INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY : THE FIGHT FOR A NEW WORLD

This International Workers' Day, May 1, sees workers confronted by growing economic inequality and injustice accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. This is the greatest economic and social crisis of modern times.

UNLIKE SOME other countries where it is marked with huge rallies and celebrations, International Workers' Day barely rates a mention in New Zealand. Of course its not surprising that the political establishment would not want to provide any publicity for a day that has its roots in the fight for workers' rights but other organisations that still claim to represent the interests of workers, particularly the Labour Party and the Council of Trade Unions, have long dissociated themselves from the socialist origins of May Day. The political allegiances and priorities of Labour Party MPs and trade union officials have turned elsewhere. Last year the Labour Party managed to turn May Day into a hymn of praise for neoliberalism, congratulating 'the contributions of working New Zealanders to building a modern economy.'

May 1 2020 happens at a time when a rapacious and deadly virus is sweeping the world. And workers are in the frontline in the fight against coronavirus. This pandemic has not only demonstrated the utter inability of capitalism to fight the disease but also the heroic efforts of health workers, teachers, carers, cleaners, transport workers and many others, who have all risked their own lives in the fight against the virus. Some, tragically, have lost their lives.

So today, although the big rallies have been cancelled because of the pandemic, International Workers' Day will still salute all workers who are fighting the spread of covin-19.

Rosa Luxemburg

But May 1 also comes at a time  when the 'free market' has thrown some 33,000 New Zealanders out of their jobs in the past month. The queues outside the foodbanks have continued to lengthen, yet the Labour-led Government's sole agenda is to prop up this failing system by throwing billions of dollars at it. Under this scenario, the ‘new normal’ will look a lot like the ‘old normal’ - but worse.

But as the Polish socialist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg noted, while May Day has its origins in the struggle for the eight hour day, it soon became part of a wider emancipatory project. In ‘What Are The Origins of May Day?’ (1894) Rosa writes:

'The first of May demanded the introduction of the eight-hour day. But even after this goal was reached, May Day was not given up. As long as the struggle of the workers against the bourgeoisie and the ruling class continues, as long as all demands are not met, May Day will be the yearly expression of these demands. '

May 1 2020 is a stark reminder that, after three decades of neoliberal economic experimentation, and now covin-19, structural change is required to rebuild an economy that works for the many, not the few. 

More than ever, we have a world to win.