You Think What?

  • Home
  • About
  • Our New Look
  • You Think News
  • AdSense Privacy Policy
  • header image


      StumbleUpon My StumbleUpon Page

      You Think What Current Articles

      You Think What FORUM

      PREVIOUS You Think What ARTICLES

      Member of
      TheMomBlogs.com


      VIRTUAL MONEY

      RSS
    • You Think What Forum
    • Previous YOUTHINKWHAT Articles
    • Santa’s Adventures
    • Santa’s Lingerie
    • Best Internet News And Politics
    • Themomblogs.com
    Vero Beach Real Estate
    Great Buys Now!

      Search

      Search

      Archive

      • March 2012
      • December 2011
      • November 2011
      • October 2011
      • July 2011
      • June 2011
      • May 2011
      • December 2010
      • November 2010
      • September 2010
      • August 2010
      • July 2010
      • June 2010
      • May 2010
      • April 2010
      • March 2010
      • February 2010
      • January 2010
      • December 2009
      • November 2009
      • October 2009
      • September 2009
      • August 2009
      • July 2009
      • June 2009
      • May 2009
      • April 2009
      • March 2009
      • February 2009
      • January 2009
      • December 2008
      • November 2008
      • October 2008
      • September 2008
      • August 2008
      • July 2008
      • June 2008
      • May 2008
      • April 2008
      • March 2008
      • February 2008
      • January 2008
      • December 2007
      • November 2007
      • October 2007
      • September 2007
      • August 2007

      Steal Back Your Vote

    « In April 2010 Prevent Child Abuse ~ Heal The Child | May Day 1886: U.S. Workers In Chicago Stand For Their Rights! »

     

    May Day 2010: Historically As American As Apple Pie

    Saturday, May 1st, 2010 @ 10:17 am | We Think

    Contrary to the conventional belief of most Americans living in the United States May Day began here in this country.  The is known in other places around the world as the International Workers’ Day of May Day. It has its basis in the secular celebration of rebirth and fertility from the  holiday of Beltane,  festival day that pre dates Christianity. The date and associated celebrations of May 1st are not as thought by some the result of some labor movement in Communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union.Near the end of the nineteenth century, the workers were constantly fighting to get an 8-hour work day. Workers commonly found themselves in dangerous unsafe environs where conditions were severe. Normal work days ran 10 to 16 hour daily. Injury and even death were regular occurrences at many places of employment. What happened in those places  inspired writers like Upton Sinclair to author books such as The Jungle or Jack London to writes The Iron Heel.

    By  the 1860’s, working people called to attention their demand for a shortened workday while sustaining the same pay. Not until the end of the  1880’s was it possible for organized labor gather enough power to announce the 8-hour workday. The announcement was delivered without  employers’ concord; it was a demand made by the majority of the working class.

    It was in this period that people were attracted to socialism. It was a new idea presented to working people; workers were drawn to its philosophy of the workers having control over all aspects of  goods and services,  including  production and distribution. Previously workers had experienced first-hand how Capitalism was beneficial only to  their bosses. Workers realized their lives were being traded for profit. With thousands of men, women and children dying needlessly every year in the workplace, and workers’ life expectancy as low as their early twenties in some industries, there was little hope.  Only death would result from their destitution. The new idea offered another option. It was Socialism.

    Various socialist organizations quickly developed throughout the last half of the 1800s They ranged from political parties to singing groups. Some socialists were elected into governmental office by the people in their communities. However many of these socialists were limited by the political process so obviously controlled by big business and the two party political machine. Anarchist groups were created throughout the country as tens of thousands of socialists broke ranks from their parties, rejecting the whole political process,because they believed it was only  providing protection for the wealthy.

    It is incorrect to say labor unions and the labor movement were “taken over” by anarchists and socialists; it is anarchists and socialist who made up the labor unions. Working people eagerly adopted the concepts  of anarchism. These were ideals which sought to put an end to all hierarchical structures (including government), with emphasis on workers controlling the industry, and highly favored immediate action over the official administrative  procedure.

    Iin Chicago, in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), held  its national convention where it was publically proclaimed that “eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s labor from and after May 1, 1886.” The next year, the FOTLU, supported by the Knights of Labor locals, reiterated their proclamation stating the announcement would be supported by strikes and demonstrations. Initially, most radicals and anarchists regarded this demand as too reformist, failing to strike “at the root of the evil.” A year before the Haymarket Massacre, Samuel Fielden pointed out in the anarchist newspaper, The Alarm, that “whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave.”

    It is estimated a quarter million workers in the Chicago area became directly involved in the crusade to implement the eight hour work day. The Trades and Labor Assembly, the Socialistic Labor Party and local Knights of Labor mobilized workers to enforce the eight hour work day because  “the tide of opinion and determination of most wage-workers was set in this direction. It was a direction opposed by most employers.” When the anarchists became involved other larger issues were featured; issues greater than the 8-hour day. There was a sense of social revolution beyond the more immediate gains of shortened hours; it was a dramatic change in the  structure of the economy of capitalism. Continued next post

     

    Recently

  • Moved: Trayvon Martin | Stand Your Ground ,*Feel* Afraid Shoot Someone Dead
  • Greg Smith: Goldman Sachs Financial World’s Little (Big) Piggies
  • R.J. Matson Cartoonist: The Future Of “Stand Your Ground” Laws
  • NBC Washington News Anchor POV Trayvon Martin
  • Murder of Trayvon Martin To Be Investigated by DOJ and FBI
  • Remember His Name: Trayvon Martin 1995-2012
  • Matt Taibbi Shows Bank Of America Is Too Crooked to Fail!
  • Newspaper Guild Greater Philadelphia To Fight Layoffs of Philadelphia Journalists
  • What Sandra Fluke REALLY Said To The Democrats (Part 2)
  • What Sandra Fluke REALLY Said To The Democrats
  • Carole Simpson Reacts To Limbaugh’s Venemous Attack on Women
  • Whitney Houston Sings! “Joy! To The World”
  • From NOAA: Weather Service Holiday Lah-lah-lah
  • Shawn R. Jones’ New Release Devotional “Pictures in Glass Frames”
  • Occupy Wall Street Survey
  • Highlights of Proposed Changes to Federal Regs For Owner Financing
  • Owner Financing Regs Tightening Friday, July 22, 2011, Last Day For Public Comment
  • Kidney Disease Mini-documentary from Ron Minor “I Didn’t Know”
  • Insurance Company Denies Claim Renowned Philadelphia Attorney Advises Fight Back!
  • 911 Responders, Cliff Stearns and You
  • New York Girl Asks: “Is There A Santa Claus?”
  • Meera Shankar Indian Ambassador To U.S. Unfamiliar With Mississippi Culture
  • Christmas 2010: Air Travelers Get Gropped For Christmas
  • BigotPalooza Update: Road Show Adds Haley Barbour, Terry Jones, Megan McCain Other Favored “Moderates” Names To The Bill
  • Ken Mehlman To Headline BigotPalooza Road Show,Featuring Dr. Laura $chlessinger, Rodeo Clown, Imus, Richards And Sarah The Terrah
  • March For Jobs And Freedom Anniversary Marked By The Other 98%, Celebrate The Dream and A Rodeo Clown With A $cheme
  • Daily Show’s Stewart Says End Radical Islam Stop Watching Fox News
  • Jamie France: Don’t You Wish You’d Started Your Racing Career Earlier?
  • Explosions of Every Nuclear Bomb 1945 Through 1998
  • Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, And The Banksters Helping Shyster Lawyers
  • Wells Fargo Former Subprime Loan Officer Speaks
  • The Graphic History Of Computer Hacking
  • July 4th 2010 Happy Independence Day
  • The SUGGS-cess© Couple On HGTV
  • Soulfege Featuring D.N.A. Derrick N. Ashong At Philadelphia World Cafe Live
  • Miracles Global Celebrates LEAP Academy Camden, New Jersey
  • Buy A Cape Coral Home For Sale To Highest Bidder
  • President Obama Shudda Said This In National BP Gulf Oil Disaster Speech
  • “Womb Rain” Poet Shawn R. Jones Reading In Philadelphia
  • British Petroleum, BP, Oil Calamity In Gulf Of Mexico A Simple Explanation
  • Shawn R. Jones, “Womb Rain” Poet Reading At Olde City Philadelphia Restaurant
  • Finishing Line Press Book Of The Month And Other News
  • Richard Fisher, President Dallas Federal Reserve Presses Tough Banking Reform
  • Take 6: Musical Interlude And Prayer
  • Rutgers University Class Of 2010: Six Featured Graduates
  • Delta Airlines Loses Passenger’s Dog: What Really Happened
  • May Day 1886: U.S. Workers In Chicago Stand For Their Rights!
  • May Day 2010: Historically As American As Apple Pie
  • In April 2010 Prevent Child Abuse ~ Heal The Child
  • Benjamin Hooks Attorney, Civil Rights Activist, Baptist Minister
  • Goldman Sachs: Financial World’s Little (Big) Piggies
  • Dorothy Height: Educator, Activist For American Blacks And Womens Rights
  • Designer of First Successful PC Henry Edward Roberts Dead in Macon, Georgia
  • Jessye Norman: World Renowned Opera Superstar from Augusta, Georgia, U.S.A.
  • Starbucks: New Sizes Bigger (128 fl oz) and Smaller (2 fl oz) Cups Debut Fall 2010
  • Hospitalists: New Medical Specialty With Patients’ Overall Condition In Mind
  • Get “Fresh”: A Movement To Reform U.S. Food System
  • Raymond Pace Alexander-Philadelphia Lawyer, Judge and Activist
  • The Largest Street Gang In the U.S.: Cops Gone Wild
  • Leon H. Sullivan Creator Global Job Training Opportunities, Global Social Activist and Baptist Minister
  • Toyotas As Terrorists: Japanese Carmakers Trying To Harm American Drivers!
  • GWB Wipes Hand on Bill Clinton: Kanye Was Right!
  • More BREAKING NEWS: BullCrap Happening Somewhere Right Now
  • BREAKING NEWS: Vatican Mystery Solved! Satan Made Priests Molest Boys
  • Gabourey Sidibe: America Get Off Her Back About Her Appearance!
  • Detroit Michigan Bridal Shop Brawl Or The Bride Wore Stripes!
  • 2010 Black History Month: Lucille Clifton, Poet, Writer, Educator
  • 2010 Black History Month: Haiti 1869 Ebenezer D. Bassett U.S. 1st Black American Diplomat
  • 2010 Black History Month: Harry Edwards Sociologist
  • 2010 Black History Month: Former San Jose State Track and Field U.S. Olympic Athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith
  • 2010 Black History Month: Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander-1st Black African American Female PhD
  • Mark Fiore On Haitian Relief: Donations Still Needed
  • Miracles Global Founder Jeffrey C. Jones: Rutgers U-Camden Haiti Relief Efforts
  • Hey America! Let’s Get Satirical: Sarah Palin Is Retarded
  • 2010 Black History Month: John H. Johnson Publisher
  • PleaseRobMe.com: Highlights Lack Of Privacy In Twitter Posts
  • Clark Dark’s Black History Month Entertainment Spotlight
  • 2010 Black History Month: Eunice Walker Johnson Philanthropist, Fashionista
  • Kevin Smith: Film Director Too Fat For The Friendly Skies? Are You?
  • Show Love On Valentine’s Day 2010: We Are The World Again
  • Valentine’s Day 2010: We Are The World 1985 Blast From The Past
  • Robin Hood Tax: A New Deal For The Global Public
  • 2010 Black History Month: Guion S. Bluford-America’s First Black Man In Space
  • 2010 New Orleans Saints Win Super Bowl XLIV
  • 2010 Black History Month: Allie Latimer, Attorney, Humanitarian Activist
  • Black History Month Entertainment Spotlight Clark Dark
  • 2010 Black History Month: President Barack Obama, Miss America Caressa Cameron
  • 2010 Black History Month: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Etiquette For Attending A Presidential Address
  • Caressa Cameron Miss America 2010 Hails From Virginia
  • Bush Clinton Haiti PSA: Outtakes
  • Thank You General Larry Platt
  • Apple iPad: Our YTW Opinion
  • Electronic Journalism 101
  • Bachmann Is No Lady Specter Deserves Respect
  • The State Of The Union Address 2010: A Musical Parody For The Occasion
  • Mark Fiore Suggests Cartoon Marriage Game Show
  • International Crossroads-Blanche Reilly Dark
  • TSA Of The Future?
  • A Musical Tribute From PRINCE To The Minnesota Vikings
  •  

    You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
    You can skip to the end and leave a response.

    Leave a Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Created by miloIIIIVII | WordPress | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | 54 queries. 0.116 seconds.