May Day Should Be Celebrated Under A Red Flag – K. D. Lalkantha

By Camelia Nathaniel

Following are excerpts of the interview;

Q.  Although the May Day is all about the labour force and their struggle to gain their rights, today we see that it has been politicised. Why?

A.  The period between 1800 and 1900 was a period of conflict, struggles, political agendas, agendas of the labour force, trade unions, political parties formed by the labour force. This period was a new and robust era in history. This era brought about the two classes in society, one being the working class and the other the affluent class. Prior to this period these classes never existed. The great industrial revolution.

In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. As early as the 1860’s, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn’t until the late 1880’s that organised labour was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class. The May Day was a significant juncture in the 19th century.

In Chicago in the US in 1886 on the 1st of May, thousands of labour workers took to the streets demanding an 8 hours a day shift. In support of the McCormick union strikers, on May 1, 1886, a large parade was organised in Chicago. A couple of days later, a person was killed during a further protest outside of the McCormick Harvesting Machine plant. Tensions were high for everyone involved in this dispute. Eye witnesses claim that police shot their pistols for almost two full minutes. Chaos ensued throughout the square and at the end of the sudden violence; around 6 workers were dead and over 100 people were injured and wounded.

Then on the 4th of May more workers took to the streets at Haymarket and this became a huge protest. Hundreds of labour organisers and foreign born radicals and leftists were arrested in Chicago and throughout the nation. A Chicago grand jury indicted 31 suspected labour radicals in connection with the bombing. In August, 1886, eight men were brought to trial. All eight defendants were convicted of inciting the riot. Judge Joseph E. Gary sentenced seven of the defendants to death and the eighth to life imprisonment. The workers worldwide protested against this judgement and petitioned America. As a result, two of the seven sentenced to death by hanging, were to be imprisoned for life. Five were left to be hanged. After 1.5 years after the incident on November 11, 1887, four of the men, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, Albert Parson and George Engel were executed by hanging. One of them died in prison by suicide. Just prior to his hanging August Spies spoke his last words, “The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today.”

Later a decision was taken to also make May day a day of protests to win the rights of the working class.

Today when we commemorate May day, just as much as we fight for the same causes, we should also fight for the issues that affect the working class at this point of time. The issues affecting workers may differ from country to country. Only when these factors are complete is May Day complete.

On May Day there is no purpose in hoisting any other coloured flag and the only significant flag to be hoisted on that day is the red flag with the hammer and sickle. Without this flag the significance of  May Day is lost and if anyone is trying to make this into a political rally, then it is just distorting the whole May Day concept.

In Sri Lanka it was the UNP and the SLFP that brought in the green and blue to the May Day. From the day these two parties came to commemorate May Day they just distorted the whole May Day concept. Even today this is still happening.

Today it has turned into an ugly power struggle between  Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena and the May Day concept has been put down to the lowest level it has ever been to.

Prior to this these parties destroyed the whole May Day concept only on the 1st of May. However this year they have started destroying the essence of the May Day by turning it into a family, political and power struggle.

Hence we urge the Sri Lankan people to celebrate May Day with the proper red flag and sickle and keep in mind the three main concepts of May Day and celebrate it meaningfully. This does not mean that everyone has to take to the streets, but anyone can celebrate or commemorate this day even in their own homes, keeping to the true meaning of labour day and its significance.

 

Q.  There are many allegations against the current regime that what they promised the people during the election campaign has been forgotten. What do you think of the promises made by the government to the people and on how much of these promises have been met?

A. If you take into consideration the state sector workers, the employer of the state sector employees is the government. The employer of the private sector is the owner of the establishment they are employed at. May Day is not a day for the employers. The right to May Day lies mainly with the working masses. Hence the employers cannot commemorate this day. If they want they can commemorate the French Revolution as that is their day.

Therefore, if the government is involved in commemorating May Day, then that May Day commemoration does not belong to the working masses or the labour force of this country. These employers known as the government, has over time, caused grave harm to the rights of the workers. They have cropped the privileges of the working people.For instance this government has completely done away with the pension scheme of the state sector labour force. Now the pension scheme that was the right of the state sector employee has been stopped. For those state sector employees who join the state sector from the beginning of this year, they will no longer be entitled to a pension at the end of their service and retirement. That is done away with.

Having cut off the privileges and pension of the state sector employees, this shameless government has the audacity to tell the state sector employees to be an example of sacrifice, and work with commitment.

The government has failed to add on all the concessions that were to be added on to their salaries. They promised the private sector a salary increment of Rs. 2500, but now they are trying all sorts of tricks in order to refrain from giving this increment to the private sector employees.

Then the government is now trying to bring in laws and revise the existing labour laws in order to further crop the rights and privileges of the working masses.

The collective agreement that is signed every year by the estate sector employers has been put off for almost one and a half years. Now the estate employers are saying that they can’t sign this. The government too is taking the side of the employers and keeping silent and failing to assure justice for the poor estate workers.On the 1st of May these employers very kindly invite the working masses to attend their May Day rallies and from the 2nd of May they have plans to impose taxes on all the essential commodities of the poor workers and strangle them by the high cost of living. From the 2nd of May the working masses will have their privileges and rights cropped. In that case why on earth would the workers need a labour day? The workers don’t need a day for their rights if from the next day they are going to lose whatever they have as well.

 

Q.  There were allegations about the large cabinet of the previous regime, but what do you think of the increasing size of the current cabinet?

A. The previous regime had the world’s largest cabinet and they squandered billions. Now this government has an even larger cabinet. Why do these parties need ministerial portfolios in order to join the unity government? They can still serve the country with their MP status.

There is nothing to say that they cant serve the people without a ministerial portfolio. So where is the commitment and sacrifices they are talking about? Why can’t this government limit the ministers to 20 or 30? Surely if they are concerned about the people and the country, they can say being a minister is a burden on the country and the people, so they can offer to just be MP’s and still work for the people and the country equally effectively.

However instead of making sacrifices themselves they are trying to talk the people into making sacrifices. These hypocrites are preaching one thing to the people but doing just the opposite. While asking the people to make sacrifices, these very politicians were the ones who were trying to get their allowances increased by claiming that the allowances they receive is inadequate. If what they get is inadequate, then how can they possibly expect the poor labour force to survive with the amount they receive?  This is the epitome of their hypocrisy.

The world has seen leaders in the past who have made sacrifices and also invited the people to tighten their belts for the betterment of the country. This is reasonable. But our politicians have absolutely no right to ask the people to make sacrifices when they are not willing to make any sacrifices.

Under this context whether you go to Kirulapone or Galle, or even to Campbell Park, this will not be a significant May Day for the working masses. How can we expect anything better from this government when they are the ones who are using force to quell the protesting masses who take to the streets to win their rights?