International Workers Day was launched after the Haymarket protests in the USA in 1886 when workers called for an 8-hour day and many were shot dead and injured by police.  Today workers are campaigning for a 4-day week. In this age when AI is threatening to make millions unemployed, we have to ask what power the capitalists have to ruin lives just so they can make more profit.

Billions of people on must work to make a living, while a small minority of bosses control so much of our lives. But International Workers Day is a time to remember that we are the reason why everything happens, from driving buses and trains, looking after the elderly, schooling, healthcare, software design, farming, retail and construction, there isn’t a single thing in our lives that a worker hasn’t made or helped provide.

Ecosocialists believe that working people can change the world and create a new economy, not based on profit and competition but based on community and democracy, where we ensure everyone has a good life within sustainable planetary limits. If we eliminate bullshit jobs and redistribute work which is meaningful and socially useful then we can probably reduce the working week to 2 or 3 days – something worth fighting for!

 Looking back to the 1926 General Strike it is clear that there have been many changes in the world of work where the type of labour carried out by the majority in waged work has changed dramatically with the decline of heavy industry in some parts of the world and the expansion of service industries, But even the former is often overplayed from people considering things from a Eurocentric point of view.

And many things have only changed in form not content. 124 workers died as a result of fatal injuries in UK workplaces in 2024-25 and undoubtedly many others died as a result of conditions or injuries acquired at work. Working class people are admonished to scrimp and save when prices rise – while the super rich gloat over us. The fear of unemployment and under-employment  is used to discipline us whether its waiting on a street corner to see if you will be the lucky one chosen to be a labourer or a picker or whether the phone will hum to tell a zero hours contract worker they have a few hours work – at no notice.  Bullying and harassment – on many different bases – have  always been a consistent feature of most people’s working lives. 

These are all reasons why workers come together to form unions and why they take strike action to beat back the worst excesses of one or many of these factors. And from such strikes come extraordinary moments where acting collectively against both bosses and the state gives those in struggle a fleeting glance of how the world could be different – as well as a hopefully more enduring sense of collective power.

Another thing that has rarely changed – only on the rare occasions where grass roots organisation is strong enough to hold it back – is the regularity with which trade union bureaucrats – including those who are eager to be seen as ‘left’ – sell out major trade stikes. This too is an important salutary lesson of the General  Strike of 1926.

We have already published a piece by Bill Mackeith on The lessons of the general strike and now we reprint Harry Wicks’s 1976 pamphlet here. Other material will follow,

Events combining May Day celebrations and general strike commemorations

26 April – 31 May London An exhibition of St Pancras Trades Council strike bulletins and photographs from the strike in St Pancras will be on display. Please note that unfortunately there isn’t a lift to the first floor. Weekends are best to visit; the room may be in use at other times. Upstairs Function Room, Cock Tavern, 23 Phoenix Rd, Somers Town, NW1 1HB Download the flyer here.
1-4 May Colchester See a whole variety of events here

2 May Barnsley Details here
4 May London 10:30 – 11:00am Unveiling the red plaque at 67 CAMDEN ROAD
To mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the general strike, Camden Trades Council will unveil a red plaque on the building used as the headquarters of the St Pancras Trades Council strike committee during the strike.
The plaque will be unveiled by: Eddie Dempsey, RMT General Secretary, Kevin Courtney, former Camden NEU secretary & NEU joint General Secretary. Read Sarah Friday’s article about the strike in Camden here

4 May London May Day march 12 noon Clerkenwell Green details here

9 May Manchester  People’s History Museum 1926 General Strike centenary open day Book here
See more at the special General strike 100 website here
With thanks to Labour Hub for much of the information above