International Worker's Day

Happy Worker's Day! May 1st brings with the annual recognition of the successes (and failures) of the labor movement in just about every country except my native land and, for some, time to reflect on the relationship between labor and capital in this day and age, a.k.a. a holiday. Unfortunately, hagwon employees are not among those who get the day off, but other laborers across Korea do. Those who know me know that I'm "red" enough to revel in this day; in fact, I am proud that (at least during my first year), my undergraduate school was one of the only, if not the only, college in the States to officially recognize Worker's Day on its calendar and commemorate it with a day of panel discussions about labor issues. In subsequent years, our efforts were thwarted by an increasingly reactionary administration. The May 1st holiday remembers one of the darkest chapters of the American (and world-wide) labor movements, the Haymarket Square killings in 1886 (which actually happened on May 4th). Of course, exploitation of labor is still a world-wide problem and one which doesn't get enough attention, and the American labor movement is nowhere near what it used to be at the time of Haymarket. Although it is a day to celebrate the achievements of labor movements and the value of workers, it is also a time to remember what has been sacrificed and how much still needs to be done.