davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
By JAMES S. ALLEN

A HALF century has interviewed
n since the first May Day dem
onstration in the United States.
Born in the struggle for the eight
hour day, May Day has become the
property of the international work
ing class movement. With this
movement it has grown, until today
it has reached a full revolutionary
meaning. The Communist Inter
national is at one and the same
time its legitimate guardian and its
leader. The American Federation
Of Labor has long since deserted
this day Of struggle and replaced
it with its own sedate Labor Day,
a day of peace with the employers.
The Socialist Party continues to
cling to May Day-one should say,
the spirit of May Day still persists
among its rank and file, and the
leaders are forced to remember it
from year to year. But who will
doubt that only the Communists to-
day render complete revolutionary
homage to this creation of the
American workers?
May Day has always belonged to
those who claimed it, not in words,
but in making it the occasion for
the mass expression of the foremost
/ demands of the working class. The
struggle for the eight-hour work day
was always setting the workers into
mass motion during the Civil War.
Since then, the best traditions of
American labor are connected with
it. 1t was proclaimed in 1866 by
the foundation congress of the Ma
tional Labor Union, the first really
national organization of labor in
the United States, as one Of its prin-
cipal demands. A few months later
the International Workingmen's As
ISOLATION (the First internationally
incorporated the eight-hour day in
its program. It was the kernel of
the Eight-Hour Leagues, led by an
outstanding labor leader of the post
Civil War period, Ira Stewart. The
struggle for the eight-hour day
proved to be the central point of
the movement which brought the
Knights of Labor to its apex and
which resulted in the formation of
the American Federation of Labor.
The First May Day
In 1894, the Federation of Organ
lied Trades and Labor Unions,
which later became the American
Federation of Labor, designated
May 1, 1886, as a day Of demonstra-
ton for the eight-hour day. A
wave of strikes throughout the
country preceded the first May Day.
And on the first May Day, there
were walkouts in the principal in
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28

"the struggle was peaceful and the
workers solidarity was remarkable"
The New York Tribune, however,
in its issue of May 2, 1886, en-
blazoned the following headlines on
its front page:
DISORDERS IN CHICAG
STRIKERS INVADING FREIGHT
HOUSES; ANARCHISTS DISPLAY
RED FLAG"
Under this scare headline ap-
peared the following story:
CHICAGO, May 1. = Whatever
may be the ultimate outcome of the
Chicago labor trouble, this will prob
ably pass into local history as the
great strike day. There is no eXag-
geration in the statement that
scarcely a plant in the city has es-
capped being affected, if not crippled,
by the demands of the employees for
a working day of eight hours.
The incidents of the day
emphasized the fact that the rail-
way companies are face to face with
a great strike, and that their dis
content employees are bent upon
forcing a blockade on all the roads
Throughout this dispatch is an
ill-concealed attitude of irritation
at the militancy of the workers, and
the announcement that the strike
has crippled" many plants is OBJ
viously designed to prejudice the
readers against the strikers.
A picture of violent, "unreason-
able" men with no real grievances
is drawn by the Tribune correspond
ent when he says that their 1.-THE
railroads'1 discontinued employees are
bent upon forcing a blockade on all
the roads"
In the same issue-in an attempt
to stir UP prejudice against the
workers struggling for the eight
hour day, the Tribune carried q
dispatch from st. Louis, declaring
that:
"a story comes from Pacific,
Mo-, the headquarters of the
bridge builders Of the Gould sys-
TEN, that the railroad detectives
have discovered conspiracy
among the striking bridge builders
to destroy bridges by the use of
dynamite
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28

hour day strikes on May 1, 1886?
The demand for the eight-hour
working day was the central key
note of the May strikes, which
later gave birth to International
May Day. Hundreds of thousands
of workers were stirred by this
movement. AS far back as 1866 the
National Labor Union passed a
resolution declaring that:
"The first and great necessity of
the present, to free labor of this
country from capitalist slavery, is
the passing of a law by which
eight hours shall be the normal
working day in all states in the
American union. We are resolved
to put forth all our strength until
this glorious result is attained
AS result of the agitation of the
National Labor Union, Eight-Hour
Leagues had been formed in various
parts of the country. The Eight
Hour Day League of Boston at its
convention in 1872 had declared of
the factory system that:
1T employs tens of thousands Of
women and children II and IL hours
day; owns or controls in its own
selfish interest the pulpit and the
press; prevents the operative classes
from making themselves felt in be-
half of less hours, through remorse-
less exercise of the power of dis
charge; and is rearing a popula-
ton of children and youth of sickly
appearance and scanty or utterly
neglected schooling
According to a survey made by
Bradstreet's, fully 100000 workers
participated in the fight for the
eight-hour day on May /, 1885.
OF this number 100000 workers
won their demand.
THE capitalist press of the day had
not as yet mastered the insid-
ious technique" of the newspapers
of the present day, but their hand
ling of the May strikes of 1886
provides an interesting picture of
their anti-labor activities.
Founded by Horace Greeley, who
for years was associated with the
elder Brisbane Gather of Arthur
Brisbane) and the other Socialist
utopians who derived their inspira-
tino from Fourier, the New York
Tribune had always boosted of its
fairness" to labor In fact, during
1922 the Tribune had published
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28

dustrial cities, with the unskilled
and unorganized participating in
the movement.
In Chicago, the strike and the
demonstration were the greatest. It
was here also that May Day received
its baptism in blood. On May
and 4 the events occurred which led
to the Haymarket affair and the
martyrdom Of Parsons, Spies,
Fischer, Lingg and Engle, the lead
ers of the militant workers Of Chi
cago, who had also raised the de-
mand for the abolition of capitalism
in the May Day campaign.
In 1889 May Day was adopted by
the international Socialist congress
held at Paris. How some Of the
socialist parties from the beginning
evaded May Day as a day Of strug-
gle, how it was honored by the revo-
lUtionary workers internationally,
how finally the Second Interna-
tional turned it into day against
the workers, how May Day became
one the principal days Of struggle
for the Communists throughout the
world, how the A. F. Of L. leaders
deserted the best tradition Of their
own organization-all this is related
in the excellent pamphlet THE His
tory Of May Day" by Alexander
Trachtenberg.
Day of Political Struggle
May Day was born as a political
day of the working class. The de-
mand to make eight hours the uni
versal working day was directed not
only against the employers, but pri-
marily at the government. May
Day, therefore, appeared from the
beginning as direct challenge Of
the working class aimed at the gov
eminent, "the central committee of
the capitalists"
May Day was ushered into the
labor movement not by doves bear
ing the palm leaf of class peace,
but by the clarion call of class strug-
gle. Strike was its weapon, mass
street demonstrations its political
expression. The first May Day
shaped the May Days to come:
hereafter this day was to be the
tribunal from which were to be
voiced the foremost demands of the
workers, supported by militant mass
action.
May Day-Then and Now
The first May Day occurred when
industry in the United States was
developing at q tremendous rate,
when capitalism still faced its own
future-bloody predatory, but still
future. May Day, 1884, occurs
when capitalism is decaying at a
rapid rate, when it faces its own
destruction.
For the labor movement in the
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28

Of the largest packing houses" had
caved in to the workers, "the word
tonight is that they 1.-THE bossesl
will close their houses before they
will concede the demand"
1.-THE number who have closed
their shops" says the correspond
ent, sis sufficient to show that many
thousands of men will be out of
work"
A vivid parallel to the tactics of
the capitalist press in 1886 was seen
during the recent strike of auto
products workers, which closed down
the Hudson Motor Plant in Detroit.
The emphasis was not on the fact
that workers we're striking for a
real union and better conditions
(and breaking through the barriers
of the N.R.A.) but that by their &C
ton the auto products workers had
thrown other workers out of jobs!
The Tribune denies the "rumor"
that the men in the Mccormick
Harvester Works would quit, and
moreover announces cheerfully that
"there is said to be no dissatisfac-
ton among the men with the COM
panys treatment of them"
AS matter of fact, while the
Tribune scribe was composing his
dispatch, the men in the Mccormick
Harvester Works had gone out on
strike-even before the May l DEM
onstration. CThe bourgeois historian,
John r. Commons, described it as a
"lock-out.'O The bosses inmedi-
ately hired scabs and sluggers, and
when, on May 8, the strikers held
a large mass meeting, police shot
into the crowd and murdered six
workers in cold blood.
In fact it was as protest
against this wanton Staying of the
strikers that the Chicago workers
called the Haymarket meeting on
May 4.
THE strike for the eight hour day
on May /, 1886, aroused great
enthusiasm among the great masses
of the workers. Anthony Bimba in
his History of the American Work
ing Glass" reports that on the
second day of the general strike
about 10000 we're involved, and that
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
The Haymarket Tradition
Lives and Grows i'm Field
OF American Literature

stand in the Haylnarket case
Robert Reitzel, who was the out
standing German man of letters
living in the United States, agi-
tated at mass meetings and in the
pages of his literary magazine, der
arrne Teufel," for the liberation OF
Parsons, Spies, and the others. He
saw at once the "lust for blood OF
the monster capitalism" and at
tempted to arouse the working class
to rescue their leaders. On soap
boxes in various cities he called on
the workers to march to the Chi
cago Jail and free the victimD 0.
bourgeois justice.
When they were condemned tc
death, der arne Teufel" appeared
draped in black; and the Hay
market case left a permanent stamp
upon its pages, as well as upon the
literary writing of its editor.
During the fight for their release
Reitzel visited the Haymarket lead
ers in Jail. He printed letter by
Spies in Der arme Teufel;" Reitzel
referred to the letter as a stirring
document, which he compared to
monologue from a German drama
on Danton.
The Calibre of the Martyrs
Spies was himself man of Gull
ture. His labor speeches contain
many fitting quotations from Ger
man literature. When he was given
the opportunity to plead for his
life in the courtroom, he turned his
speech into public expose of CAPT
talisn Thereby placing his speech
in that splendid tradition of revo-
lutionary courtroom tactics that ex-
tends from Marx to Dimitroff y
He began with clear-cut state
ment of the class struggle and
directed a slashing reference at the
literary knowledge of the prosecut-
ing attorney. "Grinnell spoke of
Victor Hugo" said Spies. IT need
not repeat what he said, but will
answer him in the language of one
of our German philosophers: Our
bourgeoisie erects monuments in
honor of the memory of the classics.
If they had read them they would
burn themp" This speech, as well
as Parsons address in the court
room, belongs to the literature of
labor.
"The Bomb"-A First Attempt
Frank Harris was in England at
the time of the Haymarket case
and he watched the events from the
distance. 1.-The reports that reached
us in London from American news
papers were all bitterly one sided, y
he wrote. "They read as if some
enraged capitalist had dictated
them" He decided to investigate
the case. But it was not until 1907
that he visited America, and pub
lished, as a result of his research
THE Bomb" novel on Haymarket
Although it is sympathetic ac-
count, it contains distortions of fact
based upon the very sources which
Harris Scorned.
A revolutionary novel on Hay
market has yet to be written, al
though its events and figures fur
nish the material for a really great
piece of revolutionary writing. In
the field of art, however, Mitchell
Siporin, of the Chicago John Reed
Club, is doing a series of drawings
on the subject which is a major
contribution to proletarian art. And
in recent May Day poems by the
young Communist poets, Edwin
Rolfe and Alfred Hayes, the tradi-
ton of Haymarket is carried for
ward in our revolutionary literature
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28

not so fully reported by the Tribune
who were not animated by the
spirit" that they were having a
good sociable tine together"
Speakers from two platforms de-
nounced the conspiracy laws used by
the courts to break strikes; they at
tackled monopolies, corruption in
politics and demanded the right to
boycott unfair" employers.
Particularly militant were the
speakers on the German stand, who
had had experiences in revolution
airy struggle in Europe. Thus, one
speaker, rather spoiled the pretty
pastoral picture which the New
York Tribune would have liked to
paint Of the May l demonstration
Of 1886.
He was Sergius Shevitch, editor
Of the German "Volkszeitung," who
declared:
"If these parasites-the press,
grand juries, and the police, throw
law aside in the continuance of
this persecution, they will find out
that we can throw law aside. This
struggle is class struggle, and
If capital continues to arraign it.
self against labor, it will find out
that the people have million
fists and know how to use Them
This flaming statement, made in
1886, opens with an attack upon the
chief parasite, the capitalist press.
This biting characterization of the
capitalist press applies with equal
force today when Gen. Hugh l..
johnson praises the press for help
ing to put over the MIRA" with
its strikebreaking- wage-cutting, war
program
Moreover, it would undoubtedly
seem apt to the New York taxi
drivers who several weeks ago threw
a lying reporter out of their strike
hall
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
BY ALAN CALMER

NURING the last three or four
" wears, the alliance of American
lntellectuals with the revolutionary
working class has become more than
a mere tendency. Today scores OF
American writer's are rallying to the
defense of class-war prisoners and
creating a literature exposing capt.
talist Justice. We must not forget,
however, that this is not a new
phenomenon springing full-grown
Gut of the economic crisis. 1t is
The continuation Of thin stream
That runs through American letters
and is now broadening into power
full current.
Almost fifty years ago, at the time
of Haymarket, when all the forces
of the bourgeois press cried for the
blood of the labor leaders, a few
American writer's were courageous
enough to defy public opinion" and
attempt to save the first martyrs in
the struggle for the eight-hour day.
HowelIs Led Weak Protest
There was, of course, William
Dean Howells, acknowledged as a
leader OF the literary movement of
his time. Howells was convinced
that the Chicago Anarchists" were
innocent. 81 have never believed
them guilty Of murder, or anything
but their opinions, and I did not
think they we're justly convicted"
he wrote to Judge Pryor in Sept.
1887. He sent letter to the New
York Tribune in their behalf, and
ttempted-without much success
to enlist other writers, including the
once fiery Whittier, to protest
against their conviction.
"The last two months have been
full of heartache and horror for
me, on account of the civic murder
committed last Friday at Chicago"
he wrote the following month.
"you may have seen in the papers
that I had taken part in petition
ing for clemency for the Anarchists,
whom I thought unfairly tried and
most unjustly condemned. It's all
been an atrocious piece of frenzy
and cruelty, for which we must
stand ashamed forever before his
tory"
"Capitalism's Lust for Blood"
Howells was too firmly entrenched
in his New England security to be
.iolted into action by the labor bat
Ties of the eighties or even to
understand the real meaning of
these struggles. While he confined
fAis protest to composing letters and
speaking to individuals, another
writer of the time took decisive
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
Lucy Parsons, Widow of
Slain Haymarket Martyr,
Describes 1886 Massacre

Lucy Parsons tells the story in the
following way, $50 little did we
think of the Haymarket Square
meeting that we held another meet
ing at Fifth Avenue Cnow Wells
STREET.. Spies called Parsons to
speak at the meeting at Haymarket.
The whole meeting from where we
were, came over to the other meet
ing.
Parsons got up to speak. Mayor
Harrison, who was present, admitted
that the meeting was peaceful, and
went away. 1t was threatening
rain. After Parsons spoke he held
out his hand and said that it looked
as if the meeting would have to
break up. Spies followed him on the
platform.
Parsons was not at the meeting
when the bomb was thrown. We
left the meeting and waited at Lake
and DesPlaines, when we heard the
bomb"
Parsons left the city until the
trial was held, at which the working
class leaders were framed up on
the charge Of throwing the bomb
into the meeting. But during the
trial he turned, and walked into
the capitalist court, deliberately
handing himself over to the au-
thorities.
Comrade Parsons said, "He
thought he could get a fair trial.
His forefathers were Americans, and
so on"
ALBERT PARSONS was wrong.
"A The boss class, for all the at
tempts to whip up national hatreds,
to divide the workers, is not fooled
by its own demagogy. Albert Par
sons died on the gallows, with his
foreign-born comrades, for the
crime Of leading the workers in
struggle. No one knows who threw
the bomb, but Parsons, Spies and
the rest were guilty of interfering
with the profits of the capitalists.
Lucy Parsons, old now, and not
so active, still carries on the fight.
She is giving her best efforts to
carry on what her husband fought
for, the united front of the work.
ing class in struggle against cap
italist oppression.
This woman, sitting in her rock
ing chair, her chin cupped in her
hand, is an inspiration to every
worker. She is herself part of the
revolutionary tradition of the Chi
cago working class, a tradition that
survives and is carried on by the
Communist Party, tradition that
will smash through every effort of
the Social-fascists to divide and
| confuse the workers.
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
Ho'O the Capitalist Press Reported the Nation-Vide
May First Strikes and Demonstrations in 1886
10000 at Union Square
Demonstration
in 1886

FOLLOWING the formula since
L made famous by contemporary
provocateurs in the hire of the
bosses, it seems that detectives "dis-
covered so masks and lot of tools
and dynamite cartridges" but, sig
nif1cantly enough, mo arrests have
been made"
Because the movement in New
York was less militant than in Chi
cago, the Tribune adopted slightly
different tone in handling the New
York May Day demonstration of
1886. The reformist spirit was en-
trenched in the New York unions,
and, as one writer put it, "the lead
ers succeeded in keeping the dem
onstration on the paths Of order
and good citizenship"
Fresh from militant strike strug-
giles, which included the sugar re-
fineries and on the Third Avenue
Elevated, 10000 workers crowded
Union Square in a tremendous May
demonstration. They had come
at the call of fourteen unions, and
the square was packed with thou
sands of workers bearing red ban
ners and placards.
Nevertheless, on the morning of
May list, the New York Tribune had
announced agreeably that "the gen.
eral feeling among the leading mem
bers Of the various organizations is
that at the present state of public
opinion in regard to strikes, it would
be futile to attempt to accomplish
anything through this medium, and
in most cases when an amicable
arrangement cannot be made be-
tween the employers and the men,
the matter will be held in allegiance"
Reporting the meeting the next
day, the Tribune said that "the
speakers were all in the interests of
law and order, and as rule de-
precated strikes. It was understood
by the chairmen at the different
platforms that if any incendiary
speeches were attempted the speak
ers would Immediately be stopped
by the police
The Tribune reported that there
was no excitement in the square
until about after six O'Clock, when
Sergeant Schnittberger of the 10Th
Precinct, with 81 stalwart policemen
of Captain Williams command
marched into the square and took
positions near the plaza. Police
men from other precincts arrived in
squads until there were nearly 300
in and about the square"
INTERVIEWED by the enterprising
i reporter for the Tribune, Capt
Killitea, in charge, said: They are
all good, orderly fellows, and We
are having a good sociable time
together" This" commented the
Tribune jour list, was the spirit
which seemed to animate every
body"
No, not everybody; for, although
some of the conservative chieftains
of the Central Labor Union made
speeches 'in the interests of Law
and order" in the words of the
Tribune, there were other speakers
The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-28
By BILL ANDREWS
ally Worker Midwest Bureau

Daily Worker Midwest Bureau)
rHE first May Day demonstra-
u ton? Yes. I'll tell you about
1t. It was what today we call
United Front" said Lucy Parsons,
widow of the Haymarket martyr,
Albert Parsons.
This grey-haired woman was an
sctiye fighter for the workers in
1886, when May Day was born out
of the struggle of the Chicago work.
ers for the eight-hour day. Today
she still stands in the ranks of the
working class, and is honorary
chairman of the Chicago United
1aont May Day Conference.
she speaks of the general strike
{ '86, emphasizing her points with
a wave of her hand.
1.-THE capitalist class was not or
gained then as they are now. They
were unprepared then and in fact
poo-pooed our intended strike.
"But the working hours were long,
people were disguised and when the
day came the bosses thought there
was really a revolution coming. They
were scared out of their wits. They
tried every means to get the work
ers back"
Every means" These are the
words of a front line fighter, not an
objective historian. Lucy Parsons
knows what police terror means.
There is no telling the despera-
ton of the police that day." she
says.
"But it was so much a united
front that none but a handful of
all the thousands in Chicago would
go near the factories"
lucy PARSONS knows the value
h of unity. Forty-nine years ago
she saw the united power of the
workers smash all provocation, all
terror, in the general strike that
began May First, 1886. AS you talk
to her, you get the feeling more
strongly than ever that the So
called leaders of labor, the Socialist
and A. F. of L. bureaucrats, are
something foreign to our class,
something frantically trying to de-
stroy what the militant workers of
Chicago had begun to build years
ago.
THE bosses began to sign up the
same day." she continues, speaking
of the first May Day.
She goes on to tell of the Hay
market Massacre. The meeting was
called to protest the killing of six
pickets at the Mccormick plant on
May 8. No one realized at the time
the tremendous significance of this
mass meeting.