04/10/2006 May Day - May Day (Part 3)

“Thus, today,” he said, “the Red Flag of the proletariat, which is celebrating its day of liberation from the imperialist gangs, is flying over liberated Sevastopol” (Lenin).

If you live in the United States, then May Day most likely means has little to no significance in your life what-so-ever. For me May Day means nothing. And that is generally what May Day has become a forgotten celebration of worker’s rights. As one would imagine the United States government didn’t want anything to do with the holiday. Wanting to separate themselves from the Communist associated holiday, the United States gave its workers the first Monday of September as a holiday.

“It is not surprising that the state, business leaders, mainstream union officials, and the media would want to hide the true history of May Day. In its attempt to erase the history and significance of May Day, the United States government declared May 1st to be "Law Day", and gave the workers instead Labor Day, the first Monday of September - a holiday devoid of any historical significance” (Anarchy).

It is kind of absurd that the government would consider having a holiday on a certain day would increase the chances of riots. The date was made official in the late 1880’s as a result of the Haymarket Riots in Chicago a year earlier. The United States government has been urged to change the day to May first, however the change could be viewed as “aligning the U.S. labor movements with internationalist sympathies” (Wikipedia).

Lenin
Anarchy
Wikipedia
The photo is a May Day poster (Russia, 1920) from, Berkeley