The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-04-26

tional in 1872; the militant strike of
the anthracite miners in 1875, which
eliminated in the execution Of seven
teen miners in Pottsville and Mauch
Chunk in 1877; the general railroad
strike in 1877, in which tens of
workers were mercilessly slaughter
ed by the armed forces of the gov
eminent; the formation of the Fed
Grafton of Organized Trades and
Labor unions in 1881; the phenom-
email rise of the Knights of Labor,
and it's militant strikes from 1888 to
1886-all these movements indicated
the forward march of the. American
working class.
The great eight-hour day strike
Of 1886 involved hundreds of thous-
ands of workers all over the coun-
try. The heart of the struggle was
in Chicago where the labor move
ment was led by revolutionary So
cialists ("anarchists"). There the
fight ended with the Haymarket
tragedy, a frame-up which sent five
labor leaders to the gallows.
The ruling class could not crush
the militancy of the workers with
out first exterminating their mill
tant leaders. In 1877 seventeen
leaders were swung in order that the
coal barons might crush the resist
ance of the miners; in 1886 the lead
ers of the eight-hour day movement
were framed-up and murdered with
the intention of destroying the
movement itself.
The role of the leaders of the
Knights of Labor in the general
strike was that of strike-breakers
and traitors. They refused to join
the Federation in the historical
struggle, and sent secret instruc-
lions to their members not to take
part in the strike. 1t is true that
over two hundred thousand members
went over the heads. of their lead
ers and joined the struggle, never
theless this treacherous attitude of
Powderly, head of the Knights, and
others was severe blow to the sue
cess of the strike. 1t also knocked
the bottom out of the Knights of
Labor themselves. The workers lost
their faith in the organization that
betrayed them at the time of great
est need, and began to abandon it.
On the other hand, the eight-hour
day strike laid the basis for the
growth of the Federation of Organ
lied Trades and Labor Unions,
which at its convention in the same
year changed its name to the Amer
lean Federation of Labor. It's in
fluence increased enormously. It's
ranks were swelled by tens of thous-
ands of new recruits.
The eight-hour day struggle of
1886 proved, above every thing else,
the effectiveness of general strike
as a weapon in the hands of the
workers. The idea of a general
strike became deeply rooted in the
minds of the revolutionary proletar-
lat, not only of America, but of the
entire world.
Forty-three years ago the A. F. of
L. initiated and led general strike
for the eight-hour day. Today the
same A. F. of l.. is an agency of
strike breakerism. In 1886 it was
leading the strike; in 1929 it is en-
gagged in the most open and brutal
attacks upon strikers.
The misleaders of the American
Federation of Labor today have
nothing to do with the celebration
of the First of May as an Inter-
national Labor Day.
The yellow socialist party merely
gives lip service to the First of May.
Only the revolutionary workers led
by the Communist Party of America
are today carrying on the revolu-
tionary traditions of the labor move
ment of 1886. On the First of May
of every year its members review
their activities of the past and pre-
pare themselves for the battles of
the future. On this day of struggle