This year the 1st of May stood in the light of the state of emergency again, imposed by the bourgeoisie – but in a different way than one year before. Here is a brief overview of activities in northern Germany:

Bremerhaven: "Demonstration was good, Police was bad"

Under the slogan "Into the Streets on 1st of May! Against State of Emergency and Crisis!" there was a demonstration in Bremerhaven on the day of struggle of the international proletariat. The masses are angry in the poorest region of Germany and they did not hide their anger. The participants let out their frustration at the demonstration, telling that they were on the streets because they were fed up and no longer wanted the state of emergency and instead wanted their freedom back, because they were afraid for their existence or because they finally wanted to do something against the daily harassment by the police. The call for the demonstration, which was distributed in advance in the working-class neighbourhoods of Bremerhaven, spoke from the soul of many and drove them to the streets.

Also the numerous speeches reflected the situation of the people of Bremerhaven. Be it the so-called federal emergency brake (a new law which was added to the Law for Prevention of Infection), which, like all Corona measures, turns against the people. Be it the militarization through making the use of Tasers by the police of Bremerhaven permanently which was decided by the local government of the Federal State of Bremen just a few weeks ago. Or be it the closing of the Lloyd shipyard and the destruction of numerous livelihoods, also generally in the economic crisis, and the empty words of the bourgeois politicians and yellow unions who would allegedly fight for us. They were all there: the children and youth from the neighbourhood who finally want to see their friends again and are harassed by the police when they are already doing it now. The young woman who wants to fight against police violence and use of tasers. The bar owner whose livelihood is threatened right now and who feels abandoned by the bourgeois politicians. They were all in the streets of Bremerhaven on the 1st of May, cheering and applauding the speeches.

The mood was militant throughout, with slogans like "Don't believe the lies of the exploiters - the rebellion is justified!" or "The FRG is not our state - All power to the proletariat!" resounding loudly through the streets of the Goetheviertel. Masses, including many youth, proudly waved the red flag with hammer and sickle. And who now wants to claim that they did not know that they were carrying the flag of communism, be assured that the masses do know very well. Perhaps even better than many self-proclaimed socialists, or how else can it be explained that a man carrying a flag said "I don't want the GDR back, but this I like" while pointing to the yellow hammer and sickle. In the course of the demonstration, hammer and sickle flags appeared in front of and next to it in several places, decorating the demonstration route.

Again and again new people came and joined the demonstration, filmed and photographed the events and considered themselves quite naturally as a part of the demonstration. The police was obviously mercilessly overwhelmed by this large participation and this great unity of the demonstrators. Again and again there was minor harassment at the edges of the demonstration, e.g. the police filmed the demonstration and the participants. When reaching the planned final rally point the demonstration wanted to continue and the police cleared the way after the masses made it clear that they did not want to be stopped. Thus, the demonstration could continue for a few meters to where it started. But even after ending the demonstration the police harassment did not stop, among other things, a bus in which demonstrators wanted to make their way back, was pursued to the main station by a large police contingent. But here, too, the local people knew how to help each other, and so young and old people made their way back together to protect each other from possible attacks by the police, even if they had to take a detour to do so.

As for the mood in the proletarian neighbourhoods towards the police, let's just say this: at the beginning of the demonstration, they were asked by some children if they could throw eggs at them. And if they had seen how they had been beaten up in Stuttgart last year. The matter was clear for the masses that day and can be summed up in the statement of an old migrant man: "Demonstration was good, police was bad.", which he repeated over and over again as he accompanied the demonstrators on their way back and patted them on the back.

This year's May Day in Bremerhaven was also in light of the planned massacre of poor peasants in Rondônia, Brazil. In a speech the situation of the comrades was described, the flags of the revolutionary peasant organization LCP and Brazilian Popular Women's Movement MFP (Movimento Feminino Popular) were carried side by side on the demonstration. A banner on the sound car condemned the criminalization of the struggle for land in German and Portuguese. The demonstrators listened attentively to the speech and asked interested questions.

The demonstration in Bremerhaven made one thing clearer: the anger of the masses is growing. They no longer want to swallow their anger. It is up to the communists here in the country to shout to them "The rebellion is justified" and to lead them. For this we need more than ever the Communist Party of Germany, which must be reconstituted. That the masses want this and are looking for solutions to their situation has been proven once again on this day. So the problem lies with the communists to fulfil their duty and not with the masses. At the demonstration, the masses got a taste of what they can achieve when they unite under one flag.

Bremen: Solidarity with the revolutionary Peasant Movement in Brazil

For a second year in a row, the DGB (German Trade Union Confederation) capitulated before its traditional May Day demonstration through down-town Bremen. Therefore, different revolutionary forces from the FRG and Turkey held a demonstration on the same route as last year. Besides carrying a banner with the slogan "Glory to the international proletariat! Long live the 1st of May!", which is one of the slogans of this year's May Day declaration of the Maoist parties and organizations, the demonstration was used to protest with another banner against the criminalization of the revolutionary peasant movement in Brazil and to support the international solidarity campaign.

On the occasion of the 1st of May hammer and sickle flags appeared in different working-class neighbourhoods of Bremen.

Hamburg: Bans, Drift Hunting, Water Cannon

In Hamburg, almost all left-wing demonstrations were banned in advance. Already at the beginning of the week, the Hamburg Administrative Court had decided that no large left-wing demonstrations were allowed to run. The reason given was a containment order. Now, the Hamburg Administrative Court is also not necessarily known for contradicting the wishes of the state executive. Now the head of the executive in Hamburg is Andy Grote, who proved again what a dog he is with this year's May Day. In good German Social Democrat tradition à là Noske, Grote is also ready to be "the bloodhound." And the police behaved accordingly on May Day. Of course, some forces of the revolutionary movement could not be stopped from taking the streets on the 1st of May. The police acted against these justified protests with a tremendous disproportionality that one could think they missed the big demonstrations where they could beat and arrest as they wanted with impunity. For this purpose, on this 1st of May in the entire inner city area, in addition totacticalarmoured vehicles in side streets, water cannons because for a bit of pyrotechnics in the Schanzenviertel, a mounted squad was also used to chase demonstrators through a park. For hours, demonstrators were held captive in police kettles, without the possibility to go to the toilet and even more so without being able to keep enough distance from each other. This only exposes once again the lie of the alleged protection against infection that was used as justification for the bans of demonstrations.

In Hamburg, too, flags put up in several working-class neighbourhoods.