Posts tagged olv
Primero de Mayo Flyer Anuncio Oficial – via Las Vegas May Day Coalition 9:46 pm / 16 April 2012 by Kelly W. Patterson, at EYEAM4ANARCHY
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| Primero de Mayo |
Por qué Celebramos Primero de Mayo – Via Las Vegas Ma yDay Coalition 7:57 pm / 16 April 2012 by Kelly W. Patterson, at EYEAM4ANARCHY
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| Primero de Mayo |
En el siglo XIX, la clase obrera estaba en constante lucha para ganar la jornada laboral de 8 horas. Las condiciones de trabajo eran graves y era bastante común trabajar de 10 a 16 horas diarias en condiciones peligrosas. Muertes y lesiones eran comunes en muchos lugares de trabajo e inspiraron libros, tales como Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle y Jack London’s The Iron Heel. Tan temprano como en los años 1860’s, la clase obrera organizo acortar la jornada laboral sin reducción de salario, pero no fue hasta finales de la década de 1880 que lograron reunir la fuerza suficiente para declarar la jornada de 8 horas. Esta proclamación fue sin el consentimiento de los empleadores, sin embargo, exigido por muchos de la clase obrera.
Una variedad de organizaciones socialistas surgieron a lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, desde los partidos políticos a los grupos de coro. De hecho, muchos socialistas fueron elegidos a la oficina gubernamental por su distrito. Pero, de nuevo, muchos de ellos eran socialistas abandonados por el proceso político que era tan evidentemente controlado por las grandes empresas y la maquinaria política bipartidista. Decenas de miles de socialistas rompieron filas de sus partidos, rechazaron todo el proceso político, que fue visto como nada más que la protección para los ricos, y ha creado grupos anarquistas en todo el país. Literalmente miles de personas de la clase obrera adoptaron los ideales del anarquismo, que buscaban poner fin a todas las estructuras jerárquicas (incluyendo el gobierno), enfatizaron industrias contraladas por los trabajadores y valoraban la acción directa sobre el proceso político burocrático. Es incorrecto decir que los sindicatos fueron despojados por los anarquistas y los socialistas, sino más bien anarquistas y socialistas formaron los sindicatos...http://maydaylasvegas.blogspot.com/2012/03/por-que-celebramos-primero-de-mayo.html
Via Las Vegas MayDay Coalition: Occupy Las Vegas May Day Planning 4:19 pm / 31 March 2012 by Kelly W. Patterson, at EYEAM4ANARCHY
Occupy Las Vegas GA's are held Wednesday and Sunday evenings at 7pm on the back patio of the UNLV Student Union center (on campus). Planning meetings for the May Day events are held on Fridays from 6pm to 8:30pm the Center for Social Justice/Houssels, which is also located on the UNLV campus. Both meetings are open to anyone interested in attending.
View original post on Las Vegas Mayday Coalition blog.
Via Las Vegas MayDay Coalition – Video: The Haymarket Martyrs–Origin of International Workers Day 2:56 pm / 31 March 2012 by Kelly W. Patterson, at EYEAM4ANARCHY
Las Vegas MayDay Coalition: The Brief Origins of May Day – By Eric Chase – 1993 2:27 pm / 31 March 2012 by Kelly W. Patterson, at EYEAM4ANARCHY
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| MayDay! |
Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as "American" as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.
In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Jack London's The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860's, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn't until the late 1880's that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class.
At this time, socialism was a new and attractive idea to working people, many of whom were drawn to its ideology of working class control over the production and distribution of all goods and services. Workers had seen first-hand that Capitalism benefited only their bosses, trading workers' lives for profit. Thousands of men, women and children were dying needlessly every year in the workplace, with life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, and little hope but death of rising out of their destitution. Socialism offered another option.
A variety of socialist organizations sprung up throughout the later half of the 19th century, ranging from political parties to choir groups. In fact, many socialists were elected into governmental office by their constituency. But again, many of these socialists were ham-strung by the political process which was so evidently controlled by big business and the bi-partisan political machine. Tens of thousands of socialists broke ranks from their parties, rebuffed the entire political process, which was seen as nothing more than protection for the wealthy, and created anarchist groups throughout the country. Literally thousands of working people embraced the ideals of anarchism, which sought to put an end to all hierarchical structures (including government), emphasized worker controlled industry, and valued direct action over the bureaucratic political process. It is inaccurate to say that labor unions were "taken over" by anarchists and socialists, but rather anarchists and socialist made up the labor unions.
At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886." The following year, the FOTLU, backed by many Knights of Labor locals, reiterated their proclamation stating that it would be supported by strikes and demonstrations. At first, most radicals and anarchists regarded this demand as too reformist, failing to strike "at the root of the evil." A year before the Haymarket Massacre, Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm, that "whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave."
Despite the misgivings of many of the anarchists, an estimated quarter million workers in the Chicago area became directly involved in the crusade to implement the eight hour work day, including the Trades and Labor Assembly, the Socialistic Labor Party and local Knights of Labor. As more and more of the workforce mobilized against the employers, these radicals conceded to fight for the 8-hour day, realizing that "the tide of opinion and determination of most wage-workers was set in this direction." With the involvement of the anarchists, there seemed to be an infusion of greater issues than the 8-hour day. There grew a sense of a greater social revolution beyond the more immediate gains of shortened hours, but a drastic change in the economic structure of capitalism.
In a proclamation printed just before May 1, 1886, one publisher appealed to working people with this plea:
- Workingmen to Arms!
- War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage, and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.
- The wage system is the only cause of the World's misery. It is supported by the rich classes, and to destroy it, they must be either made to work or DIE.
- One pound of DYNAMITE is better than a bushel of BALLOTS!
- MAKE YOUR DEMAND FOR EIGHT HOURS with weapons in your hands to meet the capitalistic bloodhounds, police, and militia in proper manner.
