Anti-war coalition looks to March 19 and May Day
By
David Hoskins
New York
Published Mar 16, 2005 1:52 PM
Hundreds of thousands of
protesters will hit the streets the weekend of March 19-20 to mark the second
anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. The March 19 “Troops Out
Now” demonstration in New York City will be at the center of these
protests.
Protesters will gather in Central Park at noon for a rally. They
will march along Fifth Avenue to billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s
house to demand money to rebuild cities instead of for imperialist occupation.
They will be joined by demonstrators marching from the 10 a.m. rally at
Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park.
The Troops Out Now Coalition, meeting
every Wednesday night in Manhattan, has worked hard to involve in the war
resistance effort those in this country most affected by the occupation of Iraq:
the working class and the oppressed communities of color. Linking the war
against Iraq to the struggle for jobs, health care and education inside the
United States has been a large part of this effort.
The combined cost of
the Iraqi and Afghani occupations is almost $6 billion a month. Meanwhile,
poverty and homelessness skyrocket inside the United States. Most of the 40
million impoverished people living in the United States are women and their
children. (CBS News, “Victims of Minimum Wage”, March 13)
The
Bush administration’s agenda has intensified the conflict between the
working class and the ruling class, whose interests are represented by the
government. This heightened conflict shows in the growing number of desertions
from the military by working class-soldiers, and in the increasing number of
daylight protests at and even nocturnal attacks on military recruiting centers
around the country.
As the Troops Out Now Coalition looks beyond the
weekend’s demonstrations it will continue the struggle to integrate the
class war at home within the context of the war abroad. Black, Latin@, Asian,
Arab, Native and white people—members of the multinational working
class—make up the leadership of this anti-war coalition and contribute to
its progressive character.
The Million Worker March has made reviving May
Day one of its principal aims. The MWM-NYC, a key member of the anti-war
coalition, is already working on May Day here. There is much discussion about
how to revive May Day as a revolutionary day of resistance for workers. During
its March 9 coalition meeting, the Troops Out Now Coalition decided to join this
effort to revive May Day.
Origins of May Day
Many workers in
this country do not know about the origins of May Day. This is because of the
capitalists’ largely successful effort to erase working-class history and
disassociate today’s workers from their legacy of militant struggle inside
this country.
May Day has its origins in the struggle for better working
conditions in the United States. The first May Day protests took place in 1886
when the American Federation of Labor called for a national strike to demand an
eight-hour workday. Over 350,000 workers answered the call and participated in
the strike.
Cities around the country were paralyzed as railroads and
manufacturing plants were forced to close. Chicago was particularly affected by
the strike. After two days of protest, police attacked striking workers, killing
six. When workers protested in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886,
and 180 cops attacked, a bomb was thrown. One cop was killed. Police then fired
on the crowd. Two hundred people were wounded and seven cops later died,
probably from friendly fire.
Eight radical labor leaders were rounded up
and framed on charges of conspiracy. All were found guilty. Seven were sentenced
to death.
Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engle and Adolph Fischer
were executed. One defendant committed suicide and three others were eventually
pardoned.
In 1889, the communist Second International declared May 1 an
international working-class holiday in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs.
May Day has lived on for more than a century as an international day of protest
for the most class-conscious workers around the world.
What better way to
call attention to the international class struggle and demand that U.S.
imperialism stop its assault on workers at home and abroad than to use this
year’s May Day to highlight the connection between domestic class struggle
and foreign occupation?
As protesters around the country gear up for the
March 19 actions, anti-war organizers are saying it is important to look ahead.
They say the struggle to reinvigorate May Day will help the working class get
back in touch with its militant history, and strengthen it for the struggles to
come.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
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