On May Day 2017, massive demonstrations against capitalism and state violence took place in Paris, France. Afterwards, sensationalistic footage circulated around the world of police being attacked with Molotov cocktails. Yet these video clips do not show the larger context. They do not show the intensifying police repression of French society as a whole, nor the police attacks that provoked such desperate acts of self-defense. In this report from France, our Parisian correspondents describe the events of the day and offer more background on the clashes.
The anarchist march departed from the Place des Fêtes for the Place de la République to join the May Day demonstration. We arrived at Place de la République unhindered a... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
International Workers Day
May Day is International Workers Day. It is a day for workers to come together in struggle worldwide and to celebrate our solidarity. It started as a campaign to free the Haymarket Martyrs, Anarchist union organizers who had been falsely convicted of murder in 1886 after an unidentified person threw a bomb at a workers’ demonstration in Chicago in the United States. As the campaign spread around the world, the workers’ movement developed a sense that its movement was international as its pioneering thinkers had predicted. Four were executed and one committed suicide, but the survivors were ultimately pardoned. August Spies’ last words before his execution came true: “The time will come wh... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This year in France, the traditional day for celebrating the struggles of the late 19th century and the introduction of the eight-hour day was part of a much larger sequence of struggle. As May Day approached, the French government remained caught in a political crisis created by the still untamed yellow vests movement. Because we have documented May Day 2017 and 2018 in Paris and the entire trajectory of the yellow vest movement, we can identify the new strategy of repression that the state is employing and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. Globally, it appears that governments from France and the United States to China and Nicaragua have no real plan for dealing with the unrest generated by spiraling social inequality except by cease... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chicago 1886
May Day arose in the late 19th Century from a campaign to free the Haymarket Martyrs. Police had moved to break up a peaceful workers’ demonstration in Chicago in the US on 4 May 1886 and an unknown person threw a bomb. As a result of the explosion and ensuing gunfire, which came largely if not entirely from the police, seven police and at least four workers died. Eight Anarchist union organizers were convicted in a rigged trial. Seven were sentenced to death, of whom four were executed and one committed suicide. The labor movement mobilized in their defense and a tradition was born, International Workers’ Day.
Capitalism Today
It has been over 130 years since the Haymarket Massacre. The world has seen booms,... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Origins
In 1886, workers in Chicago in the US kicked off a campaign to win the eight hour day, starting with a strike on 1 May. Police started breaking up a peaceful workers’ demonstration, then an unknown person threw a bomb. Seven police and at least four workers died from the explosion and the following gunfight. A kangaroo court convicted eight Anarchist union organizers, without any evidence of guilt being presented. Four were hung, one committed suicide and two later had death sentences commuted. In the campaign to defend them, International Workers’ Day was born.
Back to the Future
The labor movement, just getting started in 1886, grew to a massive size and strength over the following decades. Despite massive inter... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chicago
Anarchist-led trade unions started a campaign for the eight hour day in Chicago in 1886, using direct action as their strategy. The bosses opposed it as both economically ruinous and politically seditious. The campaign started with a strike wave on 1 May, but a worker was shot by a cop, so a protest rally was held on 4 May. At that rally, someone threw a bomb, a handful of coppers died and the police opened fire into the crowd with their guns. Eight Anarchists were arrested and falsely convicted over the bombing. Four were executed, one committed suicide and three were imprisoned. Years later, after a long campaign, the Haymarket Martyrs were exonerated.
International Workers Day
May Day, which grew out of the international c... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
For capitalism, workers are nothing more than living numbers — production numbers, redundant numbers, mobile numbers, numbers to be cut down through job losses. And they are still just numbers even when they die at work. Exploited lives and broken lives are only a cost. A number. Now, Italy’s national agency for insurance against workplace injuries, INAIL, has announced that in 2006 there were a total of 1,280 workplace deaths, with a sharp rise in the figures for women and non-EU citizens. These numbers tell us that in 2006 a total of 1,115 people died in the industrial sector (280 in construction alone), 114 in agriculture and 11 civil servants. The number of women dying at work has increased: 103 in 2006 as against 88 the pre... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
“The first of May is the symbol of a new era in the life and struggle of the toilers, an era that each year offers the toilers fresh, increasingly tough and decisive battles against the bourgeoisie, for the freedom and independence wrested from them, for their social ideal.”
Nestor Makhno
The Anarchist Origins of 1st May
The idea of turning the 1st of May into a day of action for workers was first proposed at the 4th congress of the American Federation of Labor (AFL). It was decided to launch, starting from the 1st of May 1886, a wide campaign of agitation and struggle focused on limiting the working week to forty hours. The most radical actions took place in Chicago. At that time, Chicago had the most devel... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
May Day 1886
In the US city of Chicago, the union movement is boisterous and militant. Its political leanings are mostly Anarchist. As part of their campaign for an 8 hour working day, the unions call for a strike on 1 May. At a workers’ rally soon after, a bomb is thrown at police. Four Anarchist trade union organizers are framed for the crime and hanged; another spends 6 years in prison. In memory of their sacrifice, and to further the struggle for workers’ rights and the 8 hour day, May Day becomes an international workers’ day.
May Day 2006
In Melbourne, we face an Australian government which is bent on crushing the union movement and putting end to workers’ struggles. Weakened by decades of bureaucratic c... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Here’s what we’ve got back from members so far…
LONDON
ACGers in London attended the capital’s main May Day demo. The march set of from Clerkenwell and the vibe was very much TUC meets global Stalinfest plus Ocalan/PKK personality cult loyalists. At the Parliament Square rally, there were also more Momentum types as well as Extinction Rebellion people. There were the usual speeches from various on the left and trade union movement, such as Matt Wrack (FBU) and Ash Sarkar (Novara journo). Our friends from the CWO were also handing out their paper Aurora. Sadly, apart from ourselves, there appeared to be no presence from any of the other UK anarchist and libertarian organizations. AGC members meanwhile shift... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
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