ON the occasion of May Day 2015, CITU extends warm greetings to the working class and toiling people of the entire world and expresses solidarity with their ongoing struggle against exploitation let loose against them by the neo-liberal capitalist order. On this international day of working class solidarity and unity, CITU reasserts its firm commitment to the goal of socialism and socialist ideals and its firm resolve to continue its fight for ending the exploitative regime.

The growing discontent and anger against the impact of the imperialist-dictated neo-liberal policy regime is reflected in the surge of struggles everywhere. Engulfed in a severe continuing crisis, the world capitalist order has become more desperate and aggressive in passing on the entire burden of the crisis on to the working people through more vigorous and atrocious onslaughts on their rights and livelihood. Working class all over the world is engaged in bitter struggles against such attacks. The entire world has been reverberating with militant strikes and mobilisations with the participation of hundreds of thousands of workers across Europe, the USA, Asia, Africa and Latin America. More and more people are raising their voice against the most obscene disparity and inequality imposed on them. On this May Day, CITU, while carrying on its own struggles, gathers immense strength and inspiration from these struggles of the working people surging worldwide.

Against Imperialism

On this international day of working class solidarity, CITU reiterates its commitment to fight against imperialism and its aggressive machinations on the developing countries including ours. During the intervening period since May Day 2014, the imperialist powers, led by the US administration, have become much more aggressive as well as aggressionist in their hegemonic ploy on the developing resource rich countries. The Middle East and Latin America are bearing the brunt of their machinations. Such hegemonic intervention by imperialist powers is integral to the machinations of the neo-liberal economic order being sought to be imposed on the humanity by the international finance capital. It is continuing with military and other types of interventions to subvert popular governments in developing countries, to gain control over their natural resources including oil and gas, and establish its dominance over strategic regions. The working class in these countries is engaged in bitter struggles against such imperialist machinations and also against the onslaughts on their livelihood and rights through so-called ‘austerity measures’ and various other means by their respective ruling classes compromising with imperialism. We must note here that the heroic peoples of Latin America, with socialist Cuba in the forefront, have been showing the way of building massive people’s movement against these imperialist offensives. The commencement of the process of re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba clearly signals the retreat of the US administration which we all must rejoice.

CITU firmly upholds the principle that the fight against imperialism is an integral part of class struggle against exploitation. It reiterates its strong commitment and support to anti-imperialist struggles across the world and to undertake with priority the task of heightening anti-imperialist consciousness as well as the consciousness of international solidarity in the working class movement in India.

Solidarity with Socialist Countries

CITU greets the working class of all the socialist countries and expresses its solidarity with their struggles in defence of socialism in their countries. On the occasion of this May Day, CITU reaffirms its confidence that all attempts of the counter revolutionary forces and imperialist conspiracies to undermine socialism and restore capitalism will be defeated by the working class and the people in the socialist countries. CITU reasserts its support to the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people for their motherland and against illegal occupation of their land by Israel with the open support of the US, defying world opinion. CITU demands the recognition of an independent sovereign state of Palestine with 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital.

On this day of international solidarity of the working class, which falls in the seventieth year of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), the CITU, while upholding the praiseworthy continuing initiative of WFTU in championing the cause of struggle against imperialist driven neo-liberal order, calls upon the working class in general and its affiliate unions in particular to observe the seventieth year of WFTU through various programmes of educative campaign and organize World Action Day on October 3, 2015 in a befitting manner.

Global Crisis

Despite all noises on recovery, there has been no respite from the global economic crisis for the workers and the common people. The response of the capitalist class to this crisis is paving way for a more destructive crisis. The burdens of the global crisis are being passed on to the common people by imposing the so called austerity measures and curbing their hard won rights and benefits. At the same time, huge concessions and tax exemptions are being extended to the corporates and financial institutions responsible for the crisis. Working people across the world, in the developed as well as developing countries are specifically targeted for such attacks including curbing of labour rights, cuts in jobs, wages, pensions, health care, and other benefits. The number of the working poor is increasing phenomenally reflecting deterioration in quality of work and menacing exploitation. Unemployment, particularly among youths and more so among educated youths, has risen to an alarming proportion.

In India

The challenges being faced by the toiling people of our country are inseparably linked with this continuing crisis of neo-liberal capitalist order on a global scale. Struggles against this inhuman order, along with its manifestation on the life and living of the people, on the national economy, on the society and on the polity, have to be built on this basic understanding. Then only our movements can be dovetailed towards our goal of transformation of the exploitative system which is engulfed in a deep systemic crisis. On this May Day, CITU pledges to direct all its initiative in developing this understanding among the widest section of working people.

While extending solidarity with the ongoing struggles of the entire toiling class, the workers, peasants, agricultural workers, students, youths, women and others against the grievous onslaught of the crisis ridden neo-liberal economic policy regime on their rights and lives, CITU aspires, on the occasion of this May Day, to channelise such assertion among all sections of society into a united struggle of the entire people against this destructive policy regime as well as the political operators of such regime. CITU notes with great interest the visible organised expression of anguish among the peasantry and agricultural workers against the deepening agrarian crisis affecting their lives and also against the notorious Land Acquisition Ordinance promulgated by the BJP government at the Centre designed to forcibly grab lands from the farmers in favour of the corporate entities, both domestic and foreign. It extends its wholehearted support to such uprisings and calls upon the working class to mobilise in a big way in their support. It will pave the way for a people’s struggle against the neo-liberal order.

On this May Day, CITU extends its support to and solidarity with the brave workers and people of West Bengal who have been heroically fighting the barbaric attacks of the Trinamool Congress goondas. The Trinamool has let loose inhuman attacks on all democratic institutions including trade unions and organisations of peasants, students, youths and women, particularly targeting those close to the Left parties. Hundreds of Left cadres including trade union activists, and Left supporters have been killed, thousands have been forced to leave their villages and take shelter far away, women are being raped, and the offices of trade unions and Kisan Sabha are forcefully being captured or burnt. These attacks should be seen not only as attacks on the Left but on the democracy as a whole. In almost all elections, right from municipal elections to elections in the cooperative societies, Trinamool goons supported by the lumpenised state administration capture polling booths and loot votes depriving the electorate of their rights. The democratic people of West Bengal, led by the Left parties, are heroically fighting such atrocities facing murder, rape and arson and brutalities of all kinds. CITU is an integral part of that struggle and will continue to fight in defence of democracy and rights of the common people.

Attack on the Toiling People

The country under the BJP-led government is witnessing all-round attacks on labour rights of the workers and land-right of the farmers; attack on wages and livelihood of the working people who create wealth for the nation and also attack on remunerative prices for the farmers who produces food for the people; attack on social security rights in the form of doing away with the employees provident fund scheme and diverting a part of the fund for speculation in share market, doing away with ESI though converting the same into a insurance scheme under IRDA; drastic cut on social sector expenditure and allocation on welfare schemes like ICDS, Mid-Day Meal, NRHM, MNREGA with the motive of finally doing away with such pro-people schemes and programmes altogether. The Union Budget (2015-16) of this BJP government has laid bare the most cruel onslaught on the common people, both in cities and villages, in industries, services and agriculture under deceptive sound-bites on development, investment and employment generation which is never to materialise except aggravating the loot on the people and the country’s resources and exchequers by the corporate and big-business lobby, both domestic and foreign, and engineering fraud on the people and the states.

Simultaneously with this budget, the government of the day has launched a plunderous attack on the natural resources and national assets of the country. Ordinances have been promulgated for denationalisation of the coal mining sector, deregulation of the other mineral resources through auction route totally unconcerned and unmindful of the livelihood and rights of the local and tribal population, forest dwellers and labour rights of the miners, and privatisation and deregulation of the insurance sector, and also changing the Land Acquisition Act to grab land from farmers without consent in favour of corporate and big business lobby. Onslaught of privatisation and disinvestment of public sector units, vital infrastructure and public utility services are going on in full swing; major ports of the country are being corporatised to pave the way for privatisation. The entire modus operandi of the government at the centre in pushing through these so called reforms exercise, both in forms, method and content, signals a consistent affront on the democratic processes, institutions and structure bearing ominous portends for the democracy as a whole.

An aggressive exercise has been going on to completely alter the existing labour laws like the Factories Act, the Industrial Disputes Act, the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, and all wages-related legislations in favour of the employers with the ultimate aim of pushing overwhelming majority of the country’s workforce out of protection and purview of all labour laws and completely dismantling the entire labour law enforcement machinery. Never before, the working people of the country, who create GDP for the nations, generate resource for the national exchequer and produce profit for the employers are faced with such heinous, atrocious all-round attacks on their rights, lives and livelihood. 

Along with such overhauling exercise on labour laws in favour of their masters in the capitalist lobby, the governments of the day both at the Centre and in states have been directly patronising the ongoing attacks on the workers in various workplaces through mass scale contractorisation, non-payment of statutory minimum wages and social security benefits, lock-outs, closures, retrenchment and atrocities in various other forms, none of which cannot stand the test of law. When the government has been shouting at top of its voice on its promises on employment generations, workers in numerous establishments including MNCs, IT sector mostly in the age-group of 25 to 40 years have been losing jobs in several thousands as being witnessed in Nokia, Foxconn, TCS, I-gate, etc. The real employment scenario in the country is that more people are losing jobs than new opportunities created, regular workers are replaced by casual and temporary workers with working conditions of virtual slavery. Should a civilised society put up with such all-round degeneration in quality of life being perpetrated by the corporate servile BJP regime?

Unifying the Class, Preserving Unity of the Toiling People;
Fighting Communal and Divisive Forces;
Fighting Social Oppression

Heightening the united struggle and for that unifying the entire toiling class through that process is the urgent need of the hour and CITU reasserts its pledge on this May Day to work in that direction. This task assumed great importance in the face of a party with rabid communal ideology running the country’s governance. Along with such atrocious onslaught on the national economy, natural resources, national assets and on the life and livelihood of the common people, workers, peasants and agricultural workers, the BJP-led regime with its parallel network of RSS bandwagons has been spitting venoms on the unity and tranquility of the society through its communal and divisive machinations through its ‘Ghar Wapsi’ and other such progrommes in order to divide people and divert the attention from its anti-people designs of “pay back” or ‘Dhan Wapsi’ to their corporate donors-cum-masters. This is nothing but a heinous conspiracy to sustain its policy of loot and plunder of the national economy and the people without any hurdles.

And such communal divisive machinations on the society with active government patronage acts in promoting divisive forces of various hues and aggravating social oppression on dalits and the downtrodden and under the present regime they are already on the rise threatening unity of people. In fact, the neo-liberal policies have in fact accentuated their oppression and the communal divisive provocation by the RSS-BJP bandwagon with government patronage has further aggravated the situation creating ground for so-called identity politics of various brands, acting to fragment the society in different conflicting directions. In such a situation, the task of unifying the working class in its entirety has become multi-dimensional and consistent fight against the communal and divisive forces from the independent platform of CITU and conscious initiative against all kinds of social oppression from the class-platform have become integral to such multidimensional task along with intensifying the united struggle against the onslaught of the ruling class. CITU pledges to undertake this task with a comprehensive approach with renewed vigour.

Carry the United Struggle to Further Height;
Protest Must Be Elevated to Resistance

Such grave anti-people and anti-national design of loot and plunder of the nation and imposing slavery on the people must be resolutely resisted by the united working class movement to save the workers, the people and the country. This is the clarion call of May Day 2015. Already joint actions including strikes have taken place in various sectors like coal, banks, insurance etc. Joint struggles including strikes have been planned in many others including road transport, construction, BSNL and postal services in the coming months. CITU extends total support to all these struggles. The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions have demonstrated their united opposition through observance of Protest Day on 5 December 2014 and countrywide mass satyagraha and court arrest on 26 February 2015.

Given the aggressiveness of all-round atrocious attack on the working people and the national economy, the aggressive auctioneering mode in respect of vital national assets, infrastructure, PSUs and public utility services like electricity etc, the notorious design of forcible land grabbing from the farmers, not only dislodging farmers but the agricultural workers and agrarian population as a whole, the present level of protest programmes by the joint platform of central trade unions and federations must be heightened to a struggle of determined resistance by the working class and the toiling people from all sectors. Countrywide militant strike action is the urgent need of the hour which will unleash similar resistance action in every sector of the economy, both in cities and villages, factories and farms, services and sites throughout the country. The designs of auctioning-cum-mortgaging the country’s economy and imposing slavery on the people cannot be allowed to pass.

Appeal of May Day 2015

CITU appeals to the working class in the country to develop solidarity across industries, sectors and states to defeat the attacks on their rights, on their livelihoods and lives.

On this May Day, CITU appeals to the entire working class to strengthen unity at the grassroots level and heighten the struggle against the neo-liberal regime to take it to a decisive stage to defeat these policies and the politics behind them. CITU appeals to all sections of the toiling people to join this struggle.

On this May Day, CITU appeals to the entire working class to be vigilant against any attempts to divide the working class and disrupt unity in whatever name – religion, caste, community, language, territory or gender. Unity and struggle are our weapons in our fight against oppression and exploitation.

Long Live International Solidarity of the Working Class
Unite against Exploitation and Oppression
Down with Capitalism and Imperialism
Down with Imperialist-led Neo-liberal Globalisation
Long Live Socialism
Workers of the World Unite!