29 February 1932: In a leap year the wage-earners score at the expense of the salaried classes,for the man who is paid by the month does a day’s work for nothingSince this is the morning when an enriched February puts forth its modest Leap Year bud in the shape of that additional day, presumably there will be another outcrop of venerable (respected because of age, distinguished) references to ladies who “pop the question” and to puny boys and girls who are supposed to possess only one birthday in four years. It might give a fresher turn to the subject to suggest that comrades and proletarians in general might do much worse than adopt the Twenty-ninth of February as “Labour Day” instead of May 1. It seems to be the one occasion in the calendar when the wage-earners score at the expense of the “rentier” and salaried classes - for the man who is paid by the day or week gets his money for to-day’s labours, or while the man who is paid by the month or year does a day’s work for nothing. The invested funds of the bloated capitalist also fail him; as compared with normal years he loses a whole day’s interest on his ill-gotten gains.
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Source: theguardian.com