[imc-la]FWD: Mayday the true anarchist Holiday

[Chantel *~G~*]

Don't forget the true meaning of May Day organized by Anarchists - the Real 
Labor Day


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May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of 
working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country 
except the United States, Canada, and South Africa. This despite the fact 
that the holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, with the fight for 
an eight-hour work day.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a 
resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from 
and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve 
the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being 
forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support 
for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and 
hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were 
involved in the May Day movement.

The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organized primarily by the 
anarchist International Working People's Association. Businesses and the 
state were terrified by the increasingly revolutionary character of the 
movement and prepared accordingly. The police and militia were increased in 
size and received new and powerful weapons financed by local business 
leaders. Chicago's Commercial Club purchased a $2000 machine gun for the 
Illinois National Guard to be used against strikers. Nevertheless, by May 
1st, the movement had already won gains for many Chicago clothing cutters, 
shoemakers, and packing-house workers. But on May 3, 1886, police fired into 
a crowd of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and 
wounding many. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in 
Haymarket Square to protest the brutality.

The meeting proceeded without incident, and by the time the last speaker was 
on the platform, the rainy gathering was already breaking up, with only a 
few hundred people remaining. It was then that 180 cops marched into the 
square and ordered the meeting to disperse. As the speakers climbed down 
from the platform, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one and injuring 
seventy. Police responded by firing into the crowd, killing one worker and 
injuring many others.

Although it was never determined who threw the bomb, the incident was used 
as an excuse to attack the entire Left and labor movement. Police ransacked 
the homes and offices of suspected radicals, and hundreds were arrested 
without charge. Anarchists in particular were harassed, and eight of 
Chicago's most active were charged with conspiracy to murder in connection 
with the Haymarket bombing. A kangaroo court found all eight guilty, despite 
a lack of evidence connecting any of them to the bomb-thrower (only one was 
even present at the meeting, and he was on the speakers' platform), and they 
were sentenced to die. Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolf Fischer, and 
George Engel were hanged on November 11, 1887. Louis Lingg committed suicide 
in prison, The remaining three were finally pardoned in 1893.

It is not surprising that the state, business leaders, mainstream union 
officials, and the media would want to hide the true history of May Day, 
portraying it as a holiday celebrated only in Moscow's Red Square. In its 
attempt to erase the history and significance of May Day, the United States 
government declared May 1st to be "Law Day", and gave us instead Labor Day - 
a holiday devoid of any historical significance other than its importance as 
a day to swill beer and sit in traffic jams.

Nevertheless, rather than suppressing labor and radical movements, the 
events of 1886 and the execution of the Chicago anarchists actually 
mobilized many generations of radicals. Emma Goldman, a young immigrant at 
the time, later pointed to the Haymarket affair as her political birth. Lucy 
Parsons, widow of Albert Parsons, called upon the poor to direct their anger 
toward those responsible - the rich. Instead of disappearing, the anarchist 
movement only grew in the wake of Haymarket, spawning other radical 
movements and organizations, including the Industrial Workers of the World.

By covering up the history of May Day, the state, business, mainstream 
unions and the media have covered up an entire legacy of dissent in this 
country. They are terrified of what a similarly militant and organized 
movement could accomplish today, and they suppress the seeds of such 
organization whenever and wherever they can. As workers, we must recognize 
and commemorate May Day not only for it's historical significance, but also 
as a time to organize around issues of vital importance to working-class 
people today.

As IWW songwriter Joe Hill wrote in one of his most powerful songs:


Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might
Take the wealth that you are making,
It belongs to you by right.
No one will for bread be crying
We'll have freedom, love and health,
When the grand red flag is flying
In the Workers' Commonwealth.



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