The following are post May Day reflections from workers in Haiti. Look out for an article about their Day celebration in our next issue of CHALLENGE.
Think like a communist
I first met communist members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) following the earthquake in my hometown in the summer of 2021. I could see that these people want us to have an egalitarian society, where everyone can get what they need and want. Here in Haiti (and I believe elsewhere too) there is a greedy and a brutal bourgeois minority which monopolizes almost all the wealth of the country. This goes back not only to slavery, but the period after too, when the mixed race children of the French slave masters demanded and gained , through fraudulent maneuvers, property and power. Now workers want a real redistribution of wealth so that everyone can live life as it should be.
A few months after I met PLers, a friendly relationship developed between us. We often talk about how the capitalist system works, why “tout koukouj klere pou je yo” (everything is about looking out for self-interest), and about how we are going to advance to eradicate this rotten system. I can say that through these discussions,
I see the world in a different way. The world would surely be different if capitalists thought like communists, but of course that’s not possible. Our class interests are in direct opposition to one another. Our membership in the working class makes us think about the world differently from the bosses.
My thinking skills are increasing and I am becoming more and more confident in these ideas and in myself. I helped organize today’s May Day conference at our university and discovered new experiences in leadership, being responsible for carrying out tasks necessary to make the day a success. I really enjoyed doing it and helping bring these ideas to a wider audience.
Being a communist is not an easy thing. If it was, we would have won our final victory already. I realize that the battle is long and we have to fight until the end, and do a lot more. Not only expand our base in the university, but among the working class as a whole. We have to study and we have to engage in class struggle (there is no end to what we are justly angry about!). We have to win young and old alike to the cause of communist revolution and an egalitarian society free from racism and sexism, war and exploitation, kidnappers and brutality.
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Find motivation in the midst of class struggle
It was really great to have the chance to participate in this May Day conference and learn more about the labor movement and the role of communists. It is a good opportunity to tell our brother and sister comrades not to give up the struggle, because only the working class in this capitalist world can make revolution to change it. I have read elsewhere that imperialism is the final stage of capitalism, which hinders social progress in all forms. We believe this is true and we find our motivation in the struggle of workers. And one day, the working class in our country (and around the world) will no longer be a reserve army of labor and a tax haven for the rulers. Finally, in the same way that we fought and won against being chattel slaves, we will fight and win against being wage slaves: we will decide for ourselves and we will take our destiny in hand where we will all live equal as humans.
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Revolutionary flavor, a real pleasure
It was a real pleasure for me to participate in the May Day celebration. At first I thought it would be the usual Agricultural Festival that the government organizes every year. But boy, was I wrong. I learned a lot of things about the workers’ movement, why our living conditions are filled with such misery, and how to change that through struggle. I also loved the musical interlude; the musicians really added revolutionary flavor to the day. I expect that the next time we meet will be even more fruitful.
H