The title of this post may seem rather senseless to most of you, for in all likelihood you have no plans to observe May Day at all. But there are people in countries around the world who will be observing May Day with great earnestness.
In the U.S., May Day in the past was often observed
with May Day baskets of flowers hung on the doorknobs of family/friends and
with dances around a Maypole—but I won’t be writing any more about that. (If
you want to reflect on that type of May Day observance, click here.)
Observing May Day in 1967
On May 1, 1967, I had lived in Japan exactly
eight months. Even though it was a Monday, since it was an unofficial holiday
in Japan, June and I had the day off from language school where we were
students. That gave me the chance to see May Day observed as I had never seen
it observed before.
The mission house into which my family and I
moved in September 1966 was 20-minutes by foot from the Yoyogi National Stadium
that was part of the venue for the 1964—and the 2020—Olympics. On that May Day,
I decided to walk over there and see what was going on.
Before reaching the Stadium, I encountered
masses of people—largely blue-color laborers—holding rallies and protesting
what they considered injustices in Japanese, and world, society.
While the rallies were mostly related to
domestic labor issues, there were also protests against the Vietnam War and
against the presence of U.S. bases in Okinawa which were supporting that war. There
were also appeals / demands that Okinawa be returned to Japan.
I don’t think I saw one other gaijin
(foreigner) at those May Day rallies, and I was later told by gaijin
friends that I was foolish for going there as I might have been
accosted/injured. But it was a most interesting experience, and I am still glad
that I learned some about that type of May Day then.
International May Day 2022
Although I didn’t know it then, in many
countries around the world May Day is also known as International Workers' Day
or Labour Day. The reason for May 1 being chosen as a day of advocacy for
workers of the world goes back to 1886.
Two years earlier, a convention held by the
organization of labor unions that later took the name American Federation of
Labor (AFL) unanimously set May 1, 1886, as the date by which an eight-hour
workday would become standard.
On that fateful Saturday, thousands of workers
went on a general strike in support of the eight-hour workday, and rallies were
held throughout the United States. The strike in Chicago led to the deadly Haymarket
Riot on May 4.
Because of those events in Chicago, a few years
later in Europe, advocates for laborers there and across the world chose May 1
as International Workers' Day. It is now a public holiday in some 80 countries around the world.
Here is a link to a 4½-minute video showing how six countries
(beginning, interestingly, with Ukraine and including Russia and France)
observed International May Day in 2017.
And here is a link to a 2-minute video titled
“Join the 2022 International May Day Online Rally this May 1!” It is by David
North, an American Marxist theoretician who serves as the national chairman of
the Socialist Equality Party (SEP)
in the United States.
SEP opposes both “the ruthless imperialist
ambitions of NATO,” and “rejects the national chauvinism with which the Putin
regime defends its desperate invasion of Ukraine.” The online May Day rally will
also be advocating for greater equality for the workers of the world.
Despite strong opposition to socialism by
many USAmericans, why shouldn’t we, especially those of us who claim to be
followers of Jesus Christ, be more concerned about the suffering and even
exploited workers of the world?
Let’s observe May Day this year by at least giving
some thoughtful consideration to how we might help working people struggling
because of low-paying jobs that are inadequate for meeting their basic needs.
_____
** For a closely related viewpoint, I encourage
you to read Celebrating
Labor Rights, on May Day and Beyond, an article by Adam Russell Taylor in
the May 2022 issue of Sojourners magazine.
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The first comments received this morning were from Thinking Friend Bob Hanson in Wisconsin:
ReplyDelete"I meet with an online group DSA Democratic Socialist of America, and it has been an education by some excited young folks. We forget the socialist operations in our society, like SS and some of our health care."
I regularly receive information from DSA, but I haven't attended any of their meetings. I am highly supportive of much they are trying to do for the good of the lower strata of American society. And, certainly, since the 1930s there have been many "socialist" aspects in American society--but from the 1930s until the present there have been those who have opposed those aspects. There are still some who do not support Social Security and far more who are opposed to "Obamacare," but there are those like you and I and the DSA who think that healthcare for all ought to be expanded, especially for the benefit for the poorest people in our country.
DeleteLocal Thinking Friend David Nelson shares these positive comments:
ReplyDelete"Wonderful post this morning. I will celebrate May Day with workers around the globe. I will remind myself and others that true power is not the ability to hurt another but to help another. True community is not forcing conformity but celebrating the wonderful human diversity. I loved the links and celebrate with my whole human family."
Thanks, David.
DeleteHow much better off this country would be if there were far more people who think like you do!
And then these brief comments from Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky:
ReplyDelete"A good suggestion, Leroy. The Russians may focus on May 9, the end of WWII for them, rather than May 1, but I like the connection with Labor."
Yes, May 9 is now celebrated as Victory Day in Russia. From what I found online, since its formation in 1991, the Russian Federation has officially recognized May 9 as Victory Day and considers it a non-working holiday.
DeleteHere is what I found on another website: "May 1 was a symbol of class struggle in Russia for about 100 years (1890-1990). Workers held annual protests on this day from 1890 to 1917, demanding better work conditions and higher wages. In 1918, May 1 became an important public holiday, known as the Day of the International Solidarity of Workers, in the Soviet Union."
Thinking Friend Virginia Belk in New Mexico shares these comments:
ReplyDelete"Interesting and appropriate!
"Prior to opening the e-mail, I had recalled two things: my parents were married on 1 May 1936. I recalled vaguely Mother helping me as perhaps a nearly four-year-old, to make a woven paper strip basket, put in a few flowers, and hang it on our own front doorknob. This was inspired by an older girl, probably my aunt, Daddy's baby sister, who learned to make such a basket at school. Mother told me we were supposed to knock & run away, but since it was our own door, we deleted that part of the ceremony. I could not manage the paper strip weaving of two sides of the paper, so I wove one page while Mother made the real basket. Later on, I would introduce paper weaving to my Navajo second graders as one of the weekly art lessons. I have absolutely no idea why that early childhood memory popped into my mind today.
"Somewhere along the line, I heard something about Russia celebrating Labor Day on May first, rather than on the first Monday in September...
"I think helping Ukrainian refugees by contributing to a church organization which addresses that need will be my May Day celebration."
Virginia, "Labor Day" is celebrated on various dates by the countries around the world. In Russia, May Day was also known the Day of International Workers Solidarity, so it was the Russian "Labor Day." As I mentioned in the article, May 1 in some 80 countries around the world is celebrated as "International Workers' Day," which is sometimes called "Labor Day," although the emphasis is different from the beginning of September Labor Day in the U.S. or the late November "Labor Day" in Japan.
DeleteAs you know, I think, Jean and I are also members of DSA. I was a founding member of DSOC, one of the predecessor organizations, and attended the founding convention in New York where Michael Harrington and Irving Howe, among others, were getting things going for democratic socialism. Back in the '70s, I was more-or-less quite active. Jean and I have gone to a couple of meetings in Dubuque and one here here in KC before the pandemic lockdown. But we're not finding time in our lives for that kind of engagement at present.
ReplyDeleteLet me add a funny/sad story about May Day. I lived for several years in Vienna, Austria, and a friend and his wife were coming for a visit from the USA. Unfortunately they arrived by train from Italy in the morning on May 1 and stood for the longest time at a streetcar stop without a clue as to why the streetcars weren't running. As I recall, eventually they found someone who could explain in English, and they hailed a taxi.
I just now saw/read "What is May Day? For the most part, the opposite of capitalism," which was posted by NPR this morning at the following link: https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095729592/what-is-may-day-history
ReplyDeleteHere are comments received late last night from Thinking Friend Frank Shope in New Mexico:
ReplyDelete"I remember as a grade schooler learning about May Day; my impressions were somehow related to my father. He had an eighth grade education. In our part of town he was not unusual. He along with neighbors bartered their bodies for a few coins. We lived in a neighborhood where many homes had only dirt floors.
"Over the years I have celebrated May 1 by remembering the past and continued oppression of those who are marginalized and abused by capitalism. A number of years ago I began to pray that God would destroy the prosperity and pleasure of America if America would not give up its stranglehold on the marginalized and poor.
"God destroy our reliance on pleasure and prosperity as if they are the end of all things and the means of attainment, no matter how ruthless, are acceptable!"
Thanks, Frank, for sharing these powerful words based upon your personal experiences. At this point, my next two blog posts will also be related to what you rightly called the "oppression of those who are marginalized and abused by capitalism." One of the things that bothers me the most is the number and strength of the people in American society that seemingly want to maintain that oppression for the benefit of the wealthy.
DeleteAbout an hour ago I received these further comments from Frank:
Delete"I was in a small rural community a few years back leading a Bible study and suggested that followers of Christ need to pay attention to how we participate in the oppression on the poor.
"First, one lady called me a 'bleeding liberal.' Second, she believes in the 'trickle-down effect.' Using Reagan economics, she believes that the more the wealthy make the more she has potential of making.
"I think most Christians never give capitalism a second thought. They believe that God wants them to have the Abundant life. That God wants them to be blessed with economic power.
"To dare question the way one makes money or the flow of money is to be un-American."
I remember years ago hearing someone on TV (Studs Terkel?) explaining the origin of the phrase "bleeding heart liberal." He identified it with an eastern European tradition of having a picture in the home of Jesus with a bleeding heart. I could not find an internet link to verify this, but I did find something similar from Atlas Obscura here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/origin-bleeding-heart-liberal
DeleteSo what started out as a 19th century confession of faith, morphed in the 20th century into a political insult. That says more about our modern hyper-capitalism than about either Christianity or liberalism. Just a thought experiment, but imagine Jesus came back for a short visit (nod to Dostoyevsky), and the first words he said to an American audience were, "Forgive us our debts." He might hear worse insults than "Bleeding heart liberal!" Would He be arrested before He could finish the Lord's Prayer?