Happy May Day!

[Starry Messenger]

https://www.marxists.org/subject/mayday/articles/tracht.html

<snip>

Marx on the Eight-Hour Movement

In the chapter on "The Working Day" in the first volume of Capital, published in 1867, Marx calls attention to the inauguration of the 8-hour movement by the National Labor Union. In the passage, famous especially because it contains Marx's telling reference to the solidarity of class interests between the Negro and white workers, he wrote:

In the United States of America, any sort of independent labor movement was paralyzed so long as slavery disfigured a part of the republic. Labor with a white skin cannot emancipate itself where labor with a black skin is branded. But out of the death of slavery a new vigorous life sprang. The first fruit of the Civil War was an agitation for the 8-hour day – a movement which ran with express speed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from New England to California.

Marx calls attention to how almost simultaneously, in fact within two weeks of each other, a workers' convention meeting in Baltimore voted for the 8-hour day, and an international congress meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, adopted a similar decision. "Thus on both sides of the Atlantic did the working class movement, spontaneous outgrowth of the conditions of production," endorse the same movement of the limitation of hours of labor and concretize it in the demand for the 8-hour day.

That the decision of the Geneva Congress was prompted by the American decision can be seen from the following portion of the resolution: "As this limitation represents the general demand of the workers of the North-American United States, the Congress transforms this demand into the general platform of the workers of the whole world."

A similar influence of the American labor movement upon an international congress and in behalf of the same cause was exerted more profoundly 23 years later.

<snip>

"The History of May Day", Alexander Trachtenberg 1932

[Nictuku]

1. On May Day, I'm homesick for Hawaii

http://www.kauai.com/blog/may-day-is-lei-day-on-kauai

[yallerdawg]

2. Today in DC! STILL powerful and resonant!

This could be the Democratic Party platform!

May Day is an international working class holiday. All around the world workers will be marching against racism, sexism and capitalism.

This year, the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, we commemorate that historic event with our march.

To Demand Political Power for the Working Class – We call on all workers to organize their workplaces and communities to take political power from the banks, corporations, political parties, and politicians of the 1%.

To Smash Racism, Sexism, and Fascism – We stand united against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia – the tools used by capitalists and politicians to divide, suppress, and intimidate our communities.

To Stop Mass Deportations – We demand an end to racist deportation policies and travel bans. Corporate profiteering, a corrupt and ineffectual political class and the police state are the driving forces behind our economic and physical insecurity.

To End Mass Incarceration – We demand an end to militarized and racialized policing, which overwhelmingly criminalize and incarcerate the poor and people of color, protect the interests of corporations and banks, and stifle protest and political dissent.

To Oppose Imperialist War – We demand an end to US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, and Libya, an end to US military expansionism, and US support for tyranny, apartheid, and violence abroad.

To Defend the Earth and its Resources – We demand an end to the commodification of the planet’s natural resources which threaten to destroy our natural environment and the health and safety of all living organisms.

To Fight for Health Care, Education, and a Living Wage for All – We demand universal healthcare, quality education, and a living wage for all as human rights, not as products for the enjoyment of the wealthy and the profiteering of the 1%.

WE CALL UPON ALL WORKERS, STUDENTS, AND COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO UNITE FOR A MARCH AND DAY OF ACTION ON MAYDAY IN WASHINGTON, DC.

RALLY AT 12:00 PM
MARCH AT 1:30 PM

http://dcmayday.org/

[Starry Messenger]

3. That's great, love it!

I'd add to defend voting rights. You could assume it is under the heading of a couple of those points, but it is always good to remind folks.

[yallerdawg]

5. Someone said "Democracy is the road to socialism."

Looks like America is still stuck on the "road to democracy."

First things first?

[forjusticethunders]

4. Wish I could go

gotta produce that surplus value

[yallerdawg]

6. If we had Universal Basic Income...

you could follow your bliss!

[sab390]

7. As I have said before

I am not a socialist, I am an old line Roosevelt yellow dog Democrat. I know some on the left hate FDR for saving capitalism but I think it was good. But I am with you all the way. Racism, sexism, I want them gone! Homophia? What the hell has got to do with me? I've never understood why someone who has never recognized a gay person has against them? We need to pardon 4 million. One in prison and three out or more. Having to check the box "have you been" has hurt millions trying to get a job. We have been fighting wars of capitalism for centuries. Save the Earth must be first. So, my step one is to distroy the employer based benift system. We are all slaves to health insurance. I am a Teamster. We hold the power to crash the system. We pay our own insurance, so does the UAW. We have to stop paying. Yes, it means risk, unions have always had to risk. We have to stop being, I'll say it, pussies. If now isn't the time to fight, when? I was there in the 60s when we had the momentum. We can get it back now.