By Paul Messersmith-Glavin (May 1, 2019)
If you like the idea of only working an eight-hour day, as opposed to say, twelve, thank an anarchist.
This first of May – May Day – represents the day people around the world, for over a hundred years, celebrate and renew the commitment of anarchist organizers in Chicago in the 1800s to making the lives of poor and working people, many of them immigrants, better.
Those anarchists did this through militant agitation, workplace organizing, and confronting those who try to keep us all down and in line. They got in the faces of capitalists, bosses, cops, and politicians. They were not afraid to organize popular power – working people’s power – for a different world.
Learn about the Chicago anarchists – the Haymarket Martyrs – who were hung by the state for trying to create a better world for everyone. Feel the power of rising together with those around you.
Fight back, resist, dream and create a new world in their honor, and with their inspiration. Happy May Day!
