WHY MAYDAY?

May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. Its a day of worldwide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all. But why Mayday? What is its history?

Over a century ago the American Federation of Labour adopted a historic resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal days labour from and after May 1st, 1886".

All across America in the months prior to this resolution, workers in their thousands were starting to struggle for a shorter week. Skilled and unskilled, men and women, black and white, immigrant and native were all fighting together.

Chicago was the main centre of agitation. Over 300 000 workers came out on May 1st. It was here that Mayday was born.

THE ANARCHISTS OF CHICAGO

It was the activities of the anarchists in the Central Labour Union and on the streets that made Chicago the centre of the eight hour movement.

The anarchists thought that the eight hour day could only be won through direct action and solidarity. They considered that struggles for reforms, like the eight hour day, were not enough in themselves. They considered them as only one battle in an ongoing class war that would only end by social revolution and the creation of anarchism (a "free society based upon a cooperative system of production" in the words of their programme).

It was with these ideas that they organised and fought. The anarchist unions were based on direct rank and file control from the bottom up, reflecting the type of society they were aiming for.

The American ruling class saw its profits and power being undermined by united working class direct action. They met this threat with violence.

THE HAYMARKET

On May 1st, in Chicago, one half of the McCormick Harvester Company came out on strike. Two days later the police opened fire on the pickets, killing one and wounding several more. Outraged, the anarchists called a protest meeting at the Haymarket for the next day.

The meeting was peaceful and rain soon sent away most of the large crowd. When only 200 people remained, a police column of 180 men moved in and ordered the meeting to disperse immediately, even though, according to the Mayor of Chicago, "nothing looked likely to require police interference".

At that moment a bomb was thrown into the ranks of the police, killing one and wounding about seventy others. The police opened fire on the spectators, killing and wounding many.

A reign of terror swept over Chicago. Meeting halls, union offices, printing shops and private homes were raided (usually without warrants). Many suspects were beat up and some bribed. "Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards" was the public statement of J. Grinnell, the States Attorney.

The raids and repression, backed and encouraged by the press,weakened the eight hour movement. A major source of worry and fear for the ruling class was removed and both the American Labour and Anarchist movements suffered set backs. The raids had solved part of the problem, now scapegoats had to be found.

THE TRIAL

Eight men, all anarchists and active union organisers, stood trial for murder. No proof was offered by the state that any of the eight had anything to do with the bomb. In fact, three had not even been at the meeting and another was there with his wife and children. A biased judge and jury and a hysterical press ensured that all eight were found guilty. Their only "crimes" were their anarchist ideas, union activity and the threat these held for the ruling class. Grinnell made it clear, "Anarchy is on trial...these men have been selected... because they are leaders".

In spite of world wide protest, four of the Haymarket Martyrs were hanged. Half a million people lined the funeral cortege and 20 000 crowded into the cemetery. In 1893, the new Governor of Illinois made official what the working class in Chicago and across the world knew all along and pardoned the Martyrs because of their obvious innocence and because "the trial was not fair".

In 1889, the American delegation attending the International Socialist congress in Paris proposed that May 1st be adopted as a workers' holiday. This was to commemorate working class struggle and the "Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight". Since then Mayday has became a day for international solidarity.

NOW

It is a sad comment that the only reason that Mayday is being celebrated on the right day this year is because May 1st happened to fall on a Sunday. The events that gave birth to it show that its real meaning is not a stroll through the town followed by the speeches of Labour politicians and trade union bureaucrats.

It is not surprising that the real history and meaning of Mayday are hidden. If the anarchist ideas of the Chicago Martyrs became better known and put back into practice, the trade union bureaucrats and labour politicians who run the labour movement would be out of a job! The "Chicago Idea" of the Martyrs shows that there is a real, practical alternative to both the presentlabour movement and the present system. That idea is revolutionary anarchism. Labourism and Marxism have failed. Only anarchism points the way to freedom and equality.

Mayday, like the Labour movement itself, must be rescued from all those with a vested interest in the present system. Mayday mustagain be a day to remember the past struggles of working class people and a day to show solidarity with present struggles. But we must not stop there, we must made every day a 1st of May! The future of the Labour movement lies in reclaiming its hidden past. We must create a real, fighting alternative and build the newworld in the shell of the old!

Also, read The Haymarket Massacre - The Autobiographies of the Haymarket Eight
[note: as you might have guessed, this wasn't written by an American. In America, where Mayday got its start, Mayday and the Chicago martyrs are deliberately ignored. One Utah TV News show proclaimed that in America, Mayday is not honored by marches for workers rights--it is a day for reflecting on good work habits. (I kid you not!) This "news" broadcast was shown after a Utah Mayday march was attacked by police in SLC]
Go to the Utah Anarchism and Revolution page.