Worldwide Worker Anger

The world’s workers marked May Day on Monday with angry protests against the erosion of their living standards and dignity by the harsh economic austerity programs of post-Cold War political leaders.

“With the conflict between socialism and capitalism now over, new dangers are threatening the world of labor,” Pope John Paul II told 60,000 Italian workers gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

Workers across Europe and Asia made clear that they share the pontiff’s views on what he called the selfish culture of capitalism.

Only in Stalinist North Korea did workers turn out by the tens of thousands in the old style to dance and sing the praises of “Great Leader” Kim Il Sung, who died last year, and his son and successor, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il.

In the former Soviet Union, where a chaotic and crime-ridden form of capitalism has developed since 1991, workers nostalgic for the strong hand of past dictators marched in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Kiev.

Two Moscow rallies attracted 19,000 people, who paid their allegiance to the workers’ leaders of the past by gathering at statues of Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin.

In Berlin, about 2,000 radical leftists fought with police late Sunday and early Monday, authorities said.

In Asia, thousands of workers in the capitals of South Korea and the Philippines demonstrated against economic hardships.

China’s leaders took the opportunity to advertise their solidarity with the working class, announcing an official five-day workweek. Chinese have typically worked Monday through Saturday with every other Saturday off.