A Not-So-Brief Introduction to the Origins of May Day
The working week to some is considered to be a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday: 40 hours a week and two days of relaxation. Other things considered to be “granted” by employment: health, dental, vision insurance (which are all separate because of reasons); overtime pay; sick leave; maternity leave; vacation; paternity leave; PTO; breaks (lunch or otherwise); OSHA; short term disability, long term disability (which are separate because of reasons); 401k; retirement plans; pensions; general pleasantness at work. All of these “perks” given to you by your boss and company were bought in blood.
You see, working conditions in the first few thousand years of modern history were less than ideal for the people who were considered to be less than “elite.” It started with slavery, then feudalism, wound its way through guildism, into marketism, back to slavery, and then- the area we are concerned with- industrialism. Specifically, we are going to focus this discussion on America during the gilded age.
The average work day was about 10-16 hours. The average work week was usually 6 days, with Sundays being the lord's day (except when it wasn't because even God can't stop production). This, of course, was during the boom periods. Production cycles in the gilded age consisted of: hiring as many people as cheaply as possible then working them as hard possible to produce as many products as possible. Once the items were produced, the markets were considered “over saturated” and production stopped when the items wouldn't sell. People were laid off until such a time where the excess inventory was finally sold and production could start again. Well, laid off is a general term. They were fired. Their jobs were never secured. They were fired and once production started again, if they weren't there at the factory gates, someone else would get their job. Loyalty and dedication are top qualities for employees, though, right?
During this period of time, safety was not really a concern of these companies. Shocking, I know. People were regularly subjugated to horrific conditions. Brutal environments, dangerous equipment, and little to no regard for human life. I refer the reader to read “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair for contemporary accounts of these conditions, and “Capital” by Karl Marx if they have fortitude. I cannot recite everything myself: it would be a useless endeavor and push this simple zine far beyond its already stretched limits.
This brief introduction is turning into something else entirely. Sorry.
Also, I am not going to recite all the different names of all the different iterations of all the different labor unions that started forming around the mid 1800s. It is tedious and not useful to the layman. Let it be known, that during the early half of the 1860s people started organizing. They were banding together in unions to fight this “boom bust” economy and all the other egregious offenses against humanity that were perpetrated by the companies in this era. And it needs to be known that these unions were primarily lead by Anarchist, Socialist, and Communist forces.
The main effort of these unions was for the reduction of the working day to only eight hours. Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists alike organized all facets of the industrial workforce towards this effort. They would plan picnics, concerts, conventions, lectures, and any other social events to further the cause. Years were spent building a movement for the eight hour day. Repression was brutal and strikes were often broken up by police firing upon innocent workers. Union halls were subject to raids, and homes of strike leaders were illegally ransacked by both police and privately hired goons known as “Pinkertons.” Regardless, the organizers pushed on. A strike was called for the 1st of May, 1886. In Chicago alone 40,000 people went on strike, and in the United States somewhere between 300,000 to 500,000 workers struck.
On May 3rd, 1886, striking workers met at the McCormick Harvester Machine Company, where the union had been locked out since February for trying to procure the eight hour day. Police fired into the crowd, killing two to six workers, and wounding many more. Anarchists, including the world's first Anarchist daily newspaper (the Arbeiter-Zeitung), called for a rally the next day at Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest the brutality.
A sparsely attended meeting in a light drizzle, the Mayor, who was spectating, declared that nothing appeared to be happening and informed the police to let the demonstrators go peacefully home. As the final speaker was climbing down from the makeshift stage, a column of 180 police officers descended upon the crowd and ordered them to disperse. A bomb was thrown at the advancing officers. It exploded killing one and mortally wounding 6 others. Shots rang out between the crowd and police.
Over the next several weeks, police raided the homes and businesses of anarchist organizers. Dozens of arrests were made without warrants or explanation. Bomb making equipment was found in one anarchist space. Labor organizations and unions quickly tried to distance themselves from any anarchist activist or tendencies. Eight labor leaders were put on trial for their supposed connections to the bombing. The following trial can be generously described as a “miscarriage of justice:” police stories didn't match up, evidence was brought in or taken away at will, the judge dismissed witnesses he didn't like. The trial began in June and ended in August with all eight defendants found guilty even though no evidence pointed to any of them being the bomber. The whole episode has been dubbed the “Haymarket Affair” and it culminated in the hanging death of four of the defendants.
The Eight Hour Movement was shattered and peace was brought to the capitalist class— for a moment.
The labor unions were still a force, though. In 1890, an international conference called for a strike on May 1st and to recognize it as “International Workers' Day” in honor of the Chicago Martyrs and the fight for the Eight Hour Day.
Fighting continued for many more decades. Sporadic victories gained the eight hour day for separate industries, but many more were still subject to long hours. Finally, in 1937, the federal government realized the eight hour day for a majority of the workers, but only by guaranteeing them overtime benefits. Since those faithful days, May Day has become a flashpoint: a day where both struggles and celebrations have coalesced into outbreaks of joyous rebellion.
The limits of this zine keep me from describing the entirety of the bloody history of the US labor movement, and especially of the global labor movement. The imperialists are right when they say our freedom isn't free. Our freedom, though, isn't found overseas in the towns and villages of foreign nations. Our freedom is here, in the moments we steal from the tyranny of work—there is a reason it is called free-time after all. So, on this May Day, remember not only the Haymarket Martyrs, but all the efforts and sacrifices made by regular workers like you and me. They fought the forces of capital to guarantee us our freedom— our free-time— and frankly, I could use a little more.
Erik Thompson 5/1/21