Why May Day is Labor's Victory Day

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
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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

Work Stoppage by NY Judges Clogs Courts

Can any one investigate these judges to see if they themselves have ruled over unions or attempts to build them? Just an idea...
Judges go slow to protest no pay raise
BY JOE MAHONEY, ELIZABETH BENJAMIN and ADAM NICHOLS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS, Saturday, April 26th 2008, 9:09 PM
Judges who have been denied a pay raise for more than 10 years are protesting for more cash by slowing down New York's courts.
Renegade law enforcers are refusing to take cases from firms that employ members of the Assembly and Senate, pols told the Daily News Saturday.
"It's happening," said state Sen. George Winner (R-Elmira), who is also an attorney. "There's a family court judge . . . refusing to hear cases where myself or anyone from my firm is involved.
"It's absolutely outrageous, and it is not helping their case. I voted for the pay raise four times," said Winner. "What else do they want from me?"
State lawmakers set aside $48 million for raises earlier this month - but failed to introduce a bill to release the money. They are refusing to make the payout until their own pay is hiked. The state is facing an estimated $3.6 billion budget shortfall next year.
A New York judge takes home between $108,800 and $156,000 a year.
"Anybody with any sense at all is completely embarrassed at the way we treat our judges," said state Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan).
"They have every right to be angry and frustrated, but I think it's just a few isolated members of the bench."
Office of Court Administration spokesman David Bookstaver said only state Supreme and Civil courts could be affected by the action, not criminal courts.
"[Refusing to take cases] is an independent judicial decision that independent judges have to reconcile for themselves," he said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/04/26/2008-04-26_judges_go_slow_to_protest_no_pay_raise.html