Go all out for May Day 2021!

Freedom Road Socialist Organization is calling comrades, allies and activists everywhere to mobilize for May Day this year. With good outreach, planning and attention to safety, organizers can build spirited demonstrations and march in the streets to celebrate the struggle of the international working class on May 1.

The defeat of Donald Trump last November was a good thing for the working class and our allies. The people’s struggles continue under the Biden administration. Building for May Day helps our movements and the organizations that participate grow stronger. Biden’s decision to drop bombs on Syria earlier this year demonstrates the need for us to continue building a united front against monopoly capitalism – against imperialism.

May Day was chosen to be International Workers’ Day in 1889 after the historic 1886 battle for an eight-hour work day at Haymarket in Chicago. It emphasizes the critical role of the working class in fighting back against monopoly capitalism. Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that building a united front of the multinational working class and the oppressed nationalities is key to winning the fight.

In 2021, the working class all over the world finds itself struggling against the increasingly desperate attempts of the ruling class to hold on to power. Imperialism continues to decay and the cracks are becoming harder to hide.

In the U.S. as well as many other countries, the working class continues to suffer because of how terribly the COVID-19 pandemic has been handled. A couple of dollars here and there from stimulus checks are not enough to make up for the suffering and hardship faced by millions of people. The fight for unemployment benefits and struggles over housing need our support. Teachers, students and their families have a right to be safe. The working class must continue to fight for an agenda that puts people over profits and helps keep our families safe as we overcome this crisis.

All workers have the right to a good living for themselves and their families without having to trade their health and safety for the profits of the 1%. It is important to develop fighting leadership within the trade unions, which represent an important organized sector of the working class, and support the struggle of workers to form unions, like the ongoing struggle in Alabama at the Amazon facilities. Many trade unions around the country are led by class collaborators, but many workers are waging intense battles for reform within their unions. Some are fighting to replace the class collaborators with fighting leadership, like the struggle going on within the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The fight against police crimes must remain a key part of our message. The Black Liberation movement is growing stronger as it continues to lead this fight against injustice. The ongoing trial over the murder of George Floyd reminds us of the summer of struggle last year, which saw massive street demonstrations all over the country. We all have a duty to fight to win justice for George Floyd and all victims of police crimes, political repression and wrongful incarceration. The fight against the national oppression of Blacks, Chicanos and other nationalities is an important struggle the working class must continue to wage. It’s vital to build and support organizations that fight for justice, like the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR). In addition to fighting for justice whenever police crimes occur, NAARPR has helped popularize the demand for community control of the police as an important step forward.

The struggle being waged at the U.S. border is important in the overall fight against monopoly capitalism. The conditions faced by immigrants and refugees at the U.S. border are some of the worst imaginable. Comrades and activists everywhere must continue to defend the rights of immigrants who are abused daily by this rotten system. We must fight to close the detention centers and holding facilities that are used like concentration camps to oppress immigrants, refugees and their families without regard to their health, safety and general well-being. May Day is a good opportunity to continue fighting for these basic rights and to raise the demand for legalization for all!

It is clear that the rule of the 1% needs to be replaced by a system that benefits that 99%. This system, Socialism, must be achieved by any means necessary. May Day celebrates the struggle of the working class to achieve peace, equality and justice all over the world. Freedom Road Socialist Organization looks forward to leading and participating in many May Day actions this year.