Poland: Report on the 1st of May activities
Featured image: anti-imperialist bloc in the 1st of May demonstration in Lodz. Source: a reader.
Anti-Imperialist Action carried out several activities during this 1st of May. Before noon, together with the Czerwoni, they formed the class-conscious bloc at the demonstration in Lodz. This year’s 1st of May event, the Parliamentarian political Parties tried to use the occasion to gather forces for the upcoming Polish presidential elections. But this was an absolute failure for them, specially for the Left Party candidate, Magdalena Biejat. Anti-Imperialist Action went to the demonstration raising high the banner “Not a vote for war.” They report that this “was also an objection to the agreement of the “left” candidates to militarize the State at the expense of social services and at the expense of militarizing the working masses.”
After some speeches a march began. During the march the anti-imperialist bloc shouted class-conscious, militant and anti-imperialist slogans, which also gathered support from workers that joined these slogans. There were even workers asking for the megaphone and using for it for raising their voice for their demands.
When Magdalena Biejat attempted to chant one of the slogans of the anti-imperialist bloc and use it for her own benefit, the anti-imperialist bloc rejected that attempt and chanted “There is no working class candidate” and “MPs go to work for 3,000zl” [Translator note: roughlynet pay of a minimum wage job].
The march ended at the Old Market, where an event prepared, by the march organizers, was waiting. The day with a joint workers’ picnic in the park. An activist from the organization Czerwoni introduced the connections between politicians and business in Poland, opening a discussion with the participation of workers. Anti-Imperialist Action presented a panel titled “Anti-Imperialism and Forms of Organizations.” It introduced the role of the Poor Peasants’ League in Brazil for the Agrarian Revolution, showing what forms of organization they developed in their struggle. The analogy between the struggle for production led by LCP and domestic examples was also shown and a fruitful discussion on class relations in the Polish countryside ensued.
