AS the weekend begins IST would like to look at the day workers get international recognition for the contributions to society.
It is 01 May and the International Workers Day……and May Day has a long history and not all of it deals with the workers…..
The Celts of the British Isles believed May 1 to be the most important day of the year, when the festival of Beltane was held.
This May Day festival was thought to divide the year in half, between the light and the dark. Symbolic fire was one of the main rituals of the festival, helping to celebrate the return of life and fertility to the world.
When the Romans took over the British Isles, they brought with them their five-day celebration known as Floralia, devoted to the worship of the goddess of flowers, Flora. Taking place between April 20 and May 2, the rituals of this celebration were eventually combined with Beltane.
https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/history-of-may-day
But these days the mention of May Day conjures up visions of the workers and unions and dare I say….socialism.
For me it conjures up memories of the historical event that has become known as the Haymarket Riot….
The Haymarket Riot (also known as the “Haymarket Incident” and “Haymarket Affair”) occurred on May 4, 1886, when a labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day. Despite a lack of evidence against them, eight radical labor activists were convicted in connection with the bombing. The Haymarket Riot was viewed as a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for rights like the eight-hour workday. At the same time, many in the labor movement viewed the convicted men as martyrs.
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/haymarket-riot
This event is the beginning of the use of “Anarchy” as something derogatory and synonymous with chaos. (A post to follow soon…..watch for it)….
As typical the powers decided that labor was to blame and since those days they try to dismantle the labor movement….and have been successful to a point….
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In Saner Thought 
I remember when May Day was a big deal for the working classes. Marches, speeches, protests, etc. Then the government made it a Public Holiday here, so everyone went to the beach or had a BBQ instead.
Best wishes, Pete.
We could not have the same day…we had to have our own and it is the same here…..no one cares anymore about labor….chuq
Yesterday I heard a speech by our German union “functional” on the radio. I felt like I was being addressed by the student representative at school. Lol I think the big corporations, in cooperation with politics, have long since managed to get us back to a working class like in feudalism. The current crisis – I just want to know if it really is such a dangerous pandemic, and whoever was slouching here – has now cemented this. Michael
I know it was bad…but the way the media is playing I question their reports. Be well and be safe chuq
Thank you very much, Chuq! You as well! 🙂
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