01 May May Day Celebrations
Wishing all happy May Day celebrations, a traditional celebration of Spring, with dancing round the Maypole!
Two Celebrations in One
Since the late nineteenth century, it has also been a day to celebrate workers’ rights. However, let’s get one thing straight: celebrating Labour Day does not make you a communist. Unions and labour parties were set up to represent worker’s rights within the capitalist system, not to overthrow it.
Economic Theory
Karl Marx may have wanted the overthrow of capitalism eventually, but even his theories suggest this will happen as a consequence of ‘economic evolution’, as I’ll call it. I’ll go further and say that Marx never said making money was a bad thing. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” meant the unfair distribution of wealth was the problem. His theories on the accumulation of capital expand this further. Large companies use their wealth to create unfair competition for smaller businesses. We’ve seen this recently with corporate globalisation.
A Plea to All
Let’s free ourselves from notions of May Day equaling the state-Socialism of Stalin or Mao. Instead let us acknowledge the contribution workers make to our society. Anyone who has to work for a living is a worker, however one subdivides them. Let’s be inclusive, not exclusive.
So again I wish all a Happy May Day!
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