HAPPY MAY DAY!!

For those of you with me in the states, today's the day that all the immigrants go on strike! The question on most of our minds is why? Why the first of May for a demonstration, what could be the meaning? Well, funny enough the answer's in our own history. Here's a little article I whipped up for my SDS newsletter:

May Day
May 1st is a day rife with meaning and history. From the pagan festivals of ancient Europe to the current celebrations partaken by working people around the globe, this is a day of rejoicing and rest for our entire species.
In The Rare Old Times
The first people to celebrate May 1st as a holiday were the Germanic and Celtic tribes of Western Europe. Their calendar had Spring starting in February, while May 1st was the first day of summer. (Wikipedia) In honor of the beginnings of the season The Celts held the festival of Beltane, while the Germanic peoples of central and Northern Europe had the night of Walpurgis. The latter ostensibly dealt with the day that sainthood was granted to a Christian nun, though it places its roots in firmly pagan sources. Meanwhile, Beltane is an Irish, Manx and Scottish holiday celebrating the arrival of summer with dances, maypoles, and bonfires that are said to purify those that pass through their smoke.
The Haymarket Martyrs
The modern story of May Day takes place in 1886 against the backdrop of Chicago. Two years previously, the federation of trade unions had set May 1st 1886 as the date that they wanted the eight-hour day to become law. (Wikipedia) This led to a series of major protests in Chicago, Detroit and several other cities. In Chicago, these protests were led by Albert and Lucy Parsons, esteemed anarchists who were instrumental in the founding of the International Workingmen’s Association.
On May 3rd, striking workers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company forcibly removed scabs who attempted to cross the picket line. (Wikipedia) The Chicago police used this as an excuse to attack the workers, murdering four and wounding several others. A rally was called to take place in the Haymarket Square the following day as a response to the brutal killings. The rally began as a completely peaceful affair. It was even attended by Chicago’s mayor, Carter Harrison Sr. Speeches were given by various labor leaders, including anarchist August Spies. The riot began when the police tried to forcibly disperse the crowd. Someone threw a bomb, murdering one officer. In retaliation, the police opened fire, killing at least four protestors. The greatest death toll came from friendly fire, as the police proceeded to accidentally kill seven of their own and wound sixty others.
To this day no one knows who threw the bomb on that fateful day in May, but the police wasted no time in using it as an excuse to round up eight prominent Chicago anarchists and stage a series of show trials. Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden were sentenced to death, without any evidence, while Oscar Neebe was “merely” given 15 years in prison. According to Albert Parsons’ brother, there was evidence that the Pinkertons, one of the most brutal strike-breaking outfits in existence, planted the explosive. (Wikipedia)
Ultimately, two of the sentences were pardoned to life in prison, while Lingg “committed suicide” in his cell with a blasting cap. So the state only murdered four people without a shred of evidence. Family members that attempted to see the condemned for the last time were arrested. (Wikipedia) As he stepped onto the gallows, Spies uttered the mot famous of the martyrs speeches, proudly proclaiming that “The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today.”
In commemoration of the martyrs anarchists, socialists, and labor movements around the world began celebrating May Day as a major holiday complete with marches and parades. These are widely participated in around the world in every nation except the United States and Canada. In the 1950’s, as part of his anti-communist witch-hunt, Senator McCarthy led congress in proclaiming these “Law Day” and “Loyalty Day.” Still, last year hundreds of thousands of striking immigrants commemorated last year’s May Day stateside for the first time in nearly a century, much to the jubilation of the far left. Considering that this act is likely to be repeated again this year, May Day may be making a comeback in North America.

"And just like that, it was over... The last flames flickered and died amidst the rubble of an empire[.] As the smoke rose into the blackened sky, we realized that the world we had known was gone forever." - Eric "Doc" Griffin on the fall