<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the occasion of May Day, we must unite as one fist against exploitation and oppression, and find the path to freedom.
“The workers have nothing to lose but their chains. But through their struggle, they can win the whole world.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every year on\u00a0May 1st,\u00a0International Workers’ Day\u00a0is observed around the world. It is not merely a holiday to respect labor; rather, it is a day of\u00a0remembrance of struggle and revolutionary resolve\u00a0\u2013 the bloodiest chapter in the working class’s struggle against the capitalist system.
On\u00a0May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago, the state first created chaos by having an unknown person throw a bomb at workers who had gathered to demand an\u00a0eight-hour workday, then police opened fire on the peaceful procession, killing several workers and wounding hundreds. Even after that, the state launched a brutal campaign of repression: eight anarchist labor leaders were sentenced to death on false charges. Four of them were hanged on\u00a0November 11, 1887, even though evidence showed that most of the accused were not even present at the square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus the Haymarket affair became a\u00a0global symbol of the struggle for workers’ rights. In 1889, the Second International declared May 1st as Workers’ Day, forever linking the memory of the Chicago martyrs to the workers’ struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But today, the ruling class and their neoliberal economists and intellectuals want us to forget this bloody history. They want to turn May Day into a false celebration.\u00a0We reject that. Every year on this day, we renew our pledge: we will fight until the last chain of the workers’ slavery is broken, until oppression and exploitation are ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History bears witness that the\u00a0greatest leaders of the workers’ movement\u00a0were those who were themselves workers and continuously studied communism, or those who considered the working class as the most capable class in society. That is why communists have repeatedly spoken of the dictatorship of the proletariat and for the struggle for socialism. History bears witness that communist leaders not only lived with workers and helped advance the production process, but also actively participated in strikes for workers’ rights. Therefore, communists have a natural relationship with the producers \u2013 one that is about controlling production and the political method of distribution. This method can never be separated from the workers’ struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the\u00a0study of communism\u00a0that taught workers that within capitalism, struggles for wages, working hours, poverty, unemployment, national rights, and justice \u2013 i.e.,\u00a0partial solutions\u00a0\u2013 can never liberate the working class. Because this system stands on exploitation, profit, and oppression. Therefore, workers must prepare for the\u00a0broad resolution: the end of capitalism, collective ownership of factories and land, and a socialist society where workers themselves own power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That is why, to this day, communist leaders remain the great heroes of the workers’ movement, while those who consider workers less capable or outdated, or who have acted out of interests and opportunism, are historically dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A fundamental truth is that the\u00a0spirit\u00a0of the workers’ movement is\u00a0class struggle and revolution. And this spirit is nourished by communism. The moment you try to separate communism from the workers’ movement, it becomes a lifeless corpse \u2013 one that can only beg, not fight.
Historical Evidence:\u2028In 1917, when the workers of Russia launched the socialist revolution, their leaders were Lenin, Trotsky, other communists, and thousands of factory committee activists \u2013 all were students of communism. They showed the world what the working class can do when they make communism their weapon. May Day became the symbol of that complete solution \u2013 when workers became the owners of their own state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similarly, in Pakistan, Mirza Ibrahim (Baba-e-Mazdoor), Faiz Ahmed Faiz, C.R. Aslam \u2013 these were worker-leaders who studied communism and never abandoned it. That is why they remain great to this day. They never scared workers away from communism, but showed it as the only path to liberation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those worker-leaders who today denounce communism, who frighten workers with the “fear of socialism,” who limit the movement only to wage struggles \u2013 they are in fact\u00a0traitors to the workers’ movement. They are killing the very spirit that once broke chains.
Removing communism from the workers’ movement is treason against its spirit.\u00a0We must follow in the footsteps of those great worker-leaders who made communism their path. Partial solutions (wages, hours, holidays) are temporary bandaids. The only complete solution is:\u00a0the end of capitalism, the establishment of socialism, and the workers’ own militant federation that fights until revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the working class faces\u00a0unprecedented global attacks. The enemy is neoliberalism. It is an ideology imposed by the IMF, the World Bank, and the ruling elite of every country. It aggressively demands\u00a0privatization, deregulation, austerity, and the destruction of trade unions\u00a0\u2013 all in the name of so-called “efficiency” and “profit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Globally, the\u00a0right to strike\u00a0\u2013 the most fundamental weapon of the working class \u2013 is being systematically eliminated. According to the 2025 Global Rights Index, the right to strike was violated in\u00a0131 out of 151 countries\u00a0(87%). Employers are openly questioning the right to strike, and governments are submitting to them by enacting laws that criminalize strikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An imperialist country like the United States, under the Trump administration, is launching open attacks on U.S. workers, announcing the elimination of 300,000 federal jobs, and unions are being subjected to various legal assaults. The current erosion of workers’ legal rights is not an accident \u2013 it is a\u00a0class war being waged for corporations. Crisis of Leadership:\u2028The trade union movement is in deep crisis. Many labor leaders have turned into\u00a0forms of the labor aristocracy. This trade union aristocracy has abandoned the political path and become parasites living on donations from capitalists, political parties, and corporations. They have given up militant struggle and sold out workers’ interests for a seat at the table of the exploiters. In Pakistan, mainstream political parties like the PPP, PML-N, and PTI \u2013 before coming to power \u2013 issue their usual pro-worker statements, but once in power they systematically ignore workers and pass budgets that further impoverish the working class. Therefore, to defeat the betrayal of the reformist and opportunistic labor aristocracy, we must move toward an alternative, militant, revolutionary leadership \u2013 one that not only struggles for the achievement of partial demands but whose clear demand is the construction of an alternative system: socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan is a textbook example of capitalist exploitation. The conditions of the working class here are\u00a0barbaric:
Over 80% of workers in Pakistan are in the informal and unprotected economy\u00a0\u2013 without contracts, social security, or any legal protection. The formal sector provides jobs to less than 20% of the workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the\u00a02025-26 budget, the federal government\u00a0did not even announce a minimum wage, even though ILO conventions require a living wage. The minimum wage remains frozen at Rs. 37,000 per month, while inflation is\u00a0devouring every rupee like a termite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pakistan is among 60 countries under investigation by international organizations for forced labor practices.\u00a0Forced labor\u00a0and child labor are widespread in brick kilns, agriculture, textiles, and domestic work. In Pakistan, laws exist only on paper; enforcement is zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regular vs. Irregular workers: “Regular” permanent contract workers are a privileged minority. The vast majority are\u00a0daily wagers, contract workers, and domestic workers\u00a0who have no job security, paid leave, pension, or any rights. In major cities like Rawalpindi, Lahore, and Karachi, sanitation workers are forced to work in toxic waste without protective gear, and when they fall ill, they are fired because their contracts do not allow paid sick leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State repression of unions exists; trade unions are operating under an\u00a0undeclared ban. Only 1-2% of workers are unionized. Workers who demand their rights face\u00a0dismissal, torture, false terrorism cases, and enforced disappearance. In Karachi, trade union leader Comrade Iqbal Abro was abducted by police and falsely implicated in terrorism cases simply for organizing workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anti-worker Labor Code: The government has introduced a new “anti-worker black law” designed to\u00a0strip workers of union rights and legalize the contract system, handing workers over to profiteering contractors. So far, over 40 trade unions have rejected this code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its decisions of 2013-15, the Balochistan High Court held that employees of government institutions are part of the civil service and therefore cannot form trade unions under the Industrial Relations Act. Following this decision, in\u00a02019-20 the registration of 62 trade unions was cancelled, and further cancellations occurred in 2025. The Balochistan government has stripped workers of their fundamental right to register trade unions under the Industrial Relations Act and is instead granting them the right to form associations under the Balochistan Charity Act (based on amendments to the 1860 Societies Act). Under this Act, trade unions would operate like charitable organizations \u2013 meaning they will have\u00a0no right to collective bargaining. This not only violates International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 87 and 98, but also constitutes a grave violation of Article 17 of the Constitution of Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, we appeal to national and international labor organizations, trade union federations, workers’ associations, student federations, democrats, oppressed nationalities, migrants, slum dwellers, journalists, and human rights movements \u2013 including the\u00a0ITUC, ILO, and especially the leadership of the\u00a0International Labor Solidarity and Struggle Network (ILNSS)\u00a0\u2013 to express solidarity with the workers of Balochistan on May Day through placards, banners, and video messages. Along with your own domestic demands, pressurize the Government of Pakistan to immediately restore the registration of all cancelled unions in Balochistan and grant full trade union rights to all government employees across Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the reality of capitalist “development”: the worker is crushed, exploited, and then thrown into the garbage bin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ruling class is organized globally. They have the IMF, the World Bank, multinational corporations, and military dictatorships. They coordinate their attacks across borders.\u00a0We must respond with our own international, militant organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We do not need any more bureaucratic, reformist trade unions that beg the government for mercy. We need a\u00a0MILITANT FEDERATION OF THE WORKING CLASS\u00a0\u2013 a fighting organization that does not ask for rights but\u00a0fights for them\u00a0on the streets, in slums, in factories, in schools, colleges, universities, and villages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every form of oppression:\u00a0because every form of oppression is ultimately part of the class system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This federation must be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The neoliberal attacks on the working class intensify every day. The crisis of leadership is real, but it is not permanent.\u00a0You are the leaders that you, along with many workers, are waiting for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On this May Day, we call upon all workers \u2013 regular and irregular, employed and unemployed, men and women, students and peasants, homeless people, oppressed nationalities, human rights representatives, and the LGBT+ community \u2013 to\u00a0unite under a single banner: for a militant federation of the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our struggle demands:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The enemy is powerful, but we are many in number. Our condition is solely because of the capitalist system. Only our united power can end capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Join the movement. Build the militant federation. End the capitalist system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long live the international working class!\u2028 Long live workers’ unity!\u2028 Long live the revolution!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every year on\u00a0May 1st,\u00a0International Workers’ Day\u00a0is observed around the world. It is not merely a holiday to respect labor; rather, it is a day of\u00a0remembrance of struggle and revolutionary resolve\u00a0\u2013 the bloodiest chapter in the working class’s struggle against the capitalist system. Pakistan is a textbook example of capitalist exploitation. The conditions of the working class here are\u00a0barbaric.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":75979,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"litci_post_political_author":"Mehnat Kash Tareek","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[497,2],"tags":[6671,6437,6677,4140],"class_list":["post-75978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan","category-featured","tag-1-may","tag-day","tag-may","tag-pakistan"],"yoast_head":"\n