ANARCHIST HISTORY:
MAYDAY:






Another May Day has come and gone, but the struggle lives on. May Day actually has anarchist origins. Here's a post from last year, one that bears repeating, on the anarchist origins of this day.
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INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
RECOVERING MAY DAY FOR THE ANARCHISTS:
Throughout the various May Day posts in this and in other years Molly has often mentioned the intimate connection between the labour festival of May Day and anarchism-and also how many other varieties of "socialists" attempt to downplay this connection. Molly has her own view about these 'socialists" and how their "socialism" is far too often a mere "covering story" for the ambitions of a new managerial ruling class. Not that anarchists are all Simon pure either, but the all too frequent faults of anarchism throughout its history are usually far removed from the twisted ambitions of a would be ruling class.
Anyways, there are numerous screeds on the internet about the anarchist origins of May Day. Here's a recent one from the Anarchist Writers' Blog, one that in Molly's opinion is one of the best. A tip of the Canadian tuque to the boy from Glasgow(I think) for this one.
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Reclaim May Day: An anarchist history:

— Anarcho
May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labour movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.

The history of Mayday is closely linked with the anarchist movement and the struggles of working people for a better world. Indeed, it originated with the execution of four anarchists in Chicago in 1886 for organising workers in the fight for the eight-hour day. Thus May Day is a product of "anarchy in action" -- of the struggle of working people using direct action in labour unions to change the world ("Anarchism . . . originated in everyday struggles" -- Kropotkin)

It began in the 1880s in the USA. In 1884, the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (created in 1881, it changed its name in 1886 to the American Federation of Labor) passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labour organisations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution." A call for strikes on May 1st, 1886 was made in support of this demand.

In Chicago the anarchists were the main force in the union movement, and partially as a result of their presence, the unions translated this call into strikes on May 1st. The anarchists thought that the eight hour day could only be won through direct action and solidarity. They considered that struggles for reforms, like the eight hour day, were not enough in themselves. They viewed them as only one battle in an ongoing class war that would only end by social revolution and the creation of a free society. It was with these ideas that they organised and fought.

In Chicago alone, 400 000 workers went out and the threat of strike action ensured that more than 45 000 were granted a shorter working day without striking. On May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of pickets at the McCormick Harvester Machine Company, killing at least one striker, seriously wounding five or six others, and injuring an undetermined number. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. According to the Mayor, "nothing had occurred yet, or looked likely to occur to require interference." However, as the meeting was breaking up a column of 180 police arrived and ordered the meeting to end. At this moment a bomb was thrown into the police ranks, who opened fire on the crowd. How many civilians were wounded or killed by the police was never exactly ascertained.

A reign of terror swept over Chicago. Meeting halls, union offices, printing shops and private homes were raided (usually without warrants). Such raids into working-class areas allowed the police to round up all known anarchists and other socialists. Many suspects were beaten up and some bribed. "Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards" was the public statement of J. Grinnell, the States Attorney, when a question was raised about search warrants.

Eight anarchists were put on trial for accessory to murder. No pretence was made that any of the accused had carried out or even planned the bomb. Instead the jury were told "Law is on trial. Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society." The jury was selected by a special bailiff, nominated by the State's Attorney and was composed of businessmen and the relative of one of the cops killed. The defence was not allowed to present evidence that the special bailiff had publicly claimed "I am managing this case and I know what I am about. These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death." Not surprisingly, the accused were convicted. Seven were sentenced to death, one to 15 years' imprisonment.

An international campaign resulted in two of the death sentences being commuted to life, but the worldwide protest did not stop the US state. Of the remaining five, one (Louis Lingg) cheated the executioner and killed himself on the eve of the execution. The remaining four (Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel and Adolph Fischer) were hanged on November 11th 1887. They are known in Labour history as the Haymarket Martyrs. Between 150,000 and 500,000 lined the route taken by the funeral cortege and between 10,000 to 25,000 were estimated to have watched the burial.

In 1889, the American delegation attending the International Socialist congress in Paris proposed that May 1st be adopted as a workers' holiday. This was to commemorate working class struggle and the "Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight". Since then Mayday has became a day for international solidarity. In 1893, the new Governor of Illinois made official what the working class in Chicago and across the world knew all along and pardoned the Martyrs because of their obvious innocence and because "the trail was not fair".

The authorities had believed at the time of the trial that such persecution would break the back of the labour movement. They were wrong. In the words of August Spies when he addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die:

"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement . . . the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation -- if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you -- and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out."

At the time and in the years to come, this defiance of the state and capitalism was to win thousands to anarchism, particularly in the US itself. Since the Haymarket event, anarchists have celebrated May Day (on the 1st of May -- the reformist unions and labour parties moved its marches to the first Sunday of the month). We do so to show our solidarity with other working class people across the world, to celebrate past and present struggles, to show our power and remind the ruling class of their vulnerability. As Nestor Makhno put it:

"That day those American workers attempted, by organising themselves, to give expression to their protest against the iniquitous order of the State and Capital of the propertied . . .

"The workers of Chicago . . . had gathered to resolve, in common, the problems of their lives and their struggles. . .

"Today too . . . the toilers . . . regard the first of May as the occasion of a get-together when they will concern themselves with their own affairs and consider the matter of their emancipation."

Anarchists stay true to the origins of May Day and celebrate its birth in the direct action of the oppressed. Oppression and exploitation breed resistance and, for anarchists, May Day is an international symbol of that resistance and power -- a power expressed in the last words of August Spies, chiseled in stone on the monument to the Haymarket martyrs in Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago:

"The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today."




To understand why the state and business class were so determined to hang the Chicago Anarchists, it is necessary to realise they were considered the "leaders" of a massive radical union movement. In 1884, the Chicago Anarchists produced the world's first daily anarchist newspaper, the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung. This was written, read, owned and published by the German immigrant working class movement. The combined circulation of this daily plus a weekly (Vorbote) and a Sunday edition (Fackel) more than doubled, from 13,000 per issues in 1880 to 26,980 in 1886. Anarchist weekly papers existed for other ethnic groups as well (one English, one Bohemian and one Scandinavian). As Martyr Oscar Neebe clearly argued, "these are the crimes I have committed: I organised trade unions. I was for reduction of the hours of labour, and the education of the labouring man, and the re-establishment of 'Die Arbeiter Zeitung', the workingmen' paper."





Anarchists were very active in the Central Labour Union (which included the eleven largest unions in the city) and aimed to make it, in the words of Albert Parsons (one of the Martyrs), "the embryonic group of the future 'free society.'" The anarchists were also part of the International Working People's Association (also called the "Black International") which had representatives from 26 cities at its founding convention. The I.W.P.A. soon made headway among trade unions, especially in the mid-west and its ideas of direct action of the rank and file and of trade unions serving as the instrument of the working class for the complete destruction of capitalism and the nucleus for the formation of a new society became known as the "Chicago Idea" (an idea which later inspired the Industrial Workers of the World which was founded in Chicago in 1905).





This idea was expressed in the manifesto issued at the I.W.P.A.'s Pittsburgh Congress of 1883:
**"First -- Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e. by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action.
**"Second -- Establishment of a free society based upon co-operative organisation of production.
**"Third -- Free exchange of equivalent products by and between the productive organisations without commerce and profit-mongery.
**"Fourth -- Organisation of education on a secular, scientific and equal basis for both sexes.
**"Fifth -- Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.
**"Sixth -- Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between autonomous (independent) communes and associations, resting on a federalistic basis."





In addition to their union organising, the Chicago anarchist movement also organised social societies, picnics, lectures, dances, libraries and a host of other activities. These all helped to forge a distinctly working-class revolutionary culture in the heart of the "American Dream." The threat to the ruling class and their system was too great to allow it to continue (particularly with memories of the vast uprising of labour in 1877 still fresh. As in 1886, that revolt was also meet by state violence). Hence the repression, kangaroo court, and the state murder of those the state and capitalist class considered "leaders" of the movement.





The Chicago anarchists, like all anarchists, were applying their ideas to the class struggle. They were forming unions organised and animated with the libertarian spirit. They saw that anarchism was not a utopian dream but rather a means of action -- of (to use Bakunin's words) "creating not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself" by means of direct action, solidarity and organising from the bottom up. That was why they were effective and why the state framed and murdered them.





On the 115th anniversary of the first May Day, we must apply our anarchist ideas to everyday life and the class struggle, inside and outside industry, in order to make anarchism a possibility. As Kropotkin put it, "anarchism was born among the people; and it will continue to be full of life and creative power only as long as it remains a thing of the people."





Reclaim the anarchist spirit of May Day. Make everyday an International Day of solidarity and direct action!
"I say to you: 'I despise you. I despise your order; your laws, your force-propped authority.' HANG ME FOR IT!"
Louis Lingg

"The existing economic system has placed on the markets for sale man's natural rights . . . A freeman is not for sale or for hire"
Albert Parsons

"You may pronounce the sentence upon me, honourable judge, but let the world know that in A.D. 1886, in the State of Illinois, eight men were sentenced to death because they believed in a better future; because they had not lost their faith in the ultimate victory of liberty and justice!"
August Spies

"every anarchist is a socialist but every socialist is not necessarily an anarchist . . . the communistic anarchists demand the abolition of political authority, the state . . . we advocate the communistic or co-operative methods of production."
Adolph Fischer

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

THE ORIGINS OF MAYDAY-A WOBBLY VIEW:

Tomorrow, Friday May 1, will be May Day, the day that most of the world considers to be the real Labour Day. The origins of this commemoration are quite often unknown, sometimes deliberately in the case of Communist parties who want to obscure its anarchist ancestry. Here from the website of the syndicalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW- often referred to as "the Wobblies") is a capsule history of the birth of May Day. Go to the IWW website for a list of some of the events that wobs will be participating in on this day.

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May 1: International Worker’s Day - Día Internacional De Los Trabajadores:
Yet again May Day quickly approaches. Since 2006 the immigrant rights marches- made up of millions of undocumented migrant workers along with their supporters, families and children- has brought back May 1st to its original roots in the US. But many are still unaware of its origins in US labor history and the impact this commemorative day still has internationally- such as you can still walk into neighborhoods in Mexico and find streets such as “Calle Los Mártires de Chicago” (Martyrs of Chicago Street).

Below is a short, pamphlet length piece I edited on the origins and radical history of May Day. For an in depth look you might try Paul Avrich’s classic “The Haymarket Tragedy” and AK Press offers a listing of books they carry on the subject here. -AW
What is May Day and why is it called International Workers Day?
May 1st, International Worker’s Day, commemorates the historic struggle of working people throughout the world, and is recognized in every country except the United States and Canada. This is despite the fact that the holiday began in the 1880’s in the United States, with the fight for an eight-hour work day led by immigrant workers. The recent historic marches and protests for immigrant rights, which began with “El Gran Paro Americano 2006,” have brought back into our memories May 1 as an important day of struggle. Although the history of the day has largely been forgotten in the United States, it is still actively remembered and celebrated today by workers, unionists and oppressed peoples all over the world. In fact you can still walk through neighborhoods in Mexico and find streets such as Calle Los Martires de Chicago in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, commemorating the leaders of the eight-hour day movement who were imprisoned and executed.

It is not surprising that the government, business leaders, mainstream union leaders, and the media would want to hide the true history of May Day, portraying it as a “communist” holiday celebrated only in the Soviet Union. In its attempt to erase the history and significance of May Day, the United States government declared May 1st to be “Law Day,” and gave us instead Labor Day—a holiday devoid of any historical significance other than a three weekend holiday at the end of the summer.
The Story of the Eight-Hour Day Movement
In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution stating that eight hours would constitute a legal day’s work from and after May 1, 1886. The resolution called for a general strike (meaning a strike of all workers at all workplaces) to achieve the goal, since years of lobbying and legislative methods had already failed. With workers being forced to work ten, twelve, and fourteen hours a day, rank-and-file support for the eight-hour movement grew rapidly, despite the indifference and hostility of many union leaders. By April 1886, 250,000 workers across the US were involved in the May Day movement.

The heart of the movement was in Chicago, organized primarily by the anarchist International Working People’s Association which believed in using education and direct action to create a free and revolutionary society based on the end of capitalism, the end of inequality based on class, race and sex, and where working and oppressed peoples and communities were able participate and have a meaningful voice in society. Their movement was based in the working class immigrant communities of the city, mainly among Germans, and was centered around a vibrant radical community that included daily and weekly newspapers in several languages, cultural clubs, youth groups, choirs, sports teams and especially within labor unions.

Businesses and the government were terrified by the increasingly revolutionary character of the movement and prepared accordingly. The police and militia were increased in size and received new and powerful weapons financed by local business leaders. Chicago’s Commercial Club purchased a $2000 machine gun for the Illinois National Guard to be used against strikers. Nevertheless, by May 1st, the movement had already won gains for many Chicago clothing cutters, shoemakers, and packing-house workers. Many participated in strikes and hundreds of thousands- estimated between 300,000 and 1 million- participated in marches and parades on that day. But on May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of strikers at the McCormick Reaper Works Factory, killing four and wounding many. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality of the police.

The meeting proceeded without incident, and by the time the last speaker was on the platform, the rainy gathering was already breaking up, with only a few hundred people remaining. It was then that 180 cops marched into the square and ordered the meeting to disperse. As the speakers climbed down from the platform, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing one and injuring seventy. Police responded by firing into the crowd, killing one worker and injuring many others.
The Story of the Haymarket Martyrs
Although it was never determined who threw the bomb, the incident was used as an excuse to attack the entire Left and labor movement. Police ransacked the homes and offices of suspected anarchists and socialists and hundreds were arrested without charge. Anarchists in particular were harassed, and eight of Chicago’s most active leaders in the movement—Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Fielden and Oscar Neebe—were charged with conspiracy to murder in connection with the Haymarket bombing. A kangaroo court found all eight guilty, despite a lack of evidence connecting any of them to the bomb-thrower (only one was even present at the meeting, and he was on the speakers’ platform). On August 19th seven of the defendants were sentenced to death and Neebe to 15 years in prison.

After a massive international campaign for their release, the government “compromised” and commuted the sentences of Schwab and Fielden to life imprisonment. Lingg cheated the hangman by committing suicide in his cell the day before the executions. On November 11th 1887 Albert Parsons, George Engel, August Spies and Adolf Fischer were hanged. Six hundred thousand working people turned out for their funeral. The campaign to free Neebe, Schwab and Fielden continued.

On June 26 1893, Governor Altgeld set them free because they were innocent of the crime for which they had been tried. They and the hanged men had been the victims of “hysteria, packed juries and a biased judge.” Evidence later came to light that the bomb may have been thrown by a police agent working for Captain Bonfield, as part of a conspiracy involving certain steel bosses to discredit the labor movement.
The Legacy of the Haymarket Incident
When Spies addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die, he was confident the repression of the government would not succeed. “If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labor movement . . . the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation—if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out.”

Nevertheless, rather than suppressing labor and radical movements, the events of 1886 and the execution of the Chicago anarchists actually mobilized many generations of radicals. Two lesser known but inspirational revolutionary women emerged out of this legacy. Emma Goldman- who would become a famous anarchist speaker, feminist and labor activist from the 1910’s through the 1930’s- was a young immigrant from Russia at the time, later pointed to the Haymarket affair as her moment of political birth. Lucy Gonzalez Parsons, widow to Chicago Martyr Albert Parsons, was born in Texas as a slave and was of Black, Native American and Mexican ancestry, played a leading role in campaigning for the release of the imprisoned activists. Active in anarchist and labor movements long before the Haymarket incident, she continued to play a role in labor organizing (participating in the founding of the radical Industrial Workers of the World), advocated for women workers, published an anarchist newspaper The Liberator and fought for racial justice up until her death in 1942 at 89 years old.

By covering up the history of May Day, the government, business, mainstream unions, and the media have attempted to hide an entire legacy of dissent in this country. They are terrified of what a similarly militant and organized movement could accomplish today, and they suppress the seeds of such organization whenever and wherever they can. As workers, students and community members committed to building a new and free society, we must recognize and commemorate May Day not only for its historical significance, but also as a time to organize around issues of vital importance to working-class people today.

HISTORY:

NOVEMBER 11- AN ANARCHIST REMEMBRANCE DAY:

The eleventh hour of the 11th day of the 11th month ! The guns fell silent on the western front in the "war to end wars". Not unexpectedly wars continued as their cause, the division of the planet into nation states continued as well. This day, however, has a place in the memory of those who seek to end the cause of warfare- the anarchists.

Here is what Mollymew published two years ago on the occasion of Remembrance Day.

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Other Things to Remember on November 11th:

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has since the end of WW1 been set aside for remembrance of the war dead of various countries. Yet this date has a history that extents further back in time to the year 1887, and since then the month of November has figured prominently in the minds of those who want to remember the dead of the "class war", another war that pits humanity against the tyrants who order the wars that have slaughtered millions.

November 11th, 1887 was the date on which 4 of the 8 Chicago anarchists arrested following the 'Haymarket Riot' in 1886 were hanged by the state of Illinois. The so-called riot in which a bomb was thrown at a force of police gathered to disperse a peaceful demonstration in support of the 'Eight Hour Day' movement was followed by a hail of police gunfire. Four members of the crowd of demonstrators were killed and seven policemen were also among the fatalities. Only one of these had been killed by the bomb. The others were likely killed by "friendly fire" as the police began to fire wildly in the dark and had broken formation.

This "riot" followed on a strike movement organized by the Chicago anarchists for May 1st in support of the eight hour day. This movement attracted about 350,000 workers nationwide. On May 3rd Chicago police attacked the strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, killing two strikers and wounding several others. A demonstration was called for Haymarket Square in the early evening of May 4th. The anarchists were poorly organized, and a rain had begun so the rally was ill attended. The police attack on the meeting was unnecessary as the crowd was reportedly totally peaceful.

In the aftermath of the events of May 4th union offices were raided across the country. In Chicago itself 8 prominent anarchists were arrested and charged with murder. Absolutely no evidence was ever presented at the trial connecting the detainees with the bomb. The sole charge was that they were the anarchists who had "incited" the bomb thrower. All were found guilty and seven were sentenced to death. One, Oscar Neebe, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case was appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and then to the US Supreme Court. After this Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby commuted the sentences of two of the defendants, Samuel Fielden and Michael Swabb, to life in prison.

On November 10th one of the condemned men, Louis Lingg, managed to commit suicide in his cell via a smuggled blasting cap, depriving the executioner of one of his victims. On November 11th, 1887 August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher and George Engel were hanged for their opinions, not for any crime. They walked to the gallows singing the Marseillaise. August Spies is reported to have said as his last words ;

"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."

The Haymarket Martyrs were buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, and Schwabb and Fielden were also buried there when they died later of natural causes. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument, by sculptor Albert Weinert, was erected at the grave site. This was later to become the only cemetery memorial to be accorded the 'National Historic Landmark' designation by the US Department of the Interior.

The trial was widely recognized to have been a travesty of justice. The identity of the bomb thrower was never discovered and there has been endless controversy about whether he was indeed an anarchist. Some believe that he was an agent provocateur hired by the steel companies to discredit the strike movement. On June 26th, 1893 Illinois Governor John Peter Atgeld, recognizing the illegality of the trial process, signed full pardons for the three remaining prisoners after having concluded that all 8 were undoubtedly innocent. This ended his political career. In the aftermath of the events international interest was aroused. The Eight Hour Day movement spread and the first Mayday demonstration in Chicago went on to become Mayday, the real Labour Day as recognized by most of the labour movement outside of North America (and to a large extent in NA as well).

To see more about the Haymarket Martyrs look to the following references:

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot

b) http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/haymarket/Haymarket.html

c) http://libcom.org/history/articles/mayday-haymarket-martyrs

d) http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymarket.htm

e) http://www.chicagohs.org/hack The latter is the Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, and it is the fullest source.

Other November Deaths:

While the execution of the Chicago anarchists was certainly the event that changed history the most there are also other labour martyrs whose deaths fell in the month of November. one actually occurred on Nov. 11th itself. this was the lynching of IWW member Wesley Everest in Centralia, Washington. Everest was a WW1 veteran and rank and file lumberjack in the American West. On Nov. 11th, 1919 a mob of American Legionares had gather at the local Elks' Hall in Centralia, and, incited by the lumber trusts, they marched on the local IWW hall. When they attacked IWW members fought back, and 4 members of the mob were killed. Everest was arrested, and a second mob later broke into the jail, took him out and lynched him. Nobody was ever charged with Everest's murder, but 11 Wobblies were put on trial for the deaths of members of the mob. Six of them were sentenced to 15 years in prison even though there was no evidence to connect them to the deaths.For the IWW slant on this affair see Ralph Chapman's 'The Centralia Conspiracy" at the official IWW site at

http://www.iww.org/en/culture/library

For the fullest historical treatment see History Link at:

http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?fik_id+5605

For brief summaries see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Everest

http://libcom.org/history/1919-the-murder-of-wesley-everest

November 19th is also the anniversary of the execution of the famous IWW songwriter and poet Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden on Oct 7th, 1879 and emigrated to the USA on in 1902 (but sources vary as to these dates). He joined the IWW around 1910 and was framed for a murder that occurred on January 10th, 1914 in Utah. Despite international pleas for clemency or a new trial from not just labour organizations but also the Swedish government, Helen Keller and even Woodrow Wilson he was executed by firing squad on Nov. 19th, 1915. For more information on Joe Hill see:

a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe-Hill

b) http://libcom.org/history/articles/murder-joe-hill

On November 20th, 1936 the Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti(July 14th,1896-Nov. 20th,1936) was killed while defending Madrid against Franco's fascist troops. Durruti had had along career as an anarchist and labour militant in both Europe and South America. The 'Iron Column' that he led to Madrid's defence was the best of the anarchist militias. Many suspect that the killer was actually an agent of the Communist Party. For more on Durruti see:

a) http://libcom.org/history/articles/1896-1936-buenaventura-durutti

b) http://134.173.117.152/Anarchist_Archives/bright/durruti/durrubio.html

Finally, lest anyone think all this is a matter of the distant past there is the death of Russian anarchist and musician Timur Kacharava (Aug. 21st, 1985- Nov. 13th, 2005), stabbed to death by neo-fascists in St. Petersburg. This comrade had been active in Food Not Bombs, Critical Mass and the Russian punk rock band 'Sandinista'.For his memorial see:

http://www.musirorecords.com/timur/main.htm

The list of labour's martyrs is, of course, much longer and wider than what has been given above. I've only chosen prominent names from the moth of November to illustrate the point that there is more to remember than the fallen who were connived into armies by the ruling class. Not that I don't appreciate the soldiers of the Second World War, just like I appreciate the soldiers of the Spanish Civil War who fought fascism while the Western Powers were appeasing Hitler and Mussolini and later selling out Czechoslovakia. But almost every other war fought has been for monetary interests, including the present one where Canadians are dying in Afghanistan for the interests of the American Empire.

Other Things to Remember on November 11th.
The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month has since the end of WW1 been set aside for remembrance of the war dead of various countries. Yet this date has a history that extents further back in time to the year 1887, and since then the month of November has figured prominently in the minds of those who want to remember the dead of the class war, another way entirely that pits humanity against the tyrants who order the wars that have slaughtered millions.
November 11th, 1887 was the date on 4 of the 8 Chicago anarchists arrested following the 'Haymarket Riot' in 1886 were hanged by the state of Illinois. The so-called riot in which a bomb was thrown at a force of police gathered to disperse a peaceful demonstration in support of the 'Eight Hour Day' movement was followed by a hail of police gunfire. Four members of the crowd of demonstrators were killed and seven policemen were also among the fatalities. Only one of these had been killed by the bomb. The others were likely killed by "friendly fire" as the police began to fire wildly in the dark and had broken formation.
This "riot" followed on a strike movement organized by the Chicago anarchists for May 1st in support of the eight hour day. This movement attracted about 350,000 workers nationwide. On May 3rd Chicago police attacked the strikers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. plant, killing two strikers and wounding several others. A demonstration was called for Haymarket Square in the early evening of May 4th. The anarchists were poorly organized, and a rain had begun so the rally was ill attended. The police attack on the meeting was unnecessary as the crowd was reportedly totally peaceful.
In the aftermath of the events of May 4th union offices were raided across the country. In Chicago itself 8 prominent anarchists were arrested and charged with murder. Absolutely no evidence was ever presented at the trial connecting the detainees with the bomb. The sole charge was that they were the anarchists who had "incited" the bomb thrower. All were found guilty and seven were sentenced to death. One, Oscar Neebe, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case was appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and then to the US Supreme Court. After this Illinois Governor Richard James Oglesby commuted the sentences of two of the defendants, Samuel Fielden and Michael Swabb, to life in prison.
On November 10th one of the condemned men, Louis Lingg, managed to commit suicide in his cell via a smuggled blasting cap, depriving the executioner of one of his victims. On November 11th, 1887 August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher and George Engel were hanged for their opinions, not for any crime. They walked to the gallows singing the Marseillaise. August Spies is reported to have said as his last words,
"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."
The Haymarket Martyrs were buried at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, and Schwabb and Fielden were also buried there when they died later of natural causes. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument, by sculptor Albert Weinert, was erected at the grave site. This was later to become the only cemetery memorial to be accorded the 'National Historic Landmark' designation by the US Department of the Interior.
The trial was widely recognized to have been a travesty of justice. The identity of the bomb thrower was never discovered and there has been endless controversy about whether he was indeed an anarchist. Some believe that he was an agent provocateur hired by the steel companies to discredit the strike movement. On June 26th, 1893 Illinois Governor John Peter Atgeld, recognizing the illegality of the trial process, signed full pardons for the three remaining prisoners after having concluded that all 8 were undoubtedly innocent. This ended his political career. In the aftermath of the events international interest was aroused. The Eight Hour Day movement spread and the first Mayday demonstration in Chicago went on to become Mayday, the real Labour Day as recognized by most of the labour movement outside of North America (and to a large extent in NA as well).
To see more about the Haymarket Martyrs look to the following references:
a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_Riot
b) http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/haymarket/Haymarket.html
c) http://libcom.org/history/articles/mayday-haymarket-martyrs
d) http://www.kentlaw.edu/ilhs/haymarket.htm
e) http://www.chicagohs.org/hack
The latter is the Haymarket Affair Digital Collection, and it is the fullest source.

Other November Deaths:
While the execution of the Chicago anarchists was certainly the event that changed history the most there are also other labour martyrs whose deaths fell in the month of November. one actually occurred on Nov. 11th itself. this was the lynching of IWW member Wesley Everest in Centralia, Washington. Everest was a WW1 veteran and rank and file lumberjack in the American West. On Nov. 11th, 1919 a mob of American Legionares had gather at the local Elks' Hall in Centralia, and, incited by the lumber trusts, they marched on the local IWW hall. When they attacked IWW members fought back, and 4 members of the mob were killed. Everest was arrested, and a second mob later broke into the jail, took him out and lynched him. Nobody was ever charged with Everest's murder, but 11 Wobblies were put on trial for the deaths of members of the mob. Six of them were sentenced to 15 years in prison even though there was no evidence to connect them to the deaths.
For the IWW slant on this affair see Ralph Chapman's 'The Centralia Conspiracy" at the official IWW site at
http://www.iww.org/en/culture/library
For the fullest historical treatment see History Link at:
http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?fik_id+5605
For brief summaries see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wesley_Everest
http://libcom.org/history/1919-the-murder-of-wesley-everest

November 19th is also the anniversary of the execution of the famous IWW songwriter and poet Joe Hill. He was born in Sweden on Oct 7th, 1879 and emigrated to the USA on in 1902 (but sources vary as to these dates). He joined the IWW around 1910 and was framed for a murder that occurred on January 10th, 1914 in Utah. Despite international pleas for clemency or a new trial from not just labour organizations but also the Swedish government, Helen Keller and even Woodrow Wilson he was executed by firing squad on Nov. 19th, 1915.
For more information on Joe Hill see:
a) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe-Hill
b) http://libcom.org/history/articles/murder-joe-hill

On November 20th, 1936 the Spanish anarchist Buenaventura Durruti(July 14th,1896-Nov. 20th,1936) was killed while defending Madrid against Franco's fascist troops. Durruti had had a
long career as an anarchist and labour militant in both Europe and South America. The 'Iron Column' that he led to Madrid's defence was the best of the anarchist militias. Many suspect that the killer was actually an agent of the Communist Party.
For more on Durruti see:
a) http://libcom.org/history/articles/1896-1936-buenaventura-durutti
b) http://134.173.117.152/Anarchist_Archives/bright/durruti/durrubio.html

Finally, lest anyone think all this is a matter of the distant past there is the death of Russian anarchist and musician Timur Kacharava (Aug. 21st, 1985- Nov. 13th, 2005), stabbed to death by neo-fascists in St. Petersburg. This comrade had been active in Food Not Bombs, Critical Mass and the Russian punk rock band 'Sandinista'.
For his memorial see:
http://www.musirorecords.com/timur/main.htm

The list of labour's martyrs is, of course, much longer and wider than what has been given above. I've only chosen prominent names from the moth of November to illustrate the point that there is more to remember than the fallen who were connived into armies by the ruling class. Not that I don't appreciate the soldiers of the Second World War, just like I appreciate the soldiers of the Spanish Civil War who fought fascism while the Western Powers were appeasing Hitler and Mussolini and later selling out Czechoslovakia. But almost every other war fought has been for monetary interests, including the present one where Canadians are dying in Afghanistan for the interests of the American Empire.
Molly