After Friday's obscene spectacle of inherited privilege and self-aggrandizement, it was a real pleasure to celebrate a much more altruistic and relevant occasion – the 121st anniversary of the International Workers' Holiday of 1st May.

I took the opportunity to re-read the excellent paper by the eminent historian, Eric Hobsbawm, given to celebrate the centenary of this event in 1990, at St Mary and Westfield College of the University of London. It is entitled 'Birth of a Holiday – The First of May' and can be found in his brilliant book, 'Uncommon People: Resistance, Rebellion and Jazz.

The 1st May holiday originated from a demonstration on that day in 1890 when socialist workers across the world, notably Britain, Europe and the USA, in support of a maximum 8-hour working day. It has since become, in Hobsbawm's words "….the only unquestionable dent made by a secular movement in the Christian or any other official calendar, a holiday established not in on or two countries, but in 1990 officially in 107 states. What is more, it is an occasion established not by the power of government or conquerors, but by an entirely official movement of poor men and women."

He goes on to set out how this came about and the history of the holiday, including the many attempts by anti-socialists, not least our own tyrant, Thatcher, to usurp the day.

Surely, on this weekend, this is the event that is truly worthy of celebration – not the stomach-churning extravaganza of Friday?