May Day
[Guest post by DRJ[
Thousands of West Coast dockworkers who load and unload freight at 29 ports are taking the day off today to protest the War in Iraq and “support the troops.”
Color me skeptical.
The shutdown occurs as the dockworkers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, near the expiration of their contact with the Pacific Maritime Assn. The Maritime Assn. claims the shutdown is a violation of the dockworkers’ contract, and an arbitrator had already considered the planned shutdown and ordered the union to go to work today.
The ports have shut down before. In 2002, the port shut down for 10 days during a contract dispute between dockworkers and the maritime association. In addition, two years ago on May 1, 2005, the port was closed by truckers who refused to deliver goods as a protest of U.S. immigration policies.
To some, May 1st is known as International Workers Day, a day of solidarity among workers made popular by communists and anarchists. It is a day when the working class uses protests and strikes as “a reminder to the ruling classes that their days are numbered.”
In many Western nations, May Day celebrates the impending arrival of Spring with flowers, baskets, and Maypoles.
Those are two very different May Days.
— DRJ
Hey, where’s the fertility rites?
Al (b624ac) — 5/1/2008 @ 11:48 am“To some, May 1st is known as International Workers Day, a day of solidarity among workers made popular by communists and anarchists. ”
Specifically, in solidarity with the struggle for the eight hour working day in the united states. I’m more of the belief that we celebrate the labor movement every weekend by not working.
stef (860987) — 5/1/2008 @ 11:53 amJust remember that the long-time leader of the ILWU was Harry Bridges, an avowed Marxist!
Another Drew (f9dd2c) — 5/1/2008 @ 11:54 amEven though these guys are making 6-figure wages now, the old influence is still strong.
The ILWU has always been fairly left, and is still the home of the iron rice bowl.
Kevin Murphy (805c5b) — 5/1/2008 @ 11:59 amCan’t they be fired for this kinda crap?
Scott Jacobs (fa5e57) — 5/1/2008 @ 12:29 pmAnd mos likly organized by the WORKERS WORLD(RED)PARTY a communists group i hope they get the next pay checks cut back by 50%
krazy kagu (b3eb4a) — 5/1/2008 @ 1:10 pmNope. Without looking it up, May Day as Labor Day started in Chicago (don’t ask me when). Much later, due to the Communist scares, it was switched to the First Monday in September.
nk (1f1707) — 5/1/2008 @ 1:26 pm1886 and 1958, respectively.
Happy May Day, tovaritchi.
nk (1f1707) — 5/1/2008 @ 1:38 pmThat union went out on strike DURING World War II, stopping all shipping to the Pacific theater, and they didn’t get fired.
Kevin Murphy (805c5b) — 5/1/2008 @ 1:46 pmWhat is this France or worse? I could see it if they were striking for better conditions or some work related issue – but the Iraq war?
Fire them — simply fire them all.
I don’t want to live in a protest nation.
LifeTrek (d258cb) — 5/1/2008 @ 2:22 pmDKK
Today is also Yom Hashaoh (Holocaust Memorial Day). Coincidence–it usually comes in April, but this year is a leap year on the Jewish calendar. Of course, one could say that people forcing the workers of the world to unite was one of the things that caused the Holocaust….
kishnevi (202292) — 5/1/2008 @ 2:34 pmThe Mexican longshoremen who are awaiting completion of the still uncompleted major container terminal in Baja California are probably cheering the strike. Heck many of them are probably the ones on strike. Get those jobs shifted to Mexico and they will be closer to home and have lower living costs. All it takes to revive interest is more disruptions like this.
Mike K (86bddb) — 5/1/2008 @ 2:48 pmIts also Mission Accomplished day.
stef (2ed38c) — 5/1/2008 @ 2:51 pm“Happy Pinko de Mayo!”
/hat tip to an LGF wit
redc1c4 (292479) — 5/1/2008 @ 3:36 pmstef/alphtard – Did the sailors on that carrier accomplish their mission?
JD (5f0e11) — 5/1/2008 @ 3:47 pmMike K…#12…
Another Drew (f9dd2c) — 5/1/2008 @ 4:06 pmLast I heard, the Union Pacific, who was approached by Mexico to build a line from Yuma to connect to that new port, pulled out over issues with land title, and labor agreements. Guess the promises of the government were taken at their face value.
Without a rail connection to “El Norte”, that port is going nowhere, and will never be built.
Its also Mission Accomplished day.
It sure as hell is.
Nyah, nyah, nyah, yapping little puppy.
nk (1f1707) — 5/1/2008 @ 4:18 pmI thought the strike was in support of the Criminal Mexicans that are taking union jobs at 10% of the wage. That makes more sense the way the union has twisted itself totally out of the American dream so a few leaders can scam millions from the workers. Union, Once a good thing for the worker, now the workers worst nightmare.
Anyway enough Mexican criminals hit the streets to cause me to ride around this week and report every criminal I see working on a farm or construction job. It’s a good hobby and helps the American people.
Scrapiron (d671ab) — 5/1/2008 @ 6:23 pm“stef/alphtard – Did the sailors on that carrier accomplish their mission?”
Why else would they put up that banner?
stef (486f19) — 5/1/2008 @ 6:59 pm“That makes more sense the way the union has twisted itself totally out of the American dream so a few leaders can scam millions from the workers.”
Illegal workers hurt the union whether they’re here illegally or legally unloading boats in mexico for much less. Better they’re here and legalized.
“. It’s a good hobby and helps the American people.”
How many did you get?
stef (7ca4a3) — 5/1/2008 @ 7:14 pmHere’s a joke appropriate for May Day.
Scene: Russia, approximately 1916
kishnevi (4fe729) — 5/1/2008 @ 7:31 pmIvan: Come the revolution, all of us will eat strawberries and cream!
Petya: But I don’t like strawberries and cream!
Ivan: Come the revolution, you will have to eat strawberries and cream!
So, when did a day known for the Russkies parading missiles through Red Square suddenly become an American holiday?
Oh, that’s right. It’s not. It’s an illegal immigrant holiday.
otcconan (9fd175) — 5/1/2008 @ 7:39 pmBetter still, have them come here legally in the first place…
Scott Jacobs (d3a6ec) — 5/1/2008 @ 7:45 pmKishnevi,
There aren’t that many May Day jokes but I like yours.
DRJ (a431ca) — 5/1/2008 @ 7:58 pm“So, when did a day known for the Russkies parading missiles through Red Square suddenly become an American holiday?”
Look into it. It was american before red square.
“Better still, have them come here legally in the first place…”
Of course, everybody wins.
stef (fc881a) — 5/1/2008 @ 8:01 pmstef #25,
May 1 is not a American holiday and it never has been, as far as I can tell. On the other hand, apparently it was an official holiday in the Soviet Union.
DRJ (a431ca) — 5/1/2008 @ 8:22 pmLook into it. It was american before red square.
It was European centuries before it was American.
Paul (266a05) — 5/1/2008 @ 8:28 pmIt is a day when the working class uses protests and strikes as “a reminder to the ruling classes that their days are numbered.”
Heh. Must be a pretty big number.
Eric (884ea6) — 5/2/2008 @ 2:15 amKishnevi, I like your joke but I prefer the version where the punch line is “Come the revolution, you will like strawberries and cream!”
Xrlq (62cad4) — 5/2/2008 @ 4:11 am“May 1 is not a American holiday ”
Its both “law day” and “loyalty day.” Seriously.
“It was European centuries before it was American.”
But I don’t think it was quite about labor.
stef (732fa4) — 5/2/2008 @ 4:30 amI have seen “Come da Revolution we will all eat strawberries and like them” used aphoristically in a novel.
nk (1f1707) — 5/2/2008 @ 5:49 amI love all the variants of the “strawberries and cream” joke, but the fact is that anyone younger than 27 wasn’t even born when there was another “superpower” on the world geopolitical stage.
So when aging professors and intense teaching assistants talk of “the Revolution,” it seems exciting and new because, like, nobody has ever thought of it before!
EW1(SG) (84e813) — 5/2/2008 @ 7:49 amLaw Day wasn’t around until 1958, and didn’t become a holiday until 1961. Loyalty Day was started as Americanization Day in 1921, but wasn’t made a holidy until 1958.
Americanization Day started as a counter to the international Labor Day, which was perceived to be Communist.
Neither day predates Red Square, since “red” in that case doesn’t come from Communism.
Steverino (e00589) — 5/2/2008 @ 9:29 amit is a day when the working class uses protests and strikes “as a reminder to the ruling classes that their days are numbered.”
this is an unusually crude strawman. may day is more about the solidarity of the workers in general, without specific reference, let alone a threatening reference, to other classes. the labor movement gave us eight hour days, child labor laws and modern collective bargaining. i support these things. i support both may days.
kishnevi’s comment #11 essentially excusing the nazis for the holocaust because they were provoked by the communists is an incredibly ugly statement, and i am rarely surprised by ugly statements on this blog.
assistant devil's advocate (33552f) — 5/2/2008 @ 1:23 pmIt is crude, isn’t it? And yet it is a quote from the linked “Workers’ World” article explaining the significance of International Workers Day to Marxists. The point was to show how different groups view May Day, and that is one group’s view.
DRJ (a431ca) — 5/2/2008 @ 1:31 pmI don’t believe kishnevi said anything like that, ada. The National Socialist Workers Party was just as “anti-capitalist” as the Communist Party. Anti-capitalism was the common ground for the (admittedly cynical) temporary Hitler-Stalin alliance.
nk (13d473) — 5/2/2008 @ 1:33 pmand i am rarely surprised by ugly statements on this blog
Would you like to explain that? Did you mean to say “ugly statements are rare on this blog”? And … well … for incredibly ugly statements you are well in front in the running.
nk (13d473) — 5/2/2008 @ 1:41 pmSure, Shift-Challenged-Troll, implying that the National Socialists were socialists is ugly indeed. What will he say next, that they were nationalists, too?
Xrlq (b71926) — 5/2/2008 @ 1:49 pm**smiles at corporatist cobras hissing in their wicker blogbasket, reasonably secure in my belief that they cannot strike at me through my monitor**
assistant devil's advocate (33552f) — 5/2/2008 @ 2:12 pmNo, you said two “incredibly” witless things and you should not try to cutsie them away.
nk (13d473) — 5/2/2008 @ 2:53 pm“Sure, Shift-Challenged-Troll, implying that the National Socialists were socialists is ugly indeed. What will he say next, that they were nationalists, too?”
– Xrlq
Yayyy, let’s have this argument again. “Nazi’s were extreme liberals!” “No, they were extreme conservatives!” “Nuh uh!” “Yeah huh!” etc., ad nauseam
If conservatives (or liberals) on this blog are going to bitch about “Godwin’s Law”, they should probably avoid violating it.
Leviticus (43095b) — 5/2/2008 @ 3:50 pmIf only the world were divided between conservatives and liberals, what a wonderful world it would be.
nk (13d473) — 5/2/2008 @ 4:12 pmLeviticus,
I think our hackles were raised because of the comment about Kishnevi. He would not write anything to excuse the Nazis for the Holocaust.
DRJ (a431ca) — 5/2/2008 @ 5:24 pmThank you, NK and DRJ
ada–as they stated, my remark referred to the fact that the mindset that is behind Communism and the left is the same mindset that propelled the Nazis.
As for defending the Nazis–I’ll just point out that ,other than one group of cousins that hid out for a while in a neighbor’s oven and then trekked overland to China, every relative of mine who didn’t get to the US before 1939, was dead by 1945, at the hands of either the Nazis or their local allies.
kishnevi (03a14b) — 5/2/2008 @ 6:07 pmDefinitely out of line, ADA. That’s the kind of misrepresentation of someone else’s comment that I’d expect from Levi, not you.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/2/2008 @ 6:29 pmLeviticus:
Now that’s rich. ADA falsely accuses Kishnevi of excusing Nazis, I respond by pointing out that ADA is full of crap, and somehow my response is supposed to violate Godwin’s law?! O-kay.
Xrlq (62cad4) — 5/2/2008 @ 7:08 pm#46 Xrlq:
You know what they say, being a liberal means you never have to say your sorry, because you mean well.
No matter how many more millions die because being a liberal also means you don’t have a clue that there really are evil things that happen in the world.
EW1(SG) (84e813) — 5/2/2008 @ 7:59 pm