In May 1886 immigrant workers joined with American born workers to call for an eight hour day. They demanded a measure of justice. They wanted some fair share of the great wealth their work produced for the industrialist millionaire “Robber Barons,” the ruling class 1% of the day. When they called a strike and picketed they were shot and killed. When thousands came together to protest, more were killed. Some leaders were arrested. They faced a kangaroo court in Chicago. The prosecutor told the jury: “These men have been selected and indicted because they were leaders. They are no guiltier than the thousands who follow them…Convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions and our society.” They feared an uprising of the native born and immigrant workers who organized together.
May 1, 1886 Workers demanded an 8-hour work day and after a bomb was thrown, the police started their brutal retaliation, killing 200
Called the “Martyrs of Chicago,” the leaders were publicly hanged by their necks until dead. Workers everywhere cried out against the state’s criminal act of revenge against these men who organized workers, immigrant workers, for justice in the workplace and in all society. Workers marched and rallied, first in Chicago then, Los Angeles, New York, then in countries around the world, for justice in the workplace and for peace among all nations.
Some historians see these May Day – International Workers Day – events as the very foundation of the modern labor movement. We march for these role models for justice and for the workers struggling for justice today and in the future…on May 1, 2014 in San Jose.
The March for Immigration Reform and International Worker’s Day begins at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church at 3 p.m., Thursday, May 1st, May Day.
Why May Day, you ask. Watch this amazing video http://youtu.be/8pttC3s4y0Y
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