The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) organized the demonstration celebrating International Workers’ Day.
The rally was held in front of the statue of Dimitrije Tucović, the leader of the Serbian Social-Democratic Party, until he died in 1914. He advocated against opportunism in the 2nd Internationale, and the Serbian Social Democratic Party was the only party, besides the Bolsheviks, that voted against war loans in the First World War, despite that even Lenin stated that such a vote could be justified (only) in the case of Serbia.
The League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) announced the statement. The full text is as below.
The League of Communist Youth of Yugoslavia (SKOJ) congratulates 1st May, International Workers’ Day, to all young workers, students, rural youth, as well as high school students from working-class families!
The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia (NKPJ) and SKOJ, together with the Student Front, traditionally marked May 1st by gathering at the Slavija Square, in front of the Dimitrije Tucović monument. The special guest at our gathering was the Ambassador of the Republic of Cuba, Comrade Leyde Ernesto Rodriguez Hernandez, who, together with the General Secretary of NKPJ and the First Secretary of SKOJ, laid flowers at the monument to the most significant Serbian socialist from the beginning of the last century.
The representative of the Student’s Front, comrade Ana Jurišić, addressed the participants at the beginning of the protest. In her speech, she emphasized that today, in the conditions of capitalist exploitation, knowledge is being turned into a commodity. Education at state universities is becoming increasingly lower in quality and more inaccessible to students from working-class families. Due to the inability to cover the costs of studying, as well as personal expenses, a large number of students are forced to work during their studies, which, due to the implementation of the Bologna Declaration, becomes an impossible task. For this reason, many young people today are giving up higher education.
Comrade Ana also spoke about the activism and struggles of the Student Front. The Student Front advocates for free education for all students, abolishment of the Bologna Declaration, but also for the establishment of a student trade union and the unification of all progressive student elements into one alliance that would actively and systematically fight against all the above mentioned problems. Unlike many unsuccessful, short-term, and short-lived organizations that claim to represent students, while in practice they are neither organized nor achieve anything for students, the student trade union has official membership, a defined statute, a program with a strategy, and a goal it fights for.
The First Secretary of SKOJ, comrade Miloš Karavezić, was second to address the gathered crowd. In his speech, he emphasized that young workers today are under constant attack by capitalists, who are trying to take away the rights they gained during socialism. In support of this fact is the recent shameful address by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who stated that the workers should work more than 40 hours a week and that he is not interested in the historical fight for the eight-hour workday. Unlike the socialist period, Karavezić pointed out, nowadays even qualified workers with better income barely manage to meet their basic needs, especially if they rent an apartment and pay high rents. During the time of the Socialist Yugoslavia, the workers received apartments from the state, while today the housing issue has become an unattainable dream for many of them.
Workers’ achievements can only be defended and living and working conditions improved through organized struggle against the capitalist class. This struggle is led by the communist party, which relies on unions, youth and student organizations, as well as local initiatives. That is why it is important for communists to establish new or join and radicalize the existing unions at their workplace.
The General Secretary of NKPJ, Comrade Aleksandar Banjanac, spoke at the end of the rally. He reiterated the demand of our Party to increase the guaranteed minimum wage to 60 000 dinars (around 500 euros) and that it must remain above the minimum consumer basket. Comrade Banjanac also emphasized that our southern province, Kosovo and Metohija, is still under the occupation of the NATO, and that the working class, in addition to struggle for its economic interests, must lead a broader political struggle against imperialism. In this struggle, socialist countries such as Cuba, China, Vietnam, Laos, and the DPRK are on our side, as well as countries like Palestine, which is fighting a bloody battle against Israel, the puppet of the West, and Russia, which is currently waging a war against the entire NATO alliance in Ukraine.
Comrade Banjanac stated that the communists, just as the entire working people of Serbia and the rest of the world, are against the war imposed on us by the West. Today, it is of the utmost importance to form a broad people’s front led by the working class, whose main goal is to fight against the hegemony of the USA and its satellites.
LONG LIVE MAY 1ST, INTERNATIONAL WORKERS’ DAY!
DOWN WITH THE RULE OF THE BOURGEOISIE, LONG LIVE THE WORKING PEOPLE!
