Reflections On May Day 2015
From The Pen Of Bart Webber
Most of us older vets in VFP when we think of May Day, officially known as International Workers’ Day, probably think back to the times in our younger years when that day was associated with the Soviet Union showing off its military hardware in Red Square. Many may not realize that although May Day has never been an official American labor holiday, a day when working people celebrate international solidarity as workers, that tradition actually started in America in 1886 as result of some serious labor agitation and actions by the organized labor movement of the time struggling for the eight hour work day. There is a certain irony that in many working class and poor households where both parents work or work two, or more, jobs that demand is still in play. The labor actions in 1886 later got picked up by the organized international socialist and anarchist organizations and still later the communists and their off-shoots who carried on that tradition.
The start though was on May 1, 1886 when more than 300,000 workers in some 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike.
The story of the Haymarket Martyrs which is closely associated with the establishment of May Day resulted from the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.
In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neebe. The evidence was that one of the defendants may have built the bomb, but none of those on trial had thrown it. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887.
May 1st was chosen to be International Workers' Day in order to commemorate the 4 May, 1886 Haymarket events in Chicago. In 1889, a meeting in Paris was held by the first congress of the Second International which called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891.
Although May Day was never officially a labor holiday in America for many years after the 1880s in various working class cities or cities with substantial left-wing histories, usually led by left-wing organizations, usually the socialists, communists and anarchists, local observations have occurred. For many years up through the mid-1940s New York City had large marches but with the Cold War and the red scare which older members are all too familiar with these events were either broken up or were disbanded. Today in America only in places like San Francisco does the organized labor movement at least honor the day. Several years ago, around 2006, May Day for a short period, reflecting a different labor tradition the day has symbolized for the immigrant community, especially Latinos the struggle for citizenship. That tradition in much attenuated form still exists in the Latino communities in places like East Boston, Chelsea and Everett. As for a more specifically left-wing celebration, as I and some other comrades witnessed last week on Boston Common, only the remnants of some left-wing organizations around town still keep the tradition alive.
From The Pen Of Bart Webber
Most of us older vets in VFP when we think of May Day, officially known as International Workers’ Day, probably think back to the times in our younger years when that day was associated with the Soviet Union showing off its military hardware in Red Square. Many may not realize that although May Day has never been an official American labor holiday, a day when working people celebrate international solidarity as workers, that tradition actually started in America in 1886 as result of some serious labor agitation and actions by the organized labor movement of the time struggling for the eight hour work day. There is a certain irony that in many working class and poor households where both parents work or work two, or more, jobs that demand is still in play. The labor actions in 1886 later got picked up by the organized international socialist and anarchist organizations and still later the communists and their off-shoots who carried on that tradition.
The start though was on May 1, 1886 when more than 300,000 workers in some 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike.
The story of the Haymarket Martyrs which is closely associated with the establishment of May Day resulted from the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a peaceful rally in support of workers striking for an eight hour day and in reaction to the killing of several workers the previous day by the police. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police they acted to disperse the public meeting. The bomb blast and ensuing gunfire resulted in the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians.
In the internationally publicized legal proceedings that followed, eight anarchists were convicted of conspiracy, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, and Oscar Neebe. The evidence was that one of the defendants may have built the bomb, but none of those on trial had thrown it. Seven were sentenced to death and one to a term of 15 years in prison. The other four were hanged on November 11, 1887.
May 1st was chosen to be International Workers' Day in order to commemorate the 4 May, 1886 Haymarket events in Chicago. In 1889, a meeting in Paris was held by the first congress of the Second International which called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891.
Although May Day was never officially a labor holiday in America for many years after the 1880s in various working class cities or cities with substantial left-wing histories, usually led by left-wing organizations, usually the socialists, communists and anarchists, local observations have occurred. For many years up through the mid-1940s New York City had large marches but with the Cold War and the red scare which older members are all too familiar with these events were either broken up or were disbanded. Today in America only in places like San Francisco does the organized labor movement at least honor the day. Several years ago, around 2006, May Day for a short period, reflecting a different labor tradition the day has symbolized for the immigrant community, especially Latinos the struggle for citizenship. That tradition in much attenuated form still exists in the Latino communities in places like East Boston, Chelsea and Everett. As for a more specifically left-wing celebration, as I and some other comrades witnessed last week on Boston Common, only the remnants of some left-wing organizations around town still keep the tradition alive.
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