Protest On May Day/International Worker's Day.

ON MAY 1, workers across the globe will demonstrate, attend meetings and go on strike in celebration of International Workers Day, a working-class holiday with origins in the U.S. more than a century ago.

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), founded in 1905 by socialists, anarcho-syndicalists and militant trade unionists, declared that it would celebrate May Day annually. On the eve of May Day in 1907, the IWW's Industrial Union Bulletin declared: Labor Day has completely lost its class character. The very fact that "Labor Day" was legally, formally and officially established by the capitalist class itself, through its organized government, took the "starch" out of it: destroyed its class character...The first of May has not been disgraced, contaminated and blasphemed by capital's official sanction and approval, as has Labor Day. The capitalist class can never be a friend of May Day; it will ever be its enemy. Though smaller in scale, May Day continued to be a reference point for working class militants in the U.S. And in the period before and during the First World War, its significance grew as a day of marking international working class solidarity in opposition to militarism and imperialist war.

socialistworker.org...
I have just been reading about 'May Day'. I had never really read much about it before. It sounds like an important day in the historical struggle of the worker against the capitalist. I havent heard much about the one planned for this year despite the fact that it is coming up.I guess its hard to get the word out about these things when the capitalist owns all of the MSM. Its not like they are going to advertise anything that would help the worker. The capitalist MSM works for the Capitalist,not for us workers.
It seems like a very important day that was a global thing once. The capitalist has hidden it from us. It sounds like something we should all get behind and bring it back with a vengeance.






en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by Germanicus


this seems like a very important day for people to say that they care about how things go in the work place, and that they care about how they are treated and how things should be more fair and such... but im really worried about everybody, and i mean literally the massive amounts of people that are going to get fired that day because their boss was like "if you go to do that mayday thing your fired!"

wouldn't that be really bad publicity for the boss and his company then?

i hope that nobody gets fired unfairly, and that everyone succeeds in making work a happier place.

reply to post by Germanicus

So we need an "Anti-labour" Day?

I don't understand.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


I agree. The capitalist is making it harder and harder for the worker to strike. If we all go 'wildcat' though,they couldnt stop us.

In Australia they have made it very difficult.They will force 'arbitration' at the drop of a hat.

reply to post by beezzer


I dont understand your post.

At all.

reply to post by SoymilkAlaska


alot of us have that day off.....
but, to answer your question, no matter how concerned I am with the way the world is going today...
if my boss need me there that day, I would be there...
he's just another working stiff trying to make a living really, while trying to keep us employed. yes, he is a little more wealthy than the rest of us...but well, I get the feeling that he is throwing some of his personal wealth into the business to keep it floating hoping we can get through the rough times.

I'd only protest if I knew for sure he didn't need me there doing my job! and well, at the moment he does...sorry!!!
besides a one day fling isn't going to accomplish much anyways...
we'd need to stop the economy long enough to hurt those super rich people who have managed to gain control of our gov'ts.....and well, we'd crush ourselves first I am afraid.

reply to post by dawnstar


Your 'Boss' is a Worker,not a Capitalist. It does not matter if you make 200k a year,you are a Worker. This is what we need to all understand.

Unless you are a Banker/Corporatist,you are a Worker. Your 'Boss' should be on strike with his Worker brothers too.

Originally posted by Germanicus
reply to post by beezzer

 

I dont understand your post.

At all.

Is May Day supposed to be a socialist-like workers party/power to the people/destroy the prolatariat thing?

reply to post by beezzer


Yes,kind of from what I have read. It was a global day where the Worker's of the world stand in solidarity against the Capitalist Oligarchy.

A day to make specific demands.

Edit-like the 8 hour working day for example.

Originally posted by Germanicus
reply to post by beezzer

 

Yes,kind of from what I have read. It was a global day where the Worker's of the world stand in solidarity against the Capitalist Oligarchy.

A day to make specific demands.

Edit-like the 8 hour working day for example.

edit on 26-4-2012 by Germanicus because: (no reason given)

Where do the Capitalist Oligarchy celebrate?
I bet their party has better food and an open bar.

reply to post by beezzer


Ha! I bet.

They are probably all saying 'let them eat cake'.

Then again,they arent stupid. I bet they have nice cake

Yep, May 1 is the traditional day of communist parades. It is also interestingly the day chosen for the immigration rallies year after year since 06. It is not a coincidence.

Here is a blog with some pics showing Unions marching last year on May Day

www.ringospictures.com...

May Day used to be a Spring festival. Figures the Communists would ruin it.

en.wikipedia.org...

www.marxists.org...

WND article on the immigration rally

Radical organizations, including active communist and revolutionary socialist organizations, were the driving force organizing the immigration boycott rally at Union Square in New York City on Monday. WND attended the event and took over 350 photographs documenting the effort by the radical political left to deliver an anti-American, anti-imperialist message under the guise of an “immigration rights” rally.

www.wnd.com...

Don't worry, the day is celebration in Moscow too

vimeo.com...

One in Iraq too. Isn't that a nice display of democracy


www.myspace.com...

I am old, so I think very few of you here will know about this. This is how it was in the early 1950's;

May 1st used to be called May Day and it was a public holiday, meaning the banks closed and the schools closed et al.

When I was a little girl we used to have dances on this day. The schools here in the U.S. would have a May Day celebration. It was to celebrate Spring, and I think it came from some ancient northern or English tradition. We would get dressed in our best little dresses and shoes and the boys would get all cleaned up and brushed their hair.

May Day was everything about flowers and pink, yellow and greens and blues and the gentle pastels of springtime. It was about New Life and being fresh and pure and alive.

We would wear flowers in our hair and we'd dance around the Maypole which was decorated with long steames of ribbons in all the fresh spring colors. We would each get a ribbon and we would dance around the Maypole to the music. We would make little May baskets and pick flowers and put the flowers in the baskets and take them to people we love, along with a hand made card.

I always loved that day. I look back now and think what a really sweet "public holiday"---

Well, a few years went by, and I got a little older and we celebrated a few more years--- and then one year there were no more Mayday celebrations at school; all gone, never to return.

My mother told me that it was because May 1st had now become known as Communist Day. Our U.S. government did want to appear to be celebrating Communism. So our May Day dances were canceled and the 'holiday' no longer existed. When i heard that, I was sad but I also decided I did not like Communism, and I have not changed my mind one iota.

I liked the sweet May Day dances and the flowers and I still like all things tender and kind and innocent.

Communism is not kind, or tender or innocent and or does it have any hint of Love and Beauty. Communism is poverty of the spirit, the heart, the soul. Communism is materialism gone amok.

In the world you will see what you be. Poverty of the Heart and Soul is seen in the world as poverty in all ways, tangible and intangible.

I for one, will make a few May Baskets and give some flowers to those I love.

I think you guys have confused Communism with Union's.

Communism does not equal Unions. Nor is it socialism.

Its a day for the worker.

www.socialistproject.ca...

And yeah,I read about the whole Pagan thing.

reply to post by Sweetmystery


ya, the may day festivals in my town were fun too....
the schools would hand out raffle tickets, and there was a big event, carnival, music, and all that and they would give away bikes...
they still do it, communism or not, they still have their celebration....
I was wrong though about having that day off, I don't...lol...
was confusing it with labor day, went to work, thinking I had it off, which well, we are slammed this month, been working some overtime trying to get the crap out. so, I was thinking that we had one less day, since we would have gotton monday off also.....nope, it might be labor day in europe, but not here in the states..

mayday was once a pagan holiday....with maypoles and all that....