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Tories to cut may day

Churchill | 04.03.2011 08:26 | Mayday 2010 | Anti-militarism | Public sector cuts | Workers' Movements

Please note: whether or not you agree with my particular take on this matter, the simple fact of this article is that the coalition is attempting to scrap a historic day of working class pride and replace it with empire pride. I hope this is something that many people take as seriously as I do. We must fight for our day before it is gone forever.

As the coalition settles happily into class war and ordinary people all over the country face job losses and service cuts, the tories have outlined plans to rub salt in the wound by abolishing May Day, traditionally a day to honour workers' struggles and remember the haymarket affair. It will be replaced with either a day of nationalist pride billed as "UK Day" or a day to celebrate military victories such as the Battle of Trafalgar.

The national misery caused by cuts, redundancies and privatisation is taking root, and the latest by-election shows the coalition is haemorrhaging support by the day. Cameron's latest ploy is straight out of Maggie's How To Stagnate Dissent 101. Catch-all tactic to deploy in desperate times - pick somewhere far away, let's say the Falklands, and starting a pointless war to stir up nationalist sentiment. Only problem is, Dave doesn't have an army to send anywhere, as we found out earlier this week when he became an international laughing stock for suggesting UK could invade Libya on a cut army.

So what to do? Without an army but desperate for war ... instead create a national day to simulate the 'home front' of war - huge public glorification of slaughter and semi-racist nationalist sentiment. Call it a pseudo-war. It's the same war the Daily Mail is fighting every day. And the cracking bit is, under the guise of extending the tourist season, you get to abolish a day that has inspired huge dissent for such a long time in British history.

I cannot see this as a coincidence. In November and December we saw huge student riots as the tuition fee hike hit home. As 2011 progresses and the cuts bite harder and harder on working class people, dissent will spiral out of all control. This coalition has marched into the lion's den with its eyes closed and is only now just beginning to realise the scale of what they have embarked upon, the outrage and betrayal most people feel, and the shifting scales of global order as the Tunisian Revolution dominoes across Africa and Asia and shows no sign of slowing. The riots of May Day 2000 will be repeated with extra, and Dave and Nick know this. This is just one move in a giant chess game the government is playing with our lives.

Whether or not you agree with my particular take on this matter, the simple fact of this article is that the coalition is attempting to scrap a historic day of working class pride and replace it with empire pride. I hope this is something that many people take as seriously as I do. We must fight for our day before it is gone forever.

Churchill

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

"Whether or not you agree with my particular take on this matter"

04.03.2011 10:56

I think a lot of people will.

Sim1


"Whether or not you agree with my particular take on this matter"

04.03.2011 11:58

Fucking spot on I say.

not-televised


Keep digging boy David.

04.03.2011 13:56

Another opportunity handed on a plate to oppose the sCamerons. Even the Trade Unions might DO something now.

By May 1st the cuts will be biting nearly everybody. The Cons are now taking the piss.

A direct challenge to a traditional Workers Day and Fertility Rite from the hated Tories can be another rallying point for loads of people. How about a National Strike, throwing a sicky, day of National Action against the rich as well as our usual hitting the streets.

Eat the Rich


"Whether or not you agree with my particular take on this matter"

04.03.2011 18:20

can we riot yet?

r!otd@wg


What an opportunity!

04.03.2011 20:24

I must commend the original poster for their restraint in commenting upon the proposed changes. I will try to keep in the spirit of this but we must consider the proposals within a wider context.

Ronald Hutton in 'The Rise and Fall of Merry England' demonstrated how the Reformation and the emergence of capitalist practices and ideologies had a significant impact in undermining the celebration of May Eve and May Day in the British Isles. E. P. Thompson in 'Customs in Common' further illustrated how the working classes resisted not just the appropriation of land and resources but also the culture of an emerging capitalist economy and society. Even though all capitalist democracies (?) ignored the anarchist origins of the contemporary holiday of May Day, it is still widely recognised as a day for the people. However, on this account the current regime in the UK has declared class war and on this account we must defend ourselves. Violence in self defence is no offence.

During the 1980s,Thatcher and her neoliberal regime tried to ban May Day. They were unsuccessful. However, in 2011 the neoliberal regime is much more effective in manipulating the power of the State and its subservient media to promote as a replacement an imperialistic and racist celebration in order to distract the masses from the government sponsored destruction of their services and communities.

Enough of restraint! We must send the message to the aristocratic and corporate elite that this is a struggle that cannot be ignored in the emerging social war. If the 'powers' that be want to regiment and indoctrinate society in the way they propose then they will face resistance. Often symbolic struggles provide the spark to set fire to the larger combustion.

If the aristocratic and corporate elite of Cameron and company go ahead with this proposal then, this attack upon the centuries’ old culture of resistance, then they should expect nothing more than to find themselves six foot under.

Love for a culture of resistance and rage.

1649


Oranges and Lemons say the bells of St Clements.

05.03.2011 17:16

"Here comes a chopper to chop off your head".

Cut the Tories and the Limp Dims.

Guillotine.


Tory Scum

05.03.2011 21:38

Taking our day off us to replace it with a nationalist day, bollocks. May Day is the workers day. Cameron's getting rid of it to cut one more chance for us to show how we feel. It is being replaced weith a potential holiday on St. George's Day - taking the day from the workers and giving it to the far-right, fucking typical. What a fucking scumbag.

IHTF


Big Society plc!

05.03.2011 21:40

What a daft idea!

They should be more concerned with sorting the bloody mess out with daylight saving time. This is a northern hemisphere country and a sizeable chunk of the population suffer with the effects of light deprivation in the winter.

It is truly ludicrous that it starts getting dark at 3.30pm in the winter. It increases the incidence of Multiple Sclerosis which is now firmly linked to light deprivation.

Personally, I would have thought the Government would be more concerned with the public health than with idiotic displays of nationalist, politically correct media led stunts like a "UK day". We had enough of that populist garbage under Labour thanks.

Keep Mayday, revert to an extra hour of daylight in the winter and pick up the savings over the longer term by seeing a reduction in MS cases through the NHS.

Me


at last someone spotted this!

09.03.2011 12:04

yes, i saw this being reported in the much derided mainstream media, weeks ago...
with the round of protests at the end of the century [J18 etc] still fairly clear in our memories i assumed this site would be in uproar. perhaps its just gethering a slow momentum?
remember, 'official' mayday was always a fudge, contrived by the remnant labour admin of the late 1970s, to fall in the first few days AFTER 1st may.
still, no point in letting it be taken away. why not put it to good use this year!

march hare