History of May Day

[flyby]

Every May first i read this, and just wanted to share:

http://rwor.org/a/may1/haymark.htm

[rebelworker]

I always find it funny how comletely Marxists have written Anarchism, the largerst revolutionary movement at the turn of the turn of the century, out of history.

The men executed where anarchists, leaders in the labour movment, The International workingmans assosiation Was not `the first international of Marx and Engels`` it was a massive organisation off many tendencies that was only dominated by Marx after he highjaked the leadership and went into self imposed "exile" to "protect" the oraganisation for the majority, including the influential Anarchists.

This article while ineresting in some parts is yet another example of another self described Vanguardist party re writing history to fit its version of events putting itself as a central player(or atlest not a useless counterrevolutionary).

Mayday is for workers liberation, not Lenenist self agradisement...

In Solidarity(to thoes who deserve it),

Rebelworker

[flyby]

I think this is a wrong way to look at it.

In the Haymarket events (just like the Paris commune at about the same time) the different political trends of today (in particular modern communism and anarchism) had not really differentiated.

There was a general, rather primitive, working class revolutoinary movement -- that was just emerging (as that class itself was really still emerging).

And the forces leading the Haymarket events (like August Spies, and Parson) were really revolutonary socialists. They were influenced by Most (an anarchist) but also by many other ideas of those times.

Certainly it is not wrong for revolutionaries of today (including revolutonary communists) to honor their struggle, to learn from their experiences, to point out the important role of immigrant workers in the U.S. revolutonary struggle.

And it is important to point out that this was (in many ways) a struggle for change waged by revolutonaries who wanted a different world (since too many tired backwardlooking reformists and American nationalists of the U.S. left reduce Haymarket to "fight for shorter work day" plus a lot of rather pathetic sucking up by saying "see May Day is quite all-american, cuz it started here.")

I don't think revolutionary communists (like me) "claim" the Haymarket in some possessive way. And I certainly don't think that other trends shoud think it is their private property either.

This is an important early struggle of our internatinal class. It was a time when dreams of another world lit the sky, and when people dared to clash hard with the forces that strangled their lives.

Let's openly honor them together.

[patria grande]

During the last part of the XIX century the workers movement was fighting for better labour conditons. The workers movement of Chicago was striving to obtain an eight hour shift. Five workers were arrested and then hanged on May 1st 1886.
Since 1890, workers around the world remember the Chicago Martyrs:
Adolf Fischer
George Engel
August Spies
Albert Parsons
Louis Lingg

Every May we remember these heroes and we celebrate Labour Day. :)