From: Jerry Levy (Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM)
Date: Mon May 01 2006 - 09:23:16 EDT
Greetings to all on the first of May, 2006. Note the extensive historical chronology of May Day: > http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/0501.htm < So, as you can see, there is a long history associated with May Day. But should we _celebrate_ May Day? I think we should but the following makes a case to the contrary. What do you think of the claims made below? In solidarity, Jerry PS: there will most probably be another _huge_ march in New York City later today -- and at least sixty other cities in the US. Today has been called a "day without immigrants" and there are plans for students to boycott school, workers to take a day off, small businesses to close, and a call for consumers not to spend any money. This comes only two days after a massive anti- war demonstration in NYC -- which was estimated by a FOX news station (!) to have 350,000 protesters. I marched in that protest with my union contingent side-by-side with OPE-L member David L. It was a great day for me, except for the end at Foley Square where tents and tables had been set up. I was confronted by a very aggressive person (who happened to be another Marxist and a Professor of Eeonomics) who (among other indignities and public outrages) shouted repeatedly at the top of his voice: "You are the enemy of all humankind!" Some day I might tell you more about that. It was quite a scene -- full of drama, unintended humor, and rich in irony. > > Against the ceremonies of May Day > http://www.geocities.com/icgcikg/leaflets/primerodemayo.htm#mayday > > > Here is reproduced a leaflet against the bourgeois > celebrations of May Day, written and distributed by > South American comrades. The clearness of these > comrades while affirming the invariant positions of > the revolutionary proletariat makes any other > observation useless: against the state, against > democracy, against national liberation, against wage > slavery, against labor, against capital, against the > bourgeois commemorations of May Day. We just want to > emphasize the importance of the fact that these > comrades support the real historic subject of > revolution, i.e. the proletariat, at an historic time > where all the ideologies apply themselves to diluting > and dividing our class into a whole of various > categories. With these comrades we affirm against the > current that May Day was and will be a moment and a > flag of the struggle against exploitation, and with > them we call "for the constitution of the proletariat > as a revolutionary class". > > May Day > ======= > > The utopia of communism finds all the historic > strength for a new world to build in the words Manual > Gonzales Prada delivered at May Day, 1908 while > describing it as the day where "proletarians, > scattered throughout the world, don't see anymore May > Day as the irony to commemorate Labor Day but as the > symbolic day where oppressed and exploited gather to > number themselves, unify their aspirations and get > ready for destructive and definitive action" against > the state and capital. > May Day commemorates the international day of the > proletariat, the day remembering the legal murder of > four anarchist militants in Chicago perpetrated by the > American state in 1887. Some are trying this day to > reconcile class contradictions, shouting that May Day > is Labor Day; these words are so pathetic that they > only can be issued by counterrevolutionary agents > (leftist from all sides) who mix with us and > appropriate our flags to make us take the way of > democracy's pacifism, that is to say the legal > dictatorship of capital. Anarchists of Chicago didn't > die for this, they died for a new world to win, a > stateless one without democracy nor capital. > Strengthening the historic line of revolution, whom > Marx, Bakunin, Flores Magon, Gonzales Prada belong to > as well as all those who succeeded in identifying the > state, democracy and capital as the highest enemies > denying our humanity, we will continue to say that May > Day is "the international day of the proletarian > struggle", and NOT Labor Day. Celebrating labor means > to celebrate exploitation, celebrate the permanent > action of selling day after day our labor force for > money, this means to celebrate and cheer the bloody > "community of money" of the bourgeois state. This is > why speeches for Labor Day are coming from the UNO, > which is the International Organization of Capitalism > (where the whole of democratic dictatorship is > represented), so that we celebrate the inhumanity to > live happy within exploitation of the state and > capital. > In these periods of generalized reaction of capital, > May Day must be the day where "the historic line of > revolution" starts to live again, settling the > positions once and for all, and demystifying the > red-painted radical bourgeois opportunism represented > by all the left-wing fractions: from the Leninist, > Stalinist, Trotskyite, Maoist fractions up to > Guevarist, Castrist, Mariateguist, Aprist ones [APRA = > American Revolutionary Popular Action, populist party > founded by Haja de la Torre; ICG's note], etc. All > these intellectual fractions of radical petty > bourgeoisie, everywhere in the world, instill us that > it is necessary to celebrate labor, to continue the > reactionary reasoning of the management of capital by > workers and the reorientation of popular democracy and > national liberation, through which the constitution of > the proletariat as a revolutionary class is boycotted > and continually changed towards the channels of > capitalistic mentality. > Between left- and right-wing there is no opposition, > neither ideological nor practical, both are democratic > lines and therefore capitalistic sisters differing > only by the economic models of management of capital > in the hands of the state. Thus, within democracy > where leftists and rightists play, there is no > opposition, there is uniformity in the dump of capital > and labor management, generating all their blemishes: > commodity, accumulation and trade; homelands and wars; > borders, exploitation and misery; democracy and wage > slaves. For this and forever, while reminding Gonzales > Prada, celebrating May Day as Labor Day means to > affect simplicity, this means to play the role of > unfortunate and unaware people defending misery and > wage slave role, this means to be made a fool of what > is to be delighted upon the table of Easter feast. > Conscious proletariat celebrates May Day as the day of > revolution. > > "For the constitution of the proletariat as a > revolutionary" > Long live May Day!
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