Happy 120th May Day

Today is May Day, also known as International Workers Day.  Now before you start thinking "Oh great, stories about dead people that have no relevance to modern life," let me tell you that the story behind May Day is full of unsolved mystery, popular uprising, explosions, corporate state violence, anarchists and old school labour organizers and of course, full on rioting.

This story of May Day starts in 1884 when the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions demanded an eight hour work day by May 1st, 1886.  In the 1880s people were still working ten and twelve hour days.  Most of the benefits that most of us in the developed world" take for granted today did not exist in the 19th century workplace.  Children worked in sweat shops, there was no employment insurance, health coverage, fewer days off, longer hours, unsafe conditions: everything you'd expect in one of the corporate colonial economies today. Organizers in Chicago prepared for a general strike to stop all industry in the city on May 1st, 1886.  Chicago at the time had a very strong anarchist community.  Prominent anarchists like Lucy and Albert Parsons played a central role, and even led of parade of 80 000 workers.  In response, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company locked their employees out and started hiring scabs.

On May 3rd, a fight started on the picket line infront of the McCormick factory between striking workers and scabs coming to take their jobs.  The 1500 striking workers were attacked by 200 police officers sent in to break up the fight.  The police opened fire on the workers.  According the Wikipedia article two workers were killed.  The article on the Lucy Parsons Project put the death toll at four, with many others wounded.  Outrage at the corporate state violence spread through the working population of the city.  A rally was called for May 4th at Haymarket square, then a bustling commercial centre (and now a freeway as far as I can tell).

The rally was a tame affair in all the accounts I've read.  It was raining out, but people still gathered to hear anarchist leaders speak from the back of a wagon parked on a side street in the market under the supervision of the police.  Even the mayor stopped to see the rally on his way home from work, and left early because he didn't think it would turn violent.  As things were wrapping up, the police got into formation and marched on the crowd, ordering them to disperse.

Suddenly a bomb was hurled at the police line by someone in the crowd.  One officer was killed instantly, seven more died later from their injuries.  As could be expected, things went haywire.  The police fired on the crowd.  Dozens of workers were injured, eleven workers died.  This is perhaps the origin of the stereotype of the anarchist as a bomb thrower (and later just generally violent, angry, destructive and irresponsible).

The bomber was never found.  Rumours spread that the bomber had been hired by the bosses to misrepresent the anarchists and labour organizers and give the police an excuse to start a riot.  That's what politics and activism were like back then.  There are other examples of boss hired agitators using violence to bring further repression and public disapproval to the radical left.  There are countless examples of police being used as an internal army to stamp out radical organizing.  It still happens today, but back then they were shooting lead.  Isn't it funny how we are less radical now when the tactics using against us are relatively less lethal?

The corporate owners and bosses didn't care about finding the bomber, and therefore neither did the state.  They wanted the leaders of the popular uprising stopped, hoping that the dissent would stop with their silencing.  The eight arrested were all part of the anarchist movement and had been directly and indirectly involved in organizing for May 1st.  They weren't charged with the bombing itself, but with inciting the bombing and other violence with their words, ideas and nonviolent organizing.  In a great miscarriage of justice, the eight were sentenced to death.  Their names were August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe.

Their friend and allies campaigned all over the world for their release.  They became international labour heroes.  Four were hanged, one committed suicide the night before his hanging, two got life and one got fifteen years.

Ever since, May 1st has been celebrated as the International Day of Labour in almost every country in the world.  In Canada and the United States, the day is ignored.  We have labour day instead, which is less politicized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot 

http://www.lucyparsonsproject.org/haymarket.html