R
Raymond
Guest
Congress recognized Labor Day as a national holiday in 1894, while
ignoring May Day.
As the workers' movement in the United States unfolds in the future,
it will be up to us to reclaim May Day as our holiday and bring its
celebration back to the U.S. working-class centers where the holiday
was born.
One of the most important working-class holidays, May Day
(International Workers Day), originated in the United States in the
1880s with the struggle for the eight-hour day
The issue of a reduced workweek or shorter daily hours had been a
rallying cry for workers both in the United States and around the
industrialized world-a struggle against the constant attempt by the
bosses to extend the working day up to as much as 16 hours, side by
side with periodic unemployment.
Strikes and pressure for legislation to reduce working hours became
widespread in the 1880s. An economic depression with resulting
unemployment and wage cuts spurred the movement forward so that in
1885 the workers began to discuss the idea of a general strike to win
the eight-hour day.
While the national Knights leaders quaked in their boots, the local
leaders prepared for the battle. May 1, 1886 was chosen as the date
for the fight to be launched. On the job, in the neighborhoods, at the
union halls, at home the eight-hour-a-day movement was the hot topic
of working-class conversation.
In early spring 1886, strikes demanding the eight-hour day began to
break out, involving almost a quarter of a million workers. The
movement was strongest in the big working-class centers, but it
extended all over the Midwest and East Coast. In Chicago, a mix of
trade unionists, socialists, and anarchists united, holding huge
demonstrations in the weeks leading up to May 1.
Mass rallies, parades and demonstrations involving thousands of
workers took place around the country. Brewers, bakers, furniture
workers, clothing cutters, tobacco, shoe, lard, packing and other
workers won some victories and saw their hours reduced.
On May Day, tens of thousands of workers struck and tens of thousands
more took to the streets to support the fight. It was a festival of
the oppressed, with bands and flags and joy. Over the next days
340,000 workers stopped work in 12,000 work places around the country.
Many of the struggles were victorious.
But on May 3, police in Chicago fired into a mass meeting of workers
in front of the huge McCormick works, killing four people and wounding
200. The workers battled the police. Anarchists called on the workers
to take up arms. All over the city the workers held meetings and
rallies to protest the killings and police brutality.
At a meeting in Haymarket Square on May 4, some 3000 people rallied to
protest the McCormick killings; when it started raining, however, many
left. As the last speaker was finishing up, hundreds of police marched
in and declared that the rally must disperse.
Suddenly, dynamite exploded among the police-wounding dozens and
eventually killing seven. The police fired into the crowd, wounding
200 and killing several.
The newspapers all over the country screamed about the bombing-
accusing the anarchists of murdering the police. The mayor declared a
virtual martial law and the police began raiding all radical
organizations, arresting hundreds of socialists, anarchists, and
others.
Law and order became the watchword of the day, cheered on by the
bosses and their mouthpieces in government, the press, and the police.
Even the Chicago Knights of Labor applauded the witch hunt, stating:
"We hope the whole gang of [anarchist] outlaws will be blotted from
the face of the earth."
Eight anarchists were arrested for the Haymarket bombing. Seven were
sentenced to hang and one to a long prison term, though there was not
a shred of real evidence to connect them to the bombing. The governor
of Illinois commuted the sentences of two of the accused, one man
killed himself in jail, and four were hanged by the state.
Twenty-five thousand workers participated in a funeral march for them
in Chicago. Thousands of workers made a pilgrimage yearly to the grave
of the Haymarket martyrs at Waldheim cemetery in Chicago.
Mother Jones, a leader of the miners, said of Haymarket: "The workers
asked only for bread and a shortening of long hours of toil. The
agitators gave them visions. The police gave them clubs."
The repression following the strike wave of 1886 led to the demise of
the Knights Of Labor. However, the more narrowly focused AF of L,
whose leaders took credit for the eight-hour-a-day strike victories,
gained ground, with over 100,000 members.
In the meantime, the principles of class struggle and labor solidarity
were passed along to new generations of labor radicals and led to the
creation of the Socialist Party and the International Workers of the
World, many of whose militants honored and respected the Haymarket
martyrs and the fighters of 1886.
There were over 1400 strikes, involving over half a million workers,
in 1886, leading it to be called at the time "the year of the great
uprising of labor." The strike wave showed the potential power of the
newly emerging industrial working class. It showed a high level of
class solidarity, including across racial lines.
In 1888 the AF of L continued the eight-hour a day movement. In 1889,
the Second Socialist International and workers' organizations around
the world voted to designate May 1, 1890, as an international day of
solidarity to continue the fight for the eight-hour day and to honor
workers' struggles.
In the United States, however, while left-wing groups tried to keep
May Day alive, the conservative and later anti-communist trade union
leadership, with the support of U.S. politicians, tried to shift
attention to the first Monday in September as "Labor Day."
Although the September date had been celebrated by trade unionists in
New York as early as 1882, in subsequent years it became associated
with flag-waving patriotism, parades, and picnics as opposed to the
more militant May Day celebrations.
http://www.socialistaction.org/news/200105/mayday.html
ignoring May Day.
As the workers' movement in the United States unfolds in the future,
it will be up to us to reclaim May Day as our holiday and bring its
celebration back to the U.S. working-class centers where the holiday
was born.
One of the most important working-class holidays, May Day
(International Workers Day), originated in the United States in the
1880s with the struggle for the eight-hour day
The issue of a reduced workweek or shorter daily hours had been a
rallying cry for workers both in the United States and around the
industrialized world-a struggle against the constant attempt by the
bosses to extend the working day up to as much as 16 hours, side by
side with periodic unemployment.
Strikes and pressure for legislation to reduce working hours became
widespread in the 1880s. An economic depression with resulting
unemployment and wage cuts spurred the movement forward so that in
1885 the workers began to discuss the idea of a general strike to win
the eight-hour day.
While the national Knights leaders quaked in their boots, the local
leaders prepared for the battle. May 1, 1886 was chosen as the date
for the fight to be launched. On the job, in the neighborhoods, at the
union halls, at home the eight-hour-a-day movement was the hot topic
of working-class conversation.
In early spring 1886, strikes demanding the eight-hour day began to
break out, involving almost a quarter of a million workers. The
movement was strongest in the big working-class centers, but it
extended all over the Midwest and East Coast. In Chicago, a mix of
trade unionists, socialists, and anarchists united, holding huge
demonstrations in the weeks leading up to May 1.
Mass rallies, parades and demonstrations involving thousands of
workers took place around the country. Brewers, bakers, furniture
workers, clothing cutters, tobacco, shoe, lard, packing and other
workers won some victories and saw their hours reduced.
On May Day, tens of thousands of workers struck and tens of thousands
more took to the streets to support the fight. It was a festival of
the oppressed, with bands and flags and joy. Over the next days
340,000 workers stopped work in 12,000 work places around the country.
Many of the struggles were victorious.
But on May 3, police in Chicago fired into a mass meeting of workers
in front of the huge McCormick works, killing four people and wounding
200. The workers battled the police. Anarchists called on the workers
to take up arms. All over the city the workers held meetings and
rallies to protest the killings and police brutality.
At a meeting in Haymarket Square on May 4, some 3000 people rallied to
protest the McCormick killings; when it started raining, however, many
left. As the last speaker was finishing up, hundreds of police marched
in and declared that the rally must disperse.
Suddenly, dynamite exploded among the police-wounding dozens and
eventually killing seven. The police fired into the crowd, wounding
200 and killing several.
The newspapers all over the country screamed about the bombing-
accusing the anarchists of murdering the police. The mayor declared a
virtual martial law and the police began raiding all radical
organizations, arresting hundreds of socialists, anarchists, and
others.
Law and order became the watchword of the day, cheered on by the
bosses and their mouthpieces in government, the press, and the police.
Even the Chicago Knights of Labor applauded the witch hunt, stating:
"We hope the whole gang of [anarchist] outlaws will be blotted from
the face of the earth."
Eight anarchists were arrested for the Haymarket bombing. Seven were
sentenced to hang and one to a long prison term, though there was not
a shred of real evidence to connect them to the bombing. The governor
of Illinois commuted the sentences of two of the accused, one man
killed himself in jail, and four were hanged by the state.
Twenty-five thousand workers participated in a funeral march for them
in Chicago. Thousands of workers made a pilgrimage yearly to the grave
of the Haymarket martyrs at Waldheim cemetery in Chicago.
Mother Jones, a leader of the miners, said of Haymarket: "The workers
asked only for bread and a shortening of long hours of toil. The
agitators gave them visions. The police gave them clubs."
The repression following the strike wave of 1886 led to the demise of
the Knights Of Labor. However, the more narrowly focused AF of L,
whose leaders took credit for the eight-hour-a-day strike victories,
gained ground, with over 100,000 members.
In the meantime, the principles of class struggle and labor solidarity
were passed along to new generations of labor radicals and led to the
creation of the Socialist Party and the International Workers of the
World, many of whose militants honored and respected the Haymarket
martyrs and the fighters of 1886.
There were over 1400 strikes, involving over half a million workers,
in 1886, leading it to be called at the time "the year of the great
uprising of labor." The strike wave showed the potential power of the
newly emerging industrial working class. It showed a high level of
class solidarity, including across racial lines.
In 1888 the AF of L continued the eight-hour a day movement. In 1889,
the Second Socialist International and workers' organizations around
the world voted to designate May 1, 1890, as an international day of
solidarity to continue the fight for the eight-hour day and to honor
workers' struggles.
In the United States, however, while left-wing groups tried to keep
May Day alive, the conservative and later anti-communist trade union
leadership, with the support of U.S. politicians, tried to shift
attention to the first Monday in September as "Labor Day."
Although the September date had been celebrated by trade unionists in
New York as early as 1882, in subsequent years it became associated
with flag-waving patriotism, parades, and picnics as opposed to the
more militant May Day celebrations.
http://www.socialistaction.org/news/200105/mayday.html
