Yves here. Last week, I chided American labor for walking away from the American-born May Day commemoration as apparently too Commie/Rooskie, and substituting a bloodless and overly-wordy “workers Memorial Day”.
The apparent Russia/international Socialist aversion looks even more spineless in light of the Russians moving away from May Day as a formal holiday (although Barkley Rosser indicates it’s still effectively observed).
By Barkley Rosser, Professor of Economics at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Originally published at EconoSpeak
Today is May Day. An ancient point of the Gaelic calendar marking spring, it was long marked by pagan fertility celebrations and rites, dancing around May poles and the like, with many variations on this in different countries. The day became associated with the worker’s movement in 1886 when in Chicago a movement for the 8-hour work day involved many demonstrations and strikes and ultimately a riot in Haymarket Square in