
A Call to Reclaim May Day
Protest the IMF & World Bank on May 1, 1995

(The following is excerpted from the forthcoming January 1995 
Industrial Worker, monthly newspaper of the Industrial 
Workers of the World.)

We see today that the main purpose of the Cold War was to 
prevent our movements for a better life, our class and our 
organizations in the First World, the East and the Third 
World from coming together. Such alliances could seriously 
threaten the existence of all exploitative institutions, 
whether they are ruled by corporations or by the state, 
whether they call themselves capitalist or socialist. The end 
of the Cold War was the result, at least in part, of the 
refusal to accept this division by people in the First, 
Second and Third worlds. But the end of this form of rule has 
only led to the whole world coming together under the tyranny 
of one global system of exploitation managed by the 
International Monetary Fund and the World Band (IMF/WB), and 
backed up by the military repression of the United States, 
the UN, and virtually all the governments of the world. These 
institutions were consciously created at the Bretton Woods 
Conference in the U.S. in 1944 to constitute a capitalist 
international. The Communist and Third World nationalist 
bureaucracies gradually became active collaborators with the 
IMF/WB, using foreign debts to discipline their own working 
classes. The IMF and the World Bank are this year arrogantly 
celebrating their 50th anniversary.

We at Neither East Nor West-NYC and Workers' Solidarity 
Alliance/New York & New Jersey are inviting you to join us in 
organizing a day of action against the IMF and the World Bank 
to be held on (or around) Monday May 1, 1995. We have chosen 
May Day because we wish to reclaim the tradition of worldwide 
working-class unity. The May Day tradition (which began as a 
commemoration for the martyrdom of anarchist activists 
following a general strike for a shorter work week in the 
United States in 1886) has become somewhat hollow for those 
raised on Communist-bloc war parades, empty leftist marches 
in Europe and parts of the Third World, and Law Day in the 
U.S. Now more than ever, we need to work together independent 
of official borders. Our hope is that worldwide coordinated 
actions will help to expand this badly needed planetary 
alliance against those institutions which have done so much 
damage to people, communities, cultures and the environment 
all over the world. In choosing this day, we are also 
building on an older May Day tradition of celebrating the 
annual reawakening of the earth in spring. We are reclaiming 
our planet from these desecrators of the land who expropriate 
and exploit us.

We especially hope to bring the role of the IMF and the World 
Bank to the attention of North Americans and others from the 
western countries who are less aware of the role of these 
organizations even within their own countries. The IMF and 
World Bank are located in the U.S. They are funded primarily 
by the richest governments. The suffering of people in First 
World countries is the result of IMF and World Bank policies 
no less than in other parts of the world. Throughout the 
world, the growth of homelessness, loss of farms and jobs, 
destruction of neighborhoods and communities, slashing of 
social programs and education, de-capitalization of local 
industries, creation of artificial famines, and repression of 
labor and other social movements have all grown as a result 
of IMF/World Bank policies. We also hope that this day of 
action can help build autonomous contacts and networks 
between peoples in every part of the planet. Such contacts 
have until recently been limited and made more problematic by 
the division of the world into two Cold War blocs, and by the 
political loyalties which developed around this division.

Nearly every country in the world, regardless of political 
ideology, "capitalist" or "communist," has been devastated by 
"structural adjustment programs," the debt crisis and 
development schemes organized by the IMF and World Bank. All 
over the world, people are beginning to express their hatred 
of these bureaucrats and their policies. Demonstrations and 
revolts against the IMF/WB have already taken place in dozens 
of countries ranging from Russia to Mexico, from Melanesia to 
the West Bank, from Lagos to West Berlin. The time has come 
to act together for an end to the IMF and World Bank. The 
statist solutions of the past are repudiated, and nearly 
every government has collaborated with or surrendered to the 
IMF/WB, and has imposed austerity and repression. Only a new 
movement everywhere, for a world without supranational 
government, can free our lives from the authoritarianism and 
exploitation which go by the names "structural adjustment," 
"privatization," "liberalization," the "free market," the 
"global economy," "budget austerity," "democracy." We are 
finally able to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

How we envision the campaign:
% We are not  "in charge" of this project. We are 
volunteering to act as facilitators for communication on the 
project. We want to start talking about the kinds of action 
that different groups would like to do and what resources 
they have available.
% Not everyone has an IMF or WB office to protest at. But 
everyone has various state or corporate offices that enforce 
IMF/WB policies.
% Of course all groups have autonomy to pursue their own 
other demands, etc.
% Your protest doesn't have to happen exactly on May 1, just 
near enough.
% We would like everyone to contact us as soon as they have 
some ideas about what they are going to do, so we can start 
passing on the information to the other groups. We will do 
several mailings about the proposed plans, and will be 
sending out some kind of IMF/World Bank information packet 
(if you can help with this, please let us know).
% We are also not dictating the kinds of action to be taken. 
If your group feels it would be most effective participating 
in the traditional May Day actions in your locale, or in a 
larger anti-IMF/WB action in your area, do so by all means 
and pass the news on to us.
% Please contact us to let us know what you think, so we can 
start planning for May Day 1995.
% When it's over we'd like reports and photos from the 
various actions so we can report back to all that 
participated.
% We'd like to see May Day '95 as the launch point for 
ongoing anti-IMF/WB battles, plus any other coordinated 
activity.

Send replies to Neither East Nor West-NYC, 339 Lafayette St 
#2, New York NY 10012 USA (718/449-7720). This call is also 
available in Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, 
French and German.

The Industrial Worker has been THE North American voice of 
revolutionary unionism for more than 75 years.  To subscribe 
send $15 to Industrial Worker Distribution, P.O. Box 2056, 
Ann Arbor MI 48106.  The Industrial Worker editorial offices 
are at 4043 N. Ravenswood #205, Chicago IL 60613 (312/549-
5045).  To reach us by email write: jbekken@igc.apc.org
 

