WORLD WORLDWIDE ARGENTINA News Journal Update - (en) Argentina, ICL-CIT: Organizacion-Obrera #97 - MAY 1ST AND THE POTENTIAL OF NOT FORGETTING WHERE WE CAME FROM. (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 May 1st is an easily recognizable date on the annual calendar. To a greater or

lesser extent, everyone who lives in Argentina knows that it is an immovable
holiday, but that does not mean that they know what it is about. Many will say
that it has something to do with work, but without further details regarding its
political imprint or its historical content. ---- May 1st has a rich and
important history behind its commemoration. The origin of this emblematic date
dates back to the events that occurred in the city of Chicago, United States, in
May 1886. What happened on that date in that place? The biggest labor
demonstration that the rich northern country has seen up to that time. The
organized workers of that country had agreed to set the date of May 1, 1886 to
demonstrate in favor of compliance with the eight working hours. Although there
were already certain laws that imposed the limit of working hours for certain
jobs or districts, effective compliance was scarce and did not take into account
the situation of all workers in the private sector.

The claim, as you can imagine, was very felt within the working class. One of the
effects produced in the modality of work after the irruption of the industrial
revolution was that the working days became endless, working, in most cases, more
than twelve hours a day. The claim for the reduction to eight hours contemplated
that every person could enjoy eight hours of rest and eight hours of instruction
or recreation, so that each individual would no longer be considered a pack
animal and could dedicate time to their personal growth in the area that pleases you.

As we said, on May 1, 1886, the most important strike in the United States, up to
that time, took place. More than a general strike on a national scale, it was a
multiplicity of regional strikes or by sector, since some municipalities and
companies had previously agreed to limit the working day to avoid conflict. Thus,
it is estimated that 5,000 strikes were declared simultaneously. Both the call
and the social repercussion achieved by the event were considered a complete
success by the organizers.

In Chicago the strike took on a more violent climate than in other regions of
that country. The social situation in that particular city was already tense from
before. It had a very large labor market, but industrial workers were subjected
to overexploitation, and strikes were harshly repressed. At the same time, and
partly as a result of this situation of oppression, the labor movement was
increasingly organized, supported by a dynamic anarchist sector that linked
immediate material demands with the preaching of a better future.

The day of May 1 in Chicago was followed by new massive demonstrations the
following days. On May 4, in Haymarket Square, there was a big confrontation
between the police and the demonstrators, started after the explosion of a bomb
between the police ranks. After exchanges of shots, a balance of forty dead and
hundreds wounded remained. Faced with the casualties suffered by the police, a
state of siege was declared and a manhunt for strikers began, arresting,
interrogating and torturing hundreds. Finally, eight prominent anarchist
militants were selected to serve as scapegoats, accused of being responsible for
the bomb that exploded in the May 4 demonstration.

The trial carried out on the detainees resulted in a quick death sentence by
hanging. There was no possibility of a legitimate defense of the defendants,
since the fate of the trial was already predetermined by the political-business
elite. It was an exemplary lesson against the rebellious claims of the labor
movement. The convicts themselves expressed the origin of their sentence as follows:

"I only have to protest against the death sentence imposed on me because I have
not committed any crime... but if I have to be hanged for professing my anarchist
ideas, for my love of liberty, equality and fraternity, then I have no objection
. I say it out loud: dispose of my life." (Adolf Fischer, 30-year-old journalist)

"No, it is not for a crime that they sentence us to death, it is for what has
been said here in all tones: they sentence us to death for anarchy, and since we
are condemned for our principles, I shout well strong: I am an anarchist! I
despise them, I despise their order, their laws, their strength, their authority.
Hang me!" (Louis Lingg, 22-year-old carpenter)

Given the characteristics of the judicial process, its result, and the cause for
which the workers of the United States originally demonstrated, these sentenced
to capital punishment were classified as martyrs, thus giving birth to the term
"Chicago Martyrs."

With the dissemination of the events on a global scale, the date of May 1 was
taken up by the existing labor organizations in Europe and declared as a "Day of
International Protest". For the year 1890, that date was set to call for
demonstrations on a global scale, in which the proletarians of each region could
present their labor demands, with an axis at 8 o'clock.

As the 20th century progressed, the celebration of May 1st mutated. Manifesting
the different political and ideological tendencies active within the labor
movement, from anarchists, socialists and communists, to the influence of
nationalists and bourgeois parties, each one giving its interpretations, rites
and customs. In this sense, the appropriation of the meaning of this date was the
scene of disputes by all the political traditions that developed later. It is
thus that the revolutionary-oriented worker currents take May 1st as a day of
struggle, claiming the internationalist origin of its commemoration, linking it
with the proletarian demands sustained throughout history. On the other hand,
other tendencies, of a reformist or nationalist nature,

This conception of harmonious social relations is usually classified as "class
conciliation". Which cannot exist without lies or euphemisms, since behind the
speeches that appeal to social peace and collaboration between the different
sectors of society hides an asymmetric relationship based on exploitation and the
systematic theft of part of the wealth created by the workers in the hands of the
bosses.

That is why today, as more than a century ago, our organization once again
highlights the history that gave rise to the commemoration of May 1, warning
about the possibilities that another way of organizing the economy could lead to
the effort and social wealth do not remain in different hands and that for this
transformation it is necessary to trust in the potential that has been latent in
the collective action of the world proletariat.

https://organizacion-obrera.fora.com.ar/2023/05/01/el-1-de-mayo-y-el-potencial-de-no-olvidar-de-donde-venimos/
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