Abdullah Öcalan has always used the international day of struggle of the working class as an opportunity to analyse the situation of the global socialist movement & to derive perspectives for the struggle for self-determination & socialism in Kurdistan & the Middle East.

After his abduction & imprisonment on the 15th of February, 1999, his opportunities to make himself known to the outside world were limited to short messages that only managed to get past the prison walls via his lawyers.

Nevertheless, he never missed an opportunity to address his movement and the public with messages of greetings on the occasion of the working women's day of struggle on the 8th of March, the Kurdish New Year, Newroz, on the 21st of March or the 1st of May. This text is a message from Abdullah Öcalan on the occasion of the 1st of May demonstration in Amed (Diyarbakir) in 2014.

This is Abdullah Öcalan's last May the 1st message before he was subjected to a stricter detention regime and total isolation in April 2015.

“In this era of hegemonic finance capitalism, the attack is directed not only against labour, but against society as a whole, its history, ecology and future. This means: socialism or barbarism, society or nothingness.” - Abdullah Ocalan