May Day is also Labour Day - the day which traditionally sees parades in celebration of socialist ideals take place all over the world.

But has this ideology become outdated?

May Day in Moscow and Havana reported on Radio 5Live (5' 34")

If the scale and range of these celebrations are anything to go by, the answer is a resounding no.

Russia, Cuba, China and North Korea - to name just a few countries - will all be marking the international socialism day with processions.

In the Czech Republic, the Communist Party is marking May Day this year by releasing a CD of revolutionary songs.

But are these very visible displays of socialist allegiance just a cover to an irrelevant non-electable dream?

In Britain the reinvention and rebranding of the Labour party as the 'New' Labour party is viewed with dismay by many traditional socialist. They say it illustrates the abandonment of the old ideological certainties in favour of pragmatism without principle.

And the trend is repeated across the world.

Even the Cuban leader Fidel Castro is opening up to business, allowing Papal visits and taking tea with supermodels - icons of the capitalist world.

Some traditionalists lament these chinks in the socialist armour as signs of its slow death. Others say they guarantee its survival.

So is socialism still relevant where you live? Do you prefer your leaders to have red fire in their belly or are your more comfortable with pragmatic leaders with a sense of social justice who know how to get elected?

What do you think?

Is socialism dead?

Call it new socialism, call it old Toryism...
Anabelle Powell, UK

Your reaction in full

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