I need a Doctor's note.

Absolutely love it.

Hat tip to 'Idris2002' over at Urban 75.

Wahlööped #2

Reason #191 why I love Sjöwall and Wahlöö:

"Walpurgis Eve is an important day in Sweden, a day when people put on their spring clothes and get drunk and dance and are happy and eat food and look forward to the summer. In Skĺne, the roadsides are in bloom, and the leaves are coming out. And out on the plain, the cattle are grazing the spring grass, and the other crops are already sown. Students put on their white caps and trade union leaders get their red flags out from the moth-balls and try to remember the text of Sons of Labour. It will soon be May Day and time to pretend to be socialist for a short while again, and during the symbolic demonstration march even the police stand to attention when the brass bands play the Internationale. For the only tasks the police have are the redirection of traffic and ensuring that no one spits on the American flag, or that no one who really wants to say anything has got in amongst the demonstrators.

The last day of April is a day of preparation; preparations for spring, for love and for political cults. It is a happy day, especially if it happens to be fine".

From 'The Fire Engine That Disappeared' (Published 1969).

Happy May Day

Good post over at the World Socialist Party of the United States website on the significance of May Day.

And it would be remiss of me if I didn't mention the May Day post over at the Socialism Or Your Money Back blog.

Now on a day like today, what radically minded film can I watch as part of 365Watch? Norma Rae, maybe? (No, too close to Soapdish.) Reds? (Yep, believe or not, I've never watched it in its entirety.) Children of the Revolution? Together? John Thaw in Praise Marx and Pass the Ammunition? (I would if I could. The holy grail of lost films that one.) Modern Times? (Bugger Chaplin.)

I'm sure I'll find something appropriate . . . .

1st of May: All Belongs to You (2008)

Who Review #1904 - Shiny Angry People

Via the New York Times, an excellent slideshow of May Day demonstrations from around the world. (Sorry, no photo-ops from Clerkenwell Green.)

PS - Is it just me or does Berlin's black bloc come across as a shower of wankers?

Capitalism in Crisis: A May Day School for Socialism

The Socialist Party is holding a dayschool on the current crisis this Saturday 2 May at its offices at 52 Clapham High Street, London SW4 (nearest tube: Clapham North).

Programme with approximate timings:-

10.30 Welcome visitors

11.00 First session with Brian Gardner - Capitalism and Economics
- Chair Richard Field

11.45 Discussion

12.45 Lunch

14.00 Second Session with Gwynn Thomas -- Capitalism, Resources & the Environment

- Chair Fraser Anderson

14.45 Discussion

15.45 Tea Break

16.15 Third Session with Simon Wigley - Capitalism and Society

- Chair Tristan Miller

17.00 Discussion

18.00 Close

ALL WELCOME.

ADMISSION FREE

Come tomorrow, will Rees's be in pieces?

Popping along to Union Square this afternoon for the May Day rally, to show my solidarity, dish out some leaflets and flash the Socialist Standard and the World Socialist Review at indifferent punters and surly hot dog vendors.

I was heartened to see that a couple of activists from Break The Chains were interviewed on the local TV station, New York One, this morning in anticipation of the march, and that the station's reporter, Roger Clarke, was prepared to give them both the time and space to make their case.

I was impressed by the contributions from both Mika Nagasaki and Tosh Anderson of Break The Chains, who both stated that the explicit purpose of today's march was to make the case of working class solidarity between undocumented immigrant workers and American workers. They also made noise about the need to recognise our common cause and, in Mika Nagasaki's case, she made reference to the historical roots of May Day and its importance to the Labour Movement.

Hopefully their appearance this morning will ensure a few more people attending the marches and demonstrations in both Chinatown and Union Square this afternoon.

But of course, I've also got one eye focused on what's going on back in Britain, and I've especially curious about what will be the outcome of the Mayoral and London Assembly Elections.

Will it be Red Ken or Clownish Boris? Who between Galloway's Respect or John Rees's Left List will get to claim the bald man's comb? Will the fragrant Sian Berry win a seat? Will the impossible happen and the noxious and fascistic BNP fail to win a seat? The heightened sense of excitement (and accompanying dread for the latter) is really too much and, depending on which blogger you pick for your version of truth, it's still up for grabs as to who will be smiling come May 2nd.

Of course, it's a given that the SPGB is never smiling the day after an election but I do have to give a shout out for the SPGB comrades in London who have contested the seat of Lambeth and Southwark. The Party's candidate is Danny Lambert, and from what I understand twenty members and sympathisers have been involved in the election campaign. (no doubt, some more than others.)

Friendly critics of the SPGB have been known to scratch their collective heads in bemusement when it comes to the matter of revolutionaries contesting elections in the here and now and I'll put my hands up to the fact that I share some of those misgivings but I do like what Bill has written over at the Vaux Populi blog, which goes some way in answering the grumbles of the 'cold water brigade':

"What matters for us is not the nose count (although we're always happier with more votes) but the number of people reading, discussing and agreeing with us. We don't want passive voters, but people to join us, or at least join the debate. Politics should be a two way process, not the passive spectator sport of the professionals in the mass media.

Here's something I wrote on this topic a while ago:

It's no wonder that people feel no pragmatic connection between their voting preferences and the outcomes; and no wonder that people feel so little connection with any of the parties. All these become are technocratic career structures for advancing politicians, a platform from which to project policy ideas to be reflected off the undifferentiated mass, which has no control over what is projected, beyond passive reflection.

This process of “mass culture” has, of course, been assisted by the spread of the mass media. The social relationship is the same, a few technocratic broadcasters/media barons, projecting images and ideas to be passively reflected by a land mass of consumers. Indeed, representative politics follows the same course. Instead of abstractedly measuring response in terms of money, it reads response in terms of flat votes, formally equal but failing to register differences in value or quality.

Hence why I'm happy to sprey leaflets around the place, and on new streets, to try and see if we can reach a new person and light the spark that sets them arguing." [The Last Leg]

At first glance, it appears to be such a minor political ambition but, in truth, it's asking far more of people than the current 4 year merry-go-round that passes for political democracy. As the old election slogan goes, we should vote for ourselves for a change . . . and then some.

W*W*W

Weekly Bulletin of The Socialist Party of Great Britain (44)

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the 44th of our weekly bulletins to keep you informed of changes at Socialist Party of Great Britain @ MySpace.

We now have 1240 friends!

Recent blogs:

Why vote for politicians?

Who are "we"?

Why just land?

This week's top quote:

"The first of May is the symbol of a new era in the life and struggle of the toilers, an era that each year offers the toilers fresh, increasingly tough and decisive battles against the bourgeoisie, for the freedom and independence wrested from them, for their social ideal." Nestor Mahkno, The First of May, 1928.

Continuing luck with your MySpace adventures!

Robert and Piers

Socialist Party of Great Britain

A day late, a hundred years on

One of the most interesting bloggers on the block, Charlie Pottins, has a post marking the hundredth anniversary of the Belfast 1907 strike led by Jim Larkin.

New York May Day 2007

More palatable pics from May Day in New York from the Next Left Notes website.

Edinburgh May Day 2007

SPGB Youth Section

May Day - a link or three

Happy May Day, and all that. The day when workers (should be) celebrating their strength as a class, and when Liverpool (should be) dumping Chelski out of the Champions League. A couple of links to throw your way:

May the First - Workers Day Alan J. does the honours at his Mailstrom blog with a reprinting of this piece on May Day from the Socialist Standard from a few years back. Still relevant . . . and then some.

Rosa Luxemburg's 'What are the Origins of the First of May?' Rosa Luxemburg: still relevant . . . and then some.

Mondo MayDay 2007 Larry states that his blog carries: "The most complete preview of MayDay 2007 worldwide anywhere on the web". And who am I to argue?

World Socialist Party May Day Statement - May Day 2007 Shamelessly nicked from the WSPUS MySpace page.

Wofür? Der Text eines Flugblatts anläßlich des 1. Mai 2007 Two years of being a smart alec - who always came bottom in the exams - and all round pain in the arse to Ms Allen means that I can't read this May Day statement. However, I have to give it a plug nonetheless, as it is penned by Norbert, a good comrade from Frankfurt who has set up a German language blog promoting the politics of the WSM and the IWW.

And before I forget, I have to agree with Matt that it's nice to see Socialist Courier blog carrying an image to mark May Day that is not more outdated than Alan J.'s record collection.

And don't forget, May 1st is also International Shalamar Day. So be sure to sit back and listen to this plastic piece of genius, whilst singing the praises of Howard, Jody, Jeffrey and the International Working Class.