Monday, May 01, 2006

may day post

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us Today is May 1st, otherwise known as May Day, a day of international labor solidarity. Contrary to the efforts of some to paint the day as a "commie holiday" in support of the USSR and other "communist" countries, the real roots of the holiday predate the horrors of 20th century statist collectivism.

The following links provide some interesting historical commentary on the roots of May Day. While Kevin Carson focuses on the American origin of the modern May Day movement and the role of individualist anarchists in the labor movement of that time, Eugene Plawiuk goes back even further to reveal the day's Pagan origins.

Kevin Carson's " May Day Thoughts: Individualist Anarchism and the Labor Movement"
Eugene Plawiuk's "The Origins and Traditions of May Day"

3 Comments:

Blogger KipEsquire said...

It was the global Communists and their collaborators who co-opted the commemoration of the Haymarket Riots into what became modern May Day.

Don't bash the libertarians for subsequently calling Shenanigans about it.

We didn't start the fire...

11:18 PM  
Blogger DJ durutti said...

Yo Freeman --

Happy May Day

12:59 AM  
Blogger freeman said...

Thanks Matt!

Kip - I appreciate the effort of the Catallarchy folks to expose the cruelties that took place in the former USSR and elsewhere, but May Day is an inappropriate day to do so. The day predates the rise of "communist" nations by many decades and righfully belongs to anarchists and the workers, not to those who co-opted it.

For a better explanation of what I'm trying to say, I recommend reading Rad Geek's May Day post.

6:19 PM  

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