OscailtSome Objections To Occupy May 1stA short list of objections to the May 1st general strike effort within the Occupy movement and some responses to them.2012-04-24T18:12:07+08:00Anarkismoanarkismoeditors@lists.riseup.nethttp://www.anarkismo.net/atomfullposts?story_id=22608http://www.anarkismo.net/graphics/feedlogo.gifOccupierhttp://www.anarkismo.net/article/22608#comment141642012-04-24T18:12:07+08:00Occupy VeniceA little May Day history
In the 1800s, working conditions were severe and it wa...A little May Day history<br />
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In the 1800s, working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Jack London's The Iron Heel. Anyone who was a striker or believed to be part of the strike was hounded by the police who often beat them on sight, arresting them and ransacking their homes. <br />
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On May 3rd 1886, workers rallied met near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant that locked them out for wanting to form a union. Despite calls by August Spies (Labor Activist) for the workers to remain calm, gunfire erupted as police fired on the crowd. Outraged by this act of police violence, strikers distributed fliers calling for a rally the following day at Haymarket Square. The meeting was peaceful, but the mood became confrontational when the police tried to disperse the crowd. Then an unknown individual threw a bomb into the crowd and the police drew their weapons and fired into the panicking crowd. According to newspaper accounts, policemen fired their revolvers for a full two minutes.<br />
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Eight of the speakers for the Haymarket Square were wrongly arrested – four were executed by hanging. The prosecutors introduced evidence now known to be fabricated. According to witnesses, in the moments before the men were hanged, August Spies (movement leader & labor activist) shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!"<br />
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The time has come that their silence is more powerful than the voices of those who strangle us today.