may day, may day!

Today is a hard day for me to spend at work. Today is the day that I want to march with my comrades in the streets. Dance around a maypole or two. Burn the capitalist swine in effigy.

May day is a beautiful holiday that has sadly been allowed to dwindle.

Some people may claim it's because the class structure of our society has changed - perhaps, the working class is certainly not what it used to be and the majority, in Canada at least, tend to come under the heading of 'middle class,' an umbrella term designed to make us sound a little more affluent than we actually are.

On May Day, those of us not counted among the rich and powerful get to count our victories and commemorate our losses - victories and tragedies generally ignored by history texts and glossed over by more conservative ideologues. I like reflecting on the fact that at one time people were passionate about the politics that govern their lives, that ordinary individuals were able to express thier anger and frustration towards the abuses of the ruling classes and, through sacrifice and determination, improve thier circumstances.

But years of moderate success have lulled us into a state of inaction. In the third world and the cities of Europe the hardships have remained harder and the booms shorter-lived than those we have experienced in Canada. We've bought into the system and have seperated ourselves from our global compatriots: we've forgotten what we came from which is dangerous because if we misstep we may find ourselves there again.

I wish I could march in the May Day parades in Edmonton. I wish I could spend time with friends and comrades who, like me, think we need to remember this important part of our past.

Unfortunately I am faced with the reality that my present occupation makes taking a day off in solidarity risky - as an employee of the state, and one without a permanent contract at that, one needs to keep his or her nose clean. I have commitments to keep, and such is the trap that many of us have caught ourselves in.

And so my brothers and sisters, I wish you a happy May Day. Go outside; meet with your comrades and family; put your feet up and have a beer. Today we celebrate that we are the ones who still have to work for a living.

It's still essentially true that we have nothing to lose but our chains.

Workers of the world, unite!

In solidarity from Alberta's brush plain.