Let Us March with Cuba

Every May 1st, Cuba leads a march that fills the streets across the nation, especially Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución José Martí. This is not a ritualistic event —it is a powerful expression of resistance and collective will. In 2025, the commemoration of International Workers’ Day becomes an act of reaffirmation during a particularly complex moment, as the Cuban people continue to face serious economic, political, and social pressures.

This year’s parade marks the 25th anniversary of the well-known “Concept of Revolution,” articulated by Fidel Castro on May 1st, 2000. This ethical and political guide remains extraordinarily relevant today. In that historic speech, Fidel called on the people to act with “a sense of the historical moment,” to “emancipate ourselves by our own efforts,” and to build justice through collective commitment rather than awaiting miracles. That legacy, which also serves as a pledge, continues to guide Cuban workers as they take to the streets on this May Day.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez underscores the message clearly: “May 1st, International Workers’ Day, is arriving —a day to honor those who produce and sustain life.” This, indeed, captures the essence of the celebration: paying tribute to those who, through their daily efforts, keep the nation alive despite extremely adverse conditions.

To celebrate the Cuban worker is also to celebrate the capacity to endure without surrender and to create without giving up.

More than three decades ago, after the collapse of the socialist bloc in Europe, large-scale May Day celebrations diminished in much of the world. Yet in Cuba, they remained firm and combative. It can be said that even in times of greatest scarcity, the banners of Socialism were never lowered. That perseverance has been recognized and admired by friends and peoples from around the world who continue to join in this occasion each year.

Delegations from many countries come to experience this moment, to witness the joy, strength, and political clarity with which a small country confronts immense challenges. They do not come to watch a staged performance, but rather to share in a lived truth: a people who celebrate the rights they have won, even amid severe crises. A people who do not hide their mistakes but demand the energy and effort to correct them in an ongoing process of transformation.

The Revolution empowered the working class beginning in 1959, and that empowerment became doctrine when Cuba was declared the first Socialist state in the Western Hemisphere. This is not merely history —it is also about the present and the future. Today, as in the past, we march to celebrate that power remains in the hands of the people and that neither the blockade nor internal difficulties have extinguished this conviction.

These are undoubtedly difficult times. As Díaz-Canel affirms, the hurricane winds of imperial power blow harder than ever. But we remain standing —not because our enemies allow it, but because the Cuban people have chosen to. Because we continue to resist, to create, to dream. Because May 1st is not just another date —it is an act of confidence and hope.

So let us march, inspired in a special way. Let us march with Fidel in both memory and action. For our unity, for our independence, for our dreams of justice. Against the blockade, against the fascism threatening many nations, against the genocide in Gaza and all the silent genocides caused by global inequality. Let us march for that better world which Cuba defends and deserves.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff