Solidarity greetings! The Indonesian Poor People's Union (SPRI) conveys its respectful greetings and revolutionary solidarity to all workers, farmers, fishers, urban poor, oppressed women, students, indigenous peoples and all elements of working people who will commemorate International Labour Day (May Day) on May 1, 2025.

Labour Day is an international day for the working class. It does not belong to the state, nor to those in power, nor is it a ceremony without content. May Day is a day of resistance against the global capitalist order that oppresses the majority of the people for the sake of a handful of elites who control the means of production and resources. It is a moment to remind us that the class struggle is not over, and that true liberation will only come from the hands of the people themselves.

Capitalism is the root of oppression

The system that is running today – neoliberal capitalism that is fully supported by the bourgeois state – will never provide justice for the ordinary people. In this system, everything is subject to the logic of profit: humans are treated as commodities, nature is exploited without limits, and the entire process of life is controlled by the interests of a handful of capital owners.

In Indonesia, the face of capitalism is increasingly savage:

• Workers are forced to accept low wages in order to attract investment.
• Farmers are evicted, criminalised and their land seized for the expansion of agrarian corporations.
• Fishers lose their living space due to reclamation and offshore mining projects.
• Women suffer a double layer of oppression: in the workplace, at home and in patriarchal social structures.
• The urban poor are evicted from their living places, considered obstacles to "development".

All this is not simply a matter of wrong policies – it is a logical consequence of a capitalist system that makes people permanent victims of capital accumulation.

Reformasi failed because it did not change the system

Twenty-seven years after reformasi – the political reform process that began in 1998 – we are witnessing a structural failure. Reformasi did not destroy the system of oppression – it only replaced its oligarchic actors. The state is still controlled by a political elite that is subservient to the interests of capitalists, and the law remains a tool of repression against the common people.

Former president Suharto fell, but the ruling class remained in power. What was needed was not just regime change, but a systemic transformation: the destruction of bourgeois power and the building of people's power.

The state is not neutral: It is a tool of the oppressive class (oligarchy)

We must firmly declare that the state is not a neutral institution. It is not a fair "arbiter" between the people and those in power. Within the framework of capitalism, the state is a tool of the bourgeoisie to maintain its economic and political dominance. The police, military, bureaucracy and legal system are all directed to maintain an order that benefits the owners of capital – not the ordinary people.

When the people demand their rights, the state responds with repression. When the elite steal the country's wealth, the law remains silent. This is the true face of the bourgeois state: Anti-people, anti-democracy and anti-social justice.

Build people's political power: Fight against oligarchic (bourgeois) power!

It is not enough for the people to demand better policies – the people must take over political power. We must no longer pin our hopes on bourgeois political parties that only use the people as a ladder to power. We need a political tool that is born from the people, belongs to the people and fights for the interests of the people.

A people's opposition party is a historical necessity. It is not just an electoral organisation, but a vehicle for class struggle that organises people's power to destroy the system of oppression and build a just, equal and exploitation-free society.

Towards the path of liberation

Our goal is not simply "improvements" within an unequal system. Our goal is total liberation – the abolition of the capitalist system and the establishment of a new order based on social ownership of the means of production, participatory democracy and ecological justice.

May Day is not just a moment to remember history. It is a call to create history. A history where the people are no longer submissive, but rise up as political subjects to determine their own future.

Build political power from below!
Build a people's opposition party!
Destroy the capitalist system!

JOIN THE MOVEMENT
BUILDING POLITICAL POWER FROM BELOW!

[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "May Day hari perjuangan; bangun kekuatan politik dari bawah!".]

Source: https://www.bacaanspri.org/b/may-day-hari-perjuangan-bangun-kekuatan-politik-dari-bawah