Today, the 1st of May, is widely celebrated as Labour Day, also known as May Day.
During the industrialization of the early 19th century, industrialists exploited the working class, forcing them to work up to 15 hours a day. Workers rose against this exploitation, demanding paid leave, fair wages, and basic rest. Labour Day has its roots in the labour union movement specifically the eight-hour day movement, which demanded a simple but radical idea, eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.
What is deeply ironic is watching politicians and elites whose only nucleus is self-interest and capital accumulation, offering grand congratulations to the very working class they continue to exploit. The real question every working person must confront whether a labourer, an engineer, a doctor, a teacher, or anyone in between, is this, Are you still working as a human being, or have you been quietly transformed into a machine? A zombie? A living corpse with no purpose other than materialistic means?
Also, needless to mention that workplace stress and workplace depression are no longer silent struggles. They are a growing crisis. And if you are among the fortunate handful who are at peace with your work, do not let your privilege become the lens through which you judge the broader reality of the society.
As a society, as a system, it is a failure. It is a failure to protect the innocence of children from the exploitation of child labour. It has been a failure to ensure that labourers are paid before their sweat even dries. The system has failed the farmers who are still fighting desperately for a fair price for their harvest. And we need not even elaborate on the quiet suffering of those trapped within corporate machinery.
There are still far too many labour issues at play.
Until every worker is paid before their sweat dries.
Until no child’s innocence is sacrificed at the disposal of someone else’s profit.
Until no farmer is driven to despair by the very system meant to serve them.
Until the dignity of labour in every profession, at every level is no longer systematically crushed.
Until then, May Day remains nothing more than another slogan to pacify the struggles, and silencing the dissent.