Monday, May 01, 2006

May Day

Today, as I was preparing for tonight's meeting, I did a quick yahoo search on May Day. I found what I expected, that it is the historic start of Spring. But I also found out a lot about the Labor Movement's embracing of this holiday. It seems there was a big riot at the end of the 19th century and many people and countries embrace this day as a true Labor Day. Here is an section from the first, incredibly biased, website I found.


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,
portraying it as a holiday celebrated only in Moscow's Red Square. 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 us instead Labor Day - a
holiday devoid of any historical significance other than its importance as a day
to swill beer and sit in traffic jams.....By covering up the history of May Day,
the state, business, mainstream unions and the media have covered up an entire
legacy of dissent in this country. They are terrified of what a similarly
militant and organized movement could accomplish today, and they suppress the
seeds of such organization whenever and wherever they can. As workers, we must
recognize and commemorate May Day not only for it's historical significance, but
also as a time to organize around issues of vital importance to working-class
people today

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So you can see feelings run strong on this issue. And most people writing on the internet about the Labor Movement all seem to use similar language.

But today as the day that immigrant community should stage a walk out now makes more sense. What are your thoughts?

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