The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-04-29
The History of the Workers
Tnt'l Fighting Day from
1886 and Since
American Workers Have Tradition of Sharp
Class Fights

which was distributed to the work.
ers in forty factories in Petersburg
in a total Of 1000 copies. For
clarity, sim 2licIty, ana effect there
are few leaflets to surpass this one.
1t has total of about / GOO words.
1t is marked by total absence of
the hectic, complicated and excited
phraseology which mark so many of
our own leaflets. We reprint here
the opening paragraph:
Comrades,
Let Us consider our position
very carefullv-let us examine the
conditions in which we spend our
lives. What do we see? We work
long and hard. We produce end
less wealth, gold and apparel,
satins and silks. From the depths
OF the earth we extract iron and
coal. We build machines, we out
fit ships, we construct railroads.
All the wealth of the world is the
product of our hands, of our - eat
and blood. And what kind of
wages do we get for this forced
labor? If things were as they
should, we would be living in fine
houses, We would wear good
clothes, and would never haze to
suffer any need. But we know
well enough that our wages never
suffice for our living. Our bosses
push down wages, force US to
work overtime, place unjust fines
upon us-in a word Cypress US in
every way. And then when we
give voice to our dissatisfaction
we are thrown into prison without
further ado.
In this brief simple fashion does
Lenin speak to the workers in the
May Day manifesto of 1896. The
distribution Of this leaflet helped to
start a strike in the textile mills Of
10000 spinners and weavers.
In the United States, Gompers
and his crew had long since be.
trayed Workers May Day. To.
gether with the government, Labor
Day in September was substituted
The government made long series
Of attempts to take May ! away
from the workers as day of mill
tant struggle. When this genera
ton was still young, May l was
declared to be Dewey Day" in thu
United States. Attempts were made
to parade in commemoration of thi.
butcher of colonial workers. Bu
all i'll vain. For the past decade OF
thereabouts, May / has been de
clared Child Health Day. But thi.
monstrous hypocrisy of the exploit
ers of four million child laborer:
never deceived the masses.
This year scared by the tremend
Gus demonstrations of August /, tht
New York Katovis demonstration
and demonstrations on March 6, In
ternational Unemployment Day, the
police are doing everything they
can 10 ia:;e the right of workers tc
meet on the streets away from us
In Ne;7 York City a police edicI
says that not a single workers
meeting will be permitted on the
streets. Instead the biggest city
centers, including Union Square, the
scene of the first May Day demon
stration in the United States In
1886, will be given over to fascists
and armed police.
VIII we be less worthy than our
proletarian ancestors in the MAY
Day struggle against our bosses ?
August ], the events around the
Katovis demonstration, and March
6 say NO! The workers of New
York and Of the entire country have
shown that they know how to carry
on the glorious fighting tradition
Of the American working class. May
Day, 1880, will go down in history
together with the events related
above and many more not yet told
as shining example of working