We firmly stand in solidarity with the peoples of the world fighting to free themselves from colonialism, imperialism and capitalism, along the road to socialism.

On May Day 2026, our focus in Australia is on fighting for independence as a nation and for independent working class agenda. They are interlinked.

Australian workers and working people need our country to be free from US imperialist domination accepted and upheld by Labor and parliament. They must be free to put demands and take actions independent of Labor and parliamentary parties.

Australia’s working class and working people have seen and will see no meaningful changes from a federal Labor government returned last May with a landslide victory. Having faith in a Labor government, and relying on it to defend workers, has worn thin for many of us.

As working people, we must build our organisations at a community and workplace level around independent working class demands and actions that go beyond grovelling to big business and servicing the big end of town and multinational corporations.

Why aren’t the rich being compelled to pay more – or in some cases, pay anything – to alleviate our cost- of-living crisis: housing, power, transport; workers’ wages to pay for rising food prices, transport costs, our children’s education and sky rocketing health costs?

How is it that there are still some 300 of the largest companies in Australia – many from overseas - that pay no tax on their Australian earnings at a time of record high profits created by workers’ labour?

How is it that the wealth of this country is stolen by big business and multinational corporations, the most powerful section of the capitalist ruling class?

How is it that our natural resources (gas, oil, minerals) are in the hands of overseas and local big business monopolies (Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, BHP) and allowed to export our cheap gas for processing and then importing the processed product back at a higher price to consumers with the mega profits collected by the gas monopolies? Corporations often use extortion to suppress and cut workers’ wages and dictate to governments and parliament.

How is it that Business Council of Australia representing the top 100 companies in Australia, many from overseas, holds so much power and infl uence over governments and parliament?

How is it that a Labor government has committed $368 billion over 30 years for a handful of nuclear- powered submarines that will inevitably be operated to serve our dangerous “Alliance partner”, the United States, locking us into never ending US imperialist wars?

Averaged out over those 30 years, that is $30 million per day that we are depriving of our hospitals, our ambulance services, maintenance and improvement to our rural roads, our schools, child care, aged care, increasing job seekers’ payments for the unemployed and living payments to those whose jobs have been closed down or are further threatened by AI.

And that is why workers need independence from both imperialist domination of this country and from being told by Labor that we can only achieve things through parliament.

That is why workers and working people need an independent and self-reliant Australia in workers’ hands. Yes, we have formal independence which we celebrate with every gold medal won at the Olympics, presented under the nation’s flag to the sound of the nation’s anthem.

However, Australia is enmeshed in a diplomatic, military, economic and cultural web that strips us of our sovereignty and ties us to the dominant constructor

of that web, namely, US imperialism.

Thus, we have a Labor Party that is abject in its May Day continued ... loyalty to the US Empire, a loyalty that even the traditional loyalists in the Liberal and National parties struggle to match.

Australia can and must break out of the US-Australia “Alliance”, stop being a loyal US deputy sheriff following the incompetent, incoherent and bullying leadership of the US, and instead develop ties of peace and friendship with the world’s people.

That is why we call on May Day for genuine antiimperialist independence for our nation, and for genuine independent socialist demands and actions for our class.

Long live the fighting tradition of May Day!