The holiday has lost a lot of its lustre since the break up of the Soviet Union, back in the days when Russians and Eastern Europeans took to the streets with banners and red carnations in their lapels.

Twenty-six years ago today I was in a counter May Day demonstration in Warsaw, Poland (where I was an English teacher), protesting the fifth month of martial law and the continued imprisonment of the leaders of Solidarity - oddly enough, a free trade union. I got my first taste of tear gas.

Union members still march in much of the world, celebrating international workers' day. Though before Marx and Engels, the day had a very different meaning.

When I was at Villanova, my history professor told us that at Bryn Mawr College young women danced around a may pole on May 1st in what was, he explained, an ancient fertility rite. "Over at ----- ," he added, mentioning another nearby women's college, "they don't need a may pole."