A Message for May Day

THIS MAY DAY sees the local, national, and international state of affairs continue to stall in a prolonged crisis. Since 2008, the economic crisis in the United States has become less acute, but elsewhere, such as in the EU, things have actually gotten worse. The crisis in Europe is characterized by a push to put the blame of the economic crisis on the backs of immigrants and ethnic minorities, while the working class as a whole is forced to bear its burden through deep cuts in social servies and mass layoffs. In this light, the United States looks a lot like Europe in slow motion. The corrosive effects of sequestration and the Obama administration's attempt to cut social security are America's attempt to shift the burden of economic collapse onto the working class. And although anti-immigrant hatred may not be as strong as in a place like Greece, the incessant calls for a militarized border and the deeply harmful effect of the War on Drugs, Stop & Frisk, and Mass Incarceration point to American capitalism's deep-rooted hatred of people of color and immigrants.

May Day 2013 in New York City

A hugely disturbing component of the post-2008 assault on workers in the United States is the decimation of organized labor. The victory of right-to-work, even in union bastions like Michigan, point to capital's increasing hostility to any form of labor organization. In a time of globalization, there will necessarily be a push on the part of the ruling class to persuade workers into giving up their hard-won gains in the name of competition with low-paid workers abroad. This trans-continental race to the bottom has been rightly rejected by low-wage workers in the United States who have not only refused to give up what they already have, but have actively organized for additional gains. Workers in America can either sink to sweatshop conditions or continue to struggle, standing in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in places like China and Bangladesh, who are currently agitating against exploitation by multi-national corporations.

In the Hudson Valley, we have seen the emergence of two crucially important grassroots organizations in the past year: End the New Jim Crow Action Network (ENJAN) and Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson. The first is dedicated to tackling mass incarceration, the second to halting foreclosures. These two organizations, both indirect fruits of Occupy Poughkeepsie, are committed to direct action and community organizing. In their brief existence, both have already changed the dynamics of activism in the Poughkeepsie area. Finally, both are multi-racial organizations led by those most affected by the issues they are addressing. In fighting the injustices of capitalism on the community level in a practical way, both have been remarkably successful. However, this is not to say that all of our work is finished. In fact, it's hardly begun. As our economy and our society continues to slump, we must stand united as one in order to take our destiny out of the private sector and into our own hands.

The Hudson Valley Radical will also be turning one years old soon, and we, too, are just getting started. We believe that the only way to win change is through self-organization: The self-organization of people in oppressed communities, the self-organization of workers at the workplace. Our role is simply to be a forum for these unstoppable and already existing struggles. In so doing, we believe it is possible to create an agitational news source of the highest caliber.

Given all this, I propose that we think of May Day as a radical New Years. The 2012-2013 year of hell-raising has come to a close, the 2013-2014 year just begun.

Let's get out there and make this next year one to remember.

In Solidarity,
Schuyler
Co-editor, The Hudson Valley Radical