Reports from Canada and the USA indicate that the crisis of capitalism is having an effect on the trade unions, with radical speeches being given, particularly in Canada. In the USA, in spite of May Day not being an official celebration, there was a massive turnout in Dallas, and rallies in many cities, where the immigrant workers were present in sizeable numbers, but also workers in general involved in ongoing disputes.

United States

From supporters of Workers International League

In the U.S., WIL comrades intervened in May Day events in New York City, St. Louis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Dallas. Across the country, the key demand put forward at the May Day events was against SB1070, the racist and anti-immigrant bill signed into Arizona law authorizing police in the state to demand proof of U.S. citizenship from any and all people suspected of being "illegal" immigrants. Unlike in most other countries, May Day in the U.S. is not a traditionally-observed labour holiday, although May 1st has been re-born in the struggles of immigrant workers over the past several years.

Minneapolis/St. Paul

In Minneapolis two to three thousand people marched on May Day. The branch intervened passing out flyers for both their upcoming event on China and also flyers criticizing the Democrats' position on immigration and arguing for a mass party of labor based on the unions. The march started at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in South Minneapolis and continued to Loring Park, downtown Minneapolis. The march was made up of a wide variety of people, with the main union participation coming from the SEIU Local 26, a primarily immigrant union. There were also several other groups participating and a decent sized anarchist contingency. The comrades marched holding their banner calling for “Immediate and Unconditional Legalization for All.”

At Loring Park there were bands and speakers. The WIL comrades set up their table and sold several papers, along with buttons and stickers. They had several interesting conversations, one being with an excited young local worker and also one with a Venezuelan who voted for Chavez but was becoming frustrated with the drawn-out nature of the Revolution. Nevertheless, he still believes in the Revolution and gives it his support. Overall, the comrades’ intervention was a success. We are now seen as visible force within the movement.

Dallas

There was a large immigration rights event in downtown Dallas for May Day. The organizers announced during the rally that nearly 200,000 people were in attendance, although official estimates were much lower (25,000 or so). The comrade intervening printed out 200 copies of the May Day flyer,as well as a Spanish flyer from the Socialist appeal website. The flyers went over well and the comrade believes that even more flyers would have been in order, as all of the flyers were handed out in less than an hour and the whole event lasted from 1pm to around 4.30pm. Several people asked some basic questions about the flyers and the comrade gave them a short overview of the history of International Workers' Day. Although the rally was advertised as an immigration rights event, many of the posters and slogans related to the broader issues connected to immigration, such as worker and civil rights, NAFTA, and the United State's attempts to control other countries throughout the Americas. Here is a link to some pictures of the event: http://picasaweb.google.com/joshua.purcell/MegaMarch

The march made more or less a loop throughout downtown and ended by the Dallas city hall where there were multiple speakers who addressed the crowd in Spanish and English. Chants of "Si se puede!", "Obama! Escucha! Estamos en la lucha!" and others were kicked off continuously throughout the march and during the gathering at city hall. Saturday's rally is proof that there are many people right here in north Texas who are interested not only in rights for immigrants, but also for working towards a solution for the underlying problems which cause so many people to want to come to this country even in spite of the attacks against them, as seen in Arizona and quite possibly Texas in the near future. There are many people here who will be fighting against these potential actions by our state government.

New York City

The New York City Branch of the Workers International League had a great intervention at the 2,000-3,000 strong Union Square May Day event on Saturday. Eight comrades and sympathisers were in attendance. A number of people interested in YFIS and the WIL were contacted, and more than forty copies of Socialist Appeal were sold. The comrades sported a banner calling for "A mass party of Labor," which looked professionally made. All in all, this intervention was much better than the intervention last year and this shows our growth, but also, the fact that May Day was on a Saturday, as opposed to a work day.

St. Louis

On May Day, comrades from the St. Louis Branch intervened in an immigrant rights rally and also a street fair, May Day rally, a workshop meeting and a concert later in the evening. The immigrant rights rally drew between 2 and 3 thousand people. The May Day festival later in the day drew perhaps around 150 people during the course of the day. The comrades put on a workshop on “May Day and the 8-hour day” in the afternoon. Speakers at the indoor rally included an anti-war activist who spoke about the connections between capitalism and war, a local UAW leader who gave a very good speech on the need for unions, and a Democratic State Representative who spoke about the WV mining disaster.

The WIL’s table at the street fair did well. The comrades sold a number of t-shirts, books/booklets, donations, and around fifteen copies of Socialist Appeal #54. A number of people also signed up, interested in finding out more about our ideas.

Canada

From supporters of Figtback and La Riposte

Montreal

The Marxists in Montreal intervened in two May Day protests. There was a union protest at 12pm and a smaller demo at 4pm. Our main focus was on the union protest, where there were approximately 25,000 workers present. We pushed really hard to have the 4th edition of our paper, La Riposte, ready on time. We sold 85 copies of the new paper which was a huge success. We also had our banner which made us more visible. This is the most successful intervention we have ever done in Montreal.

Quebec Solidaire mobilized for the demo and they had a couple of hundred people there with placards and pins handing out pamphlets. We participated in their demonstration and many party activists appreciated our paper and our presence. People from the party are regularly buying every issue and reading our website.

At the smaller demo at 4pm there were maybe close to 1,000 people with heavy police presence. In total today we sold 92 La Riposte. After just printing the paper yesterday, we already have to do a second print run. This is all due to the hard work of the comrades.

Vancouver

This year marked a return to tradition for the labour movement in Vancouver, as the Vancouver and District Labour Council organized a full day of events to celebrate May Day, including a march, rally and social. It is a very important step forward this year to have labour leading the way.

In total about 250-300 labour activists and others from various small groups turned up. What was absent was a general mobilization of working people and youth. The march, however, drew attention from many onlookers, cars were honking, and workers gathered outside their shops as we passed.

In spite of the poor turnout the events in general were excellent and must be viewed in a positive light. An atmosphere of enthusiasm was felt amongst the activists and a continuation of this tradition must be encouraged. Supporters of the IMT in Vancouver participated in all the day’s events; marching with our banner and the red flag while also discussing and selling papers with fellow participants. We set up our table at the rally and also mingled with the crowd to talk about socialism, and sold our papers. Finally, those comrades who were able also came out for the social held at the Maritime Labour centre, where we also set up our table.

The speeches made by Jim Sinclair of the BC Federation of Labour, and Bill Saunders of the VDLC were quite militant. A process is ongoing in the labour movement. Whereas the BC NDP leadership is moving further to the right, the leadership of the union federations seems to be moving to the left. While obviously playing to the crowd it is significant to note that Sinclair essentially denounced Capitalism, and Saunders agitated for an International movement of the working class.

The real story of the day’s events is the success of our participation. Fightback supporters were active and we definitely made an impact. This bodes well for us in our task of re-establishing the rightful place of Marxism, and Socialism in British Columbia.

Hamilton

On Saturday, comrades from Toronto travelled to Hamilton, Ontario (an industrial city 45 minutes West of Toronto) for the union sponsored May Day demonstrations. About 1,000 people were at the rally, with the United Steelworkers providing the largest contingent, including a few bus loads of strikers from the Vale-Inco Strike in Sudbury (now into its 10th month). CUPE, OPSEU, UFCW, CAW, CEP, ETFO and other unions were also in attendance.

The speeches by the union leaders were fairly left, yet again underlining militant pressure being but on the union brass by the rank-and-file. Sid Ryan, President of the OFL, made a rousing speech calling for the unity of the Labour movement (particularly between Public and Private sector workers) and for the rejection of concession deals (these remarks were most likely directed towards the CAW), he also noted that the CAW was re-affiliating to the OFL which is a positive sign (the CAW was suspended from the House of Labour several years ago for raiding).

Several USW leaders got up and spoke about the Vale-Inco strike and plant closures in Hamilton. They were very militant.

The best speech came from CEP President Dave Cole, the focus of which was “Capitalism doesn’t work.” He called for a fundamental change in the system, and in the way the Labour movement does politics. It was a very radical speech and got a standing ovation.

The rank-and-file were unquestionably far to the left of their leaders. The USW members were almost all convinced that the best way to deal with Vale-Inco would be nationalization. We gave a copy of the “Five Factories” DVD (about worker’s control) to a group of Steelworkers and they said they were going to have a showing in the Union Hall.

We sold out of the new issue of Fightback in an hour. The crowd was very friendly and recipient to our ideas. Hamilton is a very working class town. On the day, in total, we sold around 70-75 papers, and assorted other material. It also showed us that the leftward turn in the Ontario Labour movement is not in the least slowing down, but spreading.