Reds Of Future Past

May 1, 2019 6:02 AM

Reds Of Future Past [via mefi projects] On May Day, the American holiday that Americans forgot is our holiday, our own Whelk looks at artifacts of the first Red Scare, when the Espionage Act of WWI was used to suppress dissent.
posted by maxsparber (18 comments total)

Rise up, comrades.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:20 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

✊🏻🌹
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:22 AM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

Not completely forgotten. Today, in many parts of of North Carolina, schools are closed while teachers protest at the state capitol for better benefits, improved teacher/student ratios, and better pay (for all school workers, not only teachers). (Both links have autoplaying video, sorry.)
posted by at by at 6:23 AM on May 1, 2019 [11 favorites]

Obligatory
posted by evilDoug at 7:18 AM on May 1, 2019

Estimated 7,000 SC teachers march to [SC] State House May 1st.
posted by octobersurprise at 7:38 AM on May 1, 2019 [3 favorites]

Worth noting that Wikipedia separates May Day, a traditional European spring festival, from International Workers Day, which falls on the same day to commemorate a peaceful demonstration turned police brutality turned terrorist attack and riot in 1886.
posted by timdiggerm at 7:51 AM on May 1, 2019 [4 favorites]

💪♥️

All we want is to do our jobs, and dignity.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 8:16 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

"do our jobs, and dignity"

Based on my working life, that sounds like two mutually exclusive concepts.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:35 AM on May 1, 2019

The May Day protests in Puerto Rico might be getting ugly.

This was last year: May Day in Puerto Rico: Police Attack Anti-Austerity Protesters with Pepper Spray & Tear Gas
posted by homunculus at 10:42 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Workers' Maypole
posted by homunculus at 10:51 AM on May 1, 2019

Speaking of suppressing dissent, meet Doe v. Mckesson: Speech Rights for Trump, but Not DeRay Mckesson: The Black Lives Matter organizer was sued for “negligently” leading a protest at which someone else became violent.
posted by homunculus at 11:07 AM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Spider-Man was arrested at the May Day protest in Puerto Rico today.
posted by homunculus at 1:21 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Here's an excellent Twitter thread by Erik Loomis: "This Day in Labor History: May 1, 1867. Workers in Chicago went on strike for an 8-hour day, the first mass-scale labor action for that demand that directly challenged political power. Let's talk about this early labor history event on this day celebrating worker power..."
posted by homunculus at 1:26 PM on May 1, 2019 [2 favorites]

🥐🌹
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 5:12 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

Here's another great Twitter thread by Mar Hicks: "For May Day, I'd like to take a minute to say something about tech-workers-as-workers and the STEM pipeline. In the late 20th and early 21st century a lot of highly paid white-collar workers got to largely forget where their labor protections came from..."
posted by homunculus at 7:19 PM on May 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

As part of the research for a museum exhibition, I got to see and handle the trial records for Eugene V. Debs. It was fascinating. I even held the jury verdict card in my hands. A crazy time.
posted by Ironmouth at 9:24 AM on May 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

Progressives, Socialists, take to the streets for May Day
posted by The Whelk at 11:05 AM on May 2, 2019

I talked about this feature on the Liquid Flannel podcast and the history of stopping political movements via the post office
posted by The Whelk at 11:17 PM on May 4, 2019