Haiti: the real meaning of May Day

Haiti, May 1—Progressive Labor Party (PLP) celebrated May Day with students, professors and others from a university in a small provincial town in Haiti. We organized a day of activity around the theme “May Day: capitalism questioned.” Several comrades from Port-au-Prince joined us, committed to being with us on this historic day, despite the presence of gangs and kidnappers controlling much of the road leading to our town.
First there was a conference and then a class conscious musical performance by a worker who sang about our  struggle and the exploitation, which pushes us to act against the capitalist system. The participants heard and understood the words as their own, couched in a language of suffering and strength.
The main speaker’s presentation on “the labor movements and the class struggle in Haiti” was like an downpour after a lot of dry weather. It made clear some concepts and historical examples of class struggle from Haiti and around the world. Many people participated freely in the discussion; it was similar to the small schools (tilekòl) that we are used to doing in Haiti.
A student from our solidarity club said that it was a real pleasure to live and participate in the activity: “I thought it [May Day] was the celebration of agriculture, but this day taught me a lot of things about labor movements”(see letter, CHALLENGE issue, 5/25).
As the student noted, the rulers in Haiti have made May 1 a “celebration” of agriculture and work. But their day flouts the essence of workers’ struggles since it is a day of recreational activities and a disgusting display of food so that the bourgeois can gorge themselves while workers and their children are suffering acute hunger.
Our May Day event was a rewarding deconstruction of the bourgeois meaning of May Day. On this day we discuss our working class history of struggles, to see where we are today, to see what we must do to continue the struggle, and above all to allow many more people to learn about workers’ struggles. Indeed, our class is the one that suffers all forms of exploitation, and without it capitalist society cannot continue to function. Our consciousness-building work must continue not only to allow people to have information but also to win them to join the fight. Because our life conditions can change only through struggle!
Another student said he thinks conferences help people understand how and why capitalism destroys our lives, that we don’t need the bosses, that inequality is not natural, and that we have to fight against this system.
Today in Haiti the socio-political situation is at its worst. People, mostly young people, see their future is uncertain and they wonder who is responsible. They want to understand why they are in misery. And above all, they want to know how to get out of this situation—how to fight back. Conferences like today’s are opening the doors to larger discussions with our friends to allow them to understand the essence of the struggle of workers and students. How are these struggles connected; what is our vision for the future? We want a world without profiteering, imperialist wars of conquest, without racism and sexism, a truly egalitarian world.