Born in Chicago on May 1, 1886: May Day – International Labor Day
May Day – International Labor Day
Born in Chicago on May 1, 1886
Editors Note: United Auto Workers were voted in at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga in mid-April 2024. The workers ignored all efforts to divide them using White Supremacy, Religion, and Sex. They defended themselves with Class Unity, a consciousness of a future they all share. This reflects the resurgence of the Labor movement nationwide ranging from young Service Workers to Industrial Workers, North to the South, and East to West of the country. May Day – International Labor Day
Fight for the Eight-Hour Day:
On May 1, 1886, workers throughout the United States engaged in a massive strike for the eight-hour day. Chicago was the strike’s center. On May 4, 1886, a rally was held at Haymarket Square (at the corner of Desplaines and Randolph streets) in Chicago to protest a police attack on a group of strikers. As this peaceful rally was winding to a close, 176 cops moved in to stop the rally. Then someone threw a bomb. It killed one police officer instantly and wounded many others.
In June 1886, several leaders of the Chicago union movement and the fight for the 8-hour day were put on trial, charged with being accessories to murder at Haymarket Square. Most had not even been present when the bomb was thrown.
Tried before a biased judge and jury, the defendants were convicted. Four were hanged.
Martyrs of Chicago:
On July 14, 1889 – the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille Prison — at the International Labor Congress in Paris, a delegate from the American Federation of Labor proposed that the Congress adopt May 1 as International Labor Day and a day to remember the “Martyrs of Chicago.”
This important labor holiday is celebrated every year with huge parades and rallies all over the world – and it began just a few blocks from the heart of the Loop.
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“As people struggle to survive war, climate catastrophe, poverty, and pandemic, a new fascist state form is arising to crush us – the naked rule of corporate power.” ..” The battle is a class struggle because the ruling class is the enemy of humanity and the earth itself.” from the League Program:
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