[Leaflet] Happy May Day: Class Struggle Is the Way Forward!

This is the text of a leaflet distributed by supporters of Socialist Revolution throughout the country. Download the PDF of the two-sided leaflet here.

May First is celebrated around the world as International Workers’ Day. But although it has its origins in the US and the struggle for the eight-hour day, the labor leaders are at pains not to mobilize the rank and file to celebrate the vast potential power of the working class. Nonetheless, workers in cities from San Francisco to New York are on the streets today, many of them marching in favor of the PRO Act (Protecting the Right to Organize), which would make it easier for workers to unionize. In particular, DSA members have made thousands of phone calls, and the AFL-CIO has poured millions of dollars into the campaign to pressure senators to vote for the bill. Some of the bosses and their representatives—including President Joe Biden—have come out in favor of the PRO Act.

If passed, the PRO Act it would bring about some positive reforms, such as the end of state right-to-work legislation. This would infringe on the capitalists’ ability to exploit our class in the home states of some of the targeted senators: Mark Kelley and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), and Mark Warner (VA). Marxists support any measure, however small, if it improves workers’ lives and makes it easier for them to organize and fight against the bosses. We are 100% in favor of unions as the first line of defense against the exploiters. We also recognize that under certain conditions, even small reforms can unleash broader struggles. But Biden’s backing of the law begs the question: who exactly do we need to be protected from if American workers and capitalists “all in this together”?

Marxists always emphasize that: 1) serious reforms can only ever result from mass struggle; and 2) even the most advanced concessions will always be in danger of being clawed back by the bosses in the future, unless and until capitalism is overthrown once and for all. The change we fight for must be permanent, fundamental, and systemic—not merely superficial.

The PRO Act proposes some positive reforms. But it doesn’t go far enough—and there is no guarantee it will even pass. Biden and co.’s all-but-explicitly stated aim is to get out ahead of the class struggle before it gets out of hand. They seek to keep the rising tide of worker militancy within the safe channels of the courts, lawyers, National Labor Relations Board, and the current labor leadership—which is committed to keeping the workers in line on behalf of the bosses. If the Democrats really want “to help labor,” why don’t they repeal every rotten word of the Taft-Hartley anti-labor law?

No amount of phone-banking, petitioning, or lobbying of capitalist politicians can ensure the permanency of even a modest reform such as this. Labor’s strength is in its numbers. If the labor movement seriously wants to win the PRO Act we need a class-struggle leadership that flexes our muscle by shutting down production to wrench serious concessions from the bosses. Labor cannot be afraid to use the strike!

We must also fight to repeal Taft-Hartley and other anti-union legislation already on the books. Workers need a mass political party of our own to fight on our class’s behalf at every level of government. Without a mass workers party, the workers have no place to express themselves as a class and then are forced into a false choice for “the lesser evil.” Armed with militant, class-struggle unions, a party, and a program that recognizes the irreconcilable interests of the workers and capitalists, the working class majority can win much more than just the PRO Act.

Contact the International Marxist Tendency to learn more about the struggle for socialism in our lifetime!