May 1, 2010

Not only does May 1 have a wide array of meanings around the world, the meaning of the day itself is continually being modified and changed, even today.

In recent years, America's labor unions have been using the "May Day" holiday to showcase the plight of illegal immigrants, attempting to stay relevant in an America where an ever-growing portion of the GDP is no longer controlled by union labor.

For those of us who grew up during the Cold War, we may remember May Day as the day the Soviet Union paraded all of its nuclear weapons through Red Square as the Soviets celebrated the might of their workforce and took advantage of an opportunity to show the evil capitalists of the world what would be waiting for them were the stupid enough to invade their territory. It's also functioned as a great way to showcase Kremlin power to anyone within the family who was thinking of questioning their power.

Were you around in America in 1886, May Day would most likely signify the day in which the workers rose up against the evil industrialists and sacrificed wages, and even some, their very lives, to bring the work day down from 16 to 8 hours.

As I personally plow well into my 13th hour on the job for the day, hoping to compile some blog posts for the coming week, I decided to spend just a few minutes researching a bit more about May Day in America.

The U.S. version of May Day can trace its origins back to 1884. That October, after having been unsuccessful in obtaining a standard 8 hour work day for laborers, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions passed a resolution that called for a general strike on May 1, 1886, should the 8 hour work day not be in place by then. When May 1, 1886 finally rolled around, the 8 hour work day was still not in place, so large numbers of laborers walked off the job. There were 10,000 demonstrators in New York, 11,000 in Detroit, another 10,000 in Milwaukee, and at the movement's center in Chicago, over 40,000 workers took the streets. Today, estimates put the May 1, 1886 walk-outs at close to 500,000 people.

Two days later, still on strike, a group of laborers met near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago. Most of them had been locked out of their jobs since February in a labor dispute, replaced by non-union workers. While some non-union workers joined the strike on May 1, on May 3, there was still a good-sized non-union work force working at the company. When the end-of-the-workday bell sounded on May 3, union workers surged towards non-union workers and were fired upon by police. Two union workers were killed.

Outraged at this police action, anarchists who had been inciting both sides throughout the past few days, distributed flyers for a rally to be held on May 4 to protest the action of police and strikebreakers. Remarkably, the rally itself was very peaceful, but unfortunately, as the last speaker was finishing up his speech, a pipe bomb was thrown at a police line, killing an officer and wounding a number of others. Police fired on the crowd and an all-out riot ensued.

Eight men were arrested as being responsible for the incident, known as the Haymarket Affair. Seven were convicted and sentenced to death. Two men had their sentences commuted to life in prison, one man killed himself in prison, and ultimately, four were hanged for the death of the police officer.

I've done my best to summarize the Haymarket Affair here, but urge you to read more about it. It really is a long and complicated part of American history.

Despite the setbacks to American Labor Unions with the May Day strike in 1886, the unions continued to fight and many laborers in a number of industries were granted shorter and shorter work days, until, in 1916, the U.S. Adamson Act established the 8 hour work day for railroad workers. This was the first federal law that regulated the hours of workers in private companies. Then, in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act under the New Deal, established the 8 hour work day for all Americans.

This is a truly fascinating story. I am more and more amazed with the more that I read. Most fascinating, clearly, is how the push and pull of outside influences helped to shape American labor policy. As many of you know, despite my interest in this segment of history, I continue to be troubled by the roles of labor unions and their leadership in the American landscape today.

As a six-month member of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (1990, when I was 15 years-old) who gave well over 50% of the first paycheck I earned in my life to a labor union, let me be the first to stand up and say that while I understand there is a role for unions today in some circles, I tend to agree with the fact that, in many cases, they are just no longer needed.

Following my first job at Lucky's Grocery Store, during which I was required to be a member of the UFCW, I have gone on to what I believe to be a rather good career and a decent wage and decent work load, despite the fact that I have spent close to 20 years now as a non-union worker. I've watched strike after strike over the years and partially agreed with some, but honestly, for the most part, completely disagreed with most of them.

I think my biggest problem with labor unions is the political spin they tend to put on things. I think union members tend to believe that unions care much more about them and their families than they really do. Unions claim time and time again that strikes are not about the money, but I tend to disagree with that statement.

Unions use political posturing and political pressure to in turn get union members what they want so union leadership will appear to care, all the while, relying on the workers themselves for their own salaries.

The recent large May Day rallies that are put on by the labor unions, anarchists, and communists that sucker workers into marching for their "rights" have really helped to solidify my position on the labor unions and their May Day holiday. As I felt with the UFCW strikes over the years, these large May Day rallies are exploitation of a group of people and a cause for the political and monetary gain of union leaders. I just wish more people could see through the smoke and mirrors.

My research also led me down the path of another face of May 1. Did you know that in the United States of America, May 1 is officially Loyalty Day? The holiday was first observed in 1921 as "Americanization Day" and was intended to counterbalance the celebration of Labor Day in the US. Labor Day is an internationally celebrated holiday that was perceived at the time to be a communist threat to America. While May Day's modern origins were here at home in 1886, by 1921, the day was being celebrated around the world as Labor Day, particularly by the growing communist world.

Loyalty Day was enacted as an official holiday in 1958 by President Eisenhower and first officially observed in 1959. Today, Loyalty Day is celebrated with parades and ceremonies in several U.S. communities, although many people in the United States remain unaware of it. Although a legal holiday, it is not a federal holiday, and is not commonly observed. Well, guess who is going to start observing Loyalty Day today?

I join a host of Eisenhower's successors who issued official proclamations in support of Loyalty Day, including H.W. Bush, The Great Satan George Junior, Uncle Ronnie, Gerry Ford, and even...are you ready for it?....JFK and Willy Jeff.

So, this year on yet another exploitative May Day, as I have been up for about 20-and-a-half-hours (working close to 17 of them), I am already celebrating the second hour of Loyalty Day! Loyalty to these United States of America. Loyalty to capitalism. Loyalty to the values that built this nation. Loyalty to the law of the land, which I have been known to adhere to on 99.9% of occasions.