Today, much of the civilized world celebrates Workers or Labor and the Working Classes. I must note in passing that Beltane/Samhain started yestidday, and may have something to do with the choice of this date, but only a little. The wiki (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Workers%27_Day) tells us:
The date was chosen by a pan-national organization of socialist and communist political parties to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May 1886.[6] The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International, called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace."So, uh, the Haymarket Affair (supra) is why the US cannot join in this celebration. The US has a long history of trying to suppress labor, laborers, labor organizing, labor organizers and the like. The Haymarket affair was one major, discredited instance of that.
A Nationwide strike for an 8 hour day on May First exacerbated tensions at a local strike and lockout in Chicago, where Pinkertons had already fired on strikers in the past. At a May Third rally by the strikers the cops assigned to assist the Pinkertons and strikebreakers fired into the crowd. A rally was hurriedly scheduled for the next day in Chicago's Haymarket Square.
As the last speaker at the rally was winding down, the police arrived en masse and in formation to break it up. As they neared the speakers' wagon somebody tossed a primitive bomb between them and their intended target. It is unknown who threw the bomb. The cops immediately began firing at the by now fleeing demonstrators (and each other - it was getting dark), reloaded and fired some more. As is typical of the police assaults on laborers and strikers of the era, a very precise tally of the police injuries and deaths was compiled and nobody has any idea how many labor supporters were injured, maimed or killed. One paper did claim that at least 50 civilians were killed or wounded. Some reported that there had been an "exchange" of gunfire, but one cop asserted that many (most?) of the police injuries were from friendly fire.
The police ran amok harassing and intimidating workers, unionists, anarchists, immigrants and the like for about 2 months, trashing their homes, halls, businesses and the like. Meanwhile, a kangaroo court was quickly convened whith 12 jurors who were admittedly prejudiced against the defendants and an anti-unionist judge. There, 7 persons were sentenced to death for "conspiracy" and one got a mere 15 years.
So, today, in honor of workers, the working class, laborers and labor movements, I'm going to play a collection of old wobbly tunes, introduced by Paul Robeson's version of Joe Hill. Since it has an intro, it needs an outro, which will be Bandiera Rossa.
x YouTube Video x YouTube Video x YouTube Videopicture: Joe Hill, public domain
Crossposted from Caucus99Percent