Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU): May Day Manifesto 2024
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ON this May Day 2024,
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) extends warm fraternal greetings to the working people across the world who are fighting capitalist onslaught and to protect their hard won rights and their unity.
CITU greets and congratulates the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the only class oriented and militant global trade union, for being in the forefront in uniting the workers all over the world to fight against imperialism and capitalist exploitation.
CITU greets the working class of socialist countries, China, Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea. Despite facing serious challenges because of the crisis that has engulfed the entire world, the socialist countries have been successful in improving the living standards of their people and in ensuring universal health and education to their people. CITU strongly condemns the more than six decades of inhuman sanctions by US imperialism on Cuba, defying UN resolutions and world opinion. Despite the sanctions and blockade, Cuba has been able to develop one of the best health care systems in the world, even extending medical help to many countries in the world.
CITU greets the LDF government in Kerala, which has been striving to implement pro-people policies, protect the rights and livelihood of the workers and toiling people in the state despite facing serious challenges and financial constraints due to the discriminatory and vindictive attitude of the Modi led BJP government at the centre. The LDF government has an exemplary record of providing benefits to various sections of the workers through its welfare boards and in protecting the rights of the migrant workers.
CITU expresses its firm solidarity to the fighting people of Tripura and its cadres and members in the state who are under brutal attack by the BJP goons, further being intensified when any elections are round the corner, to terrorise Left supporters. CITU congratulates people who supported the Left forces braving such inhuman attacks. CITU greets the toiling people of West Bengal for their struggles combating the violence by the TMC regime in the state.
On this May Day
CITU strongly condemns Israel’s genocidal war on Palestine in which over 33,000 people have been killed since October 7, 2023, more than half of them women and children. Israel is targeting hospitals and residential areas for bombing and is blocking aid to Gaza inflicting unprecedented suffering and destitution.
People across the world including in USA, UK, Europe and Jews in Israel condemned Israeli genocide and stood in solidarity with Palestinians. Huge protests were held in more than 120 cities in 45 countries in all continents on the occasion of 100 days of Israeli war. Several big trade unions in USA condemned Israeli war and extended solidarity to the Palestinian people. Despite some statements on the need for ceasefire by Biden, USA continues to back Israel openly thereby exposing its utter hypocrisy.
CITU congratulates people across the world who expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and is proud to be part of worldwide solidarity actions. It calls upon the working class in India to raise their voice louder and with much more intensity against Israeli genocide and in solidarity with Palestinians.
CITU demands immediate cease fire and free passage of aid to Gaza. We support the Palestinian people’s demand for their homeland and resolution of the issue on the basis of establishment of Palestinian State with 1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital. CITU condemns the wavering on the Palestinian issue displayed by the Modi government, departing from India’s traditional support to the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression. Under Modi’s rule, India has become the largest customer of Israeli arms and advanced sensitive defence service and surveillance systems. We also condemn the government’s ongoing move to send workers including construction and care workers to Israel to replace Palestinian workers, not only putting the lives of our workers in danger but also making them indirect collaborators in Israel’s genocidal war.
The imperialist war being fought on the territory of Ukraine has entered the third year. Despite being unable to achieve their aim of weakening Russia, USA and European Union continue to fuel the war supplying billions of dollars’ worth weapons to Ukraine. USA granted over $75 billion to Ukraine for the war. While lakhs of people are killed and millions become homeless and destitute, it is the arms manufacturers in countries like USA, France, Israel etc that reap huge profits. Exploiting this troubled geo-political situation, the US based energy and armament corporations are looting nations and people in atrocious ways. US energy firm Exxon Mobil registered a record profit of over $55 billion in 2023. America's top five weapon contractors earned $196 billion revenue in 2022. Further, the Ukraine-NATO conflict has raised the crude prices. The counter attacks in response to the Israeli genocide in Red Sea have already impacted in 40 per cent increase of freight charges.
Imperialism backed by global monopolies is promoting wars and conflicts across the world, particularly in geopolitically sensitive and important areas. It is resorting to extortion, sabotage, economic blockades and sanctions, interference and intrusion into the sovereignty of developing countries to impose neoliberalism. On this May Day, CITU calls upon the world working class movement to be vigilant of imperialist machinations and manoeuvres and sharpen anti imperialist consciousness among the working class and the people. The struggle against imperialism has to be an integral and central point in raising the political ideological consciousness of the working class in its endeavour to emancipate itself and the society as a whole from all exploitation.
CITU strongly denounces all imperialist wars and military interventions in different parts of the world. It demands the dismantling of NATO and immediate measures for restoration of peace.
In contrast to imperialism promoting wars, China has taken initiatives to promote peace. It has taken initiative for truce between Iran and Saudi and for the withdrawal of ban on Syria by the Arab League. China has entered into bilateral pacts with Saudi and Vietnam. China and Russia have cemented their coordination. These bilateral and multilateral economic endeavours are leading to a shift to non dollar trade deals and decline in dollar reserves to below 50 per cent. There is a gradual weakening of the US led unipolarity of the post Soviet world.
On this May Day,
CITU welcomes the heroic struggles of the working class all over the world including in the developed capitalist countries against capitalist onslaught, facing repression, victimisation, and physical attacks perpetrated by the employers often facilitated by the governments. While congratulating the workers all over the world for their unrelenting struggles, CITU urges upon them to combine their struggles on their immediate demands with the objective of bringing an end to capitalist exploitation, with a vision to usher in a society free from exploitation of one human being by another, a socialist society.
CITU notes that the discontent against neoliberal policies is being utilised by the right wing forces in many countries including in the USA, Italy, France, Germany etc. These right wing forces promoted by the ruling classes spread ideas of racism, xenophobia and anti-migrant feelings among the people. While in opposition they mobilise people on the basis of their discontent against the neoliberal policies, but once in power, they have been implementing the same policies, at the same time dividing people, weakening united struggles and resorting to authoritarian and dictatorial measures to suppress opposition. The capitalist class has been promoting these right wing forces in many countries, to prevent the Left from gaining from the people’s anger against neoliberal policies.
CITU affirms that today capitalism, as a social system, has proved itself incapable to resolve the serious issues before the workers, the toiling people and the earth we inhabit. It has totally failed to meet the contemporary needs of the people like decent and dignified life, jobs, living wage, housing, health and education etc despite having all the necessary resources and wealth generated by the toiling people themselves. The greed for profit is not only intensifying exploitation of the working people and looting of public wealth but also of natural resources unmindful of the disastrous human, national and environmental consequences. The profit driven system is desperately seeking to overcome the aggravating systemic crisis within the framework of capitalism, by further attacking the hard won rights of the workers, people’s democratic and human rights. This is bound to fail. Capitalism as a social system is at a dead end and as of today incapable to find a way out. It is the historic task of the working class to lead the people towards emancipation from this failed system.
On this May Day,
Being observed in India in the midst of the electoral battle for the 18th Lok Sabha, CITU reminds the working class of India that protecting its basic rights including the right to eight hour work day, the struggle for which is symbolised by May Day, requires the decisive defeat of the Modi led BJP government representing the corporate communal nexus. The ten years of Modi rule has been a period of relentless attacks on the lives and livelihoods of the working class and all sections of the toiling people of our country. Through its persistent united struggles the working class of India has been able to stall notification of the disastrous labour codes, which the Modi government has stubbornly refused to scrap. Now is the time for the working class to ensure these are buried through stronger united struggles. CITU affirms that defeat of the Modi led BJP government is not only necessary for the scrapping of the anti-worker labour codes but also is a prerequisite for strengthening united struggles against the disastrous neoliberal policies which are totally against the interests of the workers, peasants, all sections of the toiling people and the nation as a whole.
Not only are the rights, livelihood and living and working conditions of the workers have worsened severely, the decade-long Modi led BJP government has proved to be a disaster for all sections of the working people and the country. Unemployment has reached alarming heights. Hunger, poverty and destitution among the working people have attained unprecedentedly miserable levels. Basic survival requirements and services like health care, food and nutrition, education, transport/communication, electricity etc are being converted into commodities to promote lucrative business by big corporate houses. Household indebtedness has surged in a big way.
National wealth, produced by the sweat and toil of the working people is being cornered by a handful of individuals. Inequality has reached obscene levels. India is now among the most unequal societies in the world. The entire economy, employment relations, industrial processes are being restructured to establish absolute control over all national assets and natural resources, infrastructure and economic management by a handful monopoly companies. This authoritarian and centralised management of the economy is also reflected in the aggressive attacks on democratic processes and institutions by the Modi government to facilitate such loot and plunder. Neoliberal policy regime and its authoritarian pursuit are no longer limited to management of the economy. It has infiltrated into the realm of political administration to crush democracy and also intruded the realm of societal governance in a big way to create a situation of polarisation as well as terror on the socially downtrodden and minorities.
Led by its ideological mentor RSS, it is spreading communal venom to disrupt the unity of the toiling people and weaken their united struggles to improve their conditions. It is seeking to divert people’s attention from their daily burning livelihood issues ‘othering’ people on the basis of religion, caste, language, region etc and make toiling people fight among themselves instead of their common enemy – the neoliberal policies.
It is subverting our secular Constitution and seeks to replace it with manusmriti that assigns inferior status to dalits, tribals and women. It seeks to establish ‘Hindu Rashtra’, a political project of the RSS, which has nothing to do with Hindu religion or the interests and well being of the people following the Hindu faith.
It is seeking to suppress all opposition to its policies by throttling dissenting voices using its control over the different wings of State administration including the IT, CBI, ED, NIA etc. It is using draconian laws like the UAPA to arrest independent journalists, intellectuals, students, trade union activists, human right advocates etc. It has highly centralised control over financial resources depriving the state governments, particularly those led by opposition parties, of their due share. In the name of ‘one nation one election’ it wants to kill the federal structure of our country.
The bluff of ‘na khaunga, na khane dunga’ has been called by the electoral bond revelations. Electoral bonds scheme is reported to be the biggest global scam. It has given glimpses of how the Modi led BJP government formulated policies to benefit its corporate donors.
Modi himself declared that his ten year rule was just the starter; the main menu will come when he is elected for the third term. It is clear that once elected, his government will continue to ignore the demands and aspirations of the workers, farmers and other sections of toiling people, will change the Constitution drafted by Ambedkar and adopted by ‘We, the people’ according to the diktats of the RSS, subvert our parliamentary democracy and rule like a ruthless dictator.
CITU reminds the workers and the farmers that it is keeping all the above in view that the National Convention of Workers organised by the joint platform of trade unions on January 30, 2023 and the Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally on April5, 2023 called upon the people to defeat the Modi led BJP government in the 2024 parliament elections to save the nation and save the people.
It is imperative upon the workers, farmers and all sections of the toiling people to ensure that this is achieved in the ongoing elections to Lok Sabha.
Thus, on this May Day
The working class must resolve to throw out this anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-people and anti- national Modi led BJP government lock stock and barrel. It has to resolve to strengthen unity of not only the entire working class but also unity of the workers with farmers, unity which has been gradually developing during the last few years and to intensify united struggles against the neoliberal policies as well as against the communal divisive machinations.
Experience of the last several years, shows that in countries where workers and people’s struggles are led by politically conscious leadership with an alternative pro-people policy perspective, they have resulted in progressive and pro-people governments coming to power. However right wing forces in many of these countries, with active support from US imperialism have been trying to destabilise these governments. The survival of progressive governments as well as implementation of alternative pro-people policies will depend on the consciousness and vigilance of the working class movement and its commitment to lead social transformation. Working class struggles need to be consciously directed against the neoliberal regime imposed by international finance and imperialism and the politics promoting the same, by creating awareness among the people and mobilising them to eliminate the cause.
On this May Day,
CITU vows to make all efforts to create such awareness among the working class and the people of our country about the disastrous impact of the neoliberal policies imposed by international finance and imperialism.
CITU reiterates its commitment to strengthen international solidarity and anti-imperialist consciousness of the working class in India.
CITU pledges to continue to carry on determined combat against the RSS communalism and the divisive, destructive, anti-people authoritarian machinations of the ruling class and their political agents through widening and heightening the united struggle of the working class to the level of defiance and resistance.
CITU proclaims to continue its efforts to unite the entire working class and contribute to taking united struggles to newer heights and also to strengthen countrywide joint struggles of the workers and peasants for achieving its constitutional objective of a society free from exploitation and for decent and dignified life for workers and all sections of toiling people.
On this May Day, let us pledge
- To defeat the anti-worker, anti-armer, anti-people and anti-national BJP in the ongoing Parliament elections 2024; uphold and strengthen working class unity and decisively defeat all communal divisive machinations of the ruling classes
- To strengthen worker-peasant unity, take it to the grassroots level, develop and intensify joint actions on common demands
- To convert the rising discontent among the working class into raised consciousness about the exploitative system, about their true friends and enemies and heighten united struggles for alternative pro-people policies
Long Live May Day
Long Live Working Class Solidarity
Long Live Worker Peasant Alliance
Long Live Socialism
Down With Capitalism
Down With Imperialism
Long Live Proletarian Internationalism
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