From Fertility Rites to Workers’ Strikes

Tracing the Dual Significance of May Day

By Viktor Lazić — Society for Culture, Art and International Cooperation Adligat, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97920731By Viktor Lazić — Society for Culture, Art and International Cooperation Adligat, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97920731

Happy May Day! Today is not only an ancient holiday of fertility stretching back into “pagan” history, but it’s also more recently International Workers’ Day.

There was a time when workers in the United States had virtually no rights and their employers functioned more like owners. There are many politicians in the pocket of powerful monied interests that want us to return to those dark times.

For over 40 years, we’ve left good, old-fashioned community values behind. And what for? Instead of the town square, we have social media. Instead of the small businesses, we have corporate conglomerates. Instead of local production and trade, we have international systems responsible for incredible waste.

At the end of the 1800s, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which would later become the American Federation of Labor, or AFL), convened in Chicago to implement an 8-hour working day.

It was not an easy victory.

The wealthy elite used unscrupulous police to attack the protesters, and every effort was made to turn peaceful marches and gatherings into violent affairs.

Today, 66 countries celebrate International Workers’ Day… but the United States…