Do you know the origins of the celebration of May 1, May Day, as a worker's holiday? (everywhere but the US, of course, where the origins of the day lie....) It is derived from the events surrounding the Haymarket riots, of course. Haymarket riots
In Chicago, you can visit Waldheim Cemetery and the graves of many who struggled for social and economic justice, including the Haymarket martyrs.
Here are their names:
Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer, August Spies, Carl Engel, Luis Lingg, Samuel Fielden, Michael Schwab, Oscar Neebe.
But the names of those who lost everything in the class war are legion.
You can read their stories in the recounts of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fires, the strikes surrounding the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the brutal history of the struggle of coal miners for less dangerous (there is no "safe" when it comes to coal mining) conditions.
The fight for a 40 hour week. The fight for the right to collective bargaining, sick pay, holiday pay. The fight for safe(r) work conditions, for protection against discrimination, harassment, exploitation - it's been a war with innumerable battles and thousands off heroes. Some of the sacrificed their security, their jobs, their homes, their family life. Some sacrificed their lives.
It's been an international struggle. It's been fought in the coal mines of Wales and Scotland, in the shipyards and factories of England and Ireland, all through Europe, Central and South America - all over the globe. Working people uniting, at great risk, to fight for a decent life for themselves and their families, for their co-workers and their children.
There are calls for a general strike in response to the vote by the Wisconsin legislators. What does that mean to you? What was your first reaction to the idea of a general strike?
Did you think about your mortgage? About losing your job? What would you risk to participate in a general strike? What would it take to motivate you to risk - well, everything?
How bad does it have to be before you say, "I have nothing to lose"? If you were told that your health insurance would cost more than you could ever pay? That your wages were being cut in the name of "shared sacrifice"? That your child's teacher was being replaced by a computer monitor & online course supervised by an untrained aide? How about if you were told that you needed to work until you were 75 before you qualified for reduced social security? At what point would you conclude that for the ruling class that were drooling over your bleeding corpse, there would never be enough sacrifice? When would it sink in that as long as you have something, they don't have enough?
If we believe that our nation stands on the brink of a sea change, we need to decide which side we're on. We need to consider what that might mean. Pay tribute to those who've stood and made that decision who've gone before us. It was no easier for them.
Marchin' down O'Connell Street with the Starry Plough on high
There goes the Citizen Army with their fists raised in the sky
Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye
"My name is James Connolly - I didn't come here to die
But to fight for the rights of the working man
And the small farmer too
Protect the proletariat from the bosses and their screws
So hold on to your rifles, boys, and don't give up your dream
Of a Republic for the workin' class, economic liberty"
Then Jem yelled out "Oh Citizens, this system is a curse
An English boss is a monster, an Irish one even worse
They'll never lock us out again and here's the reason why
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die....."
And now we're in the GPO with the bullets whizzin' by
With Pearse and Sean McDermott biddin' each other goodbye
Up steps our citizen leader and roars out to the sky
"My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...
Oh Lily, I don't want to die, we've got so much to live for
And I know we're all goin' out to get slaughtered, but I just can't take any more
Just the sight of one more child screamin' from hunger in a Dublin slum
Or his mother slavin' 14 hours a day for the scum
Who exploit her and take her youth and throw it on a factory floor
Oh Lily, I just can't take any more
They've locked us out, they've banned our unions,
they even treat their animals better than us
No! It's far better to die like a man on your feet
than to live forever like some slave on your knees, Lilly
But don't let them wrap any green flag around me
And for God's sake, don't let them bury me in some field full of harps and shamrocks
And whatever you do, don't let them make a martyr out of me
No! Rather raise the Starry Plough on high, sing a song of freedom
Here's to you, Lily, the rights of man and international revolution"
We fought them to a standstill while the flames lit up the sky
'Til a bullet pierced our leader and we gave up the fight
They shot him in Kilmainham jail but they'll never stop his cry
My name is James Connolly, I didn't come here to die...."