1 May 2002

I convey warmest greetings of solidarity to Kilusang Mayo Uno and to the trade union delegations from various countries attending the 18^th International Solidarity Affair. I wholeheartedly join all of you in celebrating May First, the day of the world proletariat.

Let us recall the struggles, sacrifices and successes of the working class in seeking to emancipate itself and the rest of mankind from oppression and exploitation. Let us stand in solidarity against imperialism and all reaction and hold aloft the red banner of proletarian internationalism. Let us reaffirm the historic mission of the working class in leading the revolution towards the building of socialism.

This year we celebrate the centennial of the founding of the Union Obrero Democratica. This marked the emergence of the modern trade union movement in the Philippines. It arose amidst the Filipino-American War and amidst the militant mass actions of the working class. The workers were not daunted by the ongoing US war of aggression. They were determined to assert and fight for the trade union and other rights of the working class.

Since then, the Filipino working class made great strides in developing the trade union movement and the revolutionary party of the proletariat. These victories have been won through hard work and arduous struggle and against tremendous odds, through twists and turns and through ups and downs.

The establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1930 was a signal achievement of the Filipino working class movement. Today, the Communist Party of the Philippines, reestablished in 1968, brilliantly acts as the advanced detachment of the working class and is successfully leading the Filipino proletariat and people in the new-democratic revolution against US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords.

The semicolonial and semifeudal system is thoroughly rotten. It is in chronic crisis and constantly offers the favorable conditions for protracted people’s war. Every reactionary regime that has arisen tends to be worse than its predecessor. The socioeconomic crisis is daily worsening and is generating a political crisis, which is increasingly becoming bitter and violent.

In so short a time, the Macapagal-Arroyo regime has exposed and discredited itself for puppetry, corruption and brutality. It is buffeted by the sharpening contradictions among the reactionaries and by rising waves of mass protests and the growing revolutionary armed struggle. A broad united front is developing to challenge, isolate, weaken and overthrow the puppet regime.

The broad masses of the people are rising up against the dire socioeconomic conditions, generated by "free market" globalization. They condemn and oppose the violation of national sovereignty and the auctioning off of the national patrimony and of national enterprises.

They are revolted by the rising level of mass unemployment, sinking levels of income, soaring prices of basic commodities, heavy taxation, currency devaluation, bankruptcies and production cutbacks and the breakdown of infrastructure and social services. They demand better wage and living conditions and the end of imperialist and class exploitation.

The broad masses of the people are rising up against the escalating campaigns of military and police suppression. They condemn and oppose the further violation of Philippine national sovereignty and territorial integrity with the deployment of the US military forces. They condemn the US as the No. 1 terrorist force in the Philippines and in the entire world. The US is engaged in military intervention and aggression, even as it pretends to wage war against terrorism.

The crisis of the domestic ruling system is necessarily linked to the crisis of the US and world capitalist system. In the first place, the semicolonial and semifeudal system in the Philippines is a neocolonial adjunct of the world capitalist system. The Philippines has been victimized by the rising costs of imports, the global overproduction of raw materials and low value-added semimanufactures, the mounting foreign debt burden and short-term speculative foreign capital.

The imperialist powers take superprofits from the client states by exporting surplus goods and surplus capital. They overaccumulate and overconcentrate capital in their own homegrounds to the detriment of the working people in the client states. But in the long run, the recurrent crises of overproduction and financial crises bring about the destruction of productive forces and social ruin not only in the client states but also in the imperialist countries.

I presume that in the course of today’s celebrations, the leaders of the working class movement in various cities of the Philippines will describe and analyze the character, causes, course and consequences of the current domestic and global crisis. I support all the demands of the proletariat and the rest of the people for the immediate improvement of their social conditions and for their long-term national and social liberation.

I hope that the Philippine and foreign trade union delegations in the International Solidarity Affair will be able to discuss and define how the struggle against imperialist war and plunder can be advanced. Imperialist globalization, using the slogan of "free market" as a subterfuge for committing the utmost rapacity, has generated an unprecedented world disorder. The entire world is in social turmoil and the imperialist powers, chiefly the US, are threatening to launch more wars of aggression.

I hope that the working class will continue to strengthen the broad anti-imperialist movement and that in due course, through its revolutionary parties in various countries, cause the resurgence of the socialist movement on a global scale. The proletariat and the people of the world must comprehend the root causes of the crisis and must be resolute in pursuing immediate basic reforms and the ultimate revolutionary solution.

Long live Kilusang Mayo Uno!

Long live the International Solidarity Affair!

Long live the Philippine and the world proletariat!