International Workers’ Day, observed each year on May 1, remains one of the most enduring symbols of proletarian struggle. In Pakistan, May Day 2026 was officially recognized as a public holiday. State institutions, banks, and markets remained closed, while rallies, seminars, and political gatherings took place in various cities. Yet beneath this formal recognition lies a fundamental contradiction: the gap between symbolic acknowledgment of workers and the harsh realities of their everyday lives.

May Day activities 

Across the country, May Day was marked by a mixture of official rhetoric and organized activity. State representatives issued statements praising workers as the “backbone of society,” projecting an image of recognition and respect. Political parties and their affiliated labor wings held rallies and seminars, attempting to position themselves as defenders of workers’ rights. At the same time, different political forces prepared protests and mobilizations, reflecting a degree of political engagement around the day.

However, alongside these formal activities, real struggles of workers continued uninterrupted. In places like Peshawar, workers protested against unpaid wages and delayed pensions, highlighting the persistent neglect they face. Sanitation workers and contract laborers raised demands for regularization, job security, and basic rights—issues that remain unresolved year after year. This coexistence of ceremonial celebration at the top and ongoing exploitation at the base captures the true character of May Day in Pakistan today.

The May Day in Pakistan is increasingly reduced to a symbolic holiday rather than a day of militant working-class struggle. The radical spirit that once defined May Day has been diluted into routine observance.

These protests were not isolated incidents but part of a broader pattern of unrest. Workers demanded higher wages, improved working conditions, and social justice, signaling a growing dissatisfaction with the existing order. This global wave of resistance reflects a systemic crisis of capitalism—one that is also acutely felt in Pakistan through inflation, unemployment, and austerity measures imposed on the masses.

PLP has consistently argued that trade unions operating within capitalism are structurally limited in their capacity to bring about fundamental change. While they may win temporary economic concessions, they cannot abolish the system of exploitation itself. Economic struggles, when confined to demands for higher wages or better conditions, do not challenge the underlying relations of production.

Reform won't liberate workers

In Pakistan, May Day activities largely reflected this reformist orientation. Many speeches and mobilizations focused on demands for wage increases rather than questioning wage labor itself. Appeals for legal protections were emphasized, but without confronting the capitalist system that necessitates exploitation. Moreover, reliance on political parties tied to ruling-class interests further restricted the scope of struggle. As a result, the working class was mobilized, but within limits acceptable to capital.

Another key contradiction lies in the role of the state. On the one hand, the Pakistani state declares May Day a holiday in honor of workers, projecting itself as a guardian of labor rights. On the other hand, it continues to implement policies that perpetuate exploitation, including privatization, austerity, and precarious employment practices.

Many May Day events in Pakistan were framed within nationalist narratives, emphasizing development, national progress, and state-centered solutions. While such rhetoric may appear unifying, it ultimately serves to divide workers along national lines and obscure their common interests.

Perhaps the most significant weakness revealed by May Day 2026 in Pakistan is the absence of a mass revolutionary communist movement capable of providing direction and leadership. Without such leadership, worker struggles remain fragmented and confined to immediate demands.

PLP stresses the necessity of building an international communist party deeply rooted in the working class. This involves transforming economic struggles into political struggles aimed at seizing power and dismantling capitalist relations. It also requires developing class consciousness that goes beyond immediate grievances to a broader understanding of systemic exploitation.

Fightback must continue to grow

May Day 2026 brought into sharp focus several contradictions within Pakistani capitalism. Workers are publicly praised and symbolically recognized, yet continue to face wage theft, insecure employment, and relentless inflation. Mobilizations and rallies take place, but they are often contained within boundaries that do not challenge the system itself. At the same time, while workers around the world are increasingly resisting capitalist exploitation, Pakistani workers remain divided along sectoral lines, political affiliations, and ethnic or regional identities, weakening their collective strength.

PLP is striving to unite the working-class people against capitalist exploitation, imperialist aggression, nationalism, fascism, racism, poverty, illiteracy, religious fundamentalism and oppression.

Boston, MA, May 2nd–Chanting all the way, Boston Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and our base, 30 strong, marched up a commercial street in Roslindale where we regularly distribute CHALLENGE and people recognize us. We brought our full line to the working class, chanting, “We’re fighting for a real solution, Fight for communist revolution!”And we brought our fighting organization as we chanted, “The Cops, The Courts, ICE, All Part of the Bosses’ Plan,” and “Asian, Latin, Black and White” and “Same Enemy, Same Fight, Workers of the World Unite.”

Bringing workers together! 

We gathered in a park in the center of Roslindale to hear speeches before we marched. One comrade spoke passionately about the importance of the fight against the attacks on trans people. She said that even though they are few in number, their vulnerability makes them an easy target, setting a precedent for fascist attacks against the whole working class. A community college student, marching with us for the first time, was proud of distributing PLP leaflets to a few workers and seeing their support. Another student and first-time marcher said she felt comfortable and proud to be part of a march that she agreed with. It was an important opportunity for these friends to participate in the fighting spirit of an openly communist May Day march. Our leaflet called for “Students, Workers and Soldiers: Rebel Against Trump, Capitalism, War and Fascism!”

After the march, we gathered in a Party member’s backyard to have lunch. Even though it was rainy and cold, we enjoyed our comradeship by the fire pit. One weakness of the march was the small amount of street traffic (made worse by the rain) which limited our distribution of literature and contact with the community. Having workers respond to our march is both a source of morale for marchers, and a way we measure success. Also, our base in Roslindale didn’t come to the march, which we are evaluating.  

A strength of the march is that we held it in Roslindale, an integrated working-class community, where we’ve been doing mass work for the last one to two years. At that time, we started distributing CHALLENGE in local shops and outside our local farmers market and food distribution sites. In March, newer comrades were instrumental in organizing a pop-up rally in front of the Family Dollar Store where a man was kidnapped and detained by ICE that morning. Our rally was well received, and neighborhood friends joined us then­—new and old.

More recently we’ve been organizing against the ICE raids in mass organizations, both in RISE (Roslindale is for Everyone) and among families in a local elementary school where a comrade’s children attend. This is being done in connection with efforts to protect children and families from ICE by organizers in the Boston Teachers Union. PLP counters the reformist messages of voting for Democrats to make our lives better with the important understanding that racism and anti-immigration racism isn’t just the work of Trump but the product of capitalism. We must be persistent, learn from our mistakes, build our spirit and not become cynical! 

It’s the whole damn system!

We brought our communist message to a large May Day March on the Boston Commons on May 1st as well where many organizations and unions marched. Although it was not anti-capitalist, it was inspiring to see so many young people choosing to fight fascism through their unions and open to our communist analysis. We talked to friends in our unions, distributed leaflets and CHALLENGEs and held up our banner IT’S NOT JUST TRUMP, IT’S CAPITALISM! We represented the heart and soul of the May Day communist holiday fighting for a world where the murderous profiteering of workers and our families is abolished forever. 

Worcester, MA 

At the PLP May Day in Worcester, we joined about 200 people, mostly young workers and students, who stood in solidarity with  immigrant workers in fighting ICE and the rising tide of fascism. Many speakers called to fight the billionaire class. One of our members gave a passionate impromptu speech calling on workers and students to unite against anti-immigrant racism and to fight to get rid of the entire profit system. He shared how his mother was an immigrant garment worker and undocumented for a while. He said he understands what the immigrants are going through and that only by uniting in a multi-racial militant way can we fight to end this capitalist system and win an egalitarian world. His talk was well received as were the Challenges and flyers we passed out at our literature table. Several of our friends came by as well as a group of high-school students.

Strikes are schools for communism, and the workers, students, and indigenous movements in Bolivia have been on a general strike since May Day. Strikes are where the working class flexes itstheir power and takes hold of their organizations, their work places, and attempts to fight the bosses. The bosses in Bolivia are divided between the pro-China socialist wing and the Pro-U.S. imperialist wing that is currently holding power. Bolivian president Rodrigo Paz is a vital part of U.S. security at home and its imperialist interests in South America. The one thing missing from this general strike is for the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) to function as a central organization that can coordinate against these government attacks from within the struggle and at all levels in order to fight for a communist revolution.    

The unintended effects of interimperialist rivalry of the U.S. war in Iran are cropping up in Bolivia. Causing the Strait of Hormuz to close severely affected gas prices that were government subsidized. On top of fuel skyrocketing over 90 percent, there is a shortage of it, and the little fuel that is available is polluted. Speaking of pollution, lithium mining is an important part of AI chip production and for lithium batteries.

Workers in Bolivia shut it down! 

The continuing AI war between China vs. the U.S. means that the U.S. needs to control the mines, and they need the Bolivian government to provide the means to do so. Though the miners have struggled in the past against the mining conditions, the strikes are rooted in May Day and the history of struggle associated with the working class holiday. Unions marched and went on strike demanding more money, better working conditions, and for more control over what the state apparatus is doing to their lives. Learning from slave rebellions of the past, the striking workers set up barricades around La Paz and shut the city down.  Capitalism has responded with concessions, but the bosses are threatening to send in the military in order to quell the protests. 

Reject revisionist misleaders!

What role are the revisionists (fake revolutionaries) playing?  Evo Morales’ MAS party for socialism is involved in the strike, but there is no single, cohesive party that is coordinating the struggle. Instead, what we are witnessing is the working class using its self-organizing skills to set up barricades, man them, and use dynamite and other weapons in battles with the police.  Imagine how much more powerful a strike this would be without sellout union leadership or Chinese imperialism behind it. However, it does not appear to be an overt political move by China to support socialism in Bolivia, even though they would benefit from a pawn of U.S. imperialism being deposed.

Bolivia has one of the few conscripted militaries, and it’s spread out over the country. There are way more strikers than soldiers. On top of that, as PLP learned first-hand in Minneapolis, soldiers can be won to join the protesters. The Bolivian ruling class has attacked the strikers twice already, and each attack has only strengthened the barricades. So, though the ruling class can wield the military, they are wary of increasing the strength of the barricades. However, U.S. imperialism requires that this strike be smashed. This contradiction is still resolving.

Evo Morales represents the faction of the Bolivian ruling class that is aligned with Russia and China. The domino effect is being revisited in the Lithium Triangle. With students in Argentina and Peru occupying universities and beginning to take to the streets, seeing a movement where the working class has shut down a city and is forcing the outing of a loyal servant to U.S. imperialism is a spark. Is the fundamental contradiction in the world today shifting towards the working class taking hold of their organizations and challenging capitalism? The answer, unfortunately, is an unequivocable “no.” Without a revolutionary party organizing in the unions, in the military, in the schools, and with the ability to coordinate the working class against the bosses, this movement is a militantly reformist movement. 

The bosses will give what they need to in order to keep state power. President Paz has slashed his salary, offered the teachers concessions, and given token appointments to indigenous groups, but that doesn’t change capitalism. Capitalism will still remain with the capitalists in power until the PLP sweeps them away. 

Fightback is heating up

Regardless of how far this strike movement goes, whether or not the military joins the strikers or attacks them, without a revolutionary communist party organizing to seize and hold of state power, this struggle will lead to reforms and may topple a U.S. pawn, but it won’t lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat. We must learn lessons from and get excited by the new wave of protest getting ready to grip South America, but the ruling class can survive any crisis or catastrophe except communist revolution. With one of the few fully conscripted armies in South America and its size already dwarfed by the number of protesters, it is easy to understand why the Bolivian U.S. backed bosses fear a coup and the soldiers joining the protesters. It isn’t even summer yet and things are really starting to heat up!

Students reject school tribute to U.S  fascism 

In a high school in Boston, a MAGA principal decided to paint a flag mural in celebration of 250 years of genocide, the birth of racism, chattel slavery, and imperialism.  In other words, the history of the USA.  In reaction to this, communist students in the school organized a response.  An email was written to the head of the History Department. 

These are my honest thoughts. This mural is a stain on our school community. Nobody asked for it to be made, and it represents the selfish and patriotic desires of a MAGA man. My immigrant peers and I have dealt with ICE’s cruelty. And this mural feels like a slap in the back of the head to us. As resources dwindle and the U.S. loses its grip on the global economy, we’ve come to a point in history where capitalism and its players have become violent in their imperialist ways. Patriotism is reserved for those who choose to remain ignorant of the state of the world and U.S. empire. In the revolutionary words of Che Guevara, “And then many things became very clear...we learned perfectly that the life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.

When the day came to finally unveil the flag-laced monstrosity, many of the students who were supposed to participate in it abstained in protest. 

One of the communist students was going to make a speech, but due to not having a mass base, and not wanting to act alone and getting shut down, she mailed this speech to the History Department head as a form of protest.  

The event was a very poorly attended affair that opened up a lot of opportunities for class struggle.  This generation is exciting to watch!  The same lies of U.S. patriotism are not going to be enough for the bosses to get them onto the battlefield. What we do counts, especially in the schools
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Unheard, ripped off at Mamdani visit

This week Mayor Mamdani came to our campus in the Bronx to host a “Rental Rip Off”  hearing. 

In preparing for this event, student clubs,  along with faculty, met and talked about what role we could play. In the preparation, we got to hear about the real housing issues our students are struggling with. We prepared signs, and had some zines about the MTA fare hike. Progressive Labor Party members and friends distributed almost 100 CHALLENGES outside and there was a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the idea that workers need revolution.

 After waiting for over two hours, what seemed like an eternity, the almost 200 people present  did hear 7 minutes from Mamdani and then another 17 minutes of some questions and answers. However, many workers left feeling ripped off, because it was more of a photo op than anything else. There was little or no time for Bronx residents to speak, despite the vibe in the room being that students and workers wanted to be HEARD!

The struggle for adequate housing is another attack on the working class as the rulers prepare for war.  The reality is that capitalism cannot house and feed everyone- that’s why we need a communist society. We must be wherever the working class is and keep reminding ourselves that capitalism will only rip off our class!
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This is how we serve our class

I work in a city office that provides services to low income families. Such help has never fully met the real needs of those who come to our office but federal cutbacks have made it more difficult to provide the help desperately needed. My co-workers and I have discussed this and show our support by going beyond what the rules say we can do.

As workers providing services for those less fortunate than us, like helping to arrange permanent housing, medical care, food, clothing and employment, we provide additional help beyond our job titles. We collect items (like pampers, toys, canned goods and toiletries) to help meet urgent needs. We provide information about food pantries addresses, which ones have long lines and which ones serve cooked food. We let people know that pantries serve a diverse group: seniors, young mothers, men and women of all nationalities (citizens and non-citizens). The folks we see appreciate all we do for them as they try to properly care for their families. During our work hours we are told by our managers not to care or provide additional assistance. We refuse to not acknowledge or aid any individual in need. 
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Raise wage and class consciousness

At a  meeting with the City Council, I was chosen—based on the trust I’ve earned within the committee I belong to—to testify on why the minimum wage for New York City workers needs to be raised, and this is the testimony I prepared:

Good morning, I have been a member of this community organization for over 20 years. My purpose here is very simple: to amplify the demands of my fellow workers who cannot be here,, because if they stop working, they won’t have enough money to pay even one bill this month—that’s why they can’t afford to stop working— but I am here to testify as to why we need a law that raises the minimum wage to $30 an hour for workers in New York City, where the cost of living is constantly rising.

I recall  there was a struggle for a minimum wage of $7-something an hour, and a few years ago, after a long struggle, a law was passed that raised the minimum wage to $15. Now it’s $17, but that’s still not enough to survive on. The working class, especially Black and Brown workers are becoming poorer every day due to the rising cost of living, because as long as we live in a brutal and savage capitalist society where the rich get richer and richer due to their thirst for profit and the poor get poorer and poorer.

That is why I am asking the members of the City Council to pass the bill that raises the minimum wage for New York City workers to $30 an hour by 2030, I know that after that date, if I’m still alive, we’ll be back campaigning for a minimum wage of $40 or more, because even that wage won’t cover the ever-growing basic needs of our working class.

Thank you very much; that concludes my testimony.

I gave this testimony knowing full well that capitalism will never give us what we need, and that capitalism thrives on the exploitation of the working class, and especially the super-exploitation of Black and migrant workers. That is why I continue to build within this organization because every worker I encounter needs to know that only under communism, with the workers in power, can all the needs of the working class be met, because we would not work for a wage, but to meet our own needs and those of others. Only a revolution for the seizure of power by the workers will allow us to live in a better world—without wars, without crises, without borders, and without capitalism, which will dig its own grave through our indestructible power. That is why we must build a massive PLP by working hard within the mass movement to win it. 
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