by Graham Taylor.
This year’s May Day march was against a backdrop of nationwide strikes by nurses, doctors, teachers, lecturers, railway workers, civil servants and others mainly in the public sector, though some were in private companies connected to the public sector, such as the railway companies. There is a political divide over the strikes. Well-off Conservatives do not need these services, although they may make use of them, and they resent having to pay twice – once for themselves privately and then again, in tax, for the public good. This leads them to resist any pay requests from the public sector. It is part of their resentment against the intervention of the state in civil society. They also believe that the good of the country rests upon wealth generated in the private sector and so the more money is transferred from the public sector to the private sector the better for the population as a whole. Naturally, those in the public sector, and those in the lower or middle reaches of the private sector, and also those like Quakers with an ethical commitment to equality and social justice, all profoundly disagree with the Conservative approach. We believe that wealth comes primarily from labour, from natural resources or from infrastructure, and those countries flourish that either have healthy, skilled and well educated labour forces, or else have abundant natural resources, such as oil, coal, metals or fertile soil, and extensive means of transport and communication. It is therefore not only unjust that those key workers should suffer reductions in real pay, either through cuts or inflation, but also of no long-term benefit to the country. May Day is the day in the year when labour, and the infrastructure upon which labour depends, is brought to the fore. All over the world on May Day, there is a celebration of labour and there is voiced a demand for the value of labour to be recognised and appreciated.
As often in the past, the Quaker Socialist Society decided to attend the May Day march and add their ethical voice for social justice to the financial demands being made by unions on behalf of members, impoverished since 2008 by cuts and austerity. As usual, we took our banner in order to register our presence. Our numbers were admittedly small – it was not only a Bank Holiday weekend, when people leave London for a break but also the same weekend as our Quaker Yearly Meeting – but nonetheless it was felt very important to attend this year, if only in solidarity with the strikers. For their protest has an ethical dimension, not just a financial one. It is not just money for which they strike but also against the contempt in which they are held. Every striker gives up their pay for the days they are out on strike, and so performs a selfless act. A nurse or railway worker labours in public service and then has to give up their pay to make their voice heard. The Quaker Socialist, Alfred Salter, wrote this: “Let us not forget that Socialism is a great faith, prompted by a great religious motive, and inspired by a great humanitarian spirit… It is the greatest religious movement since the early days of Christianity.”
The march left Clerkenwell Green around 1 pm and reached Trafalgar Square around 2.30 pm. There were then speeches in the square after which the Quaker Socialists retreated for tea to the kind hospitality of Westminster Meeting House in St Martin’s Lane. The photos below give a flavour of the event.
Quaker Socialist Society 
Leave a comment