May Day 1945

The Militant, 28 April 1945

May Day in Europe this year, unlike previous May Days during the present war, has approached to the accompaniment of growing mass rebellion of the war-tortured peoples.

In Germany and France, the two leading capitalist countries, the workers are beginning to rise against capitalism and assert once more their determination to end the system which plunged them into the insane holocaust of misery and death.

On April 20, the Luxembourg radio reported that Germany was torn by civil war marked by gigantic peace demonstrations in Berlin and Munich. Berlin is burning with unrest, civil war is rife, on all building in the workers' district red flags have appeared.

Meanwhile, unrest is mounting in France. The General Federation of Labor's call for a general strike on May Day asks the workers to protest against the new increase in the price of bread, the inadequate wages, and the failure of the de Gaulle regime to carry out a real purge of fascist elements.