May Day is the international distress signal, and by a suitable irony it is also the international socialist holiday. It is the day on which the leaders of the Soviet Union celebrate the achievements of their state. It is a good day on which to consider the extent of its power and its further objectives. The decision to have a May Day holiday in Britain is therefore a wise one; the British ought to think seriously about Communism more often than they do.
It is a particularly appropriate day for the British to remember the two million or so Russians whom Britain returned to Stalin at the end of the war. Some of them were guilty of crimes (though none of them had a fair trial), but at least many were innocent; their numbers included women and children as well as some people who were not Soviet citizens at all. When they were returned to the Soviet Union, some were killed and most of the rest were imprisoned. We continued the policy of forcible repatriation, using both force and fraud, knowing what the consequences would be for the people we sent back. We sent them back because we wanted to please Stalin and did not want them here.
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