The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-05-01

against IL governments anu /
against their socialist traitors.
In Germany, Rosa Luxembourg and
Karl Liebknecht, people who prior
to the war defended the revolution
airy significance of May Day, and in
Russia the Bolsheviks lived up to !
the. resolution Of the Zurich Con-
gress of 1895.
Fourth Period.
With the termination of the war,
the fourth period in the history of
May Day sets in. Here and there
the victorious revolution" in the
West attempted to legalize May Day
as a national holiday. This was done
although the propertied classes were
left with economic power in their
hands. What could have been the re-
suit of such policy? Let us say
MussOliri ordered the Projects to de-
clare April 81 day of celebration
! of the Foundation of Rome" This |
was move to destroy the May Day
celebrations. The same thing was'
done in Poland. But this, it would
seem did not depend on the Social
Democrats. 1t is true the latter did
all in their power to strengthen the
Fascist dictatorship in Europe and
did a good deal in liquidating the
social ministries" Now it could
no longer be a question of proclaim /
ing May Day a legal national holi-
day.
Have the Social Democrats, as a
result adopted May Day as revolu- |
tionary holiday, as was fixed in the
resolutions of the Congresses of the
II International?
1t is characteristic of the fourth |
period of the history of May Day
that not only the forms and methods |
of celebrating May Day were dis
torted. May Day was declared on an
international scale as day Of strug-
gle for the 8-hour working day and
as demonstration of international
solidarity of the proletariat and it's
, readiness "to destroy class differ
entiations through social transform
ation," i. e., the social revolution.
Even Bebel who proposed to delete
the last words only had in mind the
preservation of the externally legal |
character of the resolution and not
the departure from the revolutionary
class struggle. How does it stand
with regard to the May Day cele-
brations as they have been estab- /
lished by revolutionary traditions?
The Betrayers.
The Marseilles Congress also
adopted a resolution on "the strug-
gle for peace" in the same spirit as
that on the 8-hour day. The Social
ist international sanctioned the
League of Nations and declared it an
instrument of peace.
The activities of the II. Inter
national serve as an excellent illus
tration as to what they understand
May Day to be. In all the great
class conflicts, the European Social
Democrats declined to render their
International aid to the toilers and
revolutionary masses of the strug-
Cling people. Their attitude to Soviet
Russia is another illustration as to
what the Social Democrats under
stand by international proletarian
solidarity.
But the most striking popularity
of the fourth period in the history
Of May Day is the rise of the revOlu-
tionary celebrations in the U. S. S.
r. The social democrats usually de-
clare that May Day is in the Soviet
Union a national legal holiday and
that hence it has lost its revolution
airy significance. This is a lie. In
Russia, May First has become a ma
tional holiday of the victorious work
tional holiday of the victorious revo-
lutionary character in the first place
because it serves as a mighty dem
onstration of international solidar-
ity with the fighting proletariat of
all countries. This solidarity does not
remain platonic solidarity. 1t is ac-
companied by action. The British
strike and the Chinese revolution are
the best proof of that. But the May 4
Day celebrations have preserved
their revolutionary spirit in Russia
thanks to the uninterrupted struggle
for peace of the Soviet Union. Such
peace is possible only with the vic
torious revolutionary movement in
the East and in the West. May Day
in Russia is a day when the balance
of socialist construction is struck.
This is the new creative revolution.
airy element which the last decade
in the history of May Day has intro
duced. Such was the nature of May
Day in Russia during the battles at
the front, during the national "Sat-
urdayings," and such is it's nature in
the struggle for the ndustrialization
of the country.
Such, in brief, are the main stages
in the history of May Day. 1t was
proclaimed as day of international
class struggle and it was later trans
formed by the social democrats into
a bourgeois holiday. The Commun-
list international following the ira
ditions of the revolutionary mass