May Day: past but not forgotten

May Day, a holiday in these parts, has just past. I've said before how much I like it, but one reason I've never mentioned before is the irony of the holiday. To most people, over here, over there, it's all about those "dirty commies" and socialists who are out to destroy the world. It was on this holiday, the day of workers' solidarity, that the Cold-War "communist" regimes marched out their military hardware to remind themselves of how great they are. That was ironic because May Day as the day for labor was an American idea. And it is ironic today, because America has finally almost achieved what they couldn't do 150 years ago, namely destroy (organized) labor.

Yes, that 8-hour day that we all wax emotionally about was a victory by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) May-Day protests back in the 1880s. Most of what we consider "normal" about work, like some kind of security, an 8-hour day, paid overtime, weekends, perhaps even some benefits came to America only through the radical efforts of the IWW and other labor organizations in the face of bloody, brutal repression by moneyed interests, the government, and the police. No, the workers won the day, and what we consider workers' rights were granted by countless, tireless, fearless people like you and me, not by an aggressive military or a benevolent government act. But the forces of oppression are regained their ground, because they were able to dupe and hoodwink the very people they were oppressing into believing that poor people want to take their hard-earned gains away from them.

Actually, the white-collaring of the workforce, the relentless off-shoring of manufacturing, the automation of mining and production all played their part, but the victory that was won was made possible by all those poor saps who believed they were better than mere workers, entitled to more, and above the masses, unwashed as they are. No, it was those of us who worked by did not labor who actually betrayed our blue-collar fellows by believing the lie that we were somehow better, and deserving of more.

Of course, no sooner do you have it than someone (usually the giver) is taking it away. Individual, not collective-bargained, contracts means fewer raises. It also means longer hours, more required dedication to "the company", that is, more loyalty, more accepting of fake excuses for rising profits but only rising salaries and bonuses just a level or two above our own. And too many have passed this acquiescence and sycophantry onto our children, and we push them off to college, whether it's worth it or not, to suffer under intolerable and onerous burdens of debt, in the hopes of better life which will most likely never come, because someone once painfully won the road to it for you, and you think it's now your due. But it's not. You did nothing to earn it.

How ironic is that?