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I drink your milkshake! a metaphor for capitalism
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<blockquote data-quote="rickyb" data-source="post: 4608135" data-attributes="member: 56035"><p>the real labour day, may 1st. we dont celebrate may 1st officially in canada either.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.teenvogue.com/story/history-labor-day-us-government[/URL]</p><p></p><p></p><p>That brings us to May Day, the true workers’ holiday, and to Loyalty Day, a faux “holiday,” the existence of which supports the theory that Labor Day was conceived as a dampener on leftist political organizing. In most other countries, May 1 is celebrated as May Day, or International Workers Day, <strong>and its history is intimately connected with <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-workers-eight-hour-workday" target="_blank">U.S. workers’ long fight for the eight-hour workday</a>.</strong></p><p></p><p>In 1888, the American Federation of Labor chose May 1,1890, as the date for a massive demonstration advocating for the eight-hour workday; with that in mind, in 1889, the first Congress of the Second International, a federation of socialist parties and labor unions, also called for a global day of protest on May 1, 1890, in honor of the <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-workers-eight-hour-workday" target="_blank">Haymarket Martyrs</a>, eight Chicago anarchists who were arrested for a crime they did not commit (four of them were hanged). One of the martyrs, Albert Parsons, and his wife, Lucy, an accomplished anarchist writer and orator, had been deeply involved in the fight for the eight-hour day; they led tens of thousands of unemployed workers down the streets of Chicago on May 1, 1886, as part of a nationwide <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/general-strikes-explained" target="_blank">general strike</a>, three days before the fateful May 4 rally that led to his and his comrades’ unjust arrest and execution.</p><p></p><p>That first unofficial May Day parade was followed by bloodshed and a sham trial, but the Second International’s efforts to honor their sacrifice had a global impact. Now, May Day is a recognized holiday around the world, celebrated by many radicals as a day of action and solidarity. The U.S. is an outlier in its refusal to formally recognize May Day, let alone International Workers’ Day.</p><p></p><p><strong>But its implementation of Loyalty Day is even more insidious: In 1955, <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fascism-existed-america-history" target="_blank">at the peak of the anti-communist Red Scare</a> <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fascism-existed-america-history" target="_blank">helmed by Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy</a>, Congress passed a resolution deeming May 1 “Loyalty Day.” The explicit aim was to counter the impact of May Day rallies around the globe</strong>. Three years later, in 1958, it was enshrined as an annual holiday (albeit without any real perks) and has been reaffirmed via annual proclamations issued by every president since Eisenhower.</p><p></p><p>Even that was a half-cocked effort, though; from 1921 to 1958, May 1 was officially known as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/01/may-1-is-loyalty-day-in-america-heres-trumps-view-of-the-day-and-obamas/?noredirect=on" target="_blank">“Americanization Day</a>” — a “holiday” of forced patriotism conceived after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and a renewed current of militancy within the American labor movement. Its name and intent only changed in the late 1950s as the specter of communism haunted the chambers of government and the House Un-American Activities Committee hunted down leftists and suspected sympathizers in a scarlet inquisition.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rickyb, post: 4608135, member: 56035"] the real labour day, may 1st. we dont celebrate may 1st officially in canada either. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.teenvogue.com/story/history-labor-day-us-government[/URL] That brings us to May Day, the true workers’ holiday, and to Loyalty Day, a faux “holiday,” the existence of which supports the theory that Labor Day was conceived as a dampener on leftist political organizing. In most other countries, May 1 is celebrated as May Day, or International Workers Day, [B]and its history is intimately connected with [URL='https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-workers-eight-hour-workday']U.S. workers’ long fight for the eight-hour workday[/URL].[/B] In 1888, the American Federation of Labor chose May 1,1890, as the date for a massive demonstration advocating for the eight-hour workday; with that in mind, in 1889, the first Congress of the Second International, a federation of socialist parties and labor unions, also called for a global day of protest on May 1, 1890, in honor of the [URL='https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-workers-eight-hour-workday']Haymarket Martyrs[/URL], eight Chicago anarchists who were arrested for a crime they did not commit (four of them were hanged). One of the martyrs, Albert Parsons, and his wife, Lucy, an accomplished anarchist writer and orator, had been deeply involved in the fight for the eight-hour day; they led tens of thousands of unemployed workers down the streets of Chicago on May 1, 1886, as part of a nationwide [URL='https://www.teenvogue.com/story/general-strikes-explained']general strike[/URL], three days before the fateful May 4 rally that led to his and his comrades’ unjust arrest and execution. That first unofficial May Day parade was followed by bloodshed and a sham trial, but the Second International’s efforts to honor their sacrifice had a global impact. Now, May Day is a recognized holiday around the world, celebrated by many radicals as a day of action and solidarity. The U.S. is an outlier in its refusal to formally recognize May Day, let alone International Workers’ Day. [B]But its implementation of Loyalty Day is even more insidious: In 1955, [URL='https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fascism-existed-america-history']at the peak of the anti-communist Red Scare[/URL] [URL='https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fascism-existed-america-history']helmed by Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy[/URL], Congress passed a resolution deeming May 1 “Loyalty Day.” The explicit aim was to counter the impact of May Day rallies around the globe[/B]. Three years later, in 1958, it was enshrined as an annual holiday (albeit without any real perks) and has been reaffirmed via annual proclamations issued by every president since Eisenhower. Even that was a half-cocked effort, though; from 1921 to 1958, May 1 was officially known as [URL='https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/05/01/may-1-is-loyalty-day-in-america-heres-trumps-view-of-the-day-and-obamas/?noredirect=on']“Americanization Day[/URL]” — a “holiday” of forced patriotism conceived after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and a renewed current of militancy within the American labor movement. Its name and intent only changed in the late 1950s as the specter of communism haunted the chambers of government and the House Un-American Activities Committee hunted down leftists and suspected sympathizers in a scarlet inquisition. [/QUOTE]
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