CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—May, 1, 2015. UPDATED INFORMATION: Hundreds marched through the streets for a rally and noise demonstration outside of Cook County Jail this Friday as part of International Workers’ Day, a global holiday celebrating the power of the working class.
Organized by the May Day Radical Coalition, the demonstration started in Union Park and marched to the Jail after a brief stop at the Mexican Consulate at Adams and Ashland. The march sent a clear message against capitalism and state repression of working class people.
“The Coalition has not forgotten that the Haymarket Affair was about the struggle of workers for a better life outside of capitalism,” says organizer Alison Olhava, “not the reform of a broken system.”
Olhava feels there is a connection between May Day and recent demonstrations across the country. “The acquittal of Chicago Police Officer Dante Servin, even though he admitted to killing Rekia Boyd, is only the latest in a long history of state murder and racist injustice. The police serve and protect the capitalist class. There is no justice for the working class.”
Chicago joined dozens of cities across the country in May Day demonstrations, including Oakland, Seattle, and Baltimore, as well as international actions including England, Germany, Greece, and a general strike in Montreal.
May Day, or International Workers’ Day, is an annual international holiday which was born out of the fight for the eight-hour working day in Chicago and the state-sanctioned murder of the Haymarket Martyrs – socialist and anarchist labor organizers charged with inciting a riot with only their revolutionary ideals as evidence.
The May Day Radical Coalition consists of ten Chicago organizations aiming to build a militant working class movement, demand an end to deportations, fight against state repression, police brutality, and the prison industrial complex, and lay the foundation for a world without capitalism. The Coalition includes the Industrial Workers of the World Chicago Branch, Feminist Uprising Resisting Inequality and Exploitation, American Party of Labor, Chicago Socialist Party, Pilsen Food Not Bombs, Black Lives Matter Chicago, Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, Moratorium On Deportations, Gay Liberation Network, and Semillas Autonomas.
Visit www.may1chicago.org for more information.
Full Info on CPD Cease and Desist Order for May Day Concert: http://chicagoiww.org/2015/04/30/urgent-repression-and-censorship-of-chicago-may-day-events/
Source: Industrial Workers of the World
Radical Coalition Reclaims Chicago’s May Day Local, national, and international organizations unite to celebrate working class.
CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—April 29, 2015 — Continuing a tradition of over 100 years, the May Day Radical Coalition will join workers across the world in a celebration of working class triumphs, as well as in remembering the sacrifices made by workers before us. This year we will focus on resistance to capitalism and the repression of class struggle by state and corporate interests. Nine organizations will be joining with fellow workers in Union Park (Ashland & Lake) on Friday, May 1st at 2:30 PM and will march to Cook County Jail (26 & California) in Little Village, arriving for a noise demonstration at approximately 5:00 PM.
This is the inaugural year of Chicago’s May Day Radical Coalition, which formed in response to abuse of rank-and-file workers during May Day events of years prior by organizers beholden to corporate and political interests. 2014’s “Red and Black Brigade”, called by the Industrial Workers of the World, brought numbers in the hundreds through a rainy day march and was an informal contingent in other May Day events.
Organizations participating in the event include:
Workers of the World – Chicago General Membership Branch (IWW)
Feminist Uprising Resisting Inequality and Exploitation (FURIE)
American Party of Labor (APL)
Chicago Socialist Party
Black Lives Matter Chicago
Pilsen Food Not Bombs
Chicago Torture Justice Memorials
Moratorium on Deportations
Gay Liberation Network (GLN)
Chicago’s May Day Radical Coalition was called to formation by the Industrial Workers of the World in February of 2015 and was formally created in late March of the same year. Each member organization, including the IWW, has equal voice and vote on all decisions. Chicago’s May Day Radical Coalition Principles, by which every organization agrees to abide for this year’s May Day events, can be found at www.may1chicago.org/coalition.html.
Imagery created by the Coalition can be found at: www.may1chicago.org/posters.html
Find the Coalition on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/may1chicago
Facebook Event Page (300+ RSVPs): www.facebook.com/events/360923034114774
Source: Industrial Workers of the World
