> Dear Comrades, > > Attached below is a May Day message and greetings for progressive forces > around the world from the Democratic Socialist Party of Australia. > > Also attached is the text of a speech given by DSP Political Committee > member Doug Lorimer at the May Day dinner organised by the Worker > Communist Party of Iraq in Sydney on April 29, 2000. > > With solidarity on May Day, > > Comradely greetings, > > John Percy > National Secretary > Democratic Socialist Party > Australia > > _______________________________ > DSP May Day Greetings 2000 > > As we celebrate the first May Day of the new Millennium, the glaring > inequalities and injustices and contradictions of global capitalism > appear more acute than ever. The gap between rich and poor continues to > widen. Images of obscene wealth and disgusting luxury and waste contrast > with pictures of starving populations on our nightly TV screens. Can > those bourgeois apologists still claim that capitalism is the best of > all possible worlds? > > Flood, famine, drought and disease ravage countries, even whole > continents such as Africa. But most of the misery, starvation, and > deaths are preventable. These are man-made disasters: deforestation, > global warming, poisoning of our rivers and oceans, and the biggest > man-made disaster of all, the robbing of the wealth of the majority of > the world by a tiny few — capitalism. > > In April the Dow and Nasdaq indices plummeted. The billion dollar > gamblers held their breath, some panicked. The market resumed its roller > coaster ride, but all know the bubble will burst. Can they really think > capitalism is the stable, natural order? > > Increasing numbers of workers, poor farmers, and young people around the > world are deciding no! Capitalism is the problem, and it has to go. The > massive demonstrations in Seattle and Washington showed the way. Similar > demonstrations will confront the World Economic Forum when it meets in > Melbourne September 11-13. > > Neo-liberal capitalism needs to extract ever greater profit from > workers, so we need greater struggles and better organisation to fight > back. The MUA campaign in 1998 was a great fight, in spite of the > outcome. Workers in our region are waging inspiring struggles, in South > Korea, in India, in Pakistan, in the Philippines, in Indonesia. Our task > here in Australia is to rebuild militant trade unions that defend > workers interests, not make peace with capitalism. > > Around the world racism is rampant. In Australia Pauline Hansen's One > Nation Party drew on all the basest prejudices and bigotry. Young > people, especially high school students, mobilised in their thousands > against this racist threat. Resistance can be especially proud of the > role it played in mobilising high school students. We made a difference. > > But Howard has now taken up Pauline Hanson's racist banner. Iraqi and > Afghanistan refugees fleeing terrible repression are locked up in desert > concentration camps. Kosovans promised "safe havens" are forced back to > live in the rubble of Kosova. Aboriginal people are denied decent living > conditions, compensation for past wrongs, denied even their history. Our > task is to wage a continuing struggle against racism, defending > aborigines, migrants, and refugees. > > This May Day we can reflect on some partial successes, and strengthen > our resolve to continue til final victory. > > Reflect on East Timor, now free from Indonesian rule. Devastated yes, > poverty-stricken and still suffering. But free, and its workers and poor > farmers are politically organising more openly. We've seen the > encouraging growth and organisation of the Socialist Party of Timor, > PST. > > We in the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance can be well pleased > with the role we played since last May Day. We stepped up our solidarity > work, which we've been carrying out for many years through ASIET, and > played a leading role in organising large demonstrations around > Australia last September, pressing for Australian government action and > UN intervention, to stay the genocidal attacks of Indonesia's murderous > militia. Our action was able to make an impact. > > Reflect on Indonesia, Suharto is gone, threatened with war crimes > hearings, his ill-gotten billions threatened with investigation and > seizure. Certainly, it's still a very fragile and limited democracy; > sure, it's a government where the IMF and Washington are still pulling > the strings, forcing austerity measures against the mass of the > population. But it's an increasingly aware and mobilised population. The > Peoples Democratic Party has grown, with young activists already steeled > in many battles. > > And Elian Gonzalez is free. He's reunited with his father, out of the > clutches of the Miami mafia. He's not yet back in Cuba, but that is > surely inevitable. The cause of Cuba took a tremendous boost from this > incident, exposing the anti-communist fanatics, making Washington's > blockade and embargo look ridiculous and needing to go. Any long delay > in repatriating Elian would be an even worse defeat for the US ruling > class. Already it's Cuba's biggest propaganda victory in their 41-year > defence against the assaults of US imperialism. > > So we've had some victories, but we've had repeated reminders that the > need to replace this capitalist system with socialism is urgent. > > May Day is not just a day for speeches, for looking back on past glories > and victories, but a day to prepare ourselves for action, to strengthen > our resolve, to ensure our future victories over the capitalist monster, > and the winning of socialism around the world. > > That means organisation, and activity, and commitment, and the building > of a Marxist party to play our part in the international struggle for > socialism by overthrowing the rule of profit and greed here in > Australia, the rule of racism and sexism and exploitation and > environmental destruction. That's our main task here. > > But we also have a duty of extending international moral support, > material support, and mass political support to the struggles of the > workers and oppressed around the world, and especially in our region. > > Increasing attacks by global capitalism are giving rise to growing > consciousness of the oppressed, and growing recognition of the need for > international socialist renewal, discussion, collaboration, regroupment > of the Marxist forces. Especially in the Asia Pacific region, new > parties and movements are emerging, revolutionary parties are growing, > new links are being forged. We saw this new growth and this new dynamic > spirit at the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference in April 1998, and at > the Marxism 2000 conference in January this year. > > On may Day 2000 as we celebrate workers unity and struggle and > international solidarity, we look forward to further collaboration, > discussion and cooperation with revolutionary parties, from many > traditions, in our region and around the world. > > Workers of the World Unite! > > ____________________________ > > The Meaning of May Day > > (Text of speech given by DSP Political Committee member Doug Lorimer at > May Day dinner organised by Worker Communist Party of Iraq, Sydney April > 29, 2000) > > Tonight we are commemorating May Day — May 1, 1890 — when the socialist > workers in Western Europe staged an internationally coordinated day of > street demonstrations to demand the legislative restriction of work-time > to no more than eight hours a day. > > That first May Day expressed a conception of working-class struggle that > intertwined three cardinal ideas. > > Firstly, that the struggle to free labour from capitalist exploitation > can only be achieved through their own, organised, self-activity. > > Secondly, that for this organised self-activity to even begin to free > labour from capitalist exploitation it must take the form of a movement > that champions the interests of labour as a whole, as a class, against > the interests of the capitalist class. That is, it must be a political > movement, a movement against the political policies and the political > power of the capitalists, against the governments and laws that protect > the capitalist private-profit system. > > And, thirdly, that the struggle to free labour from capitalist > exploitation is not a national, but a social problem, embracing all > countries that are dominated by the capitalist private-profit system, a > system that is by its very nature an international system, and, > therefore requires solidarity between the workers of all nationalities. > > These three crucial ideas, embodied in that first May Day, express the > conception of the working-class movement that Karl Marx first set forth > in the Communist Manifesto of 1848 and again, in more abbreviated form, > in the preamble to the general rules of the first international > organisation of labour, the International Working Men's Association, > founded in London in 1864. > > This, of course, should come as no surprise, because that first May Day > was organised by the Marxist-led workers' parties of Western Europe upon > the initiative of an international labour congress held in Paris in July > 1889. > > This congress was convened as one of 69 international congresses held in > connection with the International Exhibition arranged by the French > government to commemorate the centenary of the beginning of the Great > French Revolution. > > In fact there were two labour congresses held in Paris in July 1889. One > was arranged by the British trade unions and the French reformist > socialists, or ``Possibilists'' as they were then called. > > The other was called by the German Marxists and arranged by the French > Marxists, or ``Impossibilists'' as they were called because they > rejected the reformist illusion that labour could be freed from > capitalist exploitation simply through trade-union action or > parliamentary reforms of the legal relations between labour and capital. > > It was the congress of the Marxists which issued the called for May 1, > 1890 to be an international day of struggle for an eight- hour day law. > > Ironically, it was also the congress of the Marxists in Paris in July > 1889 that later came to be regarded as the founding congress of the > second international labour association, the Labour and Socialist > International. Within a generation of this congress, the conception of > the working-class movement expressed by the ``Possibilists'' — that > labour could be freed from capitalist exploitation by means solely of > gradual and piecemeal reforms — had come to dominate the Socialist > International, an organisation which still exists and which is > officially represented in this country by the Australian Labor Party. > > The choice of May 1, 1890 as the day on which to hold an international > demonstration in favour an eight-hour working day came at the initiative > of the American Federation of Labor. On May 1, 1886 200,000 workers > organised by the AFL staged a one-day strike to demand that their > employers individually agree to an eight-hour working day. Two years > later, the AFL decided to repeat the action on May 1, 1890. > > The four hundred delegates at the international congress of Marxists in > Paris in 1889 decided to designate May 1, 1890 as an international > working-class holiday in solidarity with the American workers' action. > > The AFL later dissociated itself from this international day of > working-class solidarity and instead promoted the idea of a purely > national holiday — Labor Day — to celebrate the achievements of trade > unions through the reformist social partnership of labour and capital. > > The idea behind May Day goes back even further than the international > day of demonstrations for the eight-hour working day on May 1, 1890 or > the American workers' strike on May 1, 1886. > > Rosa Luxemburg, the great German Marxist who was murdered in 1919 by > soldiers acting on the orders of a government headed by the German > ``Possibilists''or Social-Democrats as they were officially called, > explained it like this: > > ``The inspired thought of introducing a proletarian holiday as a means > of obtaining the eight-hour working day first originated in Australia. > As early as 1856, the workers there resolved to call for one day of > complete work stoppage; the day to be spent in meetings and > entertainment instead — as a demonstration for the eight-hour day. The > 21st of April was designated as this holiday. In the beginning, the > Australian workers thought of instituting such a holiday but once, in > the year 1856. But even this celebration made such an impression on the > proletarian masses of Australia that it was decided to repeat the > holiday annually. > > ``... the idea of a proletarian holiday was accepted very quickly and > began to spread from Australia to other countries... > > ``The first to follow the example of the Australian workers were the > Americans. They designated the first of May as the day of generakl work > stoppage in the year of 1886.'' > > Unfortunately, the Australian labour movement also later followed the > American in abandoning May Day as a day of working-class struggle in > favour of a Labour Day celebration of ``pure'' trade- unionism or, as it > has become today, a capitalist-sanctioned nationalist celebration of > business unionism. > > Throughout the world class-conscious workers observe May Day as a day on > which we commemorate the battles fought and the sufferings endured not > simply in the struggle for the eight-hour working day, but in the > struggle to free labour from capitalist exploitation everywhere in the > world. > > On this coming May Day, class-conscious workers in Australia can take > pride in the fact that since May Day 1999 we have undertaken actions > that embodied each of the three cardinal themes of the original May Day. > > Through the organised self-activity — the trade-union bans and street > demonstrations — that we carried out in September last year in > solidarity with the workers and labouring farmers of East Timor, we > built a political movement that forced the political power of the > Australian capitalists to end its 24-year policy of supporting the > Indonesian capitalist elite's enslavement of East Timor. > > Today, as a result of that political movement, labour in East Timor has > more freedom to struggle against capitalist exploitation. > > Of course, freedom to struggle against exploitation does not guarantee > success in the struggle to be free of exploitation. > > Workers in Australia long ago won the freedom to politically struggle > against capitalist exploitation. They used that freedom to win reforms > that improved their living standards and working conditions far above > those of their forebears and of most people in the world who have had to > labour in offices, factories and fields. > > But they have lacked the class-consciousness and organisation required > to use this freedom to build the sort of political movement needed to > free themselves from capitalist rule and capitalist exploitation. > > And today this is a failing which, saddled with leaders who think that > labour can only achieve what capital says is possible within the > capitalist private-profit system, is leading to the rolling back of > those working conditions and to the steady lowering of their living > standards. > > If the working-class movement in Australia is to reverse this situation > it will have to adopt the conception of working-class struggle that > inspired the first international May Day 110 years ago. > > In 1924, when the NSW Labour Council was, for a brief time, inspired by > that conception, it issued the following appeal, which has lost none of > its relevance as we commemorate May Day 2000: > > ``The Australian movement desires not only that the [labour] day > [celebration] be fixed for May 1, but that the whole character and > purpose of the demonstration should be changed. Dinners, sports, picnics > — these are not good enough. The movement is worth more than this. Let > our May Day certainly be a day or rejoicing, but let it also be a day in > which all active elements of the movement take stock of the work of the > last year, of the prospects ahead, and the program required. Let it also > be a day of demonstrations which express a growing class-consciousness > of the working class and a declaration of war upon capitalist society. > We want a labour day which will give the movement a chance to unite for > a real move forward on the basis of all the more pressing interests of > the workers. Forward to a new battle! Forward to world revolution!'' > > _________________________ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Have you been a bad boy? > Make up for it now > Click Here > http://click.egroups.com/1/3656/7/_/22962/_/957137779/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > --- from list [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---
