May Day! May Day!

Hello Nation, dearest readers, crouched over your internet like near-sighted grandmothers working on a sock, or flicking refresh on your RSS feed with the easy comfort of a card-shark betting on eights at a low stakes table. Hello capitalists, and communists, technoutopians, and luddites, Methodists and muslims, people greedy for facts (you will be disappointed), and people greedy for conflict (I'll do my best). Treat me well, give me good suggestions, beat me up for my mistakes, edit my spelling, and I'll give you back my best Walt Whitman, Woody Guthrie, and Bruce Springstein (I've thought about spending the entire month deconstructing "This Land is Your Land," and if nothing else comes to mind, I warn you, I just might.)

And its May Day, May Day! The start of spring, the spur of the eight hour work week, the heart of public power.

When I was a kid, growing up in rural Vermont, we learned about May Day a little bit the way that Chinese children learn about Tianamen Square--oh, it was something to think on in wonder, sure, but nothing to do with mass protest. Instead, we'd spend May Day eve with a trowel, digging up bluets and violets to put in cut up egg cartons made of cardboard cotton (that soft, fudgy stuff, blue and brown, that they don't use any more) for tiny May Baskets. On May first we'd get up at the crack of dawn and drive over to the nearest neighbors houses, a mile away, put the little tufts of bluets by the door, knock and run away as quickly as possible so they wouldn't see who left it. Apparently if the Fishes or the Millers ever caught us knocking, they could kiss us, but it never happened, so we'd take off to school and read picture books about maypoles.

As fun as that was, I wish we'd read picture books about Chicago in 1886. I wish I'd read about hundreds of thousands of people around the world demanding normalcy, the rebellious posters asking for a normal work week for normal people, for the official declaration that eight hours should be normal.

As I understand it (and dearest readers, please correct me) the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada declared--in 1884--that as of May 1, 1886, it would be the policy of all unions to demand an eight hour work day. As that day approached, there was substantial conflict within the American unions about whether or not to strike, with at least one of the three biggest unions ordering its local members not to protest. But the locals organized despite all warnings, and on May 1, 1886, there were demonstrations around the country, including a massive one in Chicago with tens of thousands of workers, on a self-declared holiday, parading in the streets with their families. At the end of the parade there were speeches in at least four languages. Three days later, at a much smaller rally in Haymarket Square, a bomb exploded, killing seven police officers, and the police guarding the crowd fired into the rally, killing 200 people. The identity of the bomber remains a heavily debated mystery.

People around the world were inspired by the 1886 protests, and in the United States, further 8-hour-day protests in following years led to the gradual adoption of the eight hour work day as the standard across most industries May Day became a worldwide holiday.

Here's a hypothesis: May Day is to Labor Day as Martin Luther King, Jr. is to President Lyndon Johnson. Without May Day, Labor Day would not exist, just as without the Civil Rights Movement, Johnson's glorious Civil Rights legislation would not exist. All of these--the days and the people--are symbols, none are the thing itself, the movement of power in a society. But each represents a different kind of power. The former represents the exercise of power by those who have it, and are learning how to use it--the epitome of self-government, controlling, collectively, our own fate, through acts of courage. The latter--Labor Day and Johnson--represents the acknowledgement of those at the reins of law and government that this machine has felt the strong touch of the people, and will move at their will. Both are critical. Both are necessary. And both need to be celebrated. That said, it is fitting that May Day is the start of summer, and Labor Day is at its end.

Tell your children about May Day, today, both May Days, the flowers and the protests. Tell them that hundreds of millions of people lived different lives--were able to have dinner with their family, were able to live years more without a bent back--because of May Day, 1886.

May Day is not about people in the streets. I like streets as much as the next person, but streets, like the internet, are only tools--in 1890 they were powerful tools, and the right tools to use, but if you confuse the image with the action, you can spend years in the streets (or on the internet) and never get anything done. May Day was an actual expression of power that was being wielded to allow people to control their own lives.

And May Day is not about an ideology, unless that ideology is democracy.

Comments (55)

1. man...where have all the fascists gone? they'll be here soon enough disparaging decency and progress for anyone other than the investment class as commernism.

   anti-commernism doth ever devolve to fascism eventually.

   "i helped the poor and they called me a saint. when i asked why they were poor the called me a communist!" dom helder camara...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 2:55pm

2. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/1/2008 | ignore this person

   lol - who knows? by the way - i slightly misquoted..."when i fed the poor they..."

   he was a somewhat controversial brazilian bishop.

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 3:39pm

3. I assume this is you...

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_Teachout

   Regardless, welcome...as Mola Ram said as Willie and Short Round crossed the bridge...

   Back on-topic, 'fraid a lot of us remember May Day as the day lots of wool-jacketed Russians and their various tanks, artillery pieces, and MISSILES paraded past a big wall with wooly-hatted goombas!

   Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 3:40pm

4. I assume this is you...

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zephyr_Teachout

   Regardless, welcome...as Mola Ram said as Willie and Short Round crossed the bridge...

   Back on-topic, 'fraid a lot of us remember May Day as the day lots of wool-jacketed Russians and their various tanks, artillery pieces, and MISSILES paraded past a big wall with wooly-hatted goombas!

   Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 3:40pm

5. Sorry for the double...by the way, as a confident of Dr. Dean...

   you think he would have run the country a little better than he's running the DNC?

   Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 3:41pm

6. long before that it was an ancient pagan celebration of the reproductive powers of the penis. maypole? big penis.

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 3:43pm

7. Could he have done worse than W?

   Posted by goyadad at 05/01/2008 @ 3:44pm

8. I assume this is you

   Posted by Mask at 05/1/2008 | ignore this person

   nah man - this is the other zephyr teachout on wiki...understandable mistake, though - such a drab, commen name...

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 3:48pm

9. Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008 | ignore this person

   ah tricky dicky - last great liberal president this country had!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 4:08pm

10. Posted by goyadad at 05/1/2008

    Nope...but he could do a better job as DNC Chair, couldn't he?

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/1/2008

    Never know....lotta hippie kids out there....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 4:22pm

11. For those of us who celebrate May Day outside of the United States, thank you to those folks who in 1884 decided such a day needed to exist. It seems to me that workers still need to unite and correct a few things that are not in order in the system as it is. Unfortunately workers don't have time to do that, with needing three jobs to make ends meet as it is.

    Posted by claraba at 05/01/2008 @ 4:48pm

12. I remember a May Day (Nixon was president then) and the TV showed a million Chinese dancing and frollicking amid flowers and floats, and the announcer mentioned the "enslaved hordes of China..."

    Cut to: May Day Washington DC. It was the same day. Nixon had erected a huge wire cage for the holding of those thousands who were protesting the War in Viet Nam. I always remembered that, and things haven't changed much--except we are sending all our money to China now.

    Posted by motamanx at 05/01/2008 @ 5:36pm

13. Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008

    We do thank them. Veteran's Day. Your argument is not there Jom we honor our veterans constantly. What do the people who worked to make sure that the American people have good working conditions not deserve thanks? Would you like us to have sweatshops, use child labor and have companies have no responsibility for the mangled hands of their children working in factories. How about sending children into coal mines? Or how about worked who end up with black lung because they worked in coal mines for 15 hours a day? Do you really have that much contempt for the unions that you can't even admit that raising the standards of working conditions was not something to be thanked?

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 5:50pm

14. Yokusou Roberts-san! Hopefully your tenure will be both enlightening and stimulating.

    (I've thought about spending the entire month deconstructing "This Land is Your Land," and if nothing else comes to mind, I warn you, I just might.)

    I'll give you one column, tops. Otherwise I condemn you to Liberal Hell, 24 hours of Rush in your ears and the regression to the excesses of the French aristocracy, and you're the lowest peasant. But really, welcome aboard. :)

    Posted by yutsano at 05/01/2008 @ 6:00pm

15. Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008

    This is a viable argument but it doesn't mean we shouldn't celebrate the things they did for us in their heyday and the people who were murdered by union busters just to get what should be obvious rights for workers.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 7:04pm

16. Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/1/2008

    I will pose the same question to you then. So you want child labor, sweat shops and mangled children from working in completely unsafe conditions? Doesn't sound too Christian to me.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 7:06pm

17. Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008

    Film still has a big hold and almost everyone is in one union or another.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 7:06pm

18. Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008

    I am in fact trying to join the IATSE.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 7:08pm

19. here they are!

    yeah...without unions owners would have been sooo humane and decent! they would have done the "christian" thing and treated their workers as they wanted to be treated! they would have self policed and ended child labor! they would have made their factories safe places to work! oh yeah...unions never did nothin' good ever, just took money from poor pitiful billionaires.

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 7:09pm

20. Would you like us to have sweatshops, use child labor and have companies have no responsibility for the mangled hands of their children working in factories.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/1/2008

    Only if it would keep these bad-ass kids off the streets. It would certainly make them more appreciative of the freedoms they have.

    Posted by ACook at 05/01/2008 @ 7:22pm

21. As I said, they were great ...in the past..today, not so great..j

    Posted by JOMAMMA at 05/1/2008

    i think some have indeed pushed too far in recent decades. agreed. grudgingly...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 7:23pm

22. Never know....lotta hippie kids out there....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 05/1/2008

    couldn't resist. lol...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 7:29pm

23. Never know....lotta hippie kids out there....heheh

    Posted by Mask at 05/1/2008

    couldn't resist. lol...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/01/2008 @ 7:30pm

24. Only if it would keep these bad-ass kids off the streets. It would certainly make them more appreciative of the freedoms they have.

    Posted by ACook at 05/1/200

    Very Christian you want mangled children so they can be appreciative of freedoms they no longer have because they can't walk or don't have the use of one of their hands.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 7:39pm

25. Could he have done worse than W?

    Posted by goyadad at 05/1/2008

    president cheney?

    Thursday, May 1, 2008 8:14:01 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 8:09pm

26. Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/1/2008 |

    LVLIB is a STRICK Constitutionalist (on some things)...which means as long as child labor, sweat shops, and unsafe working conditions are not covered by the Article 1, Sect 8......go for it.

    Suffer the little children...literally.

    Posted by Mask at 05/01/2008 @ 8:19pm

27. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/1/2008 |

    DON'T SPEAK THOSE BLASPHEMOUS WORDS.

    Just the though is enough to make me start packing my bags.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 8:35pm

28. zephyr |ˈzefər|

    noun

    1 poetic/literary a soft gentle breeze.

    2 historical a fine cotton gingham.

    • a very light article of clothing.

    ORIGIN late Old English zefferus, denoting a personification of the west wind, via Latin from Greek zephuros ‘(god of) the west wind.' Sense 1 dates from the late 17th cent.

    Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:05:13 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 9:00pm

29. teachout |tēch • out |

    noun

    1 a competition between dueling pedagogs. 2 archaic frothy ale.

    ORIGIN late Old Phoenician teachoutte, denoting a purveyor of electronic ramblings, via Canadian from Creole teecher ‘person that gives homework.' Sense 1 dates from the late 17th cent.

    Thursday, May 1, 2008 9:11:14 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/01/2008 @ 9:06pm

30. The 'back to the land" movement of the 60's was really started by a man & ultimately a couple,who were the victims of Republican child labor advocates in the state of Pennsylvania. Blackballed from his teaching job for tangling with these beasts, the couple ended up in Vermont & finally Maine to live & teach. The couple was Helen & Scott Nearing. Not much has changed.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/01/2008 @ 10:26pm

31. By the way, most incompetents in union shops are the company lackies who work off the clock, perform unauthorized duties, gift the boss, & just generally kiss ass. Most vote Republican.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/01/2008 @ 10:41pm

32. Incompetents can perform tasks. It just takes them twice as long to do so.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/01/2008 @ 10:57pm

33. Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/1/2008

    The reason parents had to send their kids to work was because there was no wage system set. So all the companies that had tons of employees paid dirt. Which means parents HAD to send their kids to work or else their family would not eat. If you don't know this you need to study history a little more. In that time parents had no choice and education was not accessible to most of the country. If it wasn't for union this would still be the case. If employers didn't have to pay their employees they wouldn't Railroad companies, oil companies, coal companies, textile companies all did this back in the day and no one could stop them. Most of the rich did not know or care about the plight of the poor and they were the only ones buying the product. It was either work for them and risk dying or die for sure from starvation. The government HELPED the companies kill union workers who tried to organize protests against companies who didn't care for their employees. Basically they were trying to excercise their right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly and companies KILLED THEM with the help of the US government. There were no other options but to work in shit conditions and send your kids to work and get them potentially mangled for life or killed just to keep your family alive. I contend that the ONLY reason employers stopped treating their employees the way they did was because of unions. Show me different.

    If you don't know this you need to read a little more.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 11:20pm

34. Posted by lvliberty1 at 05/1/2008

    Just because you don't like unions DOES NOT mean they didn't have a positive effect at one time in this country. Maybe they aren't what they used to be but this article is not about them now it is about what they did for us then. If you can't see the benefits they gave us in the past you need to get your eyes checked. For all your smarts you can't look past the tip of your nose to see the FACTS of history. Not open to interpretation set in stone facts. As Lewis Black said "When is the day when Democrats and Republicans will look at a piece of information and just agree on what the fuck reality is."

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 05/01/2008 @ 11:23pm

35. once again, when the industry owners try to pay their employees squat - they are looking out for their own interest. thats ok. when workers organize in the form of unions to bargain for better pay, whatever - SOCIALISM. how dare they look out for THEIR best interests!

    so for the satano-aynrando christo-corporate right shcmuks just gotta keep their mouths shut and not stand up for their best interest no matter what...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 07:23am

36. i guess LL's form of christianity wants schmuks lives to be as tenuous and harsh as possible so they will start thinking about the next life and take jesus as their personal savior. i mean - if the toadies stand up for themselves and for fairness and justice in this world they might be able to enjoy some of their lives like their economic overlords and won't be looking forward to death for some relief!

    nice!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 07:27am

37. western europeans, who live under social democratic government/polities consistantly report being happier than americans - and FAR less religious.

    so people who live in social democracies tend to be happier and far less religious!

    no wonder LL hates anything resembling social progress and fairness, supports by inaction the misery causing factors of life in this country!

    no wonder evil fundamentalists in this country work for the temporal misery of their sheep - the alternative would relust in a loss of EMPLOYMENT!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 07:47am

38. relust? man, dyslexics of the world untie!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 07:48am

39. Welcome, West Wind.

    It's not only in Vermont that people remember the original date of International Workers' Day. We remember it in Minneapolis, too, every year, with a fun May Day festival that features giant puppets from the "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater.

    And I'll bet our friend Zephyr knows exactly where the phrase "In the Heart of the Beast" comes from!

    Posted by JakobFabian at 05/02/2008 @ 08:45am

40. so people who live in social democracies tend to be happier and far less religious!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/2/2008

    That's becuase they have zero expections of anything. And the worst of the bunch are the French.

    Posted by ACook at 05/02/2008 @ 1:35pm

41. Posted by ACook at 05/2/2008

    Nothing but practicing the Art Of Living, ignorant slave.

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/02/2008 @ 2:03pm

42. Posted by ACook at 05/2/2008 | ignore this person

    oh - the french also manage to save 12% of their income on average, as compared to .2% for us.

    so they spend less money, have less stuff, and are happier and more secure!

    those stupid french!!!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 2:10pm

43. and by the way, ACOOK, what do we americans have expectations of, by the way? are you talking as individuals or as a nation?

    are all expectations attainable?

    zero expectation of anything...

    you know, that is indeed the path to true happiness, but i kind of doubt you meant it that way...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 2:18pm

44. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/2/2008 | ignore this person

    if he just hadn't suffered from that nasty paranoid personality disorder...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/02/2008 @ 6:40pm

45. I go out of my way to cross a picket line every time I see one.

    Posted by lvliberty1

    that's truly pathetic.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 12:31am

46. oh - the french also manage to save 12% of their income on average, as compared to .2% for us.

    Posted by ibbleblibble

    actually, i believe the current u.s. saving's rate is NEGATIVE .5%

    Saturday, May 3, 2008 12:37:44 AM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/03/2008 @ 12:33am

47. great posts ibble, except the mayday one. showing your male-centric view yet again. it is a fertility celebration, not a penis celebration. both the maypoles and the may baskets have symbolic meanings.

    Posted by loveloki at 05/03/2008 @ 01:30am

48. Welcome, Zephyr. Perhaps the 2008 equivalent of the 8-hour work day would be tax justice for the workers. Our friends the 'Movement Conservatives' claim to have the tax issue sewn up, but instead of policies they have talking points, like "Taxes are bad (except regressive taxes like payroll and sales taxes)."

    Posted by samcrossett at 05/03/2008 @ 09:38am

49. Posted by frosty zoom at 05/3/2008 | ignore this person

    i sometimes go out of my way to shop at citgo...

    Posted by loveloki at 05/3/2008 | ignore this person

    ah, indeed. i just find a giant penis-like pole around which caper the little children kinda funny. don't you? lol...

    ps - being a male (in this incarnation) my view is male centric. baskets? pffft! BIG PENIS POLE!!!!

    har har...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/03/2008 @ 09:55am

50. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    I'm sorry, how many unions have been conspirators to MURDER?!!??! And your source for that info?

    Posted by Mask at 05/03/2008 @ 7:15pm

51. Posted by marybretbrad at 05/3/2008

    I'll bet you treat your illegal aliens sooo good. Do you purchase your medications in a parking lot?

    Posted by Sorelish at 05/03/2008 @ 9:16pm

52. hey DARIN. them business owners never hired strikebreakers to beat up/kill union guys? all just those awful old unions picking on poor rich owners!

    man...almost makes me cry for all the hell those poor fat cats had to endure!!!

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 05/03/2008 @ 11:08pm

53. I challenge you to "Deconstruct this land is your land". then do: "Once I built a railroad, made it run, made it race against time. . Once I built a railroad, now it's done. Buddy, can you spare a dime? Nice post, keep on telling the truth.

    Posted by julien38 at 05/04/2008 @ 12:48pm

54. I would never do anything so unpatriotic as to hire an illegal alien.

    Posted by marybretbrad

    do you "eat" at burger king?

    i'd say at least 50% of your food has been touched by "illegal" hands.

    Sunday, May 4, 2008 1:29:00 PM

    Posted by frosty zoom at 05/04/2008 @ 1:24pm

55. "I've read that Unions did absolutely nothing to end child labor. There was a period of time when child labor was economically viable. It was a time when, say, 50% - 80% of children lived on farms, anyway, and they all had to work. (Why do you think kids don't go to school in the summer? So they can help with planting and harvest, of course.) Then, in the 1800s America started to industrialize. Children were economically viable for a time, but with rapid industrialization, it wasn't so, and as children lost there ability to be economically productive, it was a lot easier for the "do-gooder" to get child labor laws passed."

    Neither planting or harvest are in summer. I suspect summer vacations have more to do with lack of air conditioning technology, as a classroom would be pretty unbearable at 90-100 degrees, with no electrical fans or air conditioning and 30+ children crammed into a 1 room school house.

    Posted by Guiles at 05/05/2008 @ 2:25pm