More than 150 people responded to the call of the Revolutionary Communist Party and marched behind the banner "For Workers' and Poor Peoples' Struggle Against Capitalism!" at the May 1st demonstration in Montréal. Carrying colorful red flags and vigorously chanting various revolutionary and communist slogans, the participants to the anti-capitalist detachment emphasized the true nature of May 1st -- the day of world-wide proletarian struggle. Other banners flew along with the RCP, such as SIKLAB (which defends the rights of Filipino working men and women), PINAY (a community organization for women of the Philippines), the Union of Iranian Socialists, the Red Youth Front and the Committee for a Canadian Red Aid ("Secours Rouge").

Unlike last year, where they celebrated May 1st on... April 29th, the big trade unions called for demonstrations on the 1st of May in the heart of Plateau Mont-Royal. Despite the current factory closings, the racist anti-immigration drive and the attacks against workers, they nevertheless chose to wrap the demonstration in an irrelevant theme ("United for Democracy").

As usual, the Québec Federation of Labour (FTQ) largely exaggerated the number of participants in the rally, which they estimated at 6,000. More realistically, the Confederation of National Trade Unions has admitted that turnout in the demonstration was around 2,000. The fact that the RCP-led contingent and the group organized by the Workers Solidarity Network (an organization created by the anarchist NEFAC) mobilized over 300 people of the 2,000 that took part in the rally, shows the inability of the union movement to face the numerous challenges that currently confronts workers.

As demonstrators arrived at the gathering point, they were welcomed by some 150 marshals from the FTQ security service, in charge of protecting union President Henri Massé. Earlier that day, his office was occupied by anarchist activists who denounced the union's collusion with the bourgeoisie and their integration within the state. Those young activists were savagely expelled by the union's thugs. According to an information we got from a union organizer, the shock troops of the FTQ at the demo were ready to start a clash with the "reds" and the "blacks" (anarchists)-this is especially ironic considering that Communists and Anarchists are at the origin of May 1st! Undoubtedly impressed by the number and organization of these "trouble-makers", the braggarts of the FTQ finally decided to stay with their "great leader Massé" at the head of the demo.

This year the RCP decided to join the union demonstration in order to mobilize anti-capitalist forces and present its revolutionary strategy to the workers who took part. After walking for some time behind the union groups, the RCP-led contingent, followed by dozens of spontaneous supporters, separated from the main rally and went to a nearby Canadian Armed Forces building located a block or two from the park where the union demo was to finish. There they denounced the war that Canadian imperialists are waging in Afghanistan.

In a brief address, a spokesperson from the RCP recalled the true character of May 1st. In a context of increasing pressure against the working class by the bourgeoisie, where a handful of rich countries are pursuing their "holy war" against the people of the oppressed countries and where at the same time the proletariat is becoming more significant than ever at the world level, it becomes necessary, according to the RCP, to raise higher than ever the banner of communism and revolution as the future of humanity.

The current issue of Le Drapeau Rouge newspaper features a more detailed report on May 1st. Pictures from the Montréal demo are also available on the RCP website (see http://www.pcr-rcp.ca/en/image?id=64).

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First published in Arsenal-Express, No. 5, May 14, 2007.
Arsenal-Express is an electronic newsletter that presents the viewpoints from the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) of Canada.
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