Happy May Day , D U !

[mdmc]

Hello DU!

Today is my birthday, and I have always celebrated on May First. Does any one out there celebrate on this day for other reasons?

It's 12:30 pm, and I'm turning in. I'm hoping to find at least 33 (one for each year I've been on earth) posts when I wake up later this morning.

So check in. Who celebrates May Day?

[camero]

1. happy birthday

It's mine too.

[benburch]

2. The Internationale

http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/int/intern.MP3

[qwertyMike]

3. All of Europe

May Day is Europe's Labor Day.

Remember the huge Moscow parades?

Happy birthday comrade

[Michael Costello]

4. A single spark can light a prairie fire - May Day in the heartland

Here's a web page I do on May Day around the US. Yes, May Day is celebrated not just in other countries, and in NYC and San Francisco, but in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Utah, Kansas, and the like.

http://www.geocities.com/progressivepix

I will be in Union Square tomorrow in NYC if I wake up tomorrow afternoon for the rally there.

My grandmother was very proud to be an ILGWU member. But she didn't like May Day - she yelled at one of the people in the union office for their celebrating of May Day. She associated with something she disliked a lot. No, not socialism, communism, or anarchism. Atheism! Where are the Christian socialists when we need them?

[Michael Costello]

7. Let's not forget...

May Day is celebrated because it was when the eight hour day, 9AM-5PM was won. 8 hours work, 8 hours leisure, 8 hours rest. Four men were hanged for this, one killed himself in his cell rather than be hanged.

Well, it hasn't been won for good. Elaine Chao is trying to chip away even more at overtime rules. The struggle goes on.

[mdmc]

19. thanks for the link and the info.

:hi:

[Davis_X_Machina]

5. In the Catholic calendar...

....it is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker.

Pray for all those who have been killed, mained or injured on the job in the last year, victims of the greed and or stupidity of their fellow men.

But above all we must remember the priority of labor over capital: labor is the cause of production; capital, or the means of production, is its mere instrument or tool.
-----
Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits.
The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers' rights within each country and all through the world's economy.
-----
A just wage is a concrete measure -and in a sense the key one- of the justice of a system.
-----
The means of production cannot become a separate property, called capital, as opposed to labor.
They cannot be owned against labor or to exploit labor.
They cannot be owned just for the sake of owning them.
The only title to their ownership - whether private, public, or collective- is that they serve labor.
This means that under suitable conditions the socialization of certain means of production could be acceptable.

John Paul II, Laborem Exercens

[mdmc]

20. Great quote

Thanks
Now I'll bookmark the thread. :~)

[MAlibdem]

6. im awake

trying to seduce females to my house online...not working...sort of

[mouse7]

8. I think we should go wish the Freepers a Happy May Day

You know, goodwill during the holiday season?

You know they'd appreciate the gesture.

[madrchsod]

9. where`s my may basket?

and where are all the young maidens dancing around the big phallic symbol called the "may pole"..when i was a kid back in the 50`s we celebrated may day this way..i know that was along time ago..but it was fun .....

[mdmc]

33. ah, the good ol days

:kick:

[pnorman]

10. Here's what I just reposted on my union BBS today:

Received today from the Washington State Labor Council]
From: "David Groves" [email protected]
To: "WSLC e-mail list" [email protected]
Subject: May Day events planned statewide
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 09:12:51 -0700

FRIDAY, APRIL 30
May Day events planned in Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma and Fife

The following May Day events are planned for Saturday, May 1 (see below for an
explanation of the history and significance of May Day):
>
>
>
Here is an excellent essay by Jackie Dana that appeared in the Working Stiff Journal
explaining the history and significance of May Day:

May Day - the REAL Labor Day

"Workmen, let your watchword be: No compromise! Cowards to the rear! Men to the front!
The die is cast. The first of May, whose historic significance will be understood and
appreciated only in later years, has come." —Albert Spies, May 1886

All of the privileges workers enjoy today—a minimum wage, safety laws, and even an
eight-hour workday—came about only with the sacrifice of the workers who came before us.
Although the government prefers our collective amnesia, workers on this May Day should
remember our past and realize that we too are part of an ongoing struggle to bring about
an end to the exploitation of labor around the world.

From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, people in factories have worked very
long shifts, lasting up to fourteen or more hours a day. During the 1880s a new movement
calling for an eight-hour day inspired both labor unions and unorganized workers. At its
1884 convention, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions adopted a resolution
stating that beginning May 1, 1886, "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work" and
workers would strike at companies that did not recognize the eight-hour day.

By April 1886, a quarter of a million workers had committed themselves to go on strike as
part of the May Day movement. This enabled thousands of workers to win shorter shifts.
Most employers, however, refused to reduce working hours. By May 1 some 200,000 workers
were on strike. An additional 340,000 workers in the industrial cities of Boston, New
York, Milwaukee, Chicago and Pittsburgh, turned out for local parades and rallies
>
>
>
Here's the complete text of that history of May Day:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/vol2no4/labor10124.htm

and

Here are the events that were omitted in the previous posting:

Worker Memorial Day Commemoration in Spokane -- April 28 was Worker Memorial Day, a day
set aside to honor the memories of workers killed or injured on the job during the past
year and a day to rededicate ourselves toward the fight for workplace safety and health.
Commemorations were held in Bellingham, Everett, Tacoma and Olympia, but Spokane's is
planned for Saturday at noon at Mission Park (Perry & Mission) in Spokane, followed by a
picnic in the park. The Spokane Regional Labor Council invites everyone to attend in
conjunction with Bloomsday weekend. If you plan to run Sunday's race, please also attend
the ceremony and picnic Saturday after you register for the race. For more information,
contact Beth Thew at [phone].

Rally & March for Immigrant Workers' Rights in Seattle -- Immigrant rights advocates,
community leaders and union activists will rally and march in Seattle on Saturday to
support immigration reform and worker rights in general. The march begins at 10 a.m. at
the Seattle Central Community College south plaza, 1701 Broadway, and proceed down Pine
Street toward Westlake Park, where the rally will happen at noon. For more information,
call [phone] x331 or [email protected].

"Support Grocery Workers" Action in Tacoma -- Jobs with Justice plans to lead an action
on Saturday from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. outside the Safeway store at 38th and M Street in
Tacoma, just east of the Tacoma Mall. The United Food and Commercial Workers union is
negotiating a new contract for some 17,000 Puget Sound area grocery workers at Safeway,
Fred Meyer, Albertsons and QFC stores. The companies are seeking dramatic cutbacks of
health care benefits.

Tacoma-Pierce County area May Day Celebration will be Saturday at 7 p.m. at the ILWU
Longshore Hall in Fife (1306 Alexander Ave. E between Highway 509 and Pacific Highway S.)
Join the labor community as we celebrate the traditional labor holiday with special
guest speakers Tacoma Mayor Bill Baarsma, Rep. Steve Conway and the ILWU's Joe Wenzl.
Admission is free, as is the food and drink. For more information, call America in
Solidarity at [phone].

[bigbillhaywood]

11. HAPPY MAY DAY!

Arise ye prisoners of starvation, arise ye wretched of the earth!

[Davis_X_Machina]

13. It's the fine old conflict... n/t

[markses]

12. The Internationale

Words by Eugene Pottier (Paris 1871)
Music by Pierre Degeyter (1888)

Arise ye workers from your slumbers
Arise ye prisoners of want
For reason in revolt now thunders
And at last ends the age of cant.
Away with all your superstitions
Servile masses arise, arise
We'll change henceforth the old tradition
And spurn the dust to win the prize.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.
So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale unites the human race.

No more deluded by reaction
On tyrants only we'll make war
The soldiers too will take strike action
They'll break ranks and fight no more
And if those cannibals keep trying
To sacrifice us to their pride
They soon shall hear the bullets flying
We'll shoot the generals on our own side.

No saviour from on high delivers
No faith have we in prince or peer
Our own right hand the chains must shiver
Chains of hatred, greed and fear
E'er the thieves will out with their booty
And give to all a happier lot.
Each at the forge must do their duty
And we'll strike while the iron is hot.

[markses]

14. I'm also playing, to celebrate the occasion: The World Turned Upside Down

Billy Bragg version:

In sixteen forty nine to St George's Hill
a ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the peoples' will
they defied the Landlords, they defied the laws
they were the dispossessed, reclaiming what was theirs
"we come in peace" they said, to dig and sow
we come to work the lands in common and to make the wastegrounds grow
this earth divided, we will make whole
so it will be a common treasury for all
the sin of property, we do disdain
no man has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain
by theft and murder they took the land
now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
they make the laws to chain us well
the clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell
we will not worship the god they serve
the god of greed who feeds the rich while poor man starve
we work, we eat together we need no swords
we will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords
we are free men, though we are poor
you diggers all stand up for glory stand up now
from the men of property, the orders came
they sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Diggers' claim
tear down their cottages, destroy their corn
they were dispersed, but still the vision lingers on
you poor take courage, you rich take care
this earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share
all things in common, all people one
we come in peace, the orders came to cut them down

[Minstrel Boy]

26. I love that song, and the story of the diggers.

Here's a link to some downloads of different covers:

http://www.seedstar.net/undeep/diggers.html

[bigbillhaywood]

15. Kick

[Christ was Socialist]

16. Today is like all holidays in one for us Socialists, and our leftists...

brethren. HAPPY MAY DAY

[bigbillhaywood]

17. Kick, trying to get you up to 33. n/t

[pnorman]

18. That's as good a reason as any.

KICK! KICK! KICK!

pnorman

[mdmc]

21. Thank you all!

Peace and low stress. Don't work too hard, DU! :~)
:hi:

[markses]

22. Kick

brrrump

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

23. ...in memory of the Haymarket Martyrs.

May Day was an international commemoration fo an event in Chicago.

Heres a link to an article about the event, and the big monument at Chicagos Waldheim Cemetery.
http://www.graveyards.com/foresthome/hmarket.html

Ive actually visited this site. People still leave flowers and political buttons here and at some of the other graves, like Emma Goldman, who is buried nearby.

[doni_georgia]

24. Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful 33rd year! n/t

[rhino47]

25. Happy Birthday to you !

[IronLionZion]

27. Happy Birthday!

:toast:

[mdmc]

28. thanks all

Peace!

[bubblesby2002]

29. Not to make light of May Day

But my every May 1 this is what my Presbyterian mother used to say:

Hooray hooray it's the first of May
Outside screwing starts today.

Happy May 1 everybody

Bubblesby

[mdmc]

30. What does it all mean?

:why:

[bubblesby2002]

31. What's it all about

Alfie?

[mdmc]

32. She sounds pretty cool

thanks for clearing that up. :hi:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

34. Natl holiday in Brazil. But the store my wife works at opened.

Just out of spite, I suppose. I filed an online complaint to the Ministry of Labor. Let's see if something happens.