Mayday in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan
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 Mayday, the International Day of Union, Solidarity and Struggle of the working class, led to a fight of will which had lasted for several months in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan.

  01 May 2009 /International Bulletin / Issue: 81

 

 

Mayday, the International Day of Union, Solidarity and Struggle of the working class, led to a fight of will which had lasted for several months in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan. The state provides Taxim Square, Istanbul, the place where 37 people had been killed on Mayday 1977, for any action, but bans it to the working class, and this ban continued this year, too. However, after the clashes that happened last year to get through to this place, this year the fascist dictatorship was forced to make some manoeuvres when it saw the determination to walk to Taxim Square. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said that he would only allow an "acceptable mass participation" consisting of union leaders and representatives to be on Taxim Square on Mayday, and that Kadikoy would be the place available for any celebrations. The aim was clear: To separate the revolutionary leading forces from the workers, to prevent the broad parts of the working class, the revolutionaries and communists from going to Taxim Square, to hinder Mayday being celebrated by the masses and in a militant way, to prevent the masses from uniting their power on the streets against the capital and to hinder them shouting their demands altogether.
Mayday, that had been celebrated the first time in Turkey 100 years ago, was banned the last 31 years. Despite this ban, the working class goes on the street every year and fights against the fascist dictatorship's armed forces, ready to pay whatever needed to celebrate Mayday. The struggle of the Australian working class for the eight hour work day and the US working class who lost Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel and Adolf Fischer as martyrs created the day of union, struggle and solidarity of the working class, whose spirit is lived by the proletariat and which became a day of the direct fight between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. As the bourgeoisie does in many countries, it is tried in Turkey through the Turkish bourgeoisie and the state to conceal the contents of Mayday, to "tame" it, to limit it to the borders given by the state, to turn it into a day for a picnic and excursion instead of a day to struggle. The yellow unions, first of all the leadership of Hak-Is and Turk-Is , as well as pacifist and reformist forces such as EMEP supported the state in realising its above mentioned aims. These forces celebrated Mayday following the directives of the state. While Hak-Is got along with this important day by only leaving a wreath at Taxim Square, Turk-Is left a wreath at Taxim and then organised the Mayday celebration at Kadikoy. Organisations such as EMEP scared from clashing with the state joined the celebrations at Kadikoy, too. In this sense, Mayday has shown the separation between the militant resisting line defending the common movement of the class on the one hand and the pacifist and reformist line on the other hand.
The working class could win two achievements in the struggle between itself and the fascist dictatorship. The first achievement was the announcement of the government that Mayday is now officially a holiday called the "Feast of labour and solidarity". This was the result of the continuous struggle lasting for 30 years. The second achievement was the fact that a small group of the working class led a determined and militant struggle and managed to get through to Taxim Square. By this, the workers abolished the ban on Taxim in practice. The banners of the socialists, revolutionaries and progressive forces, of the confederations DISK and KESK and some other unions affiliated to them were hung up at the memorial at Taxim Square. Taxim Square was resounded with revolutionary slogans and the Mayday march. Those who got through to Taxim Square and those who were hindered to get through but who fought and resisted in every street and at every barricade gave a clout to the ban on Taxim. The MLCP militia fought militantly at the barricades in the first ranks, and some of our forces managed to get through to the square with the mass. The militia of the Communist Youth Organisation hung up banners read "Long live Mayday, MLCP/CYO" in the Istanbul quarters Pangalti, Kurtulus and Cihangir and resisted at the police barricades with their slingshots and Molotov cocktails.
Besides Istanbul, Mayday was celebrated throughout Turkey and Northern Kurdistan and only in Izmir by 50,000 people. At the celebrations it was stressed that the effect of the economic crisis in Turkey is being felt every day more and more, that this crisis was not caused by the workers and that the workers are not going to pay the bill for it. At the actions the masses emphasized their demand to fight together against dismissals, the crisis and exploitation and protested the attacks on the DTP and the Kurdish people. The Mayday celebrations finished with the regional rally organised on May 2 at the Kurdish city Urfa.


 

 

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Mayday in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan
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 Mayday, the International Day of Union, Solidarity and Struggle of the working class, led to a fight of will which had lasted for several months in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan.

  01 May 2009 /International Bulletin / Issue: 81

 

 

Mayday, the International Day of Union, Solidarity and Struggle of the working class, led to a fight of will which had lasted for several months in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan. The state provides Taxim Square, Istanbul, the place where 37 people had been killed on Mayday 1977, for any action, but bans it to the working class, and this ban continued this year, too. However, after the clashes that happened last year to get through to this place, this year the fascist dictatorship was forced to make some manoeuvres when it saw the determination to walk to Taxim Square. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said that he would only allow an "acceptable mass participation" consisting of union leaders and representatives to be on Taxim Square on Mayday, and that Kadikoy would be the place available for any celebrations. The aim was clear: To separate the revolutionary leading forces from the workers, to prevent the broad parts of the working class, the revolutionaries and communists from going to Taxim Square, to hinder Mayday being celebrated by the masses and in a militant way, to prevent the masses from uniting their power on the streets against the capital and to hinder them shouting their demands altogether.
Mayday, that had been celebrated the first time in Turkey 100 years ago, was banned the last 31 years. Despite this ban, the working class goes on the street every year and fights against the fascist dictatorship's armed forces, ready to pay whatever needed to celebrate Mayday. The struggle of the Australian working class for the eight hour work day and the US working class who lost Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel and Adolf Fischer as martyrs created the day of union, struggle and solidarity of the working class, whose spirit is lived by the proletariat and which became a day of the direct fight between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. As the bourgeoisie does in many countries, it is tried in Turkey through the Turkish bourgeoisie and the state to conceal the contents of Mayday, to "tame" it, to limit it to the borders given by the state, to turn it into a day for a picnic and excursion instead of a day to struggle. The yellow unions, first of all the leadership of Hak-Is and Turk-Is , as well as pacifist and reformist forces such as EMEP supported the state in realising its above mentioned aims. These forces celebrated Mayday following the directives of the state. While Hak-Is got along with this important day by only leaving a wreath at Taxim Square, Turk-Is left a wreath at Taxim and then organised the Mayday celebration at Kadikoy. Organisations such as EMEP scared from clashing with the state joined the celebrations at Kadikoy, too. In this sense, Mayday has shown the separation between the militant resisting line defending the common movement of the class on the one hand and the pacifist and reformist line on the other hand.
The working class could win two achievements in the struggle between itself and the fascist dictatorship. The first achievement was the announcement of the government that Mayday is now officially a holiday called the "Feast of labour and solidarity". This was the result of the continuous struggle lasting for 30 years. The second achievement was the fact that a small group of the working class led a determined and militant struggle and managed to get through to Taxim Square. By this, the workers abolished the ban on Taxim in practice. The banners of the socialists, revolutionaries and progressive forces, of the confederations DISK and KESK and some other unions affiliated to them were hung up at the memorial at Taxim Square. Taxim Square was resounded with revolutionary slogans and the Mayday march. Those who got through to Taxim Square and those who were hindered to get through but who fought and resisted in every street and at every barricade gave a clout to the ban on Taxim. The MLCP militia fought militantly at the barricades in the first ranks, and some of our forces managed to get through to the square with the mass. The militia of the Communist Youth Organisation hung up banners read "Long live Mayday, MLCP/CYO" in the Istanbul quarters Pangalti, Kurtulus and Cihangir and resisted at the police barricades with their slingshots and Molotov cocktails.
Besides Istanbul, Mayday was celebrated throughout Turkey and Northern Kurdistan and only in Izmir by 50,000 people. At the celebrations it was stressed that the effect of the economic crisis in Turkey is being felt every day more and more, that this crisis was not caused by the workers and that the workers are not going to pay the bill for it. At the actions the masses emphasized their demand to fight together against dismissals, the crisis and exploitation and protested the attacks on the DTP and the Kurdish people. The Mayday celebrations finished with the regional rally organised on May 2 at the Kurdish city Urfa.