May Day 2017:

 

First of May is the day for the unity of the workers of the world—the day for all men and women, who have no interest in keeping the present state of affairs, and who join the worldwide ranks of the workers to liberate all humanity.

 

In the United States a number of unions have declared May 1^st 2017 the day for a general strike against Trump and, in particular, his racist and anti-immigrant-worker policies. It is expected that the May 1^st strike in the United States will turn into a widespread, historical event. This is an opportunity for the advance of the working class and the “ninety nine per cents”, not only against Trump, but against both dominant parties of the ruling class in the U.S.

 

In Iran May Day arrives at a time when all sections of the working class, whether factory workers, teachers, nurses, pensioners, etc., have left behind a magnificent year of widespread strikes and demonstrations for their basic demand for “livelihood and dignity.” Last year the joint action of the organisations of teachers and workers against charging worker and teacher activists of “threatening national security” turned into a thrilling action, capturing the whole society’s attention. This year’s May Day, the International Workers’ Day, is undoubtedly an opportunity for the expansion of the struggle for the immediate demands and muscle flexing of the working class as the force capable of setting Iranian society free from the Islamic Republicand capitalism.

 

But Iran and the U.S. are just more or less typical examples of the present day world of the bourgeoisie in crisis. In a Europe where Trump-like nationalist and racist parties are raising their heads, a Russia under Putin (Trump’s source of inspiration), a China as the paradise of international capital, an India that experienced the biggest strike in world history, Latin America, the Middle East and Islam-afflicted countries that are directly engaged in Islamic reaction, everywhere in the world, in addition to specific demands, this First of May we should raise the banner of disposing of a capitalism that is becoming increasingly more savage and reactionary.

 

The Worker-communist Party, alongside the workers of the world and hand in hand with workers and teachers and pensioners and all sectors of the Iranian working class, works for an ever more magnificent First of May. This is a day for holding meetings, demonstrations, strikes, gatherings, festivities and other forms of social visibility to declare our economic and political demands and to consolidate the unity between the workers and all the decent people in the struggle against the Islamic Republic and capitalism. Particularly now, when as a result of the world situation and internal contradictions, the crisis of the Islamic Republic has intensified, it is essential that the working class should rise, in its full length, as a political force for emancipation. Our party considers First of May an opportunity to move forward in this direction and calls on the Iranian people to join the ranks of the workers.

 

Worker-communist Party of Iran

17 April 2017