Alan Lennon and Jan Armstrong, staff representatives with theCanada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU), a component of the PSAC, were in England for May Day this year and attended the Trades Union Congress (TUC) sponsored march and demonstration in London’s Trafalgar Square.

As the marchers swung down the Strand into Trafalgar Square, the flags and banners of labour union locals, community and political organizations filled the square and provided a backdrop for a celebration of a working class movement encompassing all generations and many kinds of expressions in art, in music, in clothing and even in styles of dancing!

Delighted by the banners and flags which blanketed the square, Alan used his camera to try to capture the artistry of these expressions of what workers did for a living and of the organizations they have built to improve their lot in life.

According to Alan, the fact that sex workers were prepared to march as part of the labour and progressive movement alongside unions of prison guards, computer technicians and subway drivers demonstrates that a vibrant left culture has room for all workers and progressive thinking persons. In such a movement, there is room for all sort of contradictions &#0151 including a place for socialist stockbrokers!

The approximately 10,000 people who marched into Trafalgar on that Thursday afternoon represented a broad movement in Britain &#0151 a movement whose goals were clear &#0151 an end to the imperialist war in Iraq, the development of quality public services and the creation of a better world for all us. As the many red flags with Karl Marx on them stated: “We still need to change the world”.

The photos Alan took at Trafalgar Square are part of a collection he is building of trade union and progressive banners and art work he sees on his travels. Some day he hopes to display this collection as a celebration of the labour and progressive movement.

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