From: alewitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Saturday, 1 May 1999 10:13
Subject: Mayday Greetings
Please post & distribute:
LaBOR aRT & MuRAL PRoJECT
AGITPROP NEWS: Mayday Greetings
---------------------------------------
"We do know that we must do more to reach out to our children and teach
them to express their anger and to resolve their conflicts with words, not
weapons."
--Bill Clinton on
the Colorado shootings
Recently the New York Times ran photos of the young Clinton, Blair and
Schroeder from their long-haired student days. Apparently they have now
grown older and wiser.
Of course, Clinton was never really anti-war, he was just a coward. He had
little in common with the courageous working-class youth of America who
refused to wage the war in Southeast Asia, who organized in the army, who
went to jail and who marched in the streets to stop the slaughter.
So this year, Clinton and company will celebrate Mayday by escalating the
war against the Yugoslavian people. They are introducing the use of cluster
bombs, weapons whose sole use is to terrorize the civilian population by
indiscriminately ripping apart the flesh of workers and their families.
They will celebrate in the mideast by continuing the genocidal bombing and
embargo of Iraq, which will result in the deaths of tens of thousands more
people, primarily children and the aged.
---
The trained seals of the media will enjoy the day by continuing their
ghoulish voyeurism towards alienated high school students in Colorado.
They, along with the authorities, will wring their hands in feigned anguish,
and dab at the crocodile tears in their eyes. No tears for the Yugoslavian
or Iraqi children though. No connection between the organized, systematic
and massive violence directed against workers, and the inability of young
people to see a meaningful future for themselves.
And how shall the labor statesmen of the AFL-CIO spend the holiday during
this time of toil and trouble for international labor?
During the last national elections the federation pumped thirty million of
our dues dollars into getting a few Democrats elected. Of course, the
Democrats were then able to facilitate the assault on the US labor movement
far more effectively than the Republicans. So the AFL-CIO then spent
millions more fighting against the policies of those they had just elected.
The new visions people now have a new strategy. Instead of thirty, they
will give forty million to the candidates of the employers. In return for
this, they will occasionally be allowed to dine at the White House.
A substantial group of respectable and tenured professors will spend Mayday
justifying all this with charts and graphs. After all, everyone favors
organizing now. Of course, by "organizing" they mean increasing the dues
base, not actually empowering working people. We need that extra ten
million in increased dues to get "our friends" elected.
And we certainly need not bring up divisive issues like the workers of this
country being forced to bomb the workers of other countries.
---
Its all enough to remind you of May 1, 1886.
On that day, workers went on strike throughout the United States. The
purpose of the strike was to win the eight-hour day. Like all meaningful
strikes, the surface issues of better working conditions masked a larger
purpose. At heart of the strike was a struggle for human dignity, to
transform the world and create a more meaningful life for our class.
Against the vicious assaults of the employers, workers used the only weapon
we have ever had: human solidarity. It was a solidarity that was able to
join dozens of nationalities, workers of different genders and ages into an
effective movement. It so frightened the employers that they framed up and
executed leaders of the movement in Chicago...the Haymarket martyrs.
You may know the names of some of the martyrs and leaders like Lucy and
Albert Parsons or August Spies. You assuredly do not know the names of
those who framed them up or stood silently by. They have long since been
forgotten.
Today we remember the Haymarket martyrs. Mayday, the international workers
holiday, is in honor of them and the movement they represented. Most
workers in the US do not know that the militancy of our class is celebrated
throughout the world. It is a lesson we must relearn. We will relearn it
by repeating it.
The Haymarket martyrs were possessed of great dignity. That same dignity
is today expressed by Mumia Abu Jamal. From his prison cell, Mumia has
steadfastly expressed his solidarity with the victims of cop terror, NATO
bombings, anti-gay violence and strike-breaking employers. He reminds us,
as the Haymarket martyrs did, that it takes much more than bombs or slick TV
programs to destroy our humanity.
---
With all of the wealth and power of the ruling class, with all their
toadying labor officials, purchased artists and academics, they cannot solve
the fundamental problems of our epoch. The contradiction between the
aspirations of working people and inability of modern capitalism to provide
us a meaningful existence will lead to ever greater social explosions.
That is why tens of thousands are marching for Mumia. That is why Greek
workers are blocking NATO trains. That is why Bill Gates gets pied. That
is why students are marching across Europe in opposition to the war. That
is why there are massive strikes in Jamaica and Korea. That is why we
celebrate.
Happy Mayday everybody!
"If you think that by hanging us you can stamp out the labor 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".
August Spies
Haymarket martyr
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
ARTISTS AND WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE...
YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT BAD TASTE!
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Website: http://www.igc.apc.org/laborart
__________________________
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
