The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
The Historical Background of May
Day In the United States I886-l934

1 United States, the birth Of the May
Day was coincident with its own
/ first phase Of major national organ
Z ization, when the principal demands
were the eight-hour day, the right
TO organize, the building Of trade
unions. The consciousness Of the
need for overthrowing capitalism
was only beginning to permeate, and
was not present as an inseparabls
part Of the May Day demonstra-
tions.
May Day, 1894, faces a working
class which has gone through many
major strike struggles, which has
gone through a whole series Of eX-
/ periences, which has drunk deep
from Gompers' and Green's poison
Of class peace, and slipped from
HillqUits and Thomas cup Of
peaceful evolution to Socialism"
1t has gone through the greatest
war slaughter in history, only to
find itself on the brink Of another
and greater world war; in the midst
Of mass unemployment, starvation,
suffering.
The shorter workday and higher
wages, the right to organize, striks
and picket are on the banner Of
May Day as they we're in 1886
but today they must be won, not
only against the bosses and the
Roosevelt government, but also
against the leaders Of the American
Federation of Labor, which fifty
years ago initiated May Day, and
who are today supported By the
Socialist Party oficialdom. But
these demands arise in a new stu
alton. Today the foremost demands
of the workers are directed more
sharply than ever before against
capitalism.
May Day Demands-1934
The most pressing immediate de-
mand appears not as the eight
hour day, but as the demand for
unemployment and social insurance
and for the six and seven-hour day
with wage increases; not only is
the demand to organize and strike
directed at the bosses and local
authorities but it is aimed princi-
paIly at the federal government,
which by its N.R.A. apparatus Ia
denying that right.
Today vital political demands are
at the core Of May Day. The Rus
sian Revolution and the 17-year
long existence Of the Soviet Union
have made the abolition of capital
ism a reality. No longer is this
demand raised in a utopian, alb
stract fashion as at Chicago and
New York in 1886. Capitalism faces
destruction, but the working class
and its allies face Socialism-Social-
ism the reality, Socialism as the
result of proletarian revolution and
the destruction Of the capitalist
state power, as the creation of the
working class organized and ex-
pressing its political power in the
councils Of workers and farmers or
Soviets. Today this is the essence
of the political meaning of May
Day, a meaning which has been
claimed by increasing masses of
toilers throughout the world.
Capitalism on its side also sees
the alternative. 1t drives towards
war and fascisln, towards the ply
steal destruction of masses of work.
ers by war and terror Haymarket,
1886, was the reply of the capitalists
to the upsurge of the working class
in Chicago. A universal Haymarket
is today the hope of international
capitalism; in Germany it instituted
this Haymarket with the Reichstag
fire; in Austria over bombarded
barricades It attempts to do it in
the United States.
Fifty years ago, the American
working class gave the world a day
of struggle. Today, when struggles
rage throughout the country, when
American capitalism, although itself
weakening, acts as the prop to tot
tering capitalism and fascist die
tatorships in other countries, the
American working class is again in
a position to give to the world work
ing class movement a tremendous
revolutionary impetus. It's own
maturing is marked by the growth
Of the Communist Party, by the
wider acceptance of the Party as the
leader of the workers. The Ameri-
can working class gave birth to May
Day; it also gave birth to the Com
munist Party, the guardian Of May
Day. Under this guardianship and
/ leadership, the challenge is again
hurled forth, with greater volume,
with more precision, as we drive
towards a Soviet May Day in the
United States