Bread and roses
By Farooq Sulehria

Celebrating May Day in Pakistan is not a happy affair. Demonstrations are marked by angry slogans, routine speeches and red banners raising customary demands.

In a bid to seek media attention, members of a right-wing federation in Lahore introduced yet another unsightly trend to vulgarise union culture: topless workers with a wreath of bread hung around their necks, chanting slogans. It seems as if the Pakistani proletariat and its leadership have lost all imagination.

On the contrary, May Day celebrations in Europe are a happy affair. Yes, routine speeches are held and slogans chanted. But there is a lot of music and fun as well. Trade unions have their own music bands, embossed insignias and embellished flags.

Members of the unions proudly walk under these decorated emblems while participating in colourful demonstrations. Another common sight is that of the youth dancing to the tune of drum beats or radical resistance songs. Men and women, parents and children, old and young – all workers – join the May Day celebrations to reclaim the streets.

One may argue that the European workers enjoy a higher standard of living. The misery and challenges facing Pakistan’s working classes hardly leave any space for celebrations. This, however, is a flawed apologia reflecting ignorance, lack of imagination and political immaturity.

In fact the very idea of May Day emerged as an attempt to claim workers’ right to celebrate life. It was initially the Australian trade union movement that began to celebrate a day for the labour class back in the 1850s. However, the Australian workers would celebrate this day in April. May Day became a global workers’ day when the Second International appealed to the trade union movement to mark it is as a tribute to the Chicago martyrs of 1886. A basic demand of the Chicago struggle was an eight-hour work day.

Workers wanted eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep and eight hours of leisure. They wanted leisure time to engage in politics and recreational activities. Hence, from the beginning workers were asserting their right to the pleasures of life available to bourgeoisie.

Reducing working class demands to bare necessities such as roti, kapra, makan (bread, clothing, housing) is to reduce workers to the status of beggars. As workers we are not beggars. When we demand roti, kapra, makan we are not begging. We are demanding all of that as our right denied by capitalism. And while making these demands, we should be able to maintain our dignity as workers.

This proposition was best articulated by women textile workers in the US in 1912 when, during their strike, they demanded bread with dignity, hence the slogan ‘Bread and Roses’.

It was perhaps not a coincidence that women articulated this demand most appropriately. Being women they were not only subjected to exploitation as workers but were also paid less. However, a rampant culture of sexual harassment compounded their problems at factory plants.

Among the Marxist theoreticians, it was Antonio Gramsci who greatly stressed the need to maintain the dignity of the working class in everyday life. As a worker I found it most inspiring when I visited Tunis and saw the cobblers. Unlike the cobblers in the Subcontinent, they do not squat on the ground. On this May Day, therefore, let us pledge we will maintain our dignity. We will demand roses alongside bread. Let us refuse to squat and – to begin with – let us ask for a chair.

The writer is a freelance contributor. Email: mfsulehria@ hotmail.com