In Turkey, thousands of workers participated in the exuberant celebration of May Day despite the cold weather and pouring rain in Gebze, which we describe as the capital of the working class. Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP) took part in the Gebze May Day with a disciplined and exuberant contingent consisting of vanguard workers from various sectors, educational and scientific workers, toiling women, and the revolutionary youth. The Gebze May Day became a call for the entire working class of Turkey for a fight for freedom against despotism. This call was also inscribed in the Revolutionary Workers Party’s sign: FREEDOM WILL ARRIVE WITH THE WORKERS!
All across Turkey, workers and toilers marched for May Day. But on the Gebze May Day, workers marched differently than anywhere else. The steps were firmer on the ground, and the slogans were louder. This is not because Gebze breathes a different kind of air or drinks a different kind of water. Those who bore this strength to the square were the petro-chemical workers who organized themselves factory by factory and then came out! In a lot of places, unions march behind a common sign with their leaders, or at most with their workplace representatives. Because the bureaucrats of these unions do not organize for May Day at their workplaces. In Gebze, things are different. In the lines of march, each factory takes its place with its own sign. Those who brought about this organizing are the Gebze chapters and class struggle unionists of Petrol-İş (union of petrochemistry workers) of the confederation Türk-İş, and Birleşik Metal-İş (union of metal workers) of the confederation DİSK.
The Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP) contingent marched with a sign that read “Abandon NATO! Demolish NATO!” at the very front. The DIP contingent—which stood out more prominently than in previous years, especially with the excitement and zeal of the youth serving almost as a transfusion of fresh blood— frequently chanted slogans against NATO, American imperialism, and Israeli Zionism. These slogans, voiced in unison by the youth and workers, not only resonated with the other workers' contingents but also garnered immense support from the public watching the procession from the workers' homes lining the route. In these days when NATO—the sworn enemy of the working class and the adversary of all peoples—is preparing to hold a summit in Turkey this July, May Day once again underscores the critical importance of mobilizing the working class's resistance against imperialism and Zionism.
The Revolutionary Workers Party entered the assembly area, forming a procession adorned with Palestinian flags. Throughout the route of march, slogans such as "The working class stands with Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" frequently rang out—not only from the DIP contingent but also from the factory-based contingents of steel workers. These slogans serve as an indication that the working class is the bearer and vanguard of the cause of humanity's liberation. Slogans regarding Palestine do not merely remain an expression of righteous anger against genocidal Israel and American imperialism; they simultaneously transform into a call for resistance against imperialism and Zionism. This is precisely what we, as the Revolutionary Workers Party, articulate when we declare: "Palestine is a universal watchword of resistance."
The Revolutionary Workers Party marched by chanting “Long Live May Day!” in both Turkish and Kurdish: “Yaşasın 1 Mayıs! Bijî Yek Gulan!”. The unity of workers and the fraternity of peoples is an indivisible whole. We come forth and face the petroleum opening of capital with a struggle in which the Turk and the Kurd are equals, and in which Turkish and Kurdish line dances are danced together, from the strike sites to the May Day squares. Against the nasty machinations of imperialism, we scream “Peace with the Kurds, war to the US!”. As Turkish and Kurdish workers, we join together, shoulder to shoulder, in the contingents of DIP and different factories, and call on the entire world: “Workers of all countries, unite!” No matter how loud the voice of chauvinism, racism, and sectarianism; and no matter how much votes the parties of order that divide the working people based on identities gather in elections, the Gebze May Day has shown the strength of the fraternity of peoples to eyes that are keen to see, and rung it out to ears that are keen to hear.
The strength that will defeat despotism, the strength that will burst the shackles of imperialism, is the strength of the working class. Those whom the pressure of despotism has stifled, if they want to breathe, must turn their faces away from the parties of order and towards Gebze and workers’ struggles all across Turkey. Here is what they will see: the strength that the workers’ struggles put forward must be transformed into a locus of class politics, independent of capitalists, the state, and imperialism. We will face capitalists’ despotism with something novel and realistic, that is, with revolutionary class politics! We will thus win over not only May Days, but freedom itself!