Bigger May Day demos in Sweden this year

Bigger demos in Sweden

May Day demos in Sweden were bigger than in the last few years. The dual fear of the economic crisis, as well as the new danger that the right wing government will not be defeated next year, were the major reasons.

A petition demanding massive struggles to defend jobs and services and a day of national mass protest on 15 September has been launched by 33 well known local leaders of the miners, Volvo workers and other sectors of engineering, paper and pulp, public transport and health and child care workers. It was also in the May Day issue of Offensiv, the weekly paper of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (CWI Sweden).

In the May Day demos, RS focused on the election alliance ArbetarInitiativet (AI, Workers’ Initiative) RS has launched, together with others, for the European elections in June.

In Stockholm, 4,000 colour leaflets were distributed while over 200 copies of Offensiv were sold.

In Gothenburg, 200 marched with RS and in Umeå, in northern Sweden, the United Left, of which RS is a part, again organised the biggest May Day demo in the city with 500 people.

RS also had speakers and intervened in May Day demos in Luleå, Östersund, Sundsvall, Västerås and Malm-. RS also travelled to a demo in Copenhagen, Denmark.