Hope Lives in the Organised Struggle Against Repression, Tyranny, Exploitation, Imperialist War!

Following the mass protests in response to the wave of detentions and arrests launched by the regime in Turkey on 19 March, the slogans “Shoulder to shoulder against fascism” and “No salvation alone — it’s all of us or none of us' echoed across the squares once again on May Day. These slogans reflected the workers’ and labourers’ longing for unity, solidarity, and collective organisation. The red cortege of UID-DER, consisting of workers from all sectors, working women, pensioners, youth and workers’ children, marched under the banner: “Hope Lives in Organised Struggle Against Repression, Tyranny, Exploitation, and Imperialist War!” Because, in Turkey and across the world, only through the organised struggle can the working people realise their aspirations.

International reports show Turkey’s wealthiest 10% own over 68% of the country’s total wealth. The fortunes of the top 100 richest grew by $28 billion in just last four years, reaching $128.5 billion. Meanwhile, workers’ share of national income has collapsed to 25%. Over 60% of workers struggle to survive on minimum wage or slightly more – while their purchasing power has been crashed. With a population of 86 million, only about 35.4 million hold jobs. 6 out of 10 young people are unemployed. Public services – especially healthcare and education – keep getting more expensive as their quality deteriorates. This grim picture is compounded by corrupt policies, cronyism, hollowed-out institutions and laws, rising violence, crime and mafia-like organizations, the impunity of criminals, and prisons packed with those demanding justice. As economic, political, and social crises deepen, creating increasingly insurmountable problems; the struggle for survival becomes ever more difficult for working people.

Yet the regime wants to keep this system running – making the rich richer and the poor poorer. They prioritise their own interests and survival above all else, forcing workers to pay the price for their reckless policies. Naturally, public anger keeps growing. The regime, in turn, responds by crushing every dissenting voice, every act of defiance – from students protesting poor meals to workers fighting unfair dismissals, from women saying “No to violence” to teachers demanding “Free our imprisoned students!” Anyone demanding rights or justice and resist oppression is treated as the greatest enemy to be punished, crushed, and eliminated. This attitude of the regime, inevitably creates severe consequences in every sphere.

Let’s just highlight a few examples.Erol Eğrek worked for years at a Çalık Holding textile factory in Turkmenistan. Fired without severance, he won his lawsuit but waited a decade for unpaid compensation. On May 9th, he was beaten to death by 10 guards outside the company’s Istanbul headquarters. What power lets Çalık Holding and its thugs act with such impunity? Recall last year’s explosion at Oba Makarna that killed 5 workers. Expert reports proved that safety measures were ignored, and workers were intimidated. After the disaster, it emerged that the company’s executives bought up cheap company shares – profiting from workers’ deaths. Yet instead of facing charges, Oba Makarna’s bosses received export awards. How could that be? Think of the police attacking youth during the March 19 protests; tax-funded TRT firing and smearing actors who take sides with the protestors demanding justice; farmers punished for doing protests with their tractors; officials and bureaucrats openly threatening dissidents. What does this reveal? What kind of political and social climate produces this? If these aren’t symptoms of a rotten system where crime pays, cruelty rules, thugs govern—then what are they?

Of course, this rottenness isn’t unique to Turkey. Capitalism – now in its era of historic crisis and decay –is reshaping the world in its own image. Poverty and unemployment are snowballing across the world. Authoritarian regimes are being set up country after country. Injustice and inequality leave millions in agony. Workers endure the inferno of imperialist war. Faced with this chaos – economic collapse, political and social decay, and rottenness in every field – some may despair, believing change is impossible. Some may resign themselves to fate, drowning in helplessness. Others may naively believe that swapping one ruling party for another or replacing one oppressive regime with another could solve anything. Some might even cling to the illusion of “lesser evils”, forgetting the truth expressed in The Internationale: Our emancipation lies in our own hands. But these ideas aren’t just wrong – they’re dangerous. Let’s think about it: when we say “that’s just how the world is” and sit back with our hands tied, when we believe there’s no way out of this swamp humanity is stuck in, when we look for solutions in all the wrong places –whose bread are we buttering?

The state of the world and Turkey leaves one clear conclusion: Humanity must break free from the capitalist swamp it’s trapped in, and this historical task falls to the working class. That working class of the world remains disorganised and politically underdeveloped doesn’t change this reality. Let’s remember: Everything contains its opposite. Change is inevitable. Even raging rivers begin as tiny trickles of melting snow high in the mountains. No matter how long the winter lasts, spring always comes. The snows melt. Riverbeds swell and overflow. So too with class struggle. The working class’s struggle against exploitation, poverty, injustice, and imperialist wars cannot be stopped.  From continent to continent, country to country, the workers’ uprising since the early 2000s and the shared demands echoing in May Day squares prove this potential. What matters is that when the tide turns – when this potential erupts into action – the working class must have already cultivated vanguards from their own ranks. It must be clear and resolute about its goal. And it must be organised and powerful to achieve victory.

No matter how small it may seem today, every effort that builds hope for the future is an effort that advances workers’ consciousness, organisation, and struggle. Patient, determined organising in workplaces, factories, and trade unions—this is how hope grows.