#mayday2019

May Day 2019 - New York City

Emergency Demonstration: Stop Trump Coup in Venezuela!

Hope everyone had a great May Day!

It's so nice that we all get the day off work. Back in 1886 there was not a 40 hour work week. Cities such as Detroit, Chicago and Milwaulkee and others were host to demonstrations on May 1st. Workers were angry, 10 hours/day, 6 hours/week of hard labor was a normal expectation. At 6PM the police went to protect some scabs who were working at the McCormick factory as they left work. The real employees were gathered outside the building to express their disgust for the lack of class solidarity shown by the filthy scabs. The police got bored and went ahead and shot 4 of the workers outside. Apparently, this was a totally out of the ordinary thing to have happen back then. A riot broke out. Someone threw a bomb, and afterwards 15 of the organizers and their associates were rounded up and given as a blood offering to the god of capitalism. It's suspected the anonymous bomb thrower was an infiltrator working for the police, an effective technique still used against radicals today.

So, it's kind of strange we don't celebrate May Day here as an official government holiday. Even stranger, most people don't even know what the fuck you're talking about when you wish them a happy May Day. I wonder why an event of such historical significance is so easily erased from common knowledge? So next time you work a 80 hour week, think of all the baby boomers who didn't have to work those kind of hours, got to own their homes, sleep in a few days a week, and have health insurance because of all the protections their great grandparents in the labor movement won them.

Sucks they used it all up. I guess that just the way it goes. There's no more money left to pay us.

"Hört die Geigen, hört die Geigen

Die Feuer sind entfacht!

Folgt dem Reigen, folgt dem Reigen

Seoul, South Korea: Migrants May Day rally and march, April 28, 2019.

KCTU, together with MTU and migrants support organisations held an early May-day rally on Sunday, as migrant workers cannot take easily take a day off. Recently, law makers proposed a bill to set a discriminatory minimum wage rate against migrants workers. “Why this is possible? It’s because they(lawmakers) believe we are from poor countries and don’t deserve the same wage. I’d rather call this idea racism. We cannot accept it” said Udaya Rai, MTU president. “KCTU and its 16 affiliates are good places where migrant and local workers are united and get stronger.” said Kim, Myoung-hwan, KCTU president. 

Stop discrimination and violence against migrant workers! Free Job change! Ratify the ILO convention on freedom of association and forced labour!

We are getting ready for May Day. Join us in the streets! All out to defend Bolivarian Venezuela!

New York City: Make May Day ‘Hands Off Venezuela’ day!

On May Day in New York, Struggle - La Lucha for Socialism answered the call of the December 12th Movement for an emergency protest against the latest U.S. coup attempt in Venezuela. The action near United Nations headquarters embodied the fighting internationalist spirit of May Day.

Carrying large Venezuelan, Haitian and Black Liberation flags and signs denouncing U.S. imperialism, this Black-led, multinational protest marched on the U.S. Mission to the UN.

"We're doing what we're supposed to do today," emphasized D12's Omawale Clay. "The Venezuelan people are in the streets defending President Maduro and the Bolivarian Revolution. And we are in the streets to support them."