May Day In Modern Europe

Southland Times, Issue 23498, 3 May 1938, Page 6

May Day In Modern Europe

In ancient times May Day was set aside for the joyous recognition of seasonal changes. Men, women and children went out to the fields and woods, gathered their garlands for the shrines of warm-eyed goddesses of the soil, and shared the movements of country dances made sacred by old custom. Nowadays it is different. The return of summer brings the same uprising of the spirit and renews the influence of physical backgrounds; but the celebrations are no longer spontaneous. On Saturday the totali-

tarian states arranged their mass parades and turned the enthusiasm down channels prepared by experts in propaganda. Patient millions stood at attention to hear the speeches of their leaders, who assured them that it is good to be regimented and controlled, even though the training is a preparation for war. Herr Hitler spoke to the German youth, and told them they were lucky to live “in a time of which Germany need never be ashamed”; while in Brussels the workers demanded the “defence of the Jews”, whose long persecution by the Nazis is one oi those reasons for pride which the Leader may not have mentioned. Or if it were mentioned, it would be named as an achievement: for moral values have been turned upside down by the teachers of racialism, and things are good, not in themselves, but only if they have the sanction of party authority. In Russia there were the usual gestures of defiance, and again the talk was of rehearsal for a world war. Even in London, where the people are perversely devoted to their own opinions, the fascists staged their melodramatic appearance and the supporters of Labour carried their slogans in solemn procession. • Perhaps it is foolish to expect that the people of cities, in a mechanized age, should wish to renew their forgotten contacts with the soil. It must be admitted, too, that the primitive people who walked so many centuries ago to their rural maytime had to return to dim hovels, and that fear troubled them then no less than now. Yet the basic contrast remains. Instead of some shrine devoted to Demeter, or 1 a maypole on a village green in England, the May Day gatherings of the new age are in great squares or stadiums, with thousands on the march, banners in the air, and war-planes swooping overhead. And although the talk is sometimes of peace, the gestures are always of war. It is hard to think of these things without feeling that the world is out of focus, and that no amount of talking can put it right again. The seasons still bring their immemorial changes, and the returning warmth of the sun is accompanied by the promise of bounty. Only man is changing, intent on new, synthetic worlds. And perhaps, beneath the brave attitudes, he is not so different after all, but dreams of better things, like his unknown forbears, and waits, like them, for ease and plenty and a freedom from fear. It is a curious and fundamental trait of human nature which gives fear so loud a voice, and forces men to wave defiance to the shadows.