THIS weekend socialists, communists, trade unionists and working people across the world will gather to celebrate International Workers’ Day.

When the sixth congress of the Second International, meeting in 1904, called on “all social democratic party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the first of May for the legal establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace,” they faced declining living standards, state brutality and the drive to war.

Since then, working people have won many advances in the teeth of entrenched opposition from the ruling class. Weekends, limits on working hours, a minimum wage, maternity pay, sick pay, equal pay legislation and limited employment protection are just some of the victories we have had to fight for and win.