Workers in South Asia celebrated May Day with a resolve to change the world

Labor unions organized rallies in all major cities in the region raising major issues facing the working classes and extending solidarity to the anti-imperialist movements across the globe.

Massive May Day rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka -- image via X

By Abdul Rahman, People's Dispatch

Thousands of workers took to the streets in different parts of South Asia to celebrate International Workers’ Day on Thursday, May 1. A sea of red flags and chants of “workers of the world unite” and “long live the martyrs of Chicago” reverberated in the atmosphere.  

Workers in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, and elsewhere marched in discipline and raised the demands for fair wages, better working conditions, and employment rights for everyone. They reiterated their resolve to fight against capitalist exploitation and to create an alternative socialist world, extending their solidarity to the anti-imperialist movements across the world. 

India

Large scale mobilizations were organized in several cities across India on the occasion of May Day. In Delhi, a rally went through the streets of the old city, united under the banners of various trade unions, including the Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). 

Rallies were also taken out in Bangalore, the IT industry hub in the country, by the IT employees as well as in rural areas such as Bihar, by the Agricultural Workers’ union and farmers organizations, to mark the occasion. 

Thousands of workers who participated in the countrywide mobilizations denounced the anti-worker policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government and demanded it withdraw its newly enacted labor codes.

The four new labor codes, enacted by the ultra-right-wing government in India in 2020, trade unions have claimed, are anti-worker and cancel all the rights of the working class in the country, won after decades of struggle. All the major trade unions in the country including CITU, AITUC, and the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) have opposed it in the past and now have called for a national strike on May 20, demanding their complete withdrawal.  

May Day rallies also expressed solidarity with the Palestinian people facing Israeli genocide. They called for an independent Palestinian state and an end to imperialist wars in the region.  

Various leaders of the trade union movement and communist parties greeted the workers on the occasion and expressed the continuous need for struggle.  

“We must unite to confront the multifaceted challenges facing the working class and the world today—privatization, unemployment, inequality, repression and war. Let us strengthen the struggles for a just, democratic and equitable world,” D Raja, leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) said in a post on X.

“Human history has been forged through our toil, from the dawn of civilization to the present day. On May Day, we raise our fists in salute to the working class, whose labor sustains the world, even as we continue to resist the chains of capitalist exploitation,” said Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister of Kerala and a member of the politburo, Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Pakistan

Several rallies were taken out to celebrate May Day in various parts of Pakistan as well. The Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP) took out rallies in six different cities across the country to mark the occasion. In Lahore, hundreds of workers and activists belonging to the Punjab Rickshaw Union and the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation (APTUF) also participated in its rally carrying red flags. 

Similar rallies were taken out in Sindh and Hashtnagar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces as well. Central issues of the working classes in Pakistan: just minimum wages, better working conditions, better employment opportunities, the threats of privatization, among others were raised by the leaders who addressed the gathering.

The Haqooq-E-Khalq Party (HKP) organized a large rally of workers in Faisalabad, Punjab. Participants in the rally carried red flags and raised slogans about worker’s unity. Later the workers held a meeting where tributes were paid to Asif Jatt, a former Nestle employee who committed self-immolation earlier this year protesting against years of harassment by the management and Pakistan’s legal system. 

Sri Lanka

Thousands of people participated in a May Day rally in Colombo, Sri Lanka organized by National People’s Power (NPP). The rally was addressed by president of Sri Lanka Anura Kumara Dissanayake and several leaders of the communist movement in India and China.

The speakers hailed the people of Sri Lanka for electing a left party to power. The electoral victory of the NPP once again proves that an alternative to capitalism can be built with the participation of masses, speakers asserted. 

Sri Lanka elected its first left government in 7 decades – since its independence in 1948 – last year. Dissanayake won the presidency and his NPP won the parliamentary elections. The leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is the most important constituent of the NPP.  

May Day rallies were also taken out in other countries in the region. In Bangladesh, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JASOD) held a large rally in Dhaka to mark the occasion.

In Nepal, the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) took out a massive rally in the capital Kathmandu.

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