Saturday, May 01, 2010
ANARCHIST HISTORY:
MAYDAY:
Another May Day has come and gone, but the struggle lives on. May Day actually has anarchist origins. Here's a post from last year, one that bears repeating, on the anarchist origins of this day.
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INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
RECOVERING MAY DAY FOR THE ANARCHISTS:
Throughout the various May Day posts in this and in other years Molly has often mentioned the intimate connection between the labour festival of May Day and anarchism-and also how many other varieties of "socialists" attempt to downplay this connection. Molly has her own view about these 'socialists" and how their "socialism" is far too often a mere "covering story" for the ambitions of a new managerial ruling class. Not that anarchists are all Simon pure either, but the all too frequent faults of anarchism throughout its history are usually far removed from the twisted ambitions of a would be ruling class.
Anyways, there are numerous screeds on the internet about the anarchist origins of May Day. Here's a recent one from the Anarchist Writers' Blog, one that in Molly's opinion is one of the best. A tip of the Canadian tuque to the boy from Glasgow(I think) for this one.
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Reclaim May Day: An anarchist history:
— Anarcho
May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labour movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
The history of Mayday is closely linked with the anarchist movement and the struggles of working people for a better world. Indeed, it originated with the execution of four anarchists in Chicago in 1886 for organising workers in the fight for the eight-hour day. Thus May Day is a product of "anarchy in action" -- of the struggle of working people using direct action in labour unions to change the world ("Anarchism . . . originated in everyday struggles" -- Kropotkin)
It began in the 1880s in the USA. In 1884, the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (created in 1881, it changed its name in 1886 to the American Federation of Labor) passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labour organisations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution." A call for strikes on May 1st, 1886 was made in support of this demand.
In Chicago the anarchists were the main force in the union movement, and partially as a result of their presence, the unions translated this call into strikes on May 1st. The anarchists thought that the eight hour day could only be won through direct action and solidarity. They considered that struggles for reforms, like the eight hour day, were not enough in themselves. They viewed them as only one battle in an ongoing class war that would only end by social revolution and the creation of a free society. It was with these ideas that they organised and fought.
In Chicago alone, 400 000 workers went out and the threat of strike action ensured that more than 45 000 were granted a shorter working day without striking. On May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of pickets at the McCormick Harvester Machine Company, killing at least one striker, seriously wounding five or six others, and injuring an undetermined number. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. According to the Mayor, "nothing had occurred yet, or looked likely to occur to require interference." However, as the meeting was breaking up a column of 180 police arrived and ordered the meeting to end. At this moment a bomb was thrown into the police ranks, who opened fire on the crowd. How many civilians were wounded or killed by the police was never exactly ascertained.
A reign of terror swept over Chicago. Meeting halls, union offices, printing shops and private homes were raided (usually without warrants). Such raids into working-class areas allowed the police to round up all known anarchists and other socialists. Many suspects were beaten up and some bribed. "Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards" was the public statement of J. Grinnell, the States Attorney, when a question was raised about search warrants.
Eight anarchists were put on trial for accessory to murder. No pretence was made that any of the accused had carried out or even planned the bomb. Instead the jury were told "Law is on trial. Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society." The jury was selected by a special bailiff, nominated by the State's Attorney and was composed of businessmen and the relative of one of the cops killed. The defence was not allowed to present evidence that the special bailiff had publicly claimed "I am managing this case and I know what I am about. These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death." Not surprisingly, the accused were convicted. Seven were sentenced to death, one to 15 years' imprisonment.
An international campaign resulted in two of the death sentences being commuted to life, but the worldwide protest did not stop the US state. Of the remaining five, one (Louis Lingg) cheated the executioner and killed himself on the eve of the execution. The remaining four (Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel and Adolph Fischer) were hanged on November 11th 1887. They are known in Labour history as the Haymarket Martyrs. Between 150,000 and 500,000 lined the route taken by the funeral cortege and between 10,000 to 25,000 were estimated to have watched the burial.
In 1889, the American delegation attending the International Socialist congress in Paris proposed that May 1st be adopted as a workers' holiday. This was to commemorate working class struggle and the "Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight". Since then Mayday has became a day for international solidarity. In 1893, the new Governor of Illinois made official what the working class in Chicago and across the world knew all along and pardoned the Martyrs because of their obvious innocence and because "the trail was not fair".
The authorities had believed at the time of the trial that such persecution would break the back of the labour movement. They were wrong. In the words of August Spies when he addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die:
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement . . . the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation -- if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you -- and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out."
At the time and in the years to come, this defiance of the state and capitalism was to win thousands to anarchism, particularly in the US itself. Since the Haymarket event, anarchists have celebrated May Day (on the 1st of May -- the reformist unions and labour parties moved its marches to the first Sunday of the month). We do so to show our solidarity with other working class people across the world, to celebrate past and present struggles, to show our power and remind the ruling class of their vulnerability. As Nestor Makhno put it:
"That day those American workers attempted, by organising themselves, to give expression to their protest against the iniquitous order of the State and Capital of the propertied . . .
"The workers of Chicago . . . had gathered to resolve, in common, the problems of their lives and their struggles. . .
"Today too . . . the toilers . . . regard the first of May as the occasion of a get-together when they will concern themselves with their own affairs and consider the matter of their emancipation."
Anarchists stay true to the origins of May Day and celebrate its birth in the direct action of the oppressed. Oppression and exploitation breed resistance and, for anarchists, May Day is an international symbol of that resistance and power -- a power expressed in the last words of August Spies, chiseled in stone on the monument to the Haymarket martyrs in Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago:
"The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today."
To understand why the state and business class were so determined to hang the Chicago Anarchists, it is necessary to realise they were considered the "leaders" of a massive radical union movement. In 1884, the Chicago Anarchists produced the world's first daily anarchist newspaper, the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung. This was written, read, owned and published by the German immigrant working class movement. The combined circulation of this daily plus a weekly (Vorbote) and a Sunday edition (Fackel) more than doubled, from 13,000 per issues in 1880 to 26,980 in 1886. Anarchist weekly papers existed for other ethnic groups as well (one English, one Bohemian and one Scandinavian). As Martyr Oscar Neebe clearly argued, "these are the crimes I have committed: I organised trade unions. I was for reduction of the hours of labour, and the education of the labouring man, and the re-establishment of 'Die Arbeiter Zeitung', the workingmen' paper."
Anarchists were very active in the Central Labour Union (which included the eleven largest unions in the city) and aimed to make it, in the words of Albert Parsons (one of the Martyrs), "the embryonic group of the future 'free society.'" The anarchists were also part of the International Working People's Association (also called the "Black International") which had representatives from 26 cities at its founding convention. The I.W.P.A. soon made headway among trade unions, especially in the mid-west and its ideas of direct action of the rank and file and of trade unions serving as the instrument of the working class for the complete destruction of capitalism and the nucleus for the formation of a new society became known as the "Chicago Idea" (an idea which later inspired the Industrial Workers of the World which was founded in Chicago in 1905).
This idea was expressed in the manifesto issued at the I.W.P.A.'s Pittsburgh Congress of 1883:
**"First -- Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e. by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action.
**"Second -- Establishment of a free society based upon co-operative organisation of production.
**"Third -- Free exchange of equivalent products by and between the productive organisations without commerce and profit-mongery.
**"Fourth -- Organisation of education on a secular, scientific and equal basis for both sexes.
**"Fifth -- Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.
**"Sixth -- Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between autonomous (independent) communes and associations, resting on a federalistic basis."
In addition to their union organising, the Chicago anarchist movement also organised social societies, picnics, lectures, dances, libraries and a host of other activities. These all helped to forge a distinctly working-class revolutionary culture in the heart of the "American Dream." The threat to the ruling class and their system was too great to allow it to continue (particularly with memories of the vast uprising of labour in 1877 still fresh. As in 1886, that revolt was also meet by state violence). Hence the repression, kangaroo court, and the state murder of those the state and capitalist class considered "leaders" of the movement.
The Chicago anarchists, like all anarchists, were applying their ideas to the class struggle. They were forming unions organised and animated with the libertarian spirit. They saw that anarchism was not a utopian dream but rather a means of action -- of (to use Bakunin's words) "creating not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself" by means of direct action, solidarity and organising from the bottom up. That was why they were effective and why the state framed and murdered them.
On the 115th anniversary of the first May Day, we must apply our anarchist ideas to everyday life and the class struggle, inside and outside industry, in order to make anarchism a possibility. As Kropotkin put it, "anarchism was born among the people; and it will continue to be full of life and creative power only as long as it remains a thing of the people."
Reclaim the anarchist spirit of May Day. Make everyday an International Day of solidarity and direct action!
"I say to you: 'I despise you. I despise your order; your laws, your force-propped authority.' HANG ME FOR IT!"
Louis Lingg
"The existing economic system has placed on the markets for sale man's natural rights . . . A freeman is not for sale or for hire"
Albert Parsons
"You may pronounce the sentence upon me, honourable judge, but let the world know that in A.D. 1886, in the State of Illinois, eight men were sentenced to death because they believed in a better future; because they had not lost their faith in the ultimate victory of liberty and justice!"
August Spies
"every anarchist is a socialist but every socialist is not necessarily an anarchist . . . the communistic anarchists demand the abolition of political authority, the state . . . we advocate the communistic or co-operative methods of production."
Adolph Fischer
Labels: anarchism, anarchist history, Haymarket anarchists, history., holidays, May Day
Monday, April 19, 2010
HOLIDAYS:
WHY I WILL IGNORE EARTH DAY:
This Thursday April 22 will be the now traditional Earth Day. While there is some small competition from people who hold that the day of the Spring Equinox should be the date the powers that be have pretty well made this artificial holiday into a worldwide event. As seems usual for this sort of thing the child has grown and grown, and now we have 'Earth Week'. For those who are interested, in addition to the Wikipedia article highlighted above you can find more information on the USA Earth Day site and the Earth Day Canada site. No doubt other countries have their own pretenders to the title of "official site". For myself, however, I really don't care. Why ? Read on.
Now, I have no objections to people taking the opportunity to have a big party. I'm rather pleased by it as a matter of fact. I could only wish, however, that it wasn't mixed up with a gigantic, almost Roman clerical, dose of hypocrisy...the pretense that the participants are actually doing something that will accomplish the nebulous goal of "saving the Earth".
That's what it is - pretense. It's all very "nice" to send the yard apes out to pick up trash
from the local parks for instance, but whatever this has to do with changing to a more "sustainable" economy escapes me entirely. Similarly I have no desire to mindlessly consume "green bric-a-brac". I have plenty of green shirts already thank you very much, and once more the point escapes me. Except to observe that such consumption is the precise opposite of the sort of simplification that might actually make our societies more ecologically sustainable.
Neither do I have much interest in listening to the barely disguised advertisements for corporate and government sponsors as they tout their 'green credentials'. To me it smells of scam, and yes I have more than my fill of advertising every day as well. I'd prefer new green shirts. If the reader is interested in one of tens of thousands of examples of how business hopes to expand into this lucrative market then check out this salivating call to prosper. Think I'm wrong about the snake oil aspect of the whole thing ? Consider what sort of business Canada's reigning King of Con Rahim Jaffer was involved in. That's right. 'Green Technology'.
I think the key word in all the above is the term "expand". I have no doubt that certain important reforms can be accomplished even in our present political and economic system. Still, if we are to lead a life that is both sustainable and also humanly fulfilling I cannot see how this can be done when we are burdened with an economic system whose very nature demands continual expansion. Neither can I see how this can be done when this drive is mirrored and quite often exceeded by centralized government and its planning. Both the corporations and government presuppose the division of society into order givers and order takers. Any reforms that might come about by their efforts will see the costs borne chiefly by the order takers and the benefits reaped disproportionately by the order givers. That's the way it will be.
I see little to celebrate about such a skillful piece of fraud, unless, of course, you wish to admire its sheer larcenous beauty in a purely intellectual fashion, like admiring the work of a safe cracker. I wish everyone a good party, but it'll be an ordinary workday for me. Now if organizers of such events would borrow a page from the month before and promote green beer as part of their anti-consumption consumption well then I might at least stop off for a drink.
Labels: Corporate criminals, Earth Day, ecology, environment, holidays, hypocrisy
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS:
A SHORT HISTORY OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY:
International Women's Day is drawing to a close, and I'd better do my duty and reprint (with editing) the comment that I have published for the last two years here at Molly's Blog. What follows is a short history of the day and its significance.
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HOLIDAYS (OR IT SHOULD BE)
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY:
Today, March 8, is celebrated as 'International Women's Day'. Way back when, on March 8 1908, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the aegis of the Second Socialist International. The German socialist Clara Zetkin was the originator of the proposal. No fixed date was set at this event. The conference called for the establishment of an international women's day. This had been preceded by a declaration of the Socialist Party of America in 1909 calling for such an event on the last Sunday of February.
The date of March 8 gradually became an accepted time because it commemorated an 1857 protest in NYC by garment workers who later went on to establish the first labour union in the USA two years later. (Molly Note-Since I first wrote these words there have been further entries at the Wikipedia site on this day, claiming that this 1857 demonstration never took place. I am unable to say whether this is true or not, but I urge the reader to consult the Wikipedia site for details on the controversy )March 8 was also the day when women in Europe held peace rallies in 1913 as the clouds of WW1 gathered. IWD also gathered force from the Commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911 when 140 garment workers were killed in a factory fire because the owners had locked the doors, barring any escape.
On the persuasion of Alexandra Kollontai IWD was declared a holiday in the USSR shortly after the Revolution. But.....this "holiday" remained a regular working day until May 8, 1965. Wags might remark that this is the usual stuff of communist pronouncements, with the name and the reality usually at significant variance. Nonetheless IWD remains an official holiday in many countries today. Most are members of the ex-Soviet bloc or other communist countries. By 1975, International Women's Year, the United nations began to sponsor the day. Today there is pressure in many countries to declare it an official holiday. In 2005, for instance, the British Trade Union Congress passed a resolution calling on the United Kingdom to issue such a declaration.
Nowadays celebrations are held across the world on this day. The global women's group Aurora hosts a semi-official list of events and resources. For an anarchist take on the day and its significance see THIS and THIS from the Anarkismo.Net news site. Also 'Feminism, Class and Anarchism' by Deidre Hogan (also available as a downloadable pdf).
Labels: feminism, history., holidays, International Women's day
Friday, December 25, 2009
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
FROM MOLLYMEW:
THE OLD YEAR WINDS DOWN TO ITS CLOSE. THE NEW YEAR LOOMS IN FRONT, FULL OF PROMISE AND OF CHALLENGE. MAY THE NEW YEAR BRING ALL THE BEST TO ALL MY READERS. MAY THE WORLD CHANGE AT LEAST A LITTLE BIT FOR THE BETTER.
WISHING YOU WELL IN 2010- MOLLYMEW
Labels: blogging, Christmas., holidays, New Year, personal
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
AMERICAN LABOUR/AMERICAN POLITICS:
SCROOGE OF THE YEAR CONTEST:
Speaking of contests here's another one, this one from down stateside way. the Jobs With Justice Coalition have opened nominations for their 'Scrooge of the Year'. Is there one boss or politician who stands out from the others in pure coal-hearted nastiness ? If you think you know such a one nominate him or her for the JwJ contest. (A note to my fellow Canadians- do you think we can sneak Stevie Harper in there ? ) Here's how.
╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩
Bah, Humbug!
Bah, Humbug!
Nominate the 2009 Scrooge of the Year:
Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an "award" to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year.
Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an "award" to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year.
Past winners of this dubious honor include: Wal-Mart, George W.Bush, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber. National Jobs with Justice is now accepting nominations for the 2009 "Scrooge of the Year"contest. We are collecting nominations this week and will start the election on December 7th.
SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION TODAY!
Labels: American labour, contests, holidays, Jobs With Justice, labour, Scrooge of the Year Contest
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
LOCAL EVENTS-WINNIPEG:
HOLIDAY MIXER:
This just in. The Winnipeg IWW will be holding a holiday mixer along with the New Socialist Group this coming December 11. Here's the info.
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IWW/NSG Holiday mixer:
IWW/NSG Holiday mixer:
marxmas? anarchristmas? revolutionary industrial union-mas?
Host:
Winnipeg IWW
Type:
Party - Holiday Party
Date:
Friday, December 11, 2009
Time:
5:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
Black Sheep Diner
540 Ellice
City/Town:
Winnipeg, MB
Description
It's that time of the year again, and you're all cordially invited to the IWW/NSG joint holiday mixer! So come on down, hang out, share stories and songs. There will be plenty of marxmas/anarchstistmas fun!
Host:
Winnipeg IWW
Type:
Party - Holiday Party
Date:
Friday, December 11, 2009
Time:
5:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:
Black Sheep Diner
540 Ellice
City/Town:
Winnipeg, MB
Description
It's that time of the year again, and you're all cordially invited to the IWW/NSG joint holiday mixer! So come on down, hang out, share stories and songs. There will be plenty of marxmas/anarchstistmas fun!
Labels: events, holidays, local events, party., Winnipeg IWW
Monday, November 30, 2009
CANADIAN LABOUR/AMERICAN LABOUR:
THE UNION HOTEL GUIDE:
Planning on getting away from it all for the holidays ? If so this item from the AFL-CIO Blog may be of interest. A guide to which hotels are unionized, a better deal because it's a fairer deal. The original guide comes from the Hotel Workers Rising website, sponsored by the Unite Here union. My only objection...the guide only lists hotels that are organized by this one particular union. Here in Canada (and I suspect the case is the same in the USA) there are a number of hotels that are organized by other union such as The Nova Scotia Union of Public and Private Employees, Local 17, the UFCW and, most prominently the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW). You can find a substantial guide to the many hotels organized by the CAW HERE. Think of this addition to what comes below as Molly's little pre-Christmas gift.
⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂⌂
UNION HOTEL GUIDE:
Union Hotel Guide before you book a room. The user-friendly online directory helps you identify union-staffed hotels across the country.
Just plug in city and state( or province-Molly ), and the site will display a list of hotels in the area that employ UNITEHERE! members and are doing right by their workers. You also can add the name of a hotel chain as part of the search. Click here for the Union Hotel Guide.
A link on the site also enables you to quickly see which hotels are on the union’s boycott list and where workers are on strike.
UNITEHERE! is working across the country to bring a better life to hotel workers who often are underpaid and who work long, hard hours to make our stay comfortable and safe. For example, the union is urging customers to boycott three hotels in the San Francisco area, including the Westin St. Francis, where 650 workers ended a two-day strike on Nov. 21. The Palace and the Grand Hyatt, the sites of previous strikes also are on the boycott list.
Members of UNITEHERE! Local 2 voted by a 92 percent to 8 percent margin to authorize strikes at any of the 31 upscale hotels in San Francisco. Despite earning record profits over the past five years, the hotels are using the recession as an excuse to demand changes in eligibility for the employees’ health care plan that would eliminate coverage or put it out of reach for many workers.
Labels: American labour, boycotts., Canadian labour, CAW, holidays, hotels, labour, solidarity., Unite Here
Friday, May 01, 2009
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
RECOVERING MAY DAY FOR THE ANARCHISTS:
Throughout the various May Day posts in this and in other years Molly has often mentioned the intimate connection between the labour festival of May Day and anarchism-and also how many other varieties of "socialists" attempt to downplay this connection. Molly has her own view about these 'socialists" and how their "socialism" is far too often a mere "covering story" for the ambitions of a new managerial ruling class. Not that anarchists are all Simon pure either, but the all too frequent faults of anarchism throughout its history are usually far removed from the twisted ambitions of a would be ruling class.
Anyways, there are numerous screeds on the internet about the anarchist origins of May Day. Here's a recent one from the Anarchist Writers' Blog, one that in Molly's opinion is one of the best. A tip of the Canadian tuque to the boy from Glasgow(I think) for this one.
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Reclaim May Day: An anarchist history:
Fri, 05/01/2009 - 05:52 — Anarcho
May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labour movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
Fri, 05/01/2009 - 05:52 — Anarcho
May 1st is a day of special significance for the labour movement. While it has been hijacked in the past by the Stalinist bureaucracy in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, the labour movement festival of May Day is a day of world-wide solidarity. A time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. A day to remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
The history of Mayday is closely linked with the anarchist movement and the struggles of working people for a better world. Indeed, it originated with the execution of four anarchists in Chicago in 1886 for organising workers in the fight for the eight-hour day. Thus May Day is a product of "anarchy in action" -- of the struggle of working people using direct action in labour unions to change the world ("Anarchism . . . originated in everyday struggles" -- Kropotkin)
It began in the 1880s in the USA. In 1884, the Federation of Organised Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada (created in 1881, it changed its name in 1886 to the American Federation of Labor) passed a resolution which asserted that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labour organisations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution." A call for strikes on May 1st, 1886 was made in support of this demand.
In Chicago the anarchists were the main force in the union movement, and partially as a result of their presence, the unions translated this call into strikes on May 1st. The anarchists thought that the eight hour day could only be won through direct action and solidarity. They considered that struggles for reforms, like the eight hour day, were not enough in themselves. They viewed them as only one battle in an ongoing class war that would only end by social revolution and the creation of a free society. It was with these ideas that they organised and fought.
In Chicago alone, 400 000 workers went out and the threat of strike action ensured that more than 45 000 were granted a shorter working day without striking. On May 3, 1886, police fired into a crowd of pickets at the McCormick Harvester Machine Company, killing at least one striker, seriously wounding five or six others, and injuring an undetermined number. Anarchists called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square to protest the brutality. According to the Mayor, "nothing had occurred yet, or looked likely to occur to require interference." However, as the meeting was breaking up a column of 180 police arrived and ordered the meeting to end. At this moment a bomb was thrown into the police ranks, who opened fire on the crowd. How many civilians were wounded or killed by the police was never exactly ascertained.
A reign of terror swept over Chicago. Meeting halls, union offices, printing shops and private homes were raided (usually without warrants). Such raids into working-class areas allowed the police to round up all known anarchists and other socialists. Many suspects were beaten up and some bribed. "Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards" was the public statement of J. Grinnell, the States Attorney, when a question was raised about search warrants.
Eight anarchists were put on trial for accessory to murder. No pretence was made that any of the accused had carried out or even planned the bomb. Instead the jury were told "Law is on trial. Anarchy is on trial. These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury, and indicted because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury; convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society." The jury was selected by a special bailiff, nominated by the State's Attorney and was composed of businessmen and the relative of one of the cops killed. The defence was not allowed to present evidence that the special bailiff had publicly claimed "I am managing this case and I know what I am about. These fellows are going to be hanged as certain as death." Not surprisingly, the accused were convicted. Seven were sentenced to death, one to 15 years' imprisonment.
An international campaign resulted in two of the death sentences being commuted to life, but the worldwide protest did not stop the US state. Of the remaining five, one (Louis Lingg) cheated the executioner and killed himself on the eve of the execution. The remaining four (Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engel and Adolph Fischer) were hanged on November 11th 1887. They are known in Labour history as the Haymarket Martyrs. Between 150,000 and 500,000 lined the route taken by the funeral cortege and between 10,000 to 25,000 were estimated to have watched the burial.
In 1889, the American delegation attending the International Socialist congress in Paris proposed that May 1st be adopted as a workers' holiday. This was to commemorate working class struggle and the "Martyrdom of the Chicago Eight". Since then Mayday has became a day for international solidarity. In 1893, the new Governor of Illinois made official what the working class in Chicago and across the world knew all along and pardoned the Martyrs because of their obvious innocence and because "the trail was not fair".
The authorities had believed at the time of the trial that such persecution would break the back of the labour movement. They were wrong. In the words of August Spies when he addressed the court after he had been sentenced to die:
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labour movement . . . the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil in misery and want, expect salvation -- if this is your opinion, then hang us! Here you will tread on a spark, but there and there, behind you -- and in front of you, and everywhere, flames blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You cannot put it out."
At the time and in the years to come, this defiance of the state and capitalism was to win thousands to anarchism, particularly in the US itself. Since the Haymarket event, anarchists have celebrated May Day (on the 1st of May -- the reformist unions and labour parties moved its marches to the first Sunday of the month). We do so to show our solidarity with other working class people across the world, to celebrate past and present struggles, to show our power and remind the ruling class of their vulnerability. As Nestor Makhno put it:
"That day those American workers attempted, by organising themselves, to give expression to their protest against the iniquitous order of the State and Capital of the propertied . . .
"The workers of Chicago . . . had gathered to resolve, in common, the problems of their lives and their struggles. . .
"Today too . . . the toilers . . . regard the first of May as the occasion of a get-together when they will concern themselves with their own affairs and consider the matter of their emancipation."
Anarchists stay true to the origins of May Day and celebrate its birth in the direct action of the oppressed. Oppression and exploitation breed resistance and, for anarchists, May Day is an international symbol of that resistance and power -- a power expressed in the last words of August Spies, chiseled in stone on the monument to the Haymarket martyrs in Waldheim Cemetery in Chicago:
"The day will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you are throttling today."
To understand why the state and business class were so determined to hang the Chicago Anarchists, it is necessary to realise they were considered the "leaders" of a massive radical union movement. In 1884, the Chicago Anarchists produced the world's first daily anarchist newspaper, the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung. This was written, read, owned and published by the German immigrant working class movement. The combined circulation of this daily plus a weekly (Vorbote) and a Sunday edition (Fackel) more than doubled, from 13,000 per issues in 1880 to 26,980 in 1886. Anarchist weekly papers existed for other ethnic groups as well (one English, one Bohemian and one Scandinavian). As Martyr Oscar Neebe clearly argued, "these are the crimes I have committed: I organised trade unions. I was for reduction of the hours of labour, and the education of the labouring man, and the re-establishment of 'Die Arbeiter Zeitung', the workingmen' paper."
Anarchists were very active in the Central Labour Union (which included the eleven largest unions in the city) and aimed to make it, in the words of Albert Parsons (one of the Martyrs), "the embryonic group of the future 'free society.'" The anarchists were also part of the International Working People's Association (also called the "Black International") which had representatives from 26 cities at its founding convention. The I.W.P.A. soon made headway among trade unions, especially in the mid-west and its ideas of direct action of the rank and file and of trade unions serving as the instrument of the working class for the complete destruction of capitalism and the nucleus for the formation of a new society became known as the "Chicago Idea" (an idea which later inspired the Industrial Workers of the World which was founded in Chicago in 1905).
This idea was expressed in the manifesto issued at the I.W.P.A.'s Pittsburgh Congress of 1883:
**"First -- Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e. by energetic, relentless, revolutionary and international action.
**"Second -- Establishment of a free society based upon co-operative organisation of production.
**"Third -- Free exchange of equivalent products by and between the productive organisations without commerce and profit-mongery.
**"Fourth -- Organisation of education on a secular, scientific and equal basis for both sexes.
**"Fifth -- Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.
**"Sixth -- Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between autonomous (independent) communes and associations, resting on a federalistic basis."
In addition to their union organising, the Chicago anarchist movement also organised social societies, picnics, lectures, dances, libraries and a host of other activities. These all helped to forge a distinctly working-class revolutionary culture in the heart of the "American Dream." The threat to the ruling class and their system was too great to allow it to continue (particularly with memories of the vast uprising of labour in 1877 still fresh. As in 1886, that revolt was also meet by state violence). Hence the repression, kangaroo court, and the state murder of those the state and capitalist class considered "leaders" of the movement.
The Chicago anarchists, like all anarchists, were applying their ideas to the class struggle. They were forming unions organised and animated with the libertarian spirit. They saw that anarchism was not a utopian dream but rather a means of action -- of (to use Bakunin's words) "creating not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself" by means of direct action, solidarity and organising from the bottom up. That was why they were effective and why the state framed and murdered them.
On the 115th anniversary of the first May Day, we must apply our anarchist ideas to everyday life and the class struggle, inside and outside industry, in order to make anarchism a possibility. As Kropotkin put it, "anarchism was born among the people; and it will continue to be full of life and creative power only as long as it remains a thing of the people."
Reclaim the anarchist spirit of May Day. Make everyday an International Day of solidarity and direct action!
"I say to you: 'I despise you. I despise your order; your laws, your force-propped authority.' HANG ME FOR IT!"
Louis Lingg
"The existing economic system has placed on the markets for sale man's natural rights . . . A freeman is not for sale or for hire"
Albert Parsons
"You may pronounce the sentence upon me, honourable judge, but let the world know that in A.D. 1886, in the State of Illinois, eight men were sentenced to death because they believed in a better future; because they had not lost their faith in the ultimate victory of liberty and justice!"
August Spies
"every anarchist is a socialist but every socialist is not necessarily an anarchist . . . the communistic anarchists demand the abolition of political authority, the state . . . we advocate the communistic or co-operative methods of production." Adolph Fischer
Labels: anarchism, anarchist history, Anarchist Writers Blog, history, holidays, international labour, labour, May Day
AMERICAN LABOUR:
THE VIRTUAL MAY DAY MARCH:
The clock is ticking, but May day isn't over yet. Here's an appeal from the US United Farm Workers to join what they call a "virtual march" for immigration reform in the USA.
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Join the virtual immigration march:
Today thousands across the country will march to demand that Congress do the right thing on immigration reform.
Today thousands across the country will march to demand that Congress do the right thing on immigration reform.
This issue is vital to the UFW and to the farm workers we represent. Farm workers do the hardest, most difficult jobs that others won't do. They help feed this nation. Yet, they are faced with fear and intimidation because many employers use the threat of deportation to keep on exploiting them.
Please join us in fighting for immigration reform by participating in a virtual May Day march that we are doing along with other immigration groups. Help us show Congress that there is a growing movement that stands with the President to pass real immigration reform this year.
It’s time to end this cycle of fear and abuse and achieve real change for working families. To do so, we need your help to move the campaign forward. Please take action today and join the virtual march.
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THE LETTER:
Please go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the US Congress.
LLLLLLLLLLLL
I'm writing to voice my support for comprehensive immigration reform.
A Senate Judiciary hearing this week, is asking whether or not 2009 is the right time to move forward on comprehensive immigration reform.
It's time. We need to end this cycle of fear and abuse and achieve real change for working families.
As your constituent, I want you to know that I support the President's pledge to move on real reform this year. I hope that you will work with the White House to make sure it gets done.
We need real immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for the undocumented, smart enforcement against exploitative employers, and a better process for future immigration so families are not separated.
I ask you to work with the President to pass real immigration reform this year. I look forward to knowing where you stand on this issue.
Thank you,
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]
Labels: American labour, demonstrations, holidays, immigrants, labour, May Day, protests, United Farm Workers, USA
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
ANARCHIST COMMUNIST STATEMENT ON MAY DAY:
The following, from the Anarkismo website, is the joint statement of five platformist organizations from three different continents on what may day means to them.
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May Day: Defend, Widen and Share the Struggle:
Translated version in Italiano Ελληνικά
Anarchist Communist May Day statement
May Day: Defend, Widen and Share the Struggle
Today as in the past, May Day means respect for mobilizations throughout the world by workers who suffer, at times even paying with their lives, for the sake of their struggles to improve the condition of men and women who labour under the control of capitalism.
As anarchist communists, we support the struggle for a radical change to a society of freedom, equality and solidarity, but we do not forget that in many countries, workers do not even have the most basic possibility to organise into unions, and many work in subhuman conditions for subhuman pay. Our thoughts today go to these workers, as we seek to strengthen the networks of support for the struggles of all the peoples of the world.
In Western countries, the 'cradle of freedom', the fate of working men and women has grown worse over the last two decades: casualisation, flexibility, magic words adopted by the Left as well as the Right, whose effects are now plain for everyone to see in the harsh effects of a crisis which grew out of lower wages and the destruction of jobs.
Everywhere one can see the difficulties of finding work, the increase in the use of blackmail against anyone who tries to organise political and social opposition, the growing insecurity for the future of the young and the not so young. And yet despite all this, profits are growing, financial mafias are infiltrating all areas, and it is increasingly difficult to carry out union and political activity with the aim of effecting real change.
The choice of States and the leaders of the G20 is repression, oppression and exploitation. Their first choice is to rescue the banks and the businesses. The workers can expect nothing, and in the meantime have to resort to getting into debt in order to survive.
But even in the hard times of a crisis, May Day continues to remind us that the only way to win rights is through struggle by the workers, self-organised and federated. But what we win is not won forever.
Our gains must be defended, widened and shared through more struggles.
The mobilizations throughout the world over the last few months of crisis serve to remind us that mass struggle, from below, self-managed, is in the workers' blood, in their historical memory, and stands in opposition to the leaders of international capitalism and the governments of the whole world in the name of social justice and the defence of the material interests of the world of labour.
It is the task of anarchist communists and revolutionaries to protect this memory and ensure that it remains a part of today's struggles, as an active force which is part and parcel of the workers' movement, a movement which must become a real revolutionary force capable of destroying capitalism and ushering in a new age of freedom, equality and solidarity.
1st May 2009
Alternative Libertaire (France)
1st May 2009
Alternative Libertaire (France)
Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici (Italy)
Workers Solidarity Movement (Ireland)
Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front (South Africa)
Common Cause (Canada)
Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net
Related Link: http://www.anarkismo.net
Labels: anarchism, anarkismo.net, holidays, international anarchist movement, international labour, labour, May Day, platformism
AMERICAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
MAY DAY GREETINGS FROM THE WORKERS' SOLIDARITY ALLIANCE:
The following is the May Day statement from the American anarchosyndicalist Workers' Solidarity Alliance (see also their My Space page). The following text has been taken from the A-Infos website.
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US, Anarchist WSA May Day Greetings:
Dear friends, fellow and sister workers and comrades:
The Workers Solidarity Alliance (WSA) extends our May Day Greetings to all workers across the world.
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As the international struggle against capitalism and the state continues, and intensifies, it is our hope that the libertarian-socialist spirit of these struggles continue to develop and deepen and that our movement, the international class struggle anarchist movement, will also grow and develop and become an organized and visible part of the growing struggles. On this year of the 123rd Anniversary of the Chicago Haymarket Martyrs valiant struggle for workers' freedom, let us not let their spirit and their efforts to create a new world be forgotten. On this occasion, let us also not forget the duplicity of the bosses, nor the inhumanity of the state,whenever the hegemony and tyranny of these over society is seriously challenged, as it was challenged by our murdered brothers, the Haymarket Martyrs.
In the spirit of the Haymarket Martyrs then, let us not be fooled by the empty promises of bosses, bureaucrats, and politicians; let us instead learn to depend upon the solidarity of a united working-class, awakened to class consciousness, and dedicated to creating a future without bosses and rulers. A working class that unites across race, gender, sexual orientation and immigration status.
We are not fooled by Obama's rhetoric of a better and more just society. Clearly we recognize the historic significance of his election. Yet his cabinet is filled with those who continue to favor the corporate world. In some instances they will wage their fight against the working class in subtle ways. In other, the attack will be more frontal and in your face.
We must be vigilant. We must not forget that we live in a class society, regardless of who sits in the White House. We need to continue to march, we must continue to protest, we must continue to organize from below and we must build a new movement in the face of many odds.
Thus, let us work and struggle together to bring direct democracy and worker self-management to the workplace, while not overlooking the fight to attain better working conditions in the here and now. Let us fight for better housing and tenant control. Lets us struggle for community, as well as, workers control. Let us also stand in solidarity with our fellow workers around the world who are undergoing persecution due to their workplace organizing, the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or because of their status as immigrants.
Finally, let us strive together to reach our full development as the genuine productive forces of society and to assume our rightful status in the world as the masters of our own destiny. Motivated by the fact that unlike our bosses, our landlords, bankers, politicians or bureaucrats, that we, the members of the working class, do not live off the exploitation and oppression of others.
As the cold days of winter turn into the warm days of spring, may the cold days of capitalist and state oppression also soon come to an end.
Yours in solidarity and struggle,
WORKERS SOLIDARITY ALLIANCE
General Offices
339 Lafayette Street - Room 202
New York, NY 10012
Labels: American labour, anarcho-syndicalism, holidays, labour, May Day, Workers Solidarity Alliance
CANADIAN LABOUR:
CUPE ON MAY DAY:
Here is the May Day statement of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). It is, of course, a little sparse on the full details of the origins of this day, but it has a good trend to saying what should be done in the future.
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CUPE May Day Statement:
On May 1, 1886, hundreds of thousands of North American workers mobilized to fight for an eight-hour work day. The events that took place that week – at Haymarket Square in Chicago and beyond – have come to symbolize the tenacious and revolutionary spirit of the labour movement.
On May 1, 1886, hundreds of thousands of North American workers mobilized to fight for an eight-hour work day. The events that took place that week – at Haymarket Square in Chicago and beyond – have come to symbolize the tenacious and revolutionary spirit of the labour movement.
For more than 100 years, May Day has been a time for workers around the globe to take stock of how far we’ve come, and the distance we have yet to go.
In the international spirit of May Day, we must remember that the fight for a safe and fair workplace extends beyond our borders. This May Day, CUPE will be working to prevent the ratification of a free trade agreement with Colombia, a country that has violently suppressed the rights of trade unionists. Trade unionists and civil society activists risk death simply for advocating basic labour rights; since 1986, over 2,500 have been killed by the state and its paramilitaries in Colombia. In 2008 alone, over 49 trade unionists were assassinated. Now more than ever, it is essential that the Canadian labour movement stand in solidarity with workers around the globe who are fighting to achieve even the most fundamental labour rights.
The global economic crisis has only emphasized the need for a strong labour movement. Workers across Canada are fighting to protect their jobs and pensions, and to improve access to employment insurance. CUPE and the labour movement will not stand idly by and watch employers and governments attack workers and public services. The solution is not to break unions; the solution is to provide stimulus through public services, create jobs in all sectors, and to keep money in our communities rather than in corporate pockets.
CUPE members from coast to coast to coast can be proud of the accomplishments of our brothers and sisters in our union. We have had countless positive contract negotiations, and our membership has worked hard to make our union better and stronger.
While May Day is a time to celebrate all that we have achieved in the past, let it also be a time to rejuvenate, refocus, and reaffirm our conviction to move forward.
In solidarity,
Paul Moist
National President
Claude Généreux
Claude Généreux
National Secretary-Treasurer
Labels: Canadian labour, Colombia, CUPE, holidays, internationalism, labour, May Day
Sunday, April 26, 2009
INTERNATIONAL ANARCHIST MOVEMENT-WARSAW POLAND:
MAYDAY IN WARSAW:
Here from the Workers' Initiative -Warsaw Poland- is the callout for anarchists to come together on the real Labour Day, May Day, this coming Friday.
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In the Praga district. To be preceded by Hyde Parks agitating for a rent strike. (Rents are raised from the first of May.)
For workers' self management and people's control over all public services!
Enough bad working conditions, poverty and fraudulent social policies!
Start at 14:00 at the Praga Hospital. March to Skaryszewski Park for festival. Stops along the way with speeches about working conditions and government policies against the poor and working class.
Labels: anarchism, demonstrations, holidays, international anarchist movement, May Day, Poland, Workers' Initiative
CANADIAN LABOUR/CANADIAN ANARCHIST MOVEMENT:
MAYDAY IN HAMILTON:
Here, from the Common Cause/Linchpin website is a callout from the UAW for a May Day march in Hamilton Ontario.
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Hamilton May Day Protest:
Start: 05/01/2009 - 11:30
End: 05/01/2009 - 13:00
All out for May 1st
Local 1005 and Local 7135 invites all workers, laid off members, retirees and the community to join us!
Start: 05/01/2009 - 11:30
End: 05/01/2009 - 13:00
All out for May 1st
Local 1005 and Local 7135 invites all workers, laid off members, retirees and the community to join us!
Protest the loss of manufacturing jobs and nation wrecking.
Friday, May 1, 2009 at 11:30am
Assemble at: 350 Kenilworth Ave. N.
We will be marching through the industrial core!
BBQ to follow.
Our security lies in our fight!
Our security lies in our fight!
Pensions and jobs are at risk!
Local 1005
Local 1005
905-547-1417
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Also from the Common cause/Linchpin site, but originally from the site of the Skydragon Community Development Centre in Hamilton, here is what else will be happening in Hamilton this May Day.
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Mayday Celebration in Hamilton at Sky Dragon:
Start: 05/01/2009 - 21:30
End: 05/01/2009 - 23:59
Where?
Sky Dragon Centre - 27 King William St. - ground floor
Start: 05/01/2009 - 21:30
End: 05/01/2009 - 23:59
Where?
Sky Dragon Centre - 27 King William St. - ground floor
What the heck?
Join the Sky Dragon Coop and friends in the Labour, Women's, Peace, Environmental and Anti-Racism movements for a celebration commemorating the international working people's holiday. Swinging jazz will keep the party grooving to the wee hours. Musical lineup TBA.
Join the Sky Dragon Coop and friends in the Labour, Women's, Peace, Environmental and Anti-Racism movements for a celebration commemorating the international working people's holiday. Swinging jazz will keep the party grooving to the wee hours. Musical lineup TBA.
Check www.skydragon.org for updates.
Information:
For more information: 905-777-8102 or kevin@skydragon.org
Labels: anarchism, canadian anarchist movement, Canadian labour, demonstrations, Hamilton, holidays, labour, Linchpin, May Day, Sky Dragon Center, United Auto Workers
Sunday, March 08, 2009
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY:
ONE FINAL NOTE:
Before I shut it down for the night here's one more item on International Women's Day, this one a reprint of a post here at Molly's Blog from this time last year.
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HOLIDAYS (OR IT SHOULD BE)
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY:
Today, March 8, is celebrated as 'International Women's Day'. Way back when, on March 8 1908, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the aegis of the Second Socialist International. The German socialist Clara Zetkin was the originator of the proposal. No fixed date was set at this event. The conference called for the establishment of an international women's day. This had been preceded by a declaration of the Socialist Party of America in 1909 calling for such an event on the last Sunday of February.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY:
Today, March 8, is celebrated as 'International Women's Day'. Way back when, on March 8 1908, 15,000 women marched through the streets of New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, under the aegis of the Second Socialist International. The German socialist Clara Zetkin was the originator of the proposal. No fixed date was set at this event. The conference called for the establishment of an international women's day. This had been preceded by a declaration of the Socialist Party of America in 1909 calling for such an event on the last Sunday of February.
The date of March 8 gradually became an accepted time because it commemorated an 1857 protest in NYC by garment workers who later went on to establish the first labour union in the USA two years later. March 8 was also the day when women in Europe held peace rallies in 1913 as the clouds of WW1 gathered. IWD also gathered force from the Commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on March 25, 1911 when 140 garment workers were killed in a factory fire because the owners had locked the doors, barring any escape.
On the persuasion of Alexandra Kollontai IWD was declared a holiday in the USSR shortly after the Revolution. But.....this "holiday" remained a regular working day until May 8, 1965. Wags might remark that this is the usual stuff of communist pronouncements, with the name and the reality usually at significant variance. Nonetheless IWD remains an official holiday in many countries today. Most are members of the ex-Soviet bloc or other communist countries. By 1975, International Women's Year, the United nations began to sponsor the day. Today there is pressure in many countries to declare it an official holiday. In 2005, for instance, the British Trade Union Congress passed a resolution calling on the United Kingdom to issue such a declaration.
Nowadays celebrations are held across the world on this day. The global women's group Aurora hosts a semi-official list of events and resources. For an anarchist take on the day and its significance see THIS and THIS from the Anarkismo.Net news site. Also 'Feminism, Class and Anarchism' by Deidre Hogan (also available as a downloadable pdf).
Labels: anarchafeminism, anarchism, feminism, history, holidays, International Women's day, labour, socialism, women
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
PERSONAL:
MOLLY STAGGERS HOME FROM THE PARTY:
The graphic says it all. I'll be back in touch tomorrow in the height of my hangover. New Year's Eve was actually quite boring this year, but at least I got happily drunk. Everybody should do this regularly. It puts the proper perspective on life. "Life" should never be taken too seriously. It is, after all, a merely temporary aberration between two nothingnesses. The passing of a year should remind us of this limitation to our existence, with all the good and bad that this implies. Anyways, enough philosophy...HAPPY NEW YEAR...SEE YOU IN THE MORNING WITH IT'S OWN CLARITY AND SADNESS AND JOY.
MOLLY
Labels: alcohol, holidays, New Year, personal
Monday, December 29, 2008
PERSONAL:
JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK ON THE INTERNET---MOLLY'S BACK :
Well, the annual pilgrimage out west to visit relatives is over, and I'm back in Winnipeg. It's always nice to drive a section of road that you know sufficiently well to be able to navigate with your eyes half closed half the time. THIS also includes knowing where the RCMP lurk on practically all of #1. Hint...if it's dark they like well lit places. As I said to one of the nephews-in-law back west when asked about "road conditions", "not bad at all, nothing that would slow me down to 110". Actually untrue. The speed limit in Manitoba is 100 km/hr and this did slow me down to 110 a good proportion of the time. But....for the legal beagles out there I merely claim that my speedometer in inaccurate. Only God knows how fast I went, and given the nature of God this is obviously an imaginary number.
Molly is very happy to be back in her cat box, even if she has to work tomorrow morning. I'll be back in full form on this blog tomorrow. Until then, "keep a smile on your face, a song in your heart and definitely don't forget to barf in the shoes of somebody you hate on the morning of Jan 1..
Labels: highways, holidays, personal, RCMP, travel
Thursday, December 25, 2008
PERSONAL:
MOLLY GETS MAIL-PART II:
Here's another of the cards I have received, this time from the Anarkisterna site in Sweden. the image here may be familiar to readers of this blog as I have used it before, but it deserves to enter the classics anyways. In Sweden, by the way the traditional Christmas figure, Tomte the Christmas elf/gnome, is gradually being replaced by the American Empire Santa Claus. Too bloody bad. May they never cease serving the traditional Swedish drink "glogg" (I shit you not), a sort of mulled wine. What an appropriate name.
In any case here is the greeting from Sweden, along with a repeat of their request for solidarity. Molly is off on the highway tomorrow morning so I wish you the best for the next few days. Keep it clean and don't let the ruling class bite, and, if they do, call the exterminator. Til later......
............................
Seasons' greetings from Athens:
From:
embryo@anarkisterna.com
Just to get you all in the right spirit - from all of us to all of you:
And while we're at it, a reminder of the people needing our support:
The “December Collection” (Decemberinsamlingen) serves as emergency help for the family that has lost almost all of their belongings in the attack on their apartment:
Re: Decemberinsamlingen
Addressee: SAC
IBAN: SE24 9500 0099 6034 0809 9236
BIC/Swift: NDEASESS
The Cyklopen activists are determined to rebuild their center – financial help can be sent here:
Re: Cyklopen
Addressee: Kulturkampanjen
IBAN: SE09 9500 0099 6034 1607 5525
BIC/Swift: NDEASESS
In solidarity!
/embryo collective
Molly wishes the "embryo" a happy birth and a prosperous life.
Labels: Anarkisterna, blogging, greetings, holidays, personal, Sweden
PERSONAL:
MOLLY GETS MAIL:
It's the holiday season, and the time to send greetings and best wishes for the upcoming year to all and sundry. Here's one that Molly has received from the Maquila Solidarity Network here in Canada. More to follow. Best wishes to them as well, and may the Empire falter in the New Year.
Molly.
Labels: blogging, greetings, holidays, Maquila solidarity Network, personal
