A day freighted with utmost historical significance
Today, as you may (or should) be aware, is May Day. The holiday (at least, in most of the non-U.S. world) carries many meanings to many different groups.
To some (sadly an all-too small segment of the world), May Day is a time to recall and reflect upon the non-pagan origins of the holiday. Here in Chicago, it should curry even greater importance, since it was in the heart of this very city where the anarchist movement called for an 8-hour work day and a massive wave of strikes and demonstrations that culminated in the fateful events at Haymarket Square. May Day is very much anarchist in its roots.
For others, May Day represents the triumph of organized labor. Indeed, originally May Day was to mark the inauguration of the aforementioned 8-hour day for laborers in Chicago industry, at least in the vision of the nascent unions that called for strikes in factories where these demands weren't honored. Owing partly to this, May Day was seized upon as the first "Labor Day," fraught with the connotations of courageous workers struggling for fair working conditions. And in Communist nations, May Day became one of the most significant holidays of the year, an occasion meriting military parades and celebrations (all with heavy party and state propaganda) in commemoration of the apparent triumph of the proletariat. Yet it was not merely a Communist holiday. All across the world, in nations as "socialistic" as the banking and tax haven of Luxembourg, May Day became and remains a holiday. Indeed, in much of the world, it is simply referred to as "Labor Day," with historical referents and connotations, unlike the purely arbitrary and insulting designation of the first Monday in September as the U.S. "Labor Day" holiday.
And, to many, May Day is a commemoration of infamy, lawlessness and injustice. Chiefly conservatives hold this point of view, which derives from the anarchist origins of the first May Day. Even today, the original events of May 1886 resonate heavily among the law and order set; in Chicago, a proposal to rededicate a Northwest Side park in honor of Lucy Parsons, the anarchist wife of Albert Parsons, one of the Haymarket Martyrs executed unjustly, has brought scorn from the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. The Chicago Park District has even taken to justifying the proposal by claiming it commemorates her work as a crusader for womens labor and civil rights, distancing her from her connections to the anarchist movement. This vein of disgust also led President Eisenhower in 1958 to proclaim the first of May "Law Day," a manifest insult to the anarchist roots of the date. And, undoubtedly, many conservatives disdain May Day because, in their mind, it conjures up images of the Cold War and the Communist embrace of the holiday. None of this, of course, seems to have bothered the overwhelming majority of the world, where, again, May Day is an official holiday.
However, of arguably greater significance on this date in particular, 1 May 2004, is the formal accession of 10 new members to the European Union, including eight from the former Communist bloc. It gives me great hope to see these members in particular -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia -- joining (or rejoining) the common family of European nations. Even if EU membership seems to make these states second-class citizens in the New Europe, with full EU rights and privileges being denied initially. Still, on some level, I feel like this really marks the definitive conclusion of the Second World War and the Cold War, and the commencement of a courageous, if uncertain, new chapter in European history. For that reason, despite all my misgivings about the way in which the EU seems to have gone back initially on its promises to the new members, for today I want to let those worries subside and celebrate an occasion that, ultimately, should really help promote a united, diverse, vibrant Europe, one that with any luck may extend some day all the way from the Atlantic to the Urals and even beyond. I will remain critical of double standards and the obvious junior status of these new states, but I cannot forgo my optimism that the EU should and will become a model for adapting to a globalizing society and developing truly international governance.
To some (sadly an all-too small segment of the world), May Day is a time to recall and reflect upon the non-pagan origins of the holiday. Here in Chicago, it should curry even greater importance, since it was in the heart of this very city where the anarchist movement called for an 8-hour work day and a massive wave of strikes and demonstrations that culminated in the fateful events at Haymarket Square. May Day is very much anarchist in its roots.
For others, May Day represents the triumph of organized labor. Indeed, originally May Day was to mark the inauguration of the aforementioned 8-hour day for laborers in Chicago industry, at least in the vision of the nascent unions that called for strikes in factories where these demands weren't honored. Owing partly to this, May Day was seized upon as the first "Labor Day," fraught with the connotations of courageous workers struggling for fair working conditions. And in Communist nations, May Day became one of the most significant holidays of the year, an occasion meriting military parades and celebrations (all with heavy party and state propaganda) in commemoration of the apparent triumph of the proletariat. Yet it was not merely a Communist holiday. All across the world, in nations as "socialistic" as the banking and tax haven of Luxembourg, May Day became and remains a holiday. Indeed, in much of the world, it is simply referred to as "Labor Day," with historical referents and connotations, unlike the purely arbitrary and insulting designation of the first Monday in September as the U.S. "Labor Day" holiday.
And, to many, May Day is a commemoration of infamy, lawlessness and injustice. Chiefly conservatives hold this point of view, which derives from the anarchist origins of the first May Day. Even today, the original events of May 1886 resonate heavily among the law and order set; in Chicago, a proposal to rededicate a Northwest Side park in honor of Lucy Parsons, the anarchist wife of Albert Parsons, one of the Haymarket Martyrs executed unjustly, has brought scorn from the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. The Chicago Park District has even taken to justifying the proposal by claiming it commemorates her work as a crusader for womens labor and civil rights, distancing her from her connections to the anarchist movement. This vein of disgust also led President Eisenhower in 1958 to proclaim the first of May "Law Day," a manifest insult to the anarchist roots of the date. And, undoubtedly, many conservatives disdain May Day because, in their mind, it conjures up images of the Cold War and the Communist embrace of the holiday. None of this, of course, seems to have bothered the overwhelming majority of the world, where, again, May Day is an official holiday.
However, of arguably greater significance on this date in particular, 1 May 2004, is the formal accession of 10 new members to the European Union, including eight from the former Communist bloc. It gives me great hope to see these members in particular -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia -- joining (or rejoining) the common family of European nations. Even if EU membership seems to make these states second-class citizens in the New Europe, with full EU rights and privileges being denied initially. Still, on some level, I feel like this really marks the definitive conclusion of the Second World War and the Cold War, and the commencement of a courageous, if uncertain, new chapter in European history. For that reason, despite all my misgivings about the way in which the EU seems to have gone back initially on its promises to the new members, for today I want to let those worries subside and celebrate an occasion that, ultimately, should really help promote a united, diverse, vibrant Europe, one that with any luck may extend some day all the way from the Atlantic to the Urals and even beyond. I will remain critical of double standards and the obvious junior status of these new states, but I cannot forgo my optimism that the EU should and will become a model for adapting to a globalizing society and developing truly international governance.
posted by Alexander Dubcek | 12:58
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