Why we celebrate Worker's Day

Today we celebrate a holiday that is under threat from the Tories. They share this passion for its abolition along with the past fascist governments of Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. In an attempt to take control of the worker’s holiday, in 1955, the Roman Catholic Church dedicated May 1 to "Saint Joseph the Worker". The Catholic Church considers Saint Joseph the patron saint of (among others) workers, craftsmen, immigrants and "people fighting communism". Needless to say they did not succeed.

Readers of this blog will be aware of the fact that I hold that for centuries the working class of this country have been down-trodden and oppressed. They will also know how strongly I hold that the principles of socialism need to be carried forward until the scourge of capitalism is removed from this country and every other nation.

The working class have a long international tradition for fighting this oppression and history shows how, in every instance, capitalism and the ‘state’ moved against ordinary people to maintain the status quo.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement.

Working classes have existed since the development of agriculture, about ten thousand years ago. Serfs, slaves, tradespeople and others were forced to turn over the fruits of their labour to an exploiting class. But the modern working class - the class of "free labour," whose exploitation is hidden by the wage system - is only several hundred years old. Although its exploitation is masked, it is no less brutal. Men, women and children are forced to work long hours in miserable conditions just to eke out a bare subsistence.

Ultimately, this led the International Socialist Conference meeting in 1904 to call on "all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."

Today we honour the decisions made at that meeting and take a few moments to remember those working class martyrs who fought selflessly for our rights, without any care for their own personal safety. Their names will not be forgotten:

Peterloo Massacre
John Ashton
John Ashworth
William Bradshaw
Thomas Buckley
Robert Campbell
James Crompton
Edmund Dawson
William Dawson
Margaret Downes
William Evans
William Fildes
Mary Heys
Sarah Jones
John Lees
Arthur Neil
Martha Partington
John Rhodes
Joshua Whitworth

Llanelli Rail Strike

Leonard Worsell
John 'Jac' John

Stirling Martyrs

John Baird
Andrew Hardie

The list is endless and sadly, rarely includes the names of thousands of unsung warriors who worked throughout their life for all we have today.

Most readers of this blog will not be marching under union banners today. Instead we will enjoy a day of well-earned rest with our families. So, when you light your barbeque this afternoon, or go for a drink in your favourite watering hole, remember those martyrs who gave their lives so you could enjoy your day of peace.

They must never be forgotten and the Tories must never be allowed to desecrate on e of the most important days in the calendar for working class people. On this we refuse to lie down and like the socialists who fought for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War the cry must go out …..

Non Pasaran!