We must never forget our history because it will sustain us in the dark days when we indulge in negative ruminations about the "good old days," which never existed. Please read David Swanson brief historical essay to help put into perspective the various converging forces who will seize upon May Day with righteous passion, and it should be so.
MAY DAY: A Call To Action
Submitted by davidswanson on
Mon, 2008-03-24 13:32
May 1st is shaping up to be quite a day of resistance, with strikes by the ILWU and other unions, plus immigrant rights rallies, and peace and impeachment activities.
It's Mission Accomplished Day (5 Years!)
It's Downing Street Minutes Day (3 Years!)
It's Impeachment Off the Table Day (2 Years!)
It's May Day, the original Labor Day (122 Years!)
If you care about the future of our republic, we encourage you to visit your congress member's nearest office at high noon, local time, on May 1st, and ask for impeachment hearings for the Vice President for Torture, Dick Cheney. Let us know you plan to do it, and find others to do it with you at http://democrats.com/mayday
[...]
The ILWU has committed to blocking ports on May 1st in opposition to the occupation of Iraq.
May Day, the First of May, 2008, is a Thursday.
According to the Bush Administration it is Loyalty Day. Are you feeling loyal?
In case you aren't, FEMA has planned terrorism scare "exercises" on May 1st.
May Day is the real labor day, the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre and the fight for an 8-hour day in Chicago – an American holiday celebrated everywhere except in America.
May Day had a long history in Europe as a seasonal celebration of rebirth and hope. It was also the first of a month, an ideal time for strikes in industrialized nineteenth-century America where workers tended to be paid at the end of the month. At its 1884 convention the American Federation of Labor adopted a resolution that all labor would strike on May 1, 1886, to demand an eight-hour day. The media, which in this country has always been completely fair and balanced, predicted a violent Communist insurrection. The Chicago Tribune reported responsibly: "Every lamp-post in Chicago will be decorated with a communistic carcass if necessary to prevent wholesale incendiarism or prevent any attempt at it."
As documented in "Labor's Untold Story" By Richard O. Boyer and Herbert M. Morais, 62,000 workers in Chicago committed to strike on May 1, another 25,000 demanded an eight-hour day without threatening to strike, and 20,000 were given the eight-hour day before May 1. Meanwhile, the Armours, Swifts, Medills, Fields, and McCormicks [my bold] (Chicago's royalty, people who would have adored Loyalty Day) mobilized the National Guard, the Pinkertons, and specially deputized police.
Workers marched down Michigan Avenue in Chicago instead of working on May 1, 1886, and 340,000 did the same nationwide. Albert Parsons and August Spies spoke at the rally in Chicago, which ended peacefully. [my bold] The Communist insurrection proved as real as Saddam Hussein's long-range missiles. But two days later, Chicago police shot striking workers [my bold] outside McCormick Harvester Works, and labor leaders organized a protest in Haymarket Square for the next day. In the meantime, thousands of workers all over the country were winning the eight-hour day and returning to work.
As the relatively small and peaceful meeting at Haymarket Square was wrapping up, 180 policemen marched on the crowd, and a bomb went off -- which many believe was thrown by an agent provocateur. The Chicago Tribune demanded that Parsons, Spies, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden be hanged for murder. The police began smashing up labor offices and beating up innocent people. "Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards," said John Ashcroft - oops, I mean Julius Grinnell, Chicago's State's Attorney. The four men named above were indicted for murder, along with George Engel, Adolph Fisher, and Louis Lingg. Parsons, who had escaped, became a modern Socrates and turned himself in to face certain death. Testimony from "witnesses" who had been threatened with torture and others who had been paid turned out so contradictory that the prosecution shifted to a focus on the defendants' thoughts and politics. Fielden and Schwab ended up with life sentences; Lingg died in his cell; the others were hung. Parsons left behind a note to his children that included this:
"We show our love by living for our loved ones. We also prove our love by dying, when necessary, for them."
In the tradition of those who have gone before us and sacrificed so much for so many benefits that we take for granted, we are proposing a day of action on May 1, 2008, to include a general strike for peace, impeachment, and human rights. Here are proposals that have already been made from a variety of quarters:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/mayday
April 30, 2008
Why May Day is Labor's Victory Day
April 29, 2008
Code Pink Call Out: May Day & Mother's Day
April showers bring May flowers and creative acts for peace and social justice. We hope you will be able to join us at one or more of the events listed below. And put our May 11th Mother's Day Peace stroll (info below) into your calendar for May!
May 1st, Thursday, 2pm & 3pm, March to Union Square!
INTERNATIONAL WORKERS' DAY
CODEPINK NYC joins with Break the Chains Campaign for a Rally at Roosevelt Square in Chinatown followed by a march to the mass workers' rally at Union Square.
Join us to demand:
- Repeal of the Employer Sanction Provision;
- Legislate equal rights for all workers;
- Establish a genuine path to citizenship for undocumented workers. Contact the Break the Chains Campaign c/o NMASS at 212.358.0295. http://www.breakthechainsnow.org
May 11th Sunday, 11am
Second Annual Mother's Day Peace Stroll With
Codepink NYC And The Granny Peace Brigade
Meet at the Merchants Gate at Columbus Circle (59th and Central Park West)
FESTIVE ATTIRE, signs of peace, and bring your mother, grandmother, kids, partners, spouses, neighbors and dogs for a lively stroll lead by a marching band.
Most pe
ople think that Mother's Day was a holiday invented by Hallmark to sell more cards. But, in fact, Mother's Day for Peace was instituted in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe as a response to the carnage of the Civil War. She called on women to come together to commemorate their dead and to find "the means whereby the great human family can live together in peace..."Our Mothers' Day Peace Stroll will step off from Columbus Circle at 11:15am and head up Broadway to 66th Street, right to Columbus, up Columbus through the flea market and art fair near the Natural History Museum. We will read the Mothers' Day proclamation on the steps of the museum, then head through the park to read the proclamation again on the steps of the Met.
(If it rains, the parade is cancelled, but we will proceed under cloudy skies.)
May 14th, Wednesday, 6pm
CODEPINK NYC MONTHLY ORGANIZING MEETING
Join us to plan our actions for the months ahead in NYC.
RSVP Eva-Lee at ebaird@earthlink.net
Location: The offices of WEDO (355 Lex between 40 & 41, 3rd floor)
With love, peace and a "spring" in our march for peace, CODEPINK NYC
April 26, 2008
NYC Lawyers for May Day
NYCLAW Support for ILWU May Day
Antiwar Work Stoppage
NYCLAW salutes:
The ILWU's Pacific Coast May Day
Shutdown to Stop the War in Iraq and Afghanistan By New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
It will take a mutiny to end this war. The ILWU has a proud tradition of work stoppages to protest South African apartheid and U.S. death squads in Central America. Your May Day action shows how workers -- both in and out of uniform -- have the collective power to end this war, bring the troops home now, and get the U.S. out of the Middle East.
From the beginning, Bush & Co. have sought to justify this war for oil and empire with phony claims about "fighting terrorism," finding "weapons of mass destruction," and spreading "democracy." Despite overwhelming rejection of its policies at the polls, the administration has steadily escalated its war in the Middle East.
This has meant not only ordering thousands more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, but also arming and financing Israel's war on Lebanon and its increasingly brutal slow-genocide of the Palestinians, launching a proxy invasion of Somalia, bombing Pakistan, and threatening to attack Iran.
As in all such wars, ordinary working people pay the price. In Iraq and Afghanistan, this war has killed more than a million people, caused more than 50,000 G.I. casualties, promoted civil war, cost at least $1.2 trillion and pushed the economy into crisis — with no end in sight.
At home, the administration continues to attack civil liberties, the Arab-Muslim community, undocumented immigrants, Katrina refugees, people of color and labor.
Yet this is a bipartisan war. Congressional Democrats -- including senators Clinton and Obama -- have given Bush every penny he has asked for. They have refused to filibuster war spending (which requires only 41 Senate votes) and won't even promise to get out by the end of the next presidential term in 2013. At most, they call for "redeployment" to maintain U.S. control of the region.
A generation ago, a war ended when Vietnamese resistance and the Black freedom movement ignited a grassroots working class mutiny in the military, auto plants, ghettos and barrios, against what Martin Luther King Jr. accurately called "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today . . . my own government."
It will take a similar mutiny to end this war. The ILWU has a proud tradition of work stoppages to protest South African apartheid and U.S. death squads in Central America. Your May Day action shows how workers -- both in and out of uniform -- have the collective power to end this war, bring the troops home now, and get the U.S. out of the Middle East.
Issued by NYCLAW Co-Conveners
(Other affiliations listed for identification only): Larry Adams, Former President, NPMHU Local 300, Michael Letwin, Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys, Brenda Stokely, Former President, AFSCME DC 1707; N.E. Regional Coordinator, Million, Worker March Movement
By New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW) nyclaw01@gmail.com
May Day -- A World Without Bosses & Borders
NEFAC-NYC calls for contingent at NYC May Day march!
MAY DAY NYC!
For the International Solidarity of the Working Class!
1pm - Join the IWW march at Cadman Plaza, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge. Look for the Red & Black flags and banners.
2pm - Rally with the Break the Chains Campaign at Chinatown's Roosevelt Park
4pm - March & Rally with the May 1 Coalition at Union Square
Last Stop - Headquarters of Immigration & Customs Enforcement
This May Day we are marching as workers in struggle against all those who seek to divide us, exploit us, evict us, starve us, attack us,
and kill us.
We are marching as workers in solidarity with workers everywhere.
We are marching as sisters and brothers of the immigrant workers who build this society, who face the exploitation, the deportations, and the terror of the state with dignity and resistance.
We are marching as comrades to the courageous workers on strike this May Day:
To the heroic longshore workers who are striking down the war machine at the ports.
To the insurgent truckers who are striking back on the roads.
We are marching as internationalists who, on this International Workers Day, salute the struggles of workers all over the world, from Mexico to Iran, from Haiti to South Africa, from Colombia to China.
We are marching as anarchists who remember our fallen martyrs and freedom fighters, from the Haymarket 120 years ago to the death rows and death squads of our own time, and who celebrate our proud history this May Day.
We are marching as revolutionaries who believe that liberation will only come when we the workers cast off our own chains, overthrow capitalism, abolish the state, and smash racism and patriarchy once and for all.
Down with the bosses!
Down with the borders!
Long live the struggle of all working people!
JOIN US THIS MAY DAY
workers, comrades, internationalists, anarchists
revolutionaries
Pass it on
We are NEFAC-NYC
April 25, 2008
Progressives Together on May Day
AN APPEAL TOTHE PROGESSIVE COMMUNITY
ON MAYDAY 2008
IN NEW YORK CITY
GATHER ON THURSDAY, MAY 1 AT 12:00 P.M.
4:00 P.M. RALLY, MUSIC & MARCH AT
UNION SQUARE PARK ON 14TH ST.
Sponsored by: THE MAY 1ST COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT & WORKERS RIGHTS
WORLD EVENTS have made May Day 2008 a turning point. AT NO OTHER TIME in our lives has it been more critical to march together and work together.
WE NOW FACE AN ECO
NOMIC CRISIS the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetimes that is throwing millions out of their homes, jobs and making it more difficult to get healthcare, an education or even gas and food.
A WAR AGAINST IMMIGRANTS whose true intent is to render millions of workers powerless, and have working people fighting each other when they should be standing together.
AN ILLEGAL COLONIAL WAR that is destroying lives as well as creating a fortune of wealth, making the economic crises far worse.
A SURGE OF RACISM that has immigrant families living in fear that their homes and work places could be raided at any moment.
- That makes more police executions of Black youth inevitable.
- That has become the biggest factor in the presidential elections.
MORE THAN EVER, economic and social justice, peace and the eradication of racism, imperialism, poverty, inequality, exploitation, sexism, homophobia, and the 
future of our planet has never been more dependent on our solidarity.
OUR CAPACITY TO TRANSFORM--through struggle--a world beset by economic crises and war, into a world where people come before profits is profoundly dependent on forging the level of solidarity that May Day, International Workers Day, has historically always been about--OUR SURVIVAL IS DEPENDENT ON SOLIDARITY.
SPREAD THE WORD, coming together on May Day is a declaration that we will not be divided, we will fight back and we will survive.
MARCH ON MAY DAY
MARCH FOR IMMIGRANT WORKERS RIGHTS:
STOP THE RAIDS
STOP THE DEPORTATIONS
MARCH FOR THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS AND POOR PEOPLE EVERYWHERE and for their right to organize and fight
MARCH TO END THE WAR:
And in solidarity with those in the labor movement, like the International Long Shore Workers Union on the West Coast – that will be walking off the Job on May 1 to protest the war.
MARCH TO STOP HOME FORECLOSURES AND EVICTIONS
While the Banks are bailed out
MARCH TO STOP LAYOFFS AND UNION BUSTING
And for the right to healthcare
MARCH TO ROLL BACK RISING GAS & FOOD PRICES
MARCH TO FIGHT RACISM AND REPRESSION from New Orleans to the Mexican Border
- ENDORSE the call to unite and march together on May 1 http://www.may1.info/endorse.shtml
- DONATE to help with organizing expenses http://www.leftshift.org/may1/donate.shtml
April 2, 2008
May Day 2008 Wrap Up
A spirited and very diverse crowd met in Union Square, NYC and marched to Foley Square. Although other activities took place and converged at Foley Square, this group took a route past ICE Headquarters, and for me, that was a highlight of the march. The crowd stood in front of the building pumping fists in the air, chanting Sí! Se Puede! Young anarchists, old
wobblies, anti-war activists, and independent citizens demanding amnesty for immigrants and justice for Sean Bell all converged to make May Day A-okay for all NYC workers (even the police!).
Marchers for immigrant rights revive spirit of May Day
By Joe Rodriguez, Mercury News
05/02/2008 01:37:17 AM PDT
On the first day of May, immigrant workers, many with children in tow, marched from East San Jose to City Hall accompanied by a boisterous range of supporters from students to retirees.
Though the turnout of 1,500 to 2,000 marchers was far lower than the massive crowd of two years ago, their fledgling immigrant-rights movement seems to be taking hold and more - they just may bring May Day back from oblivion.
"Actually, the original May Day was organized by immigrants back in the 1800s," said Jim Kelly, who teaches labor studies at San Jose City College. "The fact that they're reclaiming it and bringing it to the forefront is a positive thing."
Marches around the country - Miami, Washington, D.C., Houston, Tucson, Milwaukee, Salem, Ore. - also drew sharply smaller turnouts than in previous years. The largest was in Chicago where 15,000 marchers took to the streets. Two years ago there were 400,000 in the Midwest city.
In San Jose, Jose Sandoval, one of the key organizers of the local march, explained that while May Day may be unfamiliar to most Americans, it is not to Latino immigrants. May 1 is Mexico's official Labor Day.
"Throughout Latin America," Sandoval said, "it's known as International Workers Day. It's only natural for us to march for immigrants' rights on this day." [BTW—It’s also a national holiday in Italy, with most folks getting the day off]
[...] Salvador Bustamante, a labor leader and one of the 2006 organizers, says the selection of May Day two years ago was a coincidence, not an intentional decision to resurrect the old labor holiday.
"Congress was getting ready to act," Bustamante said. "There was a lot of fear in the community at the time. That was just the day that was close by, and we thought we could make something big happen."
Coincidence or not, being adapted to modern times is a familiar story for the First of May.
"They branded May Day as communist," said Fred Hirsch, a retired plumber and board member of Plumbers and Fitters Local 393. He was among the few traditional union members who marched Thursday. "What's happening is that the immigrant workers are bringing back its focus."
Whether traditional unions re-embrace May Day is an open question.[...]
http://origin.mercurynews.com/valley/ci_9129318
West Coast ports closed by worker protest
Thu May 1, 2008 5:55pm EDT
By Jill Serjeant and Bernard Woodall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ports along the U.S. West Coast, including the country's busiest port complex in Los Angeles, shut down on Thursday as some 10,000 dock workers went on a one-day strike to protest the war in Iraq, port and union officials said.
Twenty-nine ports from San Diego to Washington state that handle more than half of U.S waterborne trade ground to a halt, but shipping experts said the economic costs of the walk-out would be limited.
[...] The International Longshore and Warehouse Union said some 10,000 workers joined the anti-war protest, spurred in part by its belief that big shipping companies are profiting from the war.
"Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America," said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath. "We're supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it's time to end the war in Iraq." [...]
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0144367220080501?feedType=R
Port cargo workers take the day off to protest of Iraq War
By Ronald W. Powell
12:08 p.m. May 1, 2008
Port workers at cargo terminals in San Diego and National City joined their counterparts at other West Coast port facilities in a May Day work stoppage to protest the Iraq War.
The 40 scheduled for the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift today did not show up, said Ron Popham, the maritime director at the San Diego Unified Port District, which operates the two cargo facilities.
But William Silva, president of Local 29 of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, said the number was 500, counting casual, part-time, fill-in and other union laborers. Silva said 25,000 dock workers from San Diego to Alaska were participating in the work action. [my bold]
“Today we are standing for the majority of Americans who are against the Iraq War,” Silva said in an interview. “We're Democrats, Republicans and independents, and we're sending a signal to our politicians that it's time to get out of Iraq now.”
Silva said the union supports the troops and wants to bring them home safely.
[...] The work stoppage had a larger impact on ports in Long Beach, Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle, which are the primary gateways for container shipments from the Far East and other foreign ports. San Diego is a niche port that handles few goods shipped by container.[...]
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080501-1208-bn01port.html
In Germany, May Day celebrations hit with scattered violence, arrests
The Associated Press
Published: May 1, 2008
BERLIN: Police used water cannons to break up clashes between leftist and rightist groups in Hamburg during May Day protests on Thursday.About 7,000 people gathered in Hamburg to protest a march of the far-right National Democratic Party. The leftist protesters threw bottles and stones at officers trying to keep the groups apart and set several cars on fire, including one belonging to police. Several officers were injured.
About 1,000 far-right extremists traveled to Hamburg for march. Police said it was the worst violence the city had seen in recent years.
[...] About 7,000 people gathered in Hamburg to protest a march of the far-right National Democratic Party. The leftist protesters threw bottles and stones at officers trying to keep the groups apart and set several cars on fire, including one belonging to police. Several officers were injured.
[...] Demonstrators stole materials from a nearby construction site to erect barricades on at least one city street, police said, adding that rocks were thrown at the windows of a kiosk containing cash machines. Several small fires were lit. Police used water cannons to extinguish the fires, and the protest ended shortly after midnight.
In Berlin, police arrested 24 people late Wednesday night at a rowdy party in the Mauerpark, situated along the path where the Berlin Wall once stood. One police officer was slightly injured when revelers threw glass bottles and rocks, said Hansjoerg Draeger, a spokesman for Berlin police. Two cars were set ablaze.[...]
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/01/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-May-Day.php
Turkish police disperse workers defying May Day ban
From the Associated Press, 9:11 AM PDT, May 1, 2008
ISTANBUL -- Turkish riot police used clubs, tear gas and water cannons today to break up crowds of workers and students trying to reach a main Istanbul square for a Labor Day rally banned by the government.
Authorities said more than 500 demonstrators were detained and six police officers were injured.
[...] The government had banned celebrations at the square, citing security concerns, and asked labor unions to hold festivities at other locations. The government reinforced the Istanbul police force with teams from other cities, and a police helicopter hovered above the city center.
Officials set up barricades in and around the square where May Day celebrations have been banned since 1977, when unknown gunmen opened fire on demonstrators, causing a stampede that left several dozen dead.
"Long live May 1!" and "Everywhere is Taksim!" the protesters shouted today, in addition to slogans denouncing the government.
[...] Clashes also broke out at a rally in the capital, Ankara. Police fired tear gas to disperse a stone- and stick-throwing crowd. At least one person was rushed to hospital, suffering respiratory problems.
Tensions between protesters and police ebbed slowly after unions said they would abandon plans to march to Taksim.
"We could continue to rally there but the damage would be great. We did not want to harm ordinary people and shop owners," said Suleyman Celebi, head of a large confederation of labor unions. "Eventually, we will be there."
[...] Turkey had stopped marking May 1 as Labor Day after a 1980 military coup. Leaders had regarded the festivities as an opportunity for leftist activism.
Labor unions gradually resumed marking the day after the coup. Some demonstrations turned violent when protesters tried to enter Taksim to commemorate the workers who died in 1977. [An unknown gunmen opened fire on demonstrators, killing 37 people.]
Last year, hundreds of demonstrators were detained.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-turkeymayday2-2008may02,0,1528182.story
May Day celebrations turn violent
Workers rally across the world on May Day but many demonstrations are marred by clashes between police and protesters