We salute all immigrant workers

As a party of workers born here and in other lands, we applaud and congratulate every person who is a participant in the May 1st demonstrations across the country and around the world. In spite of deportations, ICE raids, attacks by vigilantes, and the constant day-to-day abuses on and off the job, the movement for immigrant rights has fought on. This courage inspires all workers!

Please know that many workers born here are on your side. Your fight is a fight for basic human rights. It cannot be separated from the fight by all workers for higher pay, for health care and pensions, and to stop abuse by the bosses. Workers refuse to be fooled by the racist lies of the Lou Dobbses of this country. Workers refuse to believe those who say that people who are forced to leave their homes and risk tremendous hardship are the problem.

Your movement has provided many valuable lessons for all workers. You have boycotted shopping. You’ve stopped work. You’ve refused to go to school. These actions and the wonderful marches and picket lines are a breath of fresh air filling all of us with hope.

You have also made May Day live again in the United States. This is a long overdue accomplishment. May Day originated in this country. But its history as a day to commemorate workers’ struggles worldwide has been hidden and buried here. Why? Because the bosses and multi-national corporations fear that workers will learn the lessons of this day. They fear that workers will act on their own behalf to demand justice.

No worker or human being should ever be considered “illegal” because they have crossed a border. Multinational corporations cross borders around the globe. They outsource jobs to countries like India or the Philippines where they can pay workers a tenth part of what they produce. They feel free to plunder the African continent or occupy Iraq to control its oil resources.

The people of Mexico have been forced to cross the border because they can no longer survive in Mexico. U.S.-imposed policies like NAFTA and CAFTA have made these conditions worse. And we musn’t forget that much of the southern and western parts of the United States were seized through military force in the 1840s. These areas rightfully belong to the Mexican people.

Capitalism in the stage of imperialism knows no borders or boundaries. We as workers should know no border either!

The many immigrant workers from the around the world bring valuable traditions,

history and culture to the workers movement here in the United States. This is true whether the immigrants are from the Caribbean, South or Central Americas, Africa or Asia, the Middle East or Europe.

Unity, solidarity and action are most important for all of us. As workers, we need unity, solidarity and action to fight to bring about a new world free of war, poverty and injustice. In this new world all workers can live in dignity and freedom without exploitation.

¡Sí se puede!
Workers World Party