Winnipeg May Day Banquet 2001

A Celebration of the Unity of the Progressive Forces

On April 28, over 200 people filled the historic Ukrainian Labour Temple in Winnipeg's North End to celebrate May Day, International Workers' Day with a banquet and social-political evening. The participants reflected the broad diversity of the progressive and revolutionary movement, with representation from every generation from the 1920s to the present. This is the second year that the banquet, an annual tradition in Winnipeg for over 20 years, has been organized by the United May Day Committee, a collective representing virtually all of the progressive forces in Winnipeg.

The evening's festivities were opened on behalf of the United May Day Committee by Catherine Stearns, an organizer with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Following dinner she introduced the evening's two speakers, Karen Naylor and Rob Altemeyer, as well as MayWorks co-ordinator, Hugo Torres-Cereceda, who outlined the month-long program of cultural events celebrating Labour and the Arts.

Karen Naylor, a long-time activist of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and trade unionist, spoke on behalf of the Structured Movement Against Capitalism (SMAC). She hailed the anti-globalization actions in Quebec City the previous weekend and discussed some of the lessons that we should learn from that experience. She emphasized that the debate over tactics should not be allowed to overshadow the tremendous victories that were achieved in Quebec City, not the least of which was the fact that the vast majority of the participants were workers. Karen pointed out that the discussion of who should decide the tactics of the movement and how those decisions should be made is evidence that the movement is no longer satisfied with being simply a movement of protest, but is determined to become a movement which can effectively stop the forces of globalization.

Rob Altemeyer, an anti-globalization activist who attended the Quebec City events, gave a moving account of some of his experiences at the action. He described the courage of people, young and old, who faced the unbridled violence of the state in order to tell the world that neo-liberal globalization must be stopped. He pointed out that 50,000 people showed up in Quebec City despite months of threats that anyone who came to oppose the Summit of the Americas would be shot, gassed or incarcerated. This showed that the movement has gone beyond the level of protest and is preparing to take the offensive, he said.

Following the outline of the MayWorks events by Hugo Torres-Cereceda, closing remarks and announcements were made by Catherine Stearns. The formal event ended with the singing of The Internationale. Many people remained afterwards to enjoy the social evening and discuss the problems facing the movement.