Happy May Day!...a little history.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

This holiday has been associated, in the past, with Communism and those big military parades in Red Square.

It is, however, a national holiday in most parts of Europe. In Germany, at least, it is sort of their Labor Day, an occasion for unions to make speeches and hold ralleys and such (also for political partys with orgins as working class partys, like the Social Democrats, to do political speeches and events).

A little known fact is that May Day started as a commemoration to a specifically American event...the Haymarket incident in Chicago, and subsequent railroading of political activists to the gallows.

May Day was declared a commemoration of the Haymarket Martyrs on 1889 by the Interenationale..the international workingmens association, which is how it came to be celebrated in Europe.

A bit of history from this UK website:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/netnotes/article/0,6729,214862,00.html

The Haymarket Martyrs are buried at this monument in Chicagos Waldheim cemetery:
http://www.graveyards.com/foresthome/hmarket.html
ive visited it, and people still leave things there in honor, like flowers and political buttons and such. Other labor activitsts and political radicals are buried nearby.

[kimchi]

1. Actually, Mayday is an ancient pagan holiday.

To celebrate spring with dancing, feasting, merriment, and um...fertility rites.

It seems all our holy days have been co-opted. But I do think labor rights are an excellent reason to celebrate!

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

2. true...that Gaurdian link mentions the pagan roots

I think its great that we can celeberate both, too.

:-)

[JanMichael]

3. I've always found the Haymarket origins (modern 5-1) fascinating.

when my entire life it was always related, in the mass culture, as a Soviet thing when in fact it was an American worker issue.

Either way I wish we had more respect for those who struggled for Economic Justice.

[cosmicdot]

4. Remembering Haymarket - workers' rights

There is so much one doesn't know about their workers' rights, and we don't train ourselves enough to be prepared for what we don't find out until we're up against the ropes ... your employer does train people to deny your rights ... professionally, of course ....

... I filed a grievance with EEOC in 1997 ... eventually, I learned that federal employees had detailed policies and procedures which had to be followed in attending to such formal filings ... except I didn't work for Uncle Sam ... I worked in private industry ... and, there were no such policies and procedures ... I never knew until then that the EEOC treated us differently ... for me, that was discrimination at the halls of justice .......


"All of the privileges workers enjoy today — a minimum wage, safety laws, and even an eight-hour workday — came about only with the sacrifice of the workers who came before us."

Today, I see Americans increasingly working 10+ hour days, 7 day work weeks ... many on fixed salaries; most with disappearing medical and pension benefits ... one of the first acts of the Bush-Cheney people was to repeal President Clinton's Ergonomic Regulations setting the 'new tone' ...

Jobs with Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 hours are yielding to Sunday through Saturday hours, shiftwork, day and night ... "the weekend" is becoming obsolete ... the cell phone stays "on" making one a 24-hour, 7-days a week employee ... if one makes $40,000 a year ... divide that by 52, then, by 40 ... and, one gets 'an hourly rate' ... divide the same figure by 'real hours' ... 70 hour work weeks? ... and, the value is 'netted' ...

... and, then, there is "outsourcing" and "off-shoring" ... and killing over-time ...

- Drug Testing
- Electronic Monitoring
- Genetic Discrimination
- Lifestyle Discrimination

The hopes and dreams of the men and women who sent me to congress are the stars by which I journey. Whenever there is an organizing campaign, a picket line to walk, jobs to save, working conditions to improve, laws to champion, I'm there. This is my purpose: To stand up and to speak out on behalf of those who have built this country and who want to rebuild this country. This is my passion: To raise up the rights of working people. Workers' rights are the key to protecting our democracy.

Workers' rights embody spiritual principles that sustain families, nourish the soul, and create peace. Worker's rights are human rights.

Labor has stood almost alone while corporations have cut wages and benefits, slashed working hours, tried to undermine wage and hour provisions, reneged on contracts, and jettisoned retirements through bankruptcy strategies. The current clamor for corporate accountability calls for honesty in stating the numbers, and faithful custody of shareholders money.
http://www.kucinich.us/issues/rightsworkers.php



Workplace Fairness is a non-profit organization that provides information, education and assistance to individual workers and their advocates nationwide and promotes public policies that advance employee rights. Our goals are that workers and their advocates are educated about workplace rights and options for resolving workplace problems, and that the policy makers, members of the business community, and the public at large view the fair treatment of workers as both good business practice and sound public policy.

Workplace Fairness works toward these goals by:

- making comprehensive information about workers' rights - free of legal jargon - readily available to workers and to advocates and organizations that assist workers; providing resources to support the work of legal services organizations, community-based organizations, law schools, and private attorneys that provide free legal information and services to low-income workers; presenting the employee perspective in publications, policy debates, and public discussion.

Workplace Fairness is affiliated with the National Employment Lawyers Association, the country's only professional organization comprised exclusively of lawyers who represent individual employees in cases involving employment discrimination, wrongful termination, employee benefits, and other employment related matters.

Workplace Fairness was founded in 1994 as the National Employee Rights Institute. The name of the organization was changed in 2001 to reflect our effort to link the knowledge and work of employment rights attorneys with that of non-legal organizations and other individuals who are concerned with issues of fairness in the workplace. Working together, professionals and citizens concerned with issues of workplace fairness more effectively build community awareness of workplace issues and promote progressive changes in employment law, policies, and practices.

The National Employee Rights Institute continues today as a division of Workplace Fairness that publishes books and journals on employee rights and workplace issues that relate to employee rights. Click here for more information about National Employee Rights Institute publications.

NERI is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in California. Click here for information on our Board of Directors.
http://www.nerinet.org/

"Every time I passed through those plant gates to go to work, I left America, and my rights as a free man. I spent nine hours in there, in prison, and then came out into my country again."

http://archive.aclu.org/issues/worker/hmwr.html

Through the Keyhole: Privacy in the Workplace, an Endangered Right


July 26, 1998




THROUGH THE KEYHOLE
Privacy in the Workplace:
An Endangered Right
RESOURCE GUIDE


Hidden Surveillance
"It's a very personal thing when you're in the locker room. I just felt like my privacy was totally invaded. It was very humiliating."
--Brad Fair

Drug Testing
"They took me into an examination room and said, strip.' And I said, what?' Drug testing is a moral violation, an invasion of self, control that an employer should not have."
--Collette Clark

Lifestyle Discrimination
"What I do on my own time is my private right. I went to work everyday and I gave them 110%. I never did anything wrong."
-- Dan Winn


http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=14172&c=132

... the Republicans and their corporatist enablers, are working to return us to the days of sweat shop labor ... now, George W. Bush, is further obscuring labor by making September's Labor Day into Loyalty Day ...... and, John Ashcroft stands in front of the halls of Justice ... and Elaine Chao is guarding the Labor Dept.

History seems to have a way of repeating itself ...

... will all the gains have been in vain?

If you work with a computer, within a computerized network/system ... welcome to the new assembly line ... there's no reason on earth why Americans should leave their Rights on their employers' doorsteps each day ... as long as corporate power continues to gain over the sovereignty of our Constitution where power is in the hands of 'the People', there your rights will sit ...



The Massacre

Demonstrations and marches by workers demanding an eight hour day took place in Chicago in early May, 1886. Business tycoons, police, and the newspaper establishment were becoming increasingly fearful. On May 3rd, August Spies, publisher of the Arbeiter-Zeitung, addressed a crowd of McCormick Reaper plant workers. Police under Captain Bonfield arrived and fired on the crowd, killing two.

George Engel, Adolph Fischer and other activists met that night to plan a mass meeting for the next night in protest of the killings. 20,000 flyers were distributed to promote the meeting. Although 2,500 had assembled, due to poor planning, no speeches were made until August Spies climbed atop a wagon at 8:30. Albert Parsons was next to speak after Spies, followed by Samuel Fielden.

Mayor Carter Henry Harrison attended the meeting briefly, then left, seeing that it was peaceful. Captain Bonfield disobeyed the mayor's orders and sent his men to disperse the crowd. A force of 176 police attacked the remaining workers - only about two hundred - using a military formation.

An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb into the police, where it exploded, killing policeman Mathias Degan and wounding several others. The police began shooting into the demonstrators. At least four workers were killed, and six police - most shot accidentally by their fellows.



The Martyrs

In the days that followed, numerous raids took place without warrants on the homes and offices of labor activists. As the identity of the bomb-thrower would never be known, the speakers at the meeting and its organizers were arrested instead. Albert Parsons had escaped to Wisconsin, but willingly turned himself in to stand trial with his comrades. Eight men were tried under Judge Joseph Gary, who was firmly anti-labor. Gary allowed the prosecution to make any statements they wished, and frighten the jurors by showing them bombs, while the defendant's lawyers were not allowed to bring in vital evidence. Seven of the defendants were sentenced to hang, with Oscar Neebe given fifteen years in prison.

Appeals by the defense delayed the hanging for over a year. The seven were scheduled to hang on November 11, 1887. The day before the execution, November tenth, Governor Oglesby commuted the sentences of Saumel Fielden and Michael Schwab to life imprisonment. The remaining prisoners were to be hanged the next day. Louis Lingg cheated the executioner and killed himself in his cell by biting down on a dynamite blasting cap. August Spies, Adolph Fischer, Aulbert Parsons, and George Engel, were hanged on November 11th, known as "Black Friday".

The bodies of the five martyrs were returned to their families. On November 13th, thousands of workers marched with the bodies to a downtown railroad station, then accompanied them on the train to German Waldheim Cemetery, where the five were buried together in this plot.

A short history of May Day

May Day - the REAL Labor Day
by Jackie Dana

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/vol2no4/labor10124.htm

"Workmen, let your watchword be: No compromise! Cowards to the rear! Men to the front! The die is cast. The first of May, whose historic significance will be understood and appreciated only in later years, has come." —Albert Spies, May 1886

All of the privileges workers enjoy today—a minimum wage, safety laws, and even an eight-hour workday—came about only with the sacrifice of the workers who came before us. Although the government prefers our collective amnesia, workers on this May Day should remember our past and realize that we too are part of an ongoing struggle to bring about an end to the exploitation of labor around the world.

From the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, people in factories have worked very long shifts, lasting up to fourteen or more hours a day. During the 1880s a new movement calling for an eight-hour day inspired both labor unions and unorganized workers. At its 1884 convention, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions adopted a resolution stating that beginning May 1, 1886, "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work" and workers would strike at companies that did not recognize the eight-hour day.

By April 1886, a quarter of a million workers had committed themselves to go on strike as part of the May Day movement. This enabled thousands of workers to win shorter shifts. Most employers, however, refused to reduce working hours. By May 1 some 200,000 workers were on strike. An additional 340,000 workers in the industrial cities of Boston, New York, Milwaukee, Chicago and Pittsburgh, turned out for local parades and rallies.

One of the most militant campaigns occurred in Chicago. The syndicalist International Working People's Association—promoting equal rights and an end to racism and the class system—had successfully organized huge numbers of workers, building a movement that included African-Americans, immigrants, and women standing together with white men. Largely because of the organization’s efforts, 50,000 workers went on strike, with tens of thousands attending the city's May Day parade. The IWPA's successful broad-based appeal worried businesses and the government alike. This fear resulted in the expansion of both the police and the militias.

On May Day, Albert Parsons, along with Albert Spies, spoke to a huge crowd assembled as part of the May Day activities. Parsons was a member of both the Knights of Labor and the Chicago Central Labor Union, and Spies was the editor of the German workers' paper Die Arbeiter-Zeitung. Despite the city leaders' expectations of violence (which led to a heavy police presence), the rally ended without incident.

Two days later, Spies spoke to a meeting of 6,000 workers. Among the workers were striking lumber workers and employees from the McCormick Harvester Works. Cyrus McCormick, a determined union-buster had locked his workers out as a result of their strike of 2 ½ months. Nonstriking workers and replacement workers became the focus of heckling by other meeting participants, which created a chaotic atmosphere. Then, in a classic case of overreaction, police fired into the crowd and killed at least two men while wounding many more.

Appalled by the police violence, Spies called for a massive rally the next day in Haymarket Square. Between 2,000 and 3,000 people attended the May 4 rally. Parsons gave an hour-long speech that was relatively tame. He specifically stated, "I am not here for the purpose of inciting anybody."

Chicago Mayor Harrison, who had attended most of the meeting, stopped by the police station on his way home. He reported to Police Captain Bonfield that "nothing looked likely to require police interference."

Despite this advice the captain, who regularly employed Pinkerton detectives and supported "shoot to kill" policies when dealing with strikers, sent additional officers to the square.

After hours of speeches, people had begun to leave, when Samuel Fielden, a Methodist preacher and the final speaker, took the podium. Concluding his speech, he encouraged workers to stand up to the law, which did not protect them, urging them to "kill it, stab it . . . to impede its progress." The police considered this "inflammatory language" and 200 police officers ordered the remaining crowd to disperse immediately. As Fielden argued with the police of the peaceful intent of the meeting, someone threw a dynamite bomb at the police. One sergeant was killed immediately. The police then opened fire at the crowd. Estimates indicated that seven or eight civilians were killed. Several policemen and additional civilians died later.

Following the event, hysteria swept the city. Mayor Harrison declared martial law. Some believed the bomb had been thrown by an agent provocateur. Indeed, it served nicely as an excuse for the police to harass and attack scores of people. Hundreds were arrested. State Attorney for Cook County J. Grinnell announced in a public statement, "Make the raids first and look up the law afterward."

Labor unions were broken up. Picketing strikers were arrested and the police continued to beat labor supporters.

In conjunction with the bombing, the state arrested and indicted eight anarchists: Spies, Michael Schwab, Fielden, Parsons, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe. All were charged with conspiracy to murder, despite the fact that only three had been present at the Haymarket meeting. For their trial, a special bailiff was appointed to pick the jury. He stated, "These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death." During the trial in June 1886, the state could not provide evidence that any of the men had knowledge of the bomb or that they had incited or participated in the violence.

But it wasn't the men so much as their ideas that were considered dangerous. As Grinnell stated in his summation: "Law is on trial. Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the grand jury and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury:

convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society."

As a result of the trial, all but one of the men received death sentences (Neebe received 15 years). Despite international outcry, Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel were hanged on November 11, 1887; Lingg escaped by committing suicide. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the funeral procession for the executed men. Later, in 1893, when newly elected Governor Altgeld granted pardons to Neebe, Schwab, and Fielden, he admitted that the trial had been unfair and that the men had always been innocent of the crimes.

After Haymarket, workers all over the world pointed toward May 1 as their day. ~snip~