NationStates Jolt Archive

well?

personally, i'm undecided as to whether i want to go down to chicago to hang out at the haymarket memorial, or just do something around here instead. there is something appealing about spending may day in the city that started it all. but the 4 hour drive to get there seems a bit excessive.

"It may surprise some of our American citizens to learn that in this country of 'free speech' there is no easier thing in the world than to sentence persons to death for expressing their views."
--August Spies

I'm going to remind people of the sacrifice they made for us.

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Free your mind!

Well, the Mayday Collective here in the UK have decided not to organise anything this year to save us all the hours of being penned in Oxford Street.


http://diy.spc.org/ourmayday/

That leaves the annual Trade Union Congress march, which is as dull as dishwater, but its better than staying at home.

http://www.resist.org.uk/reports/archive/mayday2004/index.php

So I guess I'll be going to that.

oHHHHHHH...and here I thought this thread was bout Cinco De Mayo..I was going to say I will be hanging out at Chi-Chi's with some nacho chips..some salso, mebbe a soft-shell taco....

Careful, Salishe, eating at Chi-chi's has been linked to viral meningitis. I know the queso's good, but is it good enough to die for? :D

Well, the Mayday Collective here in the UK have decided not to organise anything this year to save us all the hours of being penned in Oxford Street.

there was an economist article on the mayday collective a while ago - they were being what passes for funny among cappies.

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2553278

The last day of my vacation (by design) I intend to wake up for a hearty Hail Satan! Roll back over and GO BACK TO SLEEP!

Jim

Those capitalists are taking the lack of a Mayday event as a sign of anarchist failure to organize.

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"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

...

I'm putting up posters at school on Friday. It's an early May Day celebration.

So am I. I put up posters all the time.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

A steak-out, in memory of the millions of victims of communism. Then I will sit across the street from a local strike line, with my Protest Warriors (http://www.protestwarrior.com) signs.

chicago indymedia's guide to chicago may day events:

http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/rate/40041/index.php

too many different events if you ask me. may day needs to be brought into the american public eye - seeing as it is our history and celebrates the struggle for some things we take for granted. and doing that requires a slightly larger event instead of numerous small ones.

A steak-out, in memory of the millions of victims of communism. Then I will sit across the street from a local strike line, with my Protest Warriors (http://www.protestwarrior.com) signs.

Indeed. Communist nations have been the most vile dictatorships on earth, and all the while the poor believe that they're being saved while simultaneously dying of famine by the millions.

A steak-out, in memory of the millions of victims of communism. Then I will sit across the street from a local strike line, with my Protest Warriors signs.

While Marxists are indeed brutal and their cousins the Maoists are also very puritanical, only recently stopped advocating reëducation camps for homosexuals, to paint all communists with the same brush is foolish.

Millions of people have died because of capitalism, too. Look at all the famines in Africa.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

A steak-out, in memory of the millions of victims of communism. Then I will sit across the street from a local strike line, with my Protest Warriors (http://www.protestwarrior.com) signs.

Indeed. Communist nations have been the most vile dictatorships on earth, and all the while the poor believe that they're being saved while simultaneously dying of famine by the millions.

so do you know what may day is even about?

Anarchists. I just hate commies.

Anarchists. I just hate commies.

that's fine.

what are your thoughts about the 8 hour day?

I've celebrated 'traditionally' a couple of times in the past, and I think it's better than Christmas. :)

This year I work though, so nothing will be going on with me. The following day is my birthday so that could be a bit more fun.

8 Hours, 10 hours, either way works for me. 35 Hours a week is too little (France, if I'm not mistaken), but I do'nt think that 7 14 hour days are good, either. Just like I think there should be safety regulations at work so that people aren't in regular risk of getting hurt while doing their job normally, however if someone decides to stick their hand into the meat grinder, its not the company's fault.

8 Hours, 10 hours, either way works for me. 35 Hours a week is too little (France, if I'm not mistaken),

Then you'll hate anarcho-communism. The workday could be as little as 20 hours a week.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

Millions of people have died because of capitalism, too. Look at all the famines in Africa.


You mean, the ones that have struck all the African countries that experimented with communism? (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc)

You mean, the ones that have struck all the African countries that experimented with communism? (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc)

To call dictators nationalizing everything communism is one of the poorest uses of a word ever.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

Millions of people have died because of capitalism, too. Look at all the famines in Africa.


You mean, the ones that have struck all the African countries that experimented with communism? (Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc)

Hitler nationalized everything too. Was he a Communist?

:roll:

I shall stage a huge parade through the streets of Moskva. It will feature ICBMs, tanks, soldiers, and thousands of aircraft. I will then visit the Great Stalin's tomb and deliver a glorious message of the greatness of social collectivism to the peace-loving workers and peasants of the Soviet Union. Either that, or whack off.

I shall stage a huge parade through the streets of Moskva. It will feature ICBMs, tanks, soldiers, and thousands of aircraft. I will then visit the Great Stalin's tomb and deliver a glorious message of the greatness of social collectivism to the peace-loving workers and peasants of the Soviet Union. Either that, or whack off.

isn't it fun to pretend that everyone you oppose is a stalinist? it makes things so simple.

I shall stage a huge parade through the streets of Moskva. It will feature ICBMs, tanks, soldiers, and thousands of aircraft. I will then visit the Great Stalin's tomb and deliver a glorious message of the greatness of social collectivism to the peace-loving workers and peasants of the Soviet Union. Either that, or whack off.

isn't it fun to pretend that everyone you oppose is a stalinist? it makes things so simple.
What the heck are you on about? Don't you know about the glorious annual Soviet May Day celebration? You call yourself a Soviet? Hah! I envy the Commie parades. The USA should have a comparable July 4th parade..

unionized bump

Anyone know about anything happening in the North-West (England)?

Not all socialists are stalinist.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

Anyone know about anything happening in the North-West (England)?

Dublin is just a short boat journey away:

http://www.geocities.com/eufortress/

Does Leeds/Bradford count as NW England?

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/

Anyone know about anything happening in the North-West (England)?

Dublin is just a short boat journey away:

http://www.geocities.com/eufortress/

Dublin... Interesting, I know a few plastic paddies who might come along.

Does Leeds/Bradford count as NW England?

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/

It does, but I lack the means to get there, well I do have a few days free all it'll take will be a little planning.

Thanks Bodies Without Organs

EDIT: Wahoo, somethings happening in Manchester (as I suspected, but didn't know where to find out)

Well, for one, even though I'm a Cappie, I love a good May Day Party. My traditionally conservative school is doing one informally.

"Live is short. Live it up."
--Nikita Khrushchev

Well, for one, even though I'm a Cappie, I love a good May Day Party. My traditionally conservative school is doing one informally.

Remember the sacrifice anarchists made fighting your heroes to get a shorter workday.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

Well seeing as the ANL have folded and the UAF seem so disorganised that they havent arranged anything (although they seem disorganised in general anyway...) it looks like theyll be no fun to have this year. :( Ill just have to do my normal bit of leafleting UCL and the surrounding uni bars with NF stickers and leaflets and watching the reds go into apoplexy. :lol:

Well, for one, even though I'm a Cappie, I love a good May Day Party. My traditionally conservative school is doing one informally.

Remember the sacrifice anarchists made fighting your heroes to get a shorter workday.

Letila here's some news for you:

As production methods become more efficient, the workday shortens.

Well, for one, even though I'm a Cappie, I love a good May Day Party. My traditionally conservative school is doing one informally.

Remember the sacrifice anarchists made fighting your heroes to get a shorter workday.

Letila here's some news for you:

As production methods become more efficient, the workday shortens.

You forgot to add "and anarchists have NOTHING to do with it."

Well, for one, even though I'm a Cappie, I love a good May Day Party. My traditionally conservative school is doing one informally.

Remember the sacrifice anarchists made fighting your heroes to get a shorter workday.

Letila here's some news for you:

As production methods become more efficient, the workday shortens.

You forgot to add "and anarchists have NOTHING to do with it."

Organized labor movements certianly sped it along, but it's ludicrous to say that they were the main cause.

Letila here's some news for you:

As production methods become more efficient, the workday shortens.

i call bullshit.

you don't have a chance in hell of being able to back that up. are you seriously claiming that production methods now are less efficient than they were in 1950?

You forgot to add "and anarchists have NOTHING to do with it."

Organized labor movements certianly sped it along, but it's ludicrous to say that they were the main cause.

um, yeah, so who exactly was pushing for shorter workdays besides the labor movement? the bosses that sent mercenaries armed with machine guns to crush the 8 hour day strikes? its not like any capitalist has ever sat down and said "hey, i have an idea. let's make less money!"

its not like any capitalist has ever sat down and said "hey, i have an idea. let's make less money!"

Well, to be honest, some of them have, but they remain very much the minority.

ok, i need opinions. should i go the couple hours to chicago, the hour and a half to madison, or just hang out here and be a may day celebration of one?

its not like any capitalist has ever sat down and said "hey, i have an idea. let's make less money!"

Well, to be honest, some of them have, but they remain very much the minority.

true enough. pardon my rhetorical flourish. though any capitalist who did decide that would not survive very well against their competition who hasn't decided to make less money.

ok, i need opinions. should i go the couple hours to chicago, the hour and a half to madison, or just hang out here and be a may day celebration of one?
Chicago or... Wisconsin. Pick the former. :p

I'm impressed. I was sure I'd have to dig for a refernce to haymarket.

a chicago indymedia article on may day:

May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs (http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/40486/index.php)
by DR, CIMC
29 Apr 2004
Modified: 10:13:30 AM

In memory of Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe. Your courage and sacrifice for the emancipation of labor will never be forgotten. - The Chicago Independent Media Center, 2004.

"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voice you strangle today."
- August Spies from the gallows.

May Day - The Real Labor Day

May 1st, International Workers' Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country except the United States and Canada. This despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880s in the United States, with the fight for an eight-hour work day.

In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike to achieve the goal, since legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers were involved in the May Day movement.

The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organized primarily by the anarchist International Working People's Association. Businesses and the state were terrified by the increasingly revolutionary character of the movement and prepared accordingly. The police and militia were increased in size and received new and powerful weapons financed by local business leaders. Chicago's Commercial Club purchased a $2000 machine gun for the Illinois National Guard to be used against strikers. Nevertheless, by May 1st, the movement had already won gains for many Chicago clothing cutters, shoemakers, and packing-house workers. But on May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and wounding many. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality.

The meeting proceeded without incident, and by the time the last speaker was on the platform, the rainy gathering was already breaking up, with only a few hundred people remaining. It was then that 180 cops marched into the square and ordered the meeting to disperse. As the speakers climbed down from the platform, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one and injuring seventy. Police responded by firing into the crowd, killing one worker and injuring many others.

Although it was never determined who threw the bomb, the incident was used as an excuse to attack the entire Left and labor movement. Police ransacked the homes and offices of suspected anarchists and socialists, and hundreds were arrested without charge. Anarchists in particular were harassed, and eight of Chicago's most active - Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe - were charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with the Haymarket bombing. A kangaroo court found all eight guilty, despite a lack of evidence connecting any of them to the bomb-thrower (only one was even present at the meeting, and he was on the speakers' platform), On August 19th seven of the defendants were sentenced to death, and Neebe to 15 years in prison. After a massive international campaign for their release, the state 'compromised' and commuted the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment. Lingg cheated the hangman by committing suicide in his cell the day before the executions. On November 11th 1887 Albert Parsons, George Engel, August Spies and Adolf Fischer were hanged.

Pardoned

600,000 working people turned out for their funeral. The campaign to free Neebe, Schwab and Fielden continued.

On June 26th 1893 Governor Altgeld set them free. He made it clear he was not granting the pardon because he thought the men had suffered enough, but because they were innocent of the crime for which they had been tried. They and the hanged men had ben the victims of "hysteria, packed juries and a biased judge".

The authorities has believed at the time of the trial that such persecution would break the back of the eight-hour movement. Indeed, evidence later came to light that the bomb may have been thrown by a police agent working for Captain Bonfield, as part of a conspiracy involving certain steel bosses to discredit the labour movement.

When Spies addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die, he was confident that this conspiracy would not succeed. "If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement... the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation - if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you - and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out".

It is not surprising that the state, business leaders, mainstream union officials, and the media would want to hide the true history of May Day, portraying it as a holiday celebrated only in Moscow's Red Square. In its attempt to erase the history and significance of May Day, the United States government declared May 1st to be "Law Day", and gave us instead Labor Day - a holiday devoid of any historical significance other than its importance as a day to swill beer and sit in traffic jams.

Nevertheless, rather than suppressing labor and radical movements, the events of 1886 and the execution of the Chicago anarchists actually mobilized many generations of radicals. Emma Goldman, a young immigrant at the time, later pointed to the Haymarket affair as her political birth. Lucy Parsons, widow of Albert Parsons, called upon the poor to direct their anger toward those responsible - the rich. Instead of disappearing, the anarchist movement only grew in the wake of Haymarket, spawning other radical movements and organizations, including the Industrial Workers of the World.

By covering up the history of May Day, the state, business, mainstream unions and the media have covered up an entire legacy of dissent in this country. They are terrified of what a similarly militant and organized movement could accomplish today, and they suppress the seeds of such organization whenever and wherever they can. As workers, we must recognize and commemorate May Day not only for it's historical significance, but also as a time to organize around issues of vital importance to working-class people today.

As IWW songwriter Joe Hill wrote in one of his most powerful songs:

Workers of the world, awaken!
Rise in all your splendid might
Take the wealth that you are making,
It belongs to you by right.
No one will for bread be crying
We'll have freedom, love and health,
When the grand red flag is flying
In the Workers' Commonwealth.

- Thanks to L. Gaylord and Alan MacSimóin for the compiled text above.

Personally, I plan on getting exceptionally drunk this weekend. But that's just me.

Personally, I plan on getting exceptionally drunk this weekend. But that's just me.

well that's in the plans too.

I'd have liked to have been able to go to may day. A few of my friends are off to London. Unfortunately I can't. There aren't any big organised events. Plus my dad is really suspicious so I can't sneak out as he'll be keeping a real close eye on me. :(

happy may day!

hope you all have a good one. and remember, we are everywhere.