article start off with such ignorance of the subject it makes the rest suspect. May Day has its roots in the ancient festival of Beltaine (var. spellings) and as such has very little to do with being co-opted by Socialists of whatever hue. However, that is to deny the long and deep association between a folk festival (that is, a festival of ordinary working people, not some twee middle-class usurpation) and their political aspirations. To deny that link is to deny centuries of popular and anarchist revolt against the tyranny of both the status quo and those who would order the lives of ordinary people according to whatever political ideology they hold sacred. I never knew that. have to say after reading more and more about how the so called hero's of the Russian revolution behaved (Lenin Trotsky) I am so glad I am anarchist. This May day I will be mainly gardening :) May Day is a pagan festival originally. It's a celebration of the coming summer. It's a workers holiday. It's as much about May Poles and folk dancing as it is about Ice cream and football. The political element when there was one was merely about opportunity to congregate. A bit like Friday prayers in Islamic countries. The prayers aren't the issue it's just that you can't stop people all going to the mosque at the same time and therefore being mob handed when prayers are over. That's the political connection with May Day. It would be