29 April 12
eople
seem to know about May Day everywhere except where it began, here in
the United States of America. That's because those in power have done
everything they can to erase its real meaning. For example, Ronald
Reagan designated what he called "Law Day" -- a day of jingoist
fanaticism, like an extra twist of the knife in the labor movement.
Today, there is a renewed awareness, energized by the Occupy movement's
organizing, around May Day, and its relevance for reform and perhaps
eventual revolution.
If you're a serious revolutionary, then you are not
looking for an autocratic revolution, but a popular one which will move
towards freedom and democracy. That can take place only if a mass of the
population is implementing it, carrying it out, and solving problems.
They're not going to undertake that commitment, understandably, unless
they have discovered for themselves that there are limits to reform.
A sensible revolutionary will try to push reform to
the limits, for two good reasons. First, because the reforms can be
valuable in themselves. People should have an eight-hour day rather than
a twelve-hour day. And in general, we should want to act in accord with
decent ethical values.
Secondly, on strategic grounds, you have to show that
there are limits to reform. Perhaps sometimes the system will
accommodate to needed reforms. If so, well and good. But if it won't,
then new questions arise. Perhaps that is a moment when resistance is
necessary, steps to overcome the barriers to justified changes. Perhaps
the time has come to resort to coercive measures in defense of rights
and justice, a form of self-defense. Unless the general population
recognizes such measures to be a form of self-defense, they're not going
to take part in them, at least they shouldn't.
If you get to a point where the existing institutions will not bend to the popular will, you have to eliminate the institutions.
May Day started here, but then became an international
day in support of American workers who were being subjected to brutal
violence and judicial punishment.
Today, the struggle continues to celebrate May Day not
as a "law day" as defined by political leaders, but as a day whose
meaning is decided by the people, a day rooted in organizing and working
for a better future for the whole of society.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for
this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a
link back to Reader Supported News.
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