The second debate is left unresolved: the holding of festivities marking May Day in Taksim Square in İstanbul. The İstanbul Governor's Office does not allow the use of Taksim Square for the celebration for security reasons. Security is a justifiable reason, as it is really hard to ensure the security of a gathering in this square. The bloody May Day that ended with the death of 34 people on May 1, 1977, is still a big reminder of this security issue. On that day, there was a real massacre. But there is a detail in this massacre that mostly goes unnoticed. Several gunshots came from atop the building that is today by The Marmara Hotel in Taksim Square. None of the people who died on that day were hit by these gunshots. Rather, these gunshots created a big panic. Many people died after being crushed during this panic. There is a symbolic meaning to the May Day celebrations being held in Taksim Square. But, the security problem gives the governor's office a fair justification.There are concerns for provocations. One of the reasons for the police operation conducted in Bostancı, İstanbul, which lasted for several hours earlier this week, is said to have been preparations for provocations during the May Day celebrations. No serious incident had happened before I started writing this article. It is everyone's wish that this day is no longer awaited with fear and concern, but for it to become a true festival.
Ideology of the state
May Day is the festival for the working class. It is therefore a very important symbol for the socialist ideology that fosters the struggle of the working class. Behind the May Day debates in Turkey are these ideological considerations. The history of May Day celebrations, which is marked with fluctuations, was shaped by these ideological conflicts.
From 1923 to 1935, May Day was marked as Labor Day in Turkey as elsewhere around the globe. The government that took office after the military coup of May 27, 1960, declared this day an official holiday. But, its name was stripped of its ideological and class connotations and changed to "Spring Festival." This holiday, announced by a military junta, was abolished by another military junta in 1981. In 2008, it was declared to be Labor and Solidarity Day, but it still lacked the official holiday label, which came this year.
This fluctuating history can be explained by the state's concerns for the socialist ideology. The reason this day's festival quality was done away with in 1935 was that the Soviet Union emerged as a threat against Turkey in the polarized world. The reintroduction of the festival in 1961 was intended to deprive the socialist ideology of its arsenal by creating an empty concept. This practice is in harmony with what Nevzat Tandoğan, the famous Ankara governor of the single-party era that lasted until 1950, stood for. "If communism is to be introduced to this country, it is us who will introduce it. What's your business with it?" Tandoğan had told the socialist intellectuals who were detained. His words show well the rationale behind the ideological manipulation from the central government.
There is also a simple reason for it being reintroduced as a festival today: Socialism is no longer a threat to the state, so there is no reason it should not be marked as a festival.
Left-wing radicalism
May Day has a past that dates back to about one and half centuries ago in the West. Having made its public appearance after the industrial revolution, the working class became the driving force behind social and political cleavages. Industrialization, i.e., mass production, was accompanied by the emergence of the working class that made production possible, and the emergence of the working class was followed by its struggle for bringing about an order that is suitable for its economic interests. Democracy, the rule of law, human rights and several other universal values that we value today developed during these struggles and were eventually accepted by everyone. The people who subsisted by selling their labor, i.e., the workers, fought for their rights for collective bargaining and striking, which in turn transformed society. Deriving its force from this struggle, the socialist ideology became one of the two main forces in the world from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 until 1989.
This ideology, which is symbolized by May Day, is today represented particularly by the left-wing or social democratic parties in Europe. In Turkey, this day, for which trade unions compete to claim possession, is not represented except by the marginal or radical left. May Day posters featuring muscular workers resembling weightlifting champions are inspired by the Soviet era. A worker cannot be so muscular and showy. This gap between real-life workers and the workers on posters implies that socialism in Turkey is a marginal ideology restricted to the petite bourgeoisie. In Turkey, the Republican People's Party (CHP), as a party of a certain class, lacks the capability of representing the working class. The CHP, which is occasionally claimed to be a left wing or social democratic party, can only derive its support from the haute bourgeoisie.
The working class that once shaped the world can no longer be found anywhere in the world. With the introduction of high-tech automation to industrialization, blue collar workers were replaced by white collar workers, who use their brains rather than their hands, i.e., contribute to production of information. The fact that the service sector leads the industrial sector is clear proof of this. This applies to Turkey as well. It is for this reason that socialist ideology is monopolized by intellectuals (petite bourgeoisie in the left terminology) rather than by workers. Since cheap labor is an important factor for economic competition on a global scale, there are regressions in workers' rights. Production is largely done by the workers who work in small workshops and who, accordingly, cannot get organized. After the heyday of public trade unions of 1970s, trade unions today cannot advocate workers' rights, and instead, they try to survive as oligarchic organizations. Structural unemployment issues are dealing extra blows to workers' rights.
The socialist ideology that relies on class conflicts has mutated into an opponent and internationalist intellectual quest. This is evidenced by the partial rise of the leftist anti-globalization ideologies in the West. The counterparts of these anti-globalization groups are still extremely weak in Turkey, where the leftist ideology is destined to remain as a restricted intellectual and political strand that is not adopted by the masses.
The 1968 and post-1968 period saw the rise of liberal and liberating interpretations of the socialist ideology in Europe while Turkey was experiencing widespread ideological violence. At that time, Turkey was troubled with rapid urbanization and tragic human and social problems, which served as the proper conditions for military coups. Many debates were held to argue that the violent incidents that killed thousands of people were incited by special military units and the murders were committed by these units in order to pave the way for military coups. These murders include the bloody May Day when 34 people died during the celebrations 32 years ago. No other plausible explanation can be made for the failure to discover the assailants of the massacre committed in broad daylight in Taksim Square.
We do not have a working class to mark this day. As this day has received official acceptance since the risk of class-based war was eliminated, we will mark it as the Spring Festival. We hope that the declaration of this day as a festival will lead to a decrease in violence and an emergence of respect for labor and solidarity.
