Consumers Domain
A Letter to the Working Class
"There will come a time when our silence is more powerful than the voices you strangle today."
--August Spies, Haymarket martyr at his 1887 execution
A hundred and twenty years ago, your fellow workers in Chicago, Illinois started a labor strike calling for the reduction of regular working hours to 8. It was one fine day on May 1, 1886 and an important era in the history of the labor movement is about to unfurl before the world.
More than two decades before that day, the struggle of your comrades led by labor federations calling for the shortening of the workday was already slowly gaining momentum. During those times normal workday is ten, 12 and even 14 to 16 hours in other factories.
Finally, in 1884, in a big gathering of laborers belonging to a broad federation of unions, a resolution was passed declaring that on May 1, 1886, all workers should only work for 8 hours; and demand from their employers and respective government bodies of the adoption and enforcement of such a humane regulation.
It is to mark this date that your fellow workers in Chicago, together with other labor groups all across the Americas, staged a strike on that faithful day. On the third day however, the peaceful strike was met by violent action by the police. The police, who are well-pampered by the capitalists, fired at the crowd of strikers, leaving at least one dead and several others injured.
Probably, you are already familiar with this line of story. Then, just as now, capitalists and their politician friends, who both have interlocking interests, exerted undue influence over the enforcers of the law. Just look at the past and current leaders of our country especially the current occupant in Malacañang.
The next day, to protest the violent police action, a bigger contingent of your fellow laborers in Chicago then gathered in Haymarket Square where a rally was held. Near the end of the demonstration, the police in formation again charged to disperse the gathering. A bomb however was lobbed by an unknown person causing the death of a policeman. A shooting spree then ensued as policemen opened fire indiscriminately into the crowd, killing scores of workers and even their fellow police officers.
This violent turn of events, which clearly can be rooted to police action, was then utilized by the factory owners and their lapdogs in the government to persecute and silence key labor leaders and organizers. By now, you are surely aware of the fact that then, just as today, brute power has been employed by the elite class to suppress the voice of the marginalized -- your voice. Surely this brings to your mind the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) and the extra-judicial killings of activists, labor and peasant leaders.
The succeeding events including the show trial and the baseless execution by hanging of several leaders of the Chicago labor movement sparked a worldwide uproar among the working class. Solidarity protest actions broke out all over the world in the following days. This has led to the commemoration of May 1 as the International Workers Day -- your day. A day to remember the courage and sacrifice of your fellow workers who died in the struggle for the humane treatment of all workers.
The 8-hour workday was eventually won and has since become the legal labor standard in many countries. That is an important achievement of the militancy and heroism of the labor movement that has benefited all workers including you.
Today, more than a century after that momentous event, you and your fellow workers face even bigger struggles. First you are faced with policies that are detrimental to labor and the marginalized poor courtesy of a corrupt system controlled by the elite. Then, the onslaught of globalization is continuously eroding your capacity to live as decent human beings.
Today, May 1, is a significant day to all you workers. A day to remember and relive the legacy of Haymarket Square -- a legacy of a united struggle.
Note: This article was written and published in this column on the same time last year in commemoration of Labor Day. This is in support of the workers movement in this time of crisis. Let us support the labor group, Partido ng Manggagawa or PM for Party-List.
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