From Los Angeles on the west coast of the US to Djakarta in Indonesia, from Istanbul in Turkey to Havana in Cuba, from Erfurt in Germany to Moscow in Russia, workers all over the world militantly observed May Day 2007, vowing to end imperialist war and the capitalist system. In some cities, they were viciously attacked by the police or by fascist hoodlums but they fought back bravely, firmly upholding their right to observe their day of solidarity with working and oppressed all over the world.

This year’s May Day celebrations brought millions of people on to the streets in Havana and other cities of Cuba, and are believed to be the most multitudinous of demonstrations ever held in the country on International Workingmen’s Day. Workers, students, youths and even children took part in the demonstration in the capital Havana, which lasted about two hours and during which demonstrators paraded uninterruptedly in front of the presidential tribune. They reiterated their resolve to build a society in which human dignity would be upheld, and oppose the massive pressure being brought to bear on them by US imperialism. They demanded that the terrorist Luis Posada Carriles recently freed by the US be brought to justice, and the five Cuban patriots unjustly jailed by the US authorities be released immediately.

In the US itself, over half a million people took to the streets in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Miami and New York, among other cities. The focus this May Day, as last year, was on the millions of immigrants whom the US imperialists treat as sub–human beings. With slogans such as “No one is illegal” “Stop War on Immigrants, Stop War on Iraq”, and “We are all equal!”, the marchers demanded that the government grant immigrants US citizenship and respect the civil and labor rights of immigrants. In Mexico and Central America marches and protests were organised, among other things demanding that CAFTA – the free trade treaty with the United States – be abolished. In Nicaragua workers marched demanding better wages and a tax reform to oblige the rich to pay more of their share, while thousands of Salvadorans took to the streets of their capital protesting unemployment, the domination of the economy by US monopolies and CAFTA. Militant May Day events were organised in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and other cities of Canada. The workers marched behind banners reading “For an anti – war government”, “Canada out of Afghanistan” and “Stop Criminalizing Immigration”.

Militant May Day marches were held in London, Paris, Lisbon, Zurich, Turin, Moscow, Kiev and other cities of Europe. Over two thousand anti–fascists gathered in Dortmund, Germany to prevent neo–Nazis from holding a march on May Day. They were attacked by the police and they fought back valiantly. Similarly in Erfurt, Germany, workers and anti–fascists mobilised vigorously and successfully broke up a planned neo–Nazi rally. Their banners had the slogans “Attack the G8”, “avert imperialist wars” and “abolish capitalism“.

In Istanbul, Turkey, over 17,000 policemen were deployed only to prevent May Day rallies! The Turkish working people were observing the 30 th anniversary of "Bloody May Day" which occurred in 1977, in which 36 people were killed by police and bullets. This May Day, police fired tear gas, pepper–spray and used batons and rubber bullets to stop the crowd marching to Taksim Square in Istanbul. Nevertheless over 3000 people did manage to reach the venue, while militantly clashes with the police took place all over Istanbul. Whole parts of Istanbul were full of teargas clouds and police even used police-tanks (armed vehicles) to overwhelm the people. Almost 600 people were arrested by the police. Reports of May Day events have also come in from Dakar, Beirut, Palestine, Iraq, Nepal, Hong Kong, Djakarta, Manila among others. In Seoul, joint May Day actions of workers of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (North Korea) were organised.

The working people all over the world have once again shown their resolve to unite and fight for a better future for all humanity – a future in which imperialist wars and capitalist exploitation of man by man will have no place.