In Cuba, May 1st, International Workers' Day, is one of our national dates.

In 1890 the international workers' day was celebrated in Havana for the first time.

Particularly during the 20th century, until 1958, May 1st was a day of struggle for Cuban workers. 

a day of struggle of Cuban workers in defense of their interests and in confronting corrupt governments and dictatorships that existed in the country.

After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, the date of May 1st took on another very significant connotation.

Precisely on May 1, 1959, in the then Civic Square in Havana, which in 1961 became "José Martí" Revolution Square, May 1st was celebrated with a festive character with the presence of thousands and thousands of workers.

On that occasion, Commander Raúl Castro spoke, since the leader of the Revolution, Fidel Castro, was not in Cuba. He was traveling that day to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to participate in an international conference.

Already in 1960 and later on successive occasions Fidel spoke at the popular rallies and parades on the occasion of the International Workers' Day.

On several occasions he emphasized the role of the workers in the defense and development of the Revolution, the importance of worker-peasant unity, and other important issues.

For example, on May 1, 1962, when appreciating how the International Workers' Day was celebrated in Cuba, Fide pointed out: "What does it mean, then, the jubilation and the massive attendance of the working class on a day like today, at an event like this, in a parade like the one we have just witnessed in our country?"

And he added: "It means the great reality, the beautiful reality, the reality that the workers dawn jubilant with the first lights of the morning; whistling the sirens of all the factories begin the commemoration of this day of the working class; and the workers all mobilize, since weeks ago they have been mobilizing and preparing, to make this day more beautiful and more lucid."

Fidel also specified: "That means the beautiful reality that our country is a country where imperialist exploitation has ceased, where capitalist exploitation has ceased, and where a profound social revolution is taking place; where the workers ceased to be the oppressed and exploited class, to be the class that governs the destinies of the Cuban nation."

Ten years later also on May 1, 1972 Fidel assured, "The Revolution is solid.  The Revolution is strong.  The Revolution is not the work of a day or of a year; it is a work for always in the future.  It is an eternal work, in which the fundamental actor is the people, the workers."

And in 2000, during the ceremony for the International Workers' Day, Fidel made very eloquent considerations about the meaning and characteristics of the Revolution.

He asserted:  "Revolution is a sense of the historical moment; it is to change everything that must be changed; it is full equality and freedom; it is to be treated and to treat others as human beings; it is to emancipate ourselves by ourselves and with our own efforts; it is to challenge powerful dominant forces within and outside the social and national sphere; is to defend values in which we believe at the price of any sacrifice; is modesty, selflessness, altruism, solidarity and heroism; is to fight with audacity, intelligence and realism; is to never lie or violate ethical principles; is a deep conviction that there is no force in the world capable of crushing the force of truth and ideas. Revolution is unity, it is independence, it is fighting for our dreams of justice for Cuba and for the world, which is the basis of our patriotism, our socialism and our internationalism."