El Pueblo, Unido, Jamas Sera Vencido
The Workers, United, Will Never Be Defeated
Dan Jones
Labour May Day Committee
Offset, 1980
London, UK
11033
CSPG’s
Poster of the Week celebrates worker
solidarity, perfect for Labor Day. The title comes from one of the most internationally renowned
songs of the Nueva Cancion Chilena
(New Chilean Song) movement, composed and recorded in June 1973. Just a few months later, on September
11, 1973, a U.S. engineered military coup overthrew the democratically elected
government of Salvador Allende. After
the Chilean coup, the song became the anthem of the Chilean resistance against
the brutal U.S. supported Pinochet regime. El Pueblo, Unido,
Jamas Sera Vencido continues to be used in various protests
around the world, most of which have no direct connection to the Chilean coup
or Latin America. The lyrics have been adapted or translated into many
languages.
The poster shows
workers from diverse trades and countries holding signs with a variety of
demands and slogans including:
- El Pueblo, Unido, Jamas Sera Vencido The Workers, United, Will Never Be Defeated
- Work Not Dole
- We Require 8 Hours For Work 8 Hours For Our Instruction And 8 Hours For Our Repose
- 8 Hour Day
- The People's Flag Is Deepest Red, It Shrouded Oft Our Martyred Dead
- Debut D'Une Lutte Prolongee
- Pan Trabajo Y Libertad
History of Labor
Day
Labor Day may be over 100 years old, but its history continues to
be politically charged and open to interpretation. The observation of Labor Day
on the first Monday in September is usually attributed to the Knights of Labor
who held their first parade in New York on September 5, 1882. By 1887,
Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Oregon all celebrated Labor
Day on the first Monday of September, and in 1894, the first Monday was
established as a Federal holiday in the U.S.
But eight years earlier, in 1889, May
1 was selected as a day to celebrate workers by the Second Socialist
International. That date was selected to commemorate the Haymarket Massacre, an
important but rarely taught event in U.S. history. [Haymarket Massacre discussed below]
So the question
can be raised, Why does the American worker celebrate Labor
Day in September when internationally, workers celebrate it on May 1st in commemoration of American Martyrs to
the labor movement? This question is clarified by the fact that May first is
observed unilaterally by workers (not by management), while the September
holiday is enjoyed by all, perpetuating the myth that Labor and Management are
both working together. The proclamation of Labor Day in September in the United
States has been interpreted as an effort to isolate U.S. workers from
colleagues around the world, and obscure the history of what Management did to
Labor in Chicago in 1886. That said, it is important to know the history of
both holidays. It is also
important to note that U.S. workers get far fewer holidays than workers in
other industrialized nations.
Whether or not Labor Day was established to deflect attention—and
awareness—from the history of May Day, it is still a great time to celebrate
workers accomplishments and express labor solidarity.
Haymarket Massacre
On May 1, 1886 demonstrations in
support of the 8-hour day took place all across the country. Chicago's was the biggest with an
estimated 80,000 marching on Michigan Avenue, much to the alarm of Chicago's
business leaders and newspapers who saw it as foreshadowing "revolution,"
and demanded a police crackdown.
Over the next several days, police attacked demonstrators and broke up
mass meetings. On May 4, a bomb
was thrown by a still unidentified person, and both police and demonstrators
were killed by the bomb and subsequent police shootings. In the aftermath of the event, unions
were raided all across the country. Eight labor organizers were prosecuted in a
show trial. None were linked to the unknown bomb thrower, and some were not
even present at the time. They were held to be responsible for the bomb
thrower's act, because their public criticism of corporate America, the
political structure, and the use of police power against the working people,
was alleged to have inspired the bomber. They were found guilty in a trial,
which Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld subsequently held to be grossly
unfair. On June 26, 1894, Altgeld pardoned three who were still alive and in
prison; but four had been hanged, and one had committed suicide.
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