Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 11:46:27 -0500
From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
Subject: Re: M-I: New nomenclatures


Justin Schwartz wrote:

>Interesting. It's also notable how Labor day was made over into a sort of
>establishment anti-May Day, back when May Day was still sort of a worker's
>holiday, although I believe both of them were radical AMerican-based labor
>holidays

It's even worse than this - in the U.S., May Day is now "Loyalty Day," and
has been since the 1950s, I think. Here's this year's revolting
proclamation from Bill Clinton.

Doug

----



________________________________________________________________

                  For Immediate Release                                May
1, 1997


                                         LOYALTY DAY, 1997

                                           - - - - - - -

                          BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

                                           A PROCLAMATION


                       Each year, Americans dedicate the first day of May to
                  formally acknowledge our love for this great land and our
                  loyalty to the principles of freedom and equality on
which our
                  Nation was founded.  This love and loyalty cannot be
mandated
                  or legislated; rather, these traits spring freely from our
                  hearts and minds.

                       Looking back across the centuries, we recognize that
                  each generation of Americans has been called upon to express
                  its love and loyalty in a unique way.  Our founders, defying
                  the forces of tyranny, solemnly pledged their lives and
futures
                  to defend the new Nation they had created, a Nation born of
                  reverence for human rights and the principle of
                  self-determination.  Less than a century later, another
                  generation of Americans spilled its blood to preserve the
unity
                  of our Nation and to ensure that America lived up to its
ideals
                  of freedom, justice, and equality.

                       The challenges of our own century have called for an
                  extraordinary measure of devotion from millions of our
citizens.
                  Through two devastating world wars and the decades of the
Cold
                  War, Americans laid down their lives for love of country
and to
                  defend democracy, advance human rights, and oppose the
specter
                  of oppression.

                       Today we are blessed to be living in a time of
                  unprecedented peace and possibility, when the ideals of
                  democracy and human dignity so eloquently articulated by
                  our founders have been widely embraced by nations in our
                  own hemisphere and around the world.  But we have fresh
                  opportunities to prove our love and loyalty to America.
                  The challenge for our generation is to realize the promise
                  of our Nation:  to be a strong and steady influence for
peace
                  and freedom across the globe; to be a powerful voice for
human
                  rights wherever they are silenced; to live up to America's
                  promise of justice, equality, and opportunity by ensuring
                  that all of our people have the tools and encouragement they
                  need to meet their God-given potential.

                       The Congress, by Public Law 85-529, has designated
May 1
                  of each year as "Loyalty Day."  Let us, on this day,
remember
                  the contributions of the many courageous Americans who have
                  gone before us, and let us keep faith with them by
reaffirming
                  our love for and loyalty to this Nation they sustained with
                  their service and sacrifice.

                       NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
                  United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 1997, as
                  Loyalty Day.  I urge all Americans to recall, on this day,
                  the valor and selflessness of all those who made this Nation
                  so worthy of our love and loyalty.  I call upon Government
                  officials to display the flag of the United States and to
                  participate in patriotic activities in support of this
national
                  observance.

                       IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
                  first day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and
                  ninety-seven, and of the Independence of the United
States of
                  America the two hundred and twenty-first.




                                                     WILLIAM J. CLINTON





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