Britain, Text from May Day leaflet produced by London Anarchist Federation

handed out on the May Day demo ( we shifted 500): ---- Anarchist origins of the 1st of May 
---- The idea of turning the 1st of May into a day of action for workers was proposed for 
the first time at the 4th congress of the American union AFL (American Federation of 
Labor). It was then decided to launch, starting from the 1st of May 1886, a wide campaign 
of agitation and struggle focused on the limitation of the working week, for an eight hour 
day. The most radical actions took place in Chicago. At that time, Chicago was the city 
where the workers movement was the most developed in the USA and this mainly under the 
impulse of anarchists. Following the 1st of May in 1886, strikes were still going on as 
the fight with employers became tougher. The 4th of May, a giant meeting gathering around 
15,000 people was attacked by the cops. By the end of the day, both sides suffered 
numerous dead and wounded. It was a perfect occasion to muzzle the protest.

Eight of the main agitators, all anarchists, were arrested and sentenced to death. The 
sentence was reduced to life sentences for 3 of them. November 11th of 1887, Albert 
Parsons, Adolphe Fischer, Georges Engel and August Spies were hanged. Their comrade, Louis 
Lingg, committed suicide the day before to avoid the execution. A few years later, they 
were acquitted of all charged and the court admitted that the police and justice set up 
the case to criminalise and break down the workers movement. The 8 accused were declared 
innocent and the 3 survivors were set free.

The 1st of May is definitely a page of workers history stained with anarchist blood.
State, police and capital

The First of May is an occasion to remind us that the fight against capitalism is still 
going on. Yet the difference between rich and poor keeps growing, the financial markets 
are back in the saddle and traders are still handling billions of dollars. Are we wrong to 
ask for more when half of the world wealth is owned by 1% of the population? Meanwhile, 
workers are asked for more and more effort to ?save? the economy and put the State back on 
its feet with its batch of new taxes (such as the bedroom tax) and cuts in public 
services. We are heading toward a neo-liberal capitalism system in which the State has as 
a main purpose the maintenance of social control so capitalism can develop without 
constraint.

Workers produce everything and they own little. This analysis is old and well known but 
despite it, workers in Europe slowly give up the fight for a fair redistribution and 
instead just hope that troubles will fall on someone else. In addition, work has been 
sanctified and the idea is widespread that if you don?t want to be a good worker who 
produces and obeys it makes you lazy, a parasite or an idealist (choose yours!).
We as anarchists think that human beings shouldn?t be defined by the surplus value they 
bring to capitalism. Work should be the way to produce what is absolutely essential and 
not to create new needs. Work must be organized so everyone can work less, not for profit 
but for the good of all. No capitalist society will ever achieve full employment because 
it needs a pool of unemployed so the necessity to work can make us accept bad working 
conditions. In order to reorganise work, we need a society free from class and leaders, 
and which is managed in a self-organised way. This is what the Anarchist Federation is 
fighting for.

?We are neither for a majority nor for a minority government; neither for democracy nor 
for dictatorship. We are for the abolition of the gendarme. We are for the freedom of all 
and for free agreement, which will be there for all when no one has the means to force 
others, and all are involved in the good running of society. We are for anarchy.? Errico 
Malatesta