May 1, International Workers’ Day, is a day of both celebration and anger. As revolutionary workers we celebrate the resilience and achievements of our class as it struggles for liberation. But as revolutionary workers we are also outraged at the continued existence of capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism: the three great enemies of the people in the prison-house of nations known as Canada.

May 1st was initially declared International Workers’ Day in 1891; the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP) continues to uphold the revolutionary traditions of the past while also charting a path towards revolution today. We call on all workers and oppressed in Canada to unite against the three main enemies of the people: capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism!

Capitalism: the exploitation of the working class – those who produce all of the wealth of society – by the capitalist class, and the political dominance of the capitalist class over every facet of Canadian society. As workers in Canada continue to get poorer and poorer, the capitalist class gets unimaginably rich, hoarding untold billions overseas. Meanwhile in Canada social services are gutted, prices increase, and pay remains stagnant. Enough is enough! It is us as workers who create the wealth of society; it is us as workers who should control the wealth we create! No longer are we content to enrich a small minority at the expense of the vast majority of us. To the capitalist class: your days are numbered.

Imperialism: the horrors that capitalism produces in Canada are unleashed and magnified across the globe, as Canadian capitalists seek to enrich themselves at the expense of peoples around the world. Be it Canadian mining companies raining devastation on communities from the Philippines to Latin America, to the continued occupation of Afghanistan, to the arming of fascists in the Ukraine, to the continued aggression against the Syrian government, Canada is a destructive force and harms the people of the world. The Canadian capitalist class will be held to account for its vicious acts by the people of the world as they struggle for liberation. Again we say: your days are numbered.

Colonialism: a country founded on the genocide of countless Indigenous Peoples, a country which propagates that genocide to this day. Be it in the form of resource extraction displacing Indigenous Peoples, the recent push by the Canadian state to force the Kinder Morgan pipeline across Western Canada, the constant surveillance and harassment of Indigenous activists by the Canadian state, or the day-to-day violence exerted on Indigenous Peoples by settler reactionaries, Canada is a colonial empire which must be destroyed. The lives and ways of life of Indigenous Peoples are cast aside by the Canadian capitalist class’s search for ever greater profit. Make no mistake: there is no separating Canada and colonialism, a fact that we have seen all too well with the failure of even the most basic “reconciliation” initiatives like the toothless National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. There can be no fundamental liberation for Indigenous Peoples while Canada still exists. The PCR-RCP stands alongside Indigenous Peoples as they struggle for their national liberation. To the Canadian capitalist class: not only are your days numbered, but the empire you defend, Canada the prison-house-of-nations, will also come to an end. The world will be better off for it.

Each of these enemies – capitalism, imperialism, colonialism – is protected and reinforced by the Canadian state. The ideologues who defend the current state of affairs bloviate about the supposedly democratic nature of Canada. The idea that Canada is a democracy, while workers toil for the majority of their lives under the dictatorship of their bosses and capital, while the Canadian state supports brutal governments overseas, and while Indigenous Peoples are denied even their basic national rights, while the repressive apparatuses of the Canadian state – the army, the police, the intelligence services – are strengthened at the expense of basic social programming, while these same repressive apparatuses provide support for far-right fascist groups, is nothing short of an insult to the exploited and oppressed. Let us make no mistake: Canada is a dictatorship of the capitalist class, a tyranny of the rich. In order to get rid of capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism, the Canadian state needs to be smashed. We must build a new world.

In the face of the misery wrought by capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, and their state, all can seem hopeless. But workers and oppressed in Canada have a way out: communism. The PCR-RCP envisions a world in which there are no classes, in which there is no exploitation or oppression. A world in which people live free and equally, where the precondition for the full development of one person is the full development of all people. A world in which there is no state, in which we are all able to live together without the threat of violence. A world without war, without poverty, without patriarchy, white-supremacy, and the myriad of other systems which oppress us. A world in which the wealth of society is controlled by the people who produce the wealth. But in order to achieve this better world, the oppressive states of the world must be overthrown one after another. Our contribution to this process is the destruction of Canada. It is only through revolution, through Protracted People’s War, that the Canadian state can be destroyed. The Canadian state appears mighty but it is a paper tiger: the masses of Canada, united in their despair and outrage, will smash it and sweep it into the dustbin of history.

Our opposition to capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism give all exploited and oppressed in Canada a common enemy: the Canadian state. Our desire for a world free from exploitation and oppression gives us a common goal: communism. With our common enemy and common goal in mind, the PCR-RCP calls on all exploited and oppressed peoples in Canada to unite their struggles within the burgeoning revolutionary united front. It is only through common work, both within the PCR-RCP and revolutionary mass organizations, that we can defeat our enemy and finally achieve liberation.

Against capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism: revolutionary unity!

May Day Events:

Winnipeg forces will be part of Anti Capitalist Anti Colonial May Day on Treaty 1.

Vancouver forces will be hosting a May Day rally in Surrey.

Saskatoon forces will be part of the demonstration at Vimy Memorial Bandshell.

Kitchener-Waterloo forces will be joining with other anti-capitalist forces in Victoria park for a festive night of food, speeches, and music followed by a night march through the city.

Guelph forces will be doing a banner drop and then handing out propaganda and food to people downtown.

Hamilton forces will have a march followed by a community serving by Serve the People. The march begins at 6pm at the Day of Mourning Workers Memorial at City Hall and leads to the STP serving which starts at 7pm at Jack C. Beemer Park.

Ottawa forces will march from Supreme court to the embassy of the Philippines followed by a party with local musicians.

Peterborough forces, hot on the heels of their two week long occupation of Trent University, are marking the occasion with a potluck social event.

Windsor forces are participating in a rally and march organized in coalition with the IWW and others.

Sudbury forces will take to the streets to demonstrate against the three main enemies of the people: capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism. This demonstration will be followed by a food service at Memorial Park.

Toronto forces will be marching in North York beginning near York University to mark the 9th week of CUPE 3903’s strike. The march will also happen along the route of the Enbridge Pipeline 9 and renew our opposition to the operation of pipelines being built without the consent of the people.

Quebec City forces will be marching at the demonstration organized by REPAC.

Montreal forces will be part of CLAC’s annual demonstration.