the nation state, and the establishment of a world-wide planned economy, is indeed the only solution to the crisis of capitalism and its imperialist war drive.”
Dennis, North Carolina, USA
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“The ICFI is the only organisation that embodies and acts upon the traditions of the original May Day rally for the international solidarity of the working class as the only power that can prevent a collapse into barbarism and war. That is because the ICFI is the only political organisation that has withstood the capitulations of previous internationals and continues to provide a historical-scientific based leadership to and for the world socialist revolution that is so urgently necessary today. This is the only hope for the human race, our children and their children.”
Virginia, Germany
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“Hats off to the ICFI for this historic inspiring event. I hope all the speeches will be published in the WSWS”
Linus, Sri Lanka
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“The political clarity and leadership provided by the ICFI and SEP are the only way forward for workers. They will always have my support. I will never be fooled again by bourgeois politicians. No more betrayals, no more lip service to workers while serving imperialism; international socialism is the only solution.”
Schuyler, Pennsylvania, USA
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“You gave all of us, no matter what the age, a sense of hope for the future and our common humanity. Thank you!”
Carlos
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“The ICFI has sounded the call to all workers. The future lies in the fight for socialism. Never before has the maxim “Workers of the world, unite!” been applied with such relevance, urgency and power as in today’s May Day rally. As Joseph Kishore said, Trotsky would indeed be proud.”
Zac, Australia
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“I believe that May Day, and what it represents, is an extraordinary event in the calendar of the international proletariat, for it makes the daily struggles fought by individual workers, whose struggle and contribution is masked by the market relations of capitalism and reification of the commodity, something alive and visceral, almost tangible.”
Luke, Malta
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“A powerful historical tradition found voice in this event.”
Thomas, Pennsylvania, USA
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“With the ever increasing inequality perpetuated by the oligarchs in the US, it is time once again for socialism to rise and make a stand against those who would crush the workers of the world under the weight of wage and debt slavery. It is time for the people to share in the wealth our planet and great societies have to offer.”
Joshua, Virginia, USA
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“It’s now a struggle for the very survival of the human race. Capitalism has reached the dead end of becoming too productive to produce, as Marx outlined. Computers and robots are the new workers. War and genocide will be used to cull the ever-growing ranks of the unemployed. Capitalism can only continue with the destruction of the ecology and the environment while the fight for dwindling natural resources among capitalists armed with weapons of mass destruction means the almost certain end of the human race itself. There is no future possible except a socialist future.”
Roy, New York, USA
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“This rally brings together workers and young people from 55 countries around the world at the same time, for some the first time in their lives—something not possible without the internet. They heard the most clear and authoritative speakers in the world on international socialism. Congratulations ICFI, this is a significant step forward in building a world socialist movement to overthrow capitalism, the cause of social inequality and the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries, and to prevent a total catastrophe.”
Kathryn, Australia
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“The International working class will succeed soon since rationality and the thoughts of Marx, Lenin and perhaps above all, Leon Trotsky, will prevail!”
Keith, France
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“I would like to add to ‘what I like best’ is the reclaiming the tradition of 1889, May Day online is a fitting reply to those that called may day rallies around trade union bureaucracies on nationally bankrupt programs.”
John, UK
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“Happy May Day, this year and every year until the final victory of the international proletariat, and afterwards.”
Tom, California, USA
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“I strongly believe that a change to worldwide socialism is the only way to save our planet and its inhabitants.”
Jacquelyn, Missouri, USA
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“In my opinion, this has been an historical event, and could be the ground for a continuous and tenacious offensive of international socialism in the Twenty-First century, after the many decades of lies and defamations that the socialist cause has suffered. While the perspective must be international, it is key to gain supporters in the US, this will resonate everywhere due to the global networking capabilities of the US worldwide (also being a strong immigrant-based country): with only 50 percent effectively voting right now for a two-party system, there is a huge potential of growth.”
Roberto, New Hampshire, USA
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“The documentation of the Haymarket Affair and the Eight-hour Day Movement was a great introduction and historic link to the May Day rally and the contemporary content of the delivered speeches.”
Knut, Norway
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“May Day has been hijacked by middle class radicals posing as champions for the workers, and it’s high time workers took it back!”
Jenny, Australia
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“The economic system is rotten to the core and drastically needs to be replaced by a rational planned system that benefits mankind rather than a handful of rich people. Misery is increasing at a rapid pace, matched only by the growth of militarism.”
Fred, Oregon, USA
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“Now more than ever, the working class must struggle against capitalism as it careens towards disaster for us all.”
Lee, New York, USA
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“Capitalism demands ‘liberty and freedom’ to exploit workers everywhere. Socialism requires workers to be conscious of the capitalist demands and reject them entirely. Workers will never experience true freedom and liberty until they unite under the banner of international socialism.”
Robert, Illinois, USA
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“Without the international political unity of young people and the working class, there will be neither peace nor justice! Every single person out there, please read the WSWS and discuss its articles with your friends and colleagues. Read the founding documents of the ICFI and SEP, read the books of Trotsky, Lenin and Marx, discuss them. If you don’t know where to start, I recommend the Communist Manifesto. How can you make a judgment if you’re not aware of as much as possible? The time you set aside for this, is time set aside for contemplating and subsequently getting set to craft the future of humanity. I can’t imagine anything more important.”
D, Australia
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“This Planet and everything on in, within it and about it is the sole property of the Human Collective on Earth. Every sovereign citizen of Earth has the right to travel, live and work anyplace on this Planet unhindered. All countries are internment camps.”
Octaevius, Canada
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“I can not express enough, how grateful I am to those who helped to make it possible for this online rally. And how great it was to just have people say hello. WSWS members and readers, thank you.”
Steve, Missouri, USA
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“Day by day the illusion of the ‘American dream’ is being exposed as a fraud. The only way forward for workers and youth is the struggle for world socialist revolution under the banner of the ICFI!”
Mitch, Michigan, USA
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“We can make a difference. We have to.”
Brandon, South Africa
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“Revolutionary greetings from struggling and fighting people of India.”
Mohan, India
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“May Day is not just history, it is culture, reality, and a reminder. We are all human beings, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers. We all have the same needs. However, May Day reminds us of the fight we all share. A fight for equality, security, peace, justice, harmony... a fight for humans. Workers are not slaves, they are not merely wage-earners. They are humans. They are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters... We are workers. For centuries workers have been fighting for freedoms, justice, equality, security, peace, to end exploitation, etc. We must continue this tradition, we must hold on to these thoughts, we must never forget May Day and what it stands for. May Day unites the human race.”
Kolby, Pennsylvania, USA
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“I fervently hope that these feelings of excitement, the visceral sense of witnessing history, are objectively well-grounded. Let this be the beginning of the end—of capitalism. Dangerous though it is to simplistically repeat slogans, this one is true: Workers of the world, you have nothing to lose but your chains! Onward!!”
David, New York, USA
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“Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. We’ve all heard that one before. But knowledge is only useful when it is put into practice in our lives. That is wisdom, and that is why the lessons of May Day must guide our actions as we continue the struggle for whom so many have sacrificed so much.”
Matthew, Colorado, USA
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“Internationalism was the theme of this rally, it stood out in all the contributions. Workers of the World Unite really did mean something.”
Danny, UK
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“When I was young, the choice to us was socialism or capitalism. Today the choice is socialism or the destruction of the planet. That is, the choice is capitalism or the planet earth. You can’t have both.”
Brian, South Africa
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“Today marks the dawning of a new era in the ability of the working class to gather and communicate on a mass basis and across all national boundaries.”
Glenn, California, USA
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“The need for a global worldwide fightback against the present dying, decadent capitalist order is becoming increasingly more obvious with each passing day. The role and function of the SEP and its worldwide sister parties that comprise the Fourth International is central to this mission. Working to facilitate the emergence of a bona fide working class leadership capable of articulating our platform on the world stage should be a critical part of the general overall mission.”
Charles, Florida, USA
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“I support the ICFI because they are the only ones who are really committed to changing anything about social inequality.”
Logan, Michigan, USA
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“I think the Internet befits the proper media for the occasion. It is the new international communication of an internationalist party. The Sunday after May Day was an appropriate day to celebrate the occasion. Workers of the World Unite!”
Matthew, Australia
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“Only when the working class come together with its fellow comrades from all over the world will it have the necessary force to throw off the yoke of a parasitical class of oligarchs and their bought and paid for political lapdogs.”
Josh, Germany
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“Unfortunately, I could not attend the rally held at the University of Minnesota due to illness; however, I still listened to the rally online and felt that I was taking part in an immediate and meaningful rally for justice and peace. Thank you.”
Melissa, Minnesota, USA
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“It was said in 1847 and the May Day rally does it for the present in the face of capitalist brutality and pseudo-left hypocrisy: Workers of the world unite!”
Harvey, New York, USA
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“It's impossible to understand the present and the possibilities for the future without understanding the past. And so, in addition to being a day for rallying both conscious and awakening forces, it is also a day in which we express our gratitude to the martyrs that laid the ground, not out of any misguided piety toward the past—which would trap us in a fossilized nostalgia—but in order to illuminate the possibilities that arise when humanity, and the working class specifically, sets before itself a great task and has the organizational strength and will to carry it through.
“In an age where a sclerotic and dying capitalist imperialism menaces more than ever the existence of humanity, we must hold fast to the broad horizon of human possibility in its unfettered form, and revolutionary communist/socialist holiday of May Day is one of the most important historic expressions that this unfettered potential has taken.
“As socialists we are rightly skeptical of traditions, but some traditions are worth upholding. Not for the sake of tradition, of course, but for the sake of liberation, which is only possible on a historically informed understanding of the potential humanity holds within its grasp when it finally breaks the chains of class society.”
John
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“Today was a historical event by the ICFI in reclaiming the international traditions of the working class and proclaiming that the international unity of workers, based on the perspective of world socialist revolution, is again the order of the day. Long live the ICFI! Long live Internationalism!”
David, UK
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“I am in total support of the principle behind this rally. What working people are coerced into ‘celebrating’ as Labour Day has never been, and could never be a celebration of their commonality of interest against corporate capitalist accumulation and the petit-bourgeois comprador facilitators that operate its repressive state infrastructure throughout the planet. Workers of the world must unite under a precept that defines this essential commonality of interest. That precept is the imperative to replace the prevailing ologarchic socioeconomic order with its socialist alternative. Rosa Luxembourg stated the case in far more eloquent fashion that I ever could in the “Junius Pamphlet”, published 1916 and illegally distributed in Germany....”
Glen, Canada
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“The main task today is to rebuild working class consciousness; the idea of the working class acting for itself politically and collectively as class.”
Miguel, Sweden