IWW MayDay Nijmegen speech

On MayDay 2025 we had the honour of speeching in Nijmegen at the start of the march. Here is the speech that was said that day:

Happy International Workers’ Day, Fellow Workers. I say fellow workers because that’s what we are. Contract workers, freelance workers, burnt out workers, students, precarious workers, unemployed workers, retired workers, zero-hour contract workers, no matter what they call it, we are all workers. We’re all part of a great mass of people, here in Nijmegen and all around the world, who have been under the boot heel of capital for too, too long.

We used to have tools to fight the capitalists. We used to have strong labour unions that would rally together, as workers, to push back against low wages, exploitation, death and dismemberment. Where have those unions gone? I’ll tell you – they’re sitting in big fancy offices on expensive real estate. They’ve grown too used to backroom deals with CEOs and lawyers to listen to us, what we want. And what do we want? We want the world! We built this, all of us, not a tiny group of people sitting on top of piles of money. Our sweat, our labour – ours.

Over three thousand years ago, the first recorded strike in history happened. In Ancient Egypt, workers who were sick and tired of getting paid later and later, with less and less food, put down their tools and walked off the job. They were offered pastries to get back to work. Finally, soldiers were sent in, but they were forced back when workers threatened to destroy the monuments and tombs they were building. They won, together. Sadly, though, the story has remained the same, except maybe even worse.

Now, we’re facing real destruction. More than at any other point in our history, we are facing total annihilation. That’s why we need to reclaim the strike in all its forms, the legal and the illegal. Strikes don’t have to be announced months in advance and given government and business approval. You don’t have to sit by while workers in another company strike by themselves. You don’t have to be afraid of walking off the job together, collectively.

But we are afraid, and with good reason. We all know what happens when you take these kinds of actions. But the choice is more critical than ever, and that’s why you need to be talking to your colleagues, to your neighbors, to your friends. The next generations literally depend on you, even though they don’t know it. They might never get to know it.

I stand up here as a proud member of the IWW, the Industrial Workers of the World. I want to relate to you a story on the power of striking.

In 1912, in a city called Lawrence, textile workers were facing a difficult situation. Their pay was getting cut, and people were literally facing starvation. But so-called “skilled” workers didn’t have the same interests as those “unskilled” workers, nor did white workers and black workers, or immigrant workers, or women workers. Or, so they thought. The textile mills used these divisions to divide and conquer.

Then, the IWW arrived. They were able to bridge those gaps, bringing in talented organizers of all backgrounds to help these workers realize that they had more in common with each other than with their bosses. It was an great display of power. Gangs of women roamed the streets, throwing cops into the River. Workers sat down in their factories, refusing to move, and attacked anyone who dared touch them. On the other side, armed militias were formed. Firefighters were ordered to spray picketers with water in sub-zero temperatures. Undercover detectives even tried to frame these workers by planting dynamite in their homes.

Workers died. They were gunned down in the street. And they were mourned – but the work of organizing went on.

Meanwhile, these workers had been building networks of power throughout the state. So, when the bosses ramped up the pressure even more, they took an even more personal step. They sent their children, dirty, dressed in rags, down to Boston on the trains, all alone. The sight of these poor children stumbling out of the train station drove the wealthy of Boston, and the newspapers, crazy. But they weren’t actually alone. These workers had built up networks all through the city, and the children were sent to friends, distant cousins, complete strangers.

Eventually, the strikers won, and they got more than they every thought was possible. That was because they were willing to take risks, but also because they were able to put aside their differences and link arm-in-arm with people who didn’t speak the same language, who didn’t believe in the same religion, and who didn’t think that there was power in a union. Can you do that? Can you put everything on the line?

We’ve been doing this for years, all of us. In 1943, Dutch workers put their lives on the line by striking right in the heart of the Nazi war machine in Amsterdam. They saw their Jewish brothers and sisters being led off to death in concentration camps, so they stood up and said, “enough!” They were punished for it, and they knew they would be punished, but they did it anyway. They had a deep and abiding love for their fellow workers, a love that transcended everything else. When you feel that love, you can do anything. It sounds trite, but it’s true. This movement is founded in and nourished by deep, deep love. Love these people around you. They need you, and you need them.

The fight isn’t over, and we have to keep fighting these same battles against the same people. Here in the Netherlands, too, from the rail strikes, to the university strikes, and organizing everyone from delivery riders to grocery store workers – there’s probably something for you. And if there isn’t? Get in touch with your union. Start talking to your co-workers. Show them that there’s power in a union. You’re the only ones who can do this – and everyone else is counting on you. Organize, organize, organize!