Background

We are living through a deepening global economic crisis marked by inflation, low wages, rising debt, and shrinking social services, worsening conditions for working people. Around 186 million people are unemployed worldwide, 1.5 billion are underemployed, and 2.1 billion work in the informal sector with very low pay, minimal protections, and harsh working conditions.

Since the deadly creation of the neoliberal economic offensive under the US-led imperialist system, ruling governments in countries across both the Global North and Global South have used so-called Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) to privatize national assets such as infrastructure, energy, public housing, education, and health industries on behalf of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) as the monopoly capitalist class’s weapons of choice against all workers. This has greatly deepened the global economic crisis and has pushed the imperialist powers, especially the US, into competition and military aggression, which has especially drowned the workers in misery.

In the Global North, deindustrialization, financialization, and cuts to public spending have made jobs more insecure and weakened unions. In the Global South, debt crises, structural adjustment, and environmental disruption have deepened poverty and instability, forcing millions to migrate in search of survival. Across all regions, workers face declining wages, precarious employment, rising living costs, and a lack of social protections.

The current US-Zionist war with Iran has already had major economic impacts on the people, such as rising oil prices, inflation to augment military spending, and has cost billions of dollars. These imperialist wars and political crises cause more instability in working class and migrant worker communities and force workers and their loved ones to migrate abroad or become refugees.

Global markets increasingly rely on migrant labor to cut costs, leaving migrants among the most vulnerable in times of crisis, war, and displacement. As of 2026, there are approximately 281 million migrant workers and 32 million displaced refugees worldwide, and these numbers are growing with intensified war and crisis. Concentrated in low-wage, precarious sectors, they provide cheap and flexible labor while facing unsafe conditions, legal vulnerability, and exclusion from basic rights. Migrant workers are relied upon for the most essential jobs in society, yet face the most inhumane treatment of any working people.

Migrants lack the same rights and social protections as workers in the host countries. Driven by poverty and instability in their home countries, many migrants are forced into debt just to work abroad, while governments of these sending countries rely on their remittances—effectively sustaining a system of forced migration and super-exploitation. They face the most egregious forms of fascist repression, outright terror, including detention, violence, and racist targeting by the state, rendering them a disposable workforce. For all of these reasons, migrant workers are truly the underclass of the working class in the world today.

The shared livelihood struggles between migrants and workers provide a basis for collective unity and collective action, especially as the global crisis pushes us into deeper hardship and exploitation.

Migrant liberation is inseparable from the liberation of the entire working class. We can achieve this by waging shared struggles in every country and locality, addressing exploitation, labor rights, housing, and access to social services, to foster working-class unity.

Through united struggles—strikes, organizing, and militant action—we can build working-class unity and confront the system at the root of our oppression. The path to our liberation is the solidity of an all workers united front to confront and take down the imperialist system that is the cause of our suffering and hardship!

LAUNCH OF THE CAMPAIGN, “FREE THE MIGRANTS! ALL WORKERS UNITE!”

May 1, 2026 will mark the launch of a new campaign, “Free the Migrants! All Workers Unite!”

The Free the Migrants campaign is a grassroots movement led by migrants and workers, where migrant workers play a leading role. It creates space for us to educate ourselves about the economic crisis, understand its root causes, and take action against those who exploit us—from employers and corporations to immigration systems and governments, where we are neglected, and wars are waged on us.

Through this campaign, we build connections across workplaces and borders, across home and host countries, strengthening solidarity and gaining allies in the fight for our rights and livelihoods.

Most importantly, it is a campaign through which we can build our own power to fight those who live off our misery, and build a world of unity, justice, and peace where all have the freedom to live, work, migrate, and return home on our own terms.

This is a campaign that ILPS will be conducting globally alongside other anti-imperialist and workers’ organizations and networks, including the growing network of workers’ organizations, All Workers United.

All Workers United is a new, global platform for cooperation and solidarity among workers’ organizations and labor unions. Born from the unity and discussions at the Global Workers Study Conference (GWSC) 2025 in Kathmandu, Nepal, AWU aims to unite the struggles of workers, unionists, women, and migrants from both the Global North and the Global South. Its core mission is to coordinate the collective power of workers to hold capital and governments accountable for the widespread poverty, destitution, and exploitation faced by working people and toilers worldwide. AWU is built on the foundational principle: “All Workers, Unite!”

Learn more about the Free the Migrants campaign and All Workers United by visiting the campaign website here.

CALLS

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle calls on its members to conduct militant action this May 1 targeting the economic and political power of the ruling classes in their countries (the big business owners, big landlords, imperialists and bureaucrat capitalists in control of government and military). There should be a particular emphasis on the local and immediate economic struggles of workers, peasants, and other toilers (particularly migrant workers), and to link these economic struggles with the fight against the political power of the domestic ruling classes of countries and, ultimately, the struggle for social liberation through overthrowing imperialism and building socialism. The involvement and, when possible, leadership of workers in May Day actions is of crucial importance.

ILPS is issuing the following calls for May Day 2026:

• All Workers, Unite!
• Free the Migrants!
• Fight for Workers’ Liberation!
• Down with US Imperialism!
• Fight for National Liberation and Socialism!

ACTIONS THAT CAN BE TAKEN

• Hold actions in high-visibility areas and in working class communities and neighborhoods.
• Take a photo or video of yourself or members of your organization expressing the calls listed above and highlighting the particular struggles and campaigns you are engaged in locally and nationally.
  • Footage of mobilizations along with photo actions can be emailed to [email protected].
• Write and publish International Workers’ Day statements asserting the power of workers and the need to organize towards workers’ liberation,
• Hold education sessions within your organizations or among your community. Use the resources listed below from the Free the Migrants campaign as part of your education.

RESOURCES

Placards (Click to Download)

Register your Action