PREPAK for upliftment of workers
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, April 30 2012:
The proscribed People's Revo-lutionary Party of Kang- leipak (PREPAK) has ex-tended greetings to workers on the occasion of May Day.
Stating that the Day has been observed to show solidarity to the working class, a statement issued by the Assistant Secretary, Publicity and Propaganda of the outfit, Leibak Ngakpa Luwang called on all working class people of the World to unite and all concerned to show respect to the workers and uplift them.
The PREPAK statement recorded that the International Workers' Day or May Day sprang from the labour movement launched in the United States in the 19th century.
It said that the united labour movement of the workers was so powerful and influential that it shook the capitalists' foundation thereby gaining pace day by day.
The path of revolution is confronting the vices of counter revolution until the aims are achieved.
This can be learnt from observance of May Day, it stated.
On May 3, 1886 when the workers of United States gathered at the Haymarket Square in Chicago to discuss about the postpone merit of the movement, police resorted to lathi-charge at them.
To protest the police's high-handedness, the workers staged a demonstration at the Haymarket Square
on May 4 .
A police sergeant died as a bomb was hurled at the gathering.
Due to this, a fracas between the workers and the police ensued resulting in the death of seven policemen and four workers while more than a hundred people sustained injuries.
Following the Hay-market Square incident, a spark to the burning labour movement was plugged when the patriots resolved to fight back all counter revolution measures.
In an attempt to curb the movement, some proponents like Parsons, Spies, Fishcher and Engel were hung while some others were exiled.
The counter revolutionary measures spilled out of Chicago and the measures spread across the United States.
However, the workers movement holds a significant place in the chapters of history due to the undying spirit of the workers that keeps the wheels revolution still in motion.
A year after the proponents were hang in Chicago, the American Labour Federation convened a convention at St Louis in 1888.The convention resulted in the launch of eight hours a day movement' .
It said that the labour movement of American Federation of Labour under the leadership of Samuel Gompers was worth remem-bering.
The movement had provided a platform to all labourers of the world.
It was on July 4, 1889 that the movement was adopted as an International movement during a meeting of leaders of revolutionary proletarian movement.
Chronicling the evolution of International May Day, the PREPAK statement observed that the first International Labour Day was in 1907 while in India it was first observed in 1927.The International Labour Day observance in the entire North Eastern states, participated by the people of Kangleipak, was on May 1, 1939 when workers under the leadership of Lamyanba Irabot took out a rally from Moirangkhom till the official residence of the then Political Agent, Jimson, the statement recorded.
It maintained that even if the State participated in the International movement since 72 years back, the conditions of the working class have not improved.
Stating that the condition of workers both in the public sector and private sector remains to be at its worst, the PREPAK statement called for the improvement of labourers employed in private firms.
It further stated that the incapability of the present education system under the colonial regime in fetching educated youths a respectable job has wasted the resource of the State.
The PREPAK charged that the colonial regime has been using the human resource as a machinery of fraticidal killings, and exploiting the natural resources of the land and at the end rendering the people a consumer society, unable to stand on its own feet.
The PREPAK statement urged all concerned to uplift the workers of the State who work hard on their own to avert the deceiving traps of the capitalists.
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