1st of May in Finland
Featured image: 1st of May demonstration in Tampere with the banner “Forwards to anti-imperialist struggle!” Source: Punalippu
In Helsinki, Finland, thousands took part in the 1st of May demonstration. At the march, a large and active Palestine-block was present, even if the opportunists who organized the march focused narrowly on domestic topics. There was also a group of revolutionaries who chanted slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”, “Long live the International Communist League!”, “Death to imperialism!” and “Down with the government!” and distributed flyers which were warmly received by the masses.
Punalippu reports also that comrades visited the memorial of the martyrs of the 1918 workers’ revolution at the Malmi cemetery, where the Internationale and Salvo el Poder were sung and a speech on the current situation was held.
In Tampere, Finland, revolutionaries and anti-imperialists took part in the demonstration organized by the local section of the central union with “Forwards to anti-imperialist struggle!” as their slogan.
In the morning, they put up posters in support of the People’s War in India.
During the demonstration, the ICL 1st of May declaration was distributed. In the procession, the comrades marched together with other Palestine-activists. During the march were shouted slogans like “Down, down with imperialism! – Down, down with Zionism!”, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”, “Long live the resistance of the people of Palestine!”, “Israel is a terrorist!” “No two States! – One free Palestine!” as well as “Long live the International Communist League!” and slogans for the People’s Wars in the Philippines, India, Peru and Turkey. Many joined the slogans for the People’s Wars enthusiastically.
After the march, the leader of the Left Alliance Party held a speech in which she promoted her electoral campaign and expressed her support to Israel’s “right to self-defense”. Palestine-activists denounced her by shouting slogans such as “No two States! One free Palestine!” and “Free Palestine!”
The fascists of the Blue-black movement had organized a provocative march under the name “White First of May” (white referring to the troops of the old State in the civil war of 1918), which this year gathered only a handful of participants and was met with rage from the masses in the traditionally red industrial city of Tampere, with anti-fascist slogans shouted loudly. The fascists had to retreat to the protection of the heavily armed police.
In the end of the day, revolutionaries visited the memorial of the martyrs of the 1918 workers’ revolution and ended the day with the slogans “Long live proletarian internationalism!”, “Long live proletarian world revolution!”, “The Communist Party of Finland must be reconstituted!”.
