Friday, March 31, 2017

Democrats Should Focus More on Jobs, Less on Russia. The moral horrors of Trump’s policies must be confronted head-on.

Robert Borosage had a good article in The Nation magazine which included explaining how Trump is de-funding social programs to pay for militarism and wars.

Borosage pointed out that Trump is cutting fifty-four million dollars from social programs to pay for wars.

Borosage can be relied on to attack Republicans but he lets the Democrats slide for doing the same thing.

But it is still good this liberal is taking a stand against Trump even if his only motivation is to get Democrats elected.

Here is Borosage's excellent article:


Notice, though; while Borosage talks about focusing on "jobs" he refuses to support a full employment act which would make the president and Congress responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment and he doesn't mention that the largest job creating program in U.S. history would be putting people to work in a National Public Health Care Program (twelve to fifteen million new good-paying decent jobs at real living wages) providing the American people with free health care paid for by a huge Peace Dividend derived from ending these dirty imperialist wars.

Of course, Borosage the liberal, doesn't frame his opinions within the context of fighting Wall Street's thoroughly reactionary imperialist agenda but he does at least confront the fact that social programs are being cut to pay for militarism and wars.

Borosage heads up a foundation-funded think tank loyal to the millionaire labor leaders so he can't be expected to support real solutions to the problems of working people lest he loses his funding... the Wall Street philanthropists and millionaire labor leaders have him on a short leash attached to a choke chain and this is as far as they will let him go without giving him a swift yank.

Borosage also works in cahoots with the anti-Communist Democratic Party hack George Lakoff who counsels that issue should only be "framed" to correspond to "progressive policy directives" free from "specific solutions to problems" so Borosage is still in good stead with those who fund his liberal think tank since he has not proposed any specific solutions like these which Borosage has blocked me from posting on his organization's web site:

Campaign for a “21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity”

We are fed up with politicians campaigning on promises of “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” and then failing to make themselves legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment.

We are fed up with our tax dollars being squandered on militarism and wars instead of being used to create jobs by solving the problems of the people and defending our living environment… its time to beat swords into plowshares. Put people to work solving the problems of the people.

A National Public Health Care System would create over twelve-million new jobs paying real living wages providing people with free health care--- general medical, eyes, ears, dental, family planning and mental health--- through a network of neighborhood and community health care centers; this is a better use of our tax-dollars than wasting our human and financial resources on a far flung empire of over 800 U.S. military bases around the world. Or, it could be financed the same way Social Security is financed. Or paid for with a tax on Wall Street transactions. Or financed with a combination of these methods. Public funding. Public administration. Public delivery… nothing controversial; just like public education.

A National Public Child Care System would create over three-million new jobs providing working class families with free child care.

We need to restore the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (C.E.T.A.), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

“At Will Employment” legislation in states across the country needs to be rescinded and repealed to expand democracy in the workplace and provide workers with the right to freely participate in the communities where they live.

All attacks on immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, need to end.

Planned Parenthood needs to be defended and programs expanded.

We insist Congress and the president enact full employment legislation which makes them legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment; assure everyone who wants a job employment at real living wages in line with the actual cost-of-living.

Full employment would provide stability for Social Security; everyone paying in; everyone getting something out. A Basic Income for All must be guaranteed. Pensions must be honored and protected. The Wall Street swindle of pension funds must end; restore the Glass-Steagall Act.

Turn Habitat for Humanity into a massive public works project to create jobs and assure everyone has a decent home.

Free education through university; cancel student debt. End military recruitment in the high schools.

Unemployment and lack of a National Public Health Care System is the price we pay for militarism and wars. We are entitled to a Peace Dividend……... Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood.

Name Address City State E-mail
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4.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

I have tried to engage Bernie Sanders and the leaders of "Our Revolution" numerous times in a dialog on health care reform but all I ever get is these meaningless responses.

I received this e-mail from Jeff Weaver of "Our Revolution" about "Medicare For All" and then responded; and following my response is the e-mail I received back from "Our Revolution."

I think it is very important to note that Bernie Sanders' "Medicare For All" legislation--- just like the Conyers bill, HR 676--- leaves the private for-profit motive behind health care intact--- both in its administration and delivery and both come with a very high price tag for individuals and the government which neither Conyers nor Sanders will address as to how much these plans will cost each of us--- this is a less than honest way to bring forward legislation by leaving the people in the dark as to what the actual costs incurred will be. Just as unethical is the failure to inform people that the private for-profit motive will be left intact by each of these pieces of legislation which neither the authors nor the supporters will acknowledge even though most people, because of the dishonest way both pieces of legislation are being promoted, actually believe the for-profit motive will end.

Making health care "affordable" is not the issue; providing health care as a fundamental basic human right to everyone is the goal and objective and only a National Public Health Care System can accomplish this.

Furthermore, how can anyone make such an outlandish claim that 58% of the American people support this "Medicare for All" when all the other choices have not been explained and included--- this is a dishonest way of promoting anything. Make all choices available to people and then ask them to choose.

Here is what "Our Revolution" sent out:


Our Revolution
Alan,
Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he's going to be introducing a Medicare for All bill in the Senate.
We all know that the Affordable Care Act was a critically important step towards the goal of universal health care. But 29 million Americans today still do not have health insurance, and millions more are underinsured because health insurance companies are making our health care unaffordable and inaccessible.
Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All bill puts power and choice when it comes to health care decisions right where it should be -- in the hands of patients and their doctors, because nobody should be squeezed by the insurance industry's bottom line.
I've known Senator Sanders for more than 30 years. He has championed universal health care for even longer. Bernie has always stood up for the people, even if it means going up against the establishment. The insurance industry, which spent $146 BILLION in 2016 alone lobbying Congress, will say that universal health care isn't possible. Not only is it possible*, Medicare for All is the only way to solve our health care crisis.
That's why Our Revolution is joining with communities all across the country to win this critical fight. We're supporting Rob Quist, a strong advocate for universal health care, who is running for Montana's at-large Congressional district in the upcoming special election.
This isn't some fringe issue: 58 percent of Americans support a Medicare for All system**. Our issue is national, and it's personal. Too many Americans lie awake at night wondering how they'll pay for much-needed treatment or medications. Americans are dying of entirely preventable causes. Ensuring universal health care through a Medicare for All program is a moral imperative that we cannot ignore.
Keep up the fight, because together we're transforming this country.
In solidarity,
Jeff Weaver
President
Our Revolution
--------------------
*Medicare for All is possible: here's a map of nations that provide universal health care for all.
**Americans expect more: 58% of Americans support Medicare for all.


This was my response:
from:Alan Maki<alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com>
to:Our Revolution
date:Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 1:07 PM
subject:Re: Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" bill
mailed-by:gmail.com


I would like to meet with people to
discuss this campaign I have launched 
to see if you might be willing to help.

Let me know if Bernie and Our Revolution 

endorse this.

Thanking you in advance for your 

consideration.

Alan Maki
Lakeway, Texas




Campaign for a “21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity”

We are fed up with politicians campaigning on promises of “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” and then failing to make themselves legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment.

We are fed up with our tax dollars being squandered on militarism and wars instead of being used to create jobs by solving the problems of the people and defending our living environment… its time to beat swords into plowshares. Put people to work solving the problems of the people.

A National Public Health Care System would create over twelve-million new jobs paying real living wages providing people with free health care---  general medical, eyes, ears, dental, family planning and mental health--- through a network of neighborhood and community health care centers; this is a better use of our tax-dollars than wasting our human and financial resources on a far flung empire of over 800 U.S. military bases around the world. Or, it could be financed the same way Social Security is financed. Or paid for with  a tax on Wall Street transactions. Or financed with a combination of these methods. Public funding. Public administration. Public delivery… nothing controversial; just like public education.

A National Public Child Care System would create over three-million new jobs providing working class families with free child care.

We need to restore the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (C.E.T.A.), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

“At Will Employment” legislation in states across the country needs to be rescinded and repealed to expand democracy in the workplace and provide workers with the right to freely participate in the communities where they live.

All attacks on immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, need to end.

Planned Parenthood needs to be defended and programs expanded.

We insist Congress and the president enact full employment legislation which makes them legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment; assure everyone who wants a job employment at real living wages in line with the actual cost-of-living.

Full employment would provide stability for Social Security; everyone paying in; everyone getting something out. A Basic Income for All must be guaranteed. Pensions must be honored and protected. The Wall Street swindle of pension funds must end; restore the Glass-Steagall Act.

Turn Habitat for Humanity into a massive public works project to create jobs and assure everyone has a decent home.

Free education through university; cancel student debt. End military recruitment in the high schools.

Unemployment and lack of a National Public Health Care System is the price we pay for militarism and wars. We are entitled to a Peace Dividend……... Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood.

Name                                 Address                               City                                   State                    E-mail
1.

2.

3.

4.

And this was the response I received:

Info@OR info@ourrevolution.com via helpscout.net 

7:40 PM (16 hours ago)

to me

Alan,

Thank you so much for your

thoughtful note and suggestion.
It will be passed on.

And thanks, sincerely, for your support!

In solidarity,

--
Kelli
Our Revolution Help Desk Volunteer
{#HS:341782061-78721#} 

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

This was posted on my Facebook page as a comment...

From Sharon Neumann LeMay:


Doctors, nurses, technicians etc., should be public employees working for a fair wage the same as every other public employee. The buildings in which they work should be public buildings. Drugs should be researched and developed by public university medical departments, and then manufactured in publicly owned facilities. Get all the profit out of every step of the process and let medical professionals do their jobs based on what each patient needs. Eliminate the need of overpriced care due to having to meet overhead and profit margins.


We already do this for fire, police, schools, etc. for the most part.


We need medical personnel who are in it for the love of the job and the compassion they have for people, not just to earn mega bucks. Take the brightest interested kids and give them a free education to become an MD or other medical profession of their choice. Eliminate any need to gouge the system to repay student loans.


The only hurdle I see towards achieving this is to deprogram American's from their number 1 religion of worshiping the almighty dollar and judging the goodness of each other by their net worth.

Monday, March 27, 2017

Don't let the Dumb Donkeys do your thinking for you.

It never ceases to amaze me and boggle my mind how willingly the well-heeled, muddle-headed, upper-middle class intellectuals--- which includes the party hacks and over-paid media pundits--- are willing to accept as "reforms," for the rest us, "baby steps" and "incremental" reforms knowing that people can't wait decades for health care when they are sick today or wait to eat until "tomorrow."

For being such smart people they don't understand that the basic necessities of life can't wait.

But somehow they are able to rationalize "baby steps" and "incremental" reforms while refusing to act to confront and act to put an end to imperialist murder, mayhem, savagery and barbarism which is the price we pay for these much ballyhooed "baby steps" and "incremental" reforms never materializing except as "promises" at election time.

These people will tolerate racism and attacks on women claiming, "We have bigger fish to fry."

They view affirmative action as a remedy for racism and discrimination as a threat to their cozy life-style.

They don't view the need to include Planned Parenthood's services as rights to be included as part of a National Public Health Care System.

These people say we are are being "argumentative," "brash" and "inconsiderate" in demanding three meals a day, a decent place to live, a job with real living wages and health care to keep us well and take care of us when we are sick yet they have access to all of this--- and much more--- in return for telling us we must "be patient."

For these people a vacation is a luxury we don't need but a requirement they deserve to "get away from it all."

These people will try to tell us we need single-payer universal health care because a National Public Health Care is too much to expect. They then try to confuse the issue by claiming single-payer universal health care is the same as a National Public Health Care System. They will talk up single-payer without saying it leaves much of the administration and all of the delivery in the hands of greedy profit gougers when a National Public Health Care System means:

Public financing.

Public administration.

Public delivery.

Honesty and ethics mean nothing to the well-heeled, muddle-headed, upper-middle class intellectuals whose intellectualism stops short of action because it is through lies, deceit, dishonesty along with sowing division and confusion they assure their place in society--- serving the Wall Street parasites who we must challenge for political and economic power; they want no truck with such radical thinking because it requires an honest assessment of our problems leading to united, militant action.

These people will push the writings of one of their kind, George Lakoff, down our throats and they begin to sweat just thinking about those intellectual activists like Frances Perkins, Harry Bridges, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. DuBois, Wyndham Mortimer, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, William Z. Foster and Claudia Jones.

The Democratic Party is full of such people who lack the most basic empathy and compassion for working class families that they will even deny, under the pretense that the "economy is strong" because there is a bull market, the fact that working class families are mired in a Cost-of-Living Crisis a big part of which is fueled by the private, for-profit health care system and these dirty imperialist wars... both of which they are afraid to acknowledge.

It is time to tell the Dumb Donkeys to go to hell; a new working class based peoples party is required.

What kind of health care system do the American people want?

I suggest the people be asked if they want a health care system that is:


Publicly financed.


Publicly delivered.


Publicly delivered.


I think the politicians and the foundation-funded outfits along with the party hacks are afraid to ask.

With computers and the Internet it would be easy to ask the people what kind of health care system we want.

The cost of war

The U.S. military uses 350,000 barrels of oil per day. That doesn't come cheap at $48.00 a barrel. A "mere" $16,000,000.00 per day... but who is counting? Just $5,696,000,000.00 a year.
Anyone know any better uses for this oil and its cost?


And in addition to the waste of a valuable natural resource this is, think of all the human and environmental murder, mayhem, and havoc it raises.

This figure doesn't include the cost of shipping and refining, either. Nor does it tell us who profits and how much those profits are.


But this carbon footprint doesn't come cheap no matter how one figures.

Saturday, March 25, 2017

For a socialist solution to this health care mess.

We have now seen how Donald Trump and the Republicans "solved" this health care mess.

And we saw how Obama and the Democrats "solved" the health care mess.

Pay very close attention here...

The Democrats told us "other steps" would have to follow Obamacare...

Now, listen up because this is very important:

The Democrats have never stated what the "next steps" would have to be.

Why not?

Because nothing can "fix" Obamacare.

If the Democrats were the least bit sincere about real health care reform they would have ended all the co-pays with Medicare and imposed price controls on drugs plus they would have regulated the fees doctors can charge for their services and they would have imposed regulations on hospital charges.

In addition, the Democrats would have properly funded the VA and the Indian Health Services according to the Congressional mandate.

Anyone who still believes a bunch of Wall Street bribed politicians--- which includes both the Republicans and Democrats--- who are beholden to those like the insurance industry, the American Medical Association and the hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry for their campaign contributions will come up with and advance a health care system which has its goal and objective to provide health care as a right for every single person in this country is living in a make-believe fairy-tale world.

The solution to this health care mess is going to have to come from those of us who view health care as a basic and fundamental human right just like an education... and a good-paying decent job.

We can not solve this health care mess through a long protracted series of "incremental baby steps" simply because such an approach is an uncaring approach lacking in the most basic empathy and compassion for human beings. Such an approach is unethical--- although ethics mean nothing to a bunch of politicians who think nothing of cutting the budget to the tune of fifty-four billion dollars for social programs and then transferring this money for war when the decent thing to do would be end this insane militarism and these dirty imperialist wars, as Mark Twain called them, and use this money to create a National Public Health Care System based on the model of public education which would solve this health care mess once and for all.

Certainly common sense should tell us we need a network of public health care centers in our communities and neighborhoods providing the American people with free health care more than we need to revamp the nuclear arsenal or a boon-doggle like the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier which has gone way over budget and was needed like we need holes in our head and a far-flung network of over 800 U.S. military bases dotting the globe protecting Wall Street's interests.

It is going to take a huge grassroots and rank-and-file movement to win the kind of health care reform required. A big part of such a movement is the need for a new political party--- a working class based party that is both anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist not afraid to state as one of its goals that it is challenging Wall Street for political and economic power because Wall Street and its junior partners is the common enemy of all humanity.

Make no mistake:

Not having a decent health care system is the price we pay for these dirty Wall Street imperialist wars and for putting up with a bunch of Wall Street bribed politicians.

Donald Trump who boasted he was so smart he would solve this health care mess is dumber than dumb and more crooked and corrupt than the politicians from both political parties he has been bribing for decades to get his way.

Come on, really; is this the best we can do to let people suffer because these Wall Street bribed politicians can not see any further than where their next bribe comes from?

This is the United States of America which is touted to the the peoples of the world as the greatest bastion of democracy...

Does not democracy imply the people have a right to articulate solutions to their own problems?

If anyone knows a better solution to this health care mess than a National Public Health Care System based on the model of public education....

Publicly financed.

Publicly administered.

Publicly delivered.

... I would like to hear from them.

And, keep in mind; a National Public Health Care System financed with a huge Peace Dividend derived from "beating swords into plowshares" would provide us ALL with free health care.

Wouldn't you rather see a public health care center in your community or neighborhood instead of paying for over 800 U.S. military bases dotting the globe?

Let the politicians and right wing bastards call me a Communist or anything they want to but none of them can come up with a better solution to this health care mess.

This health care mess must be solved in the tradition of working class morals and ethics:

"An injury to one is an injury to all."

Help circulate this petition:


Campaign for a “21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity”

We are fed up with politicians campaigning on promises of “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” and then failing to make themselves legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment.

We are fed up with our tax dollars being squandered on militarism and wars instead of being used to create jobs by solving the problems of the people and defending our living environment… its time to beat swords into plowshares. Put people to work solving the problems of the people.

A National Public Health Care System would create over twelve-million new jobs paying real living wages providing people with free health care---  general medical, eyes, ears, dental, family planning and mental health--- through a network of neighborhood and community health care centers; this is a better use of our tax-dollars than wasting our human and financial resources on a far flung empire of over 800 U.S. military bases around the world. Or, it could be financed the same way Social Security is financed. Or paid for with  a tax on Wall Street transactions. Or financed with a combination of these methods. Public funding. Public administration. Public delivery… nothing controversial; just like public education.

A National Public Child Care System would create over three-million new jobs providing working class families with free child care.

We need to restore the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (C.E.T.A.), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

“At Will Employment” legislation in states across the country needs to be rescinded and repealed to expand democracy in the workplace and provide workers with the right to freely participate in the communities where they live.

All attacks on immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, need to end.

Planned Parenthood needs to be defended and programs expanded.

We insist Congress and the president enact full employment legislation which makes them legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment; assure everyone who wants a job employment at real living wages in line with the actual cost-of-living.

Full employment would provide stability for Social Security; everyone paying in; everyone getting something out. A Basic Income for All must be guaranteed. Pensions must be honored and protected. The Wall Street swindle of pension funds must end; restore the Glass-Steagall Act.

Turn Habitat for Humanity into a massive public works project to create jobs and assure everyone has a decent home.

Free education through university; cancel student debt. End military recruitment in the high schools.

Unemployment and lack of a National Public Health Care System is the price we pay for militarism and wars. We are entitled to a Peace Dividend……... Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood.

Name                                 Address                               City                                   State                    E-mail
1.

2.

3.

4.

Tony Benn, the anti-imperialist socialist from the Labour Party in Great Britain was right...



Friday, March 24, 2017

All Out for May Day!

All out for May Day 2017!


According to a story broken by Buzzfeed over the weekend, it looks like the first May Day of the Trump era could be a record-breaker.


A coalition of unions, worker centers, and alt-labor organizations, including SEIU United Service Workers West, Restaurant Opportunities Center United and the Food Chain Workers Alliance, have announced plans for a general strike on the internationally recognized day of workers.


The May Day strikes come on the heels of the “day without an immigrant” and “day without a woman” strikes on February 16h and March 8h respectively, but is expected to dwarf both of them. The coalition leading the strike has estimated that 300,000 food chain workers and 40,000 unionized service workers will walk off the job in multiple states.


“We understand that there’s risk involved in that,” David Huerta, president of Service Employees International Union- United Service Workers West told Buzzfeed, “but we’re willing to take that risk in order to be able to move forward in this moment, while the most marginalized are in the crosshairs of this administration.”


May 1 will mark the 100th day of the Trump administration.


I would suggest you do this on May Day...


Prior to May Day (like right now) write a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper stating the need for a National Public Health Care System... when your letter is published, print it on one side of the paper and the petition below on the other side of the paper... don't forget to print some contact information so people can get in touch with you (phone number, e-mail address, etc.) At the bottom of this post you will find the Letter to the Editor I wrote which was published in the Austin American-Statesman, the main daily newspaper in Austin, Texas--- use it as a guide.


I would suggest you circulate the petition below at May Day events in your community...


Campaign for a “21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity”


We are fed up with politicians campaigning on promises of “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” and then failing to make themselves legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment.


We are fed up with our tax dollars being squandered on militarism and wars instead of being used to create jobs by solving the problems of the people and defending our living environment… its time to beat swords into plowshares. Put people to work solving the problems of the people.


A National Public Health Care System would create over twelve-million new jobs paying real living wages providing people with free health care--- general medical, eyes, ears, dental, family planning and mental health--- through a network of neighborhood and community health care centers; this is a better use of our tax-dollars than wasting our human and financial resources on a far flung empire of over 800 U.S. military bases around the world. Or, it could be financed the same way Social Security is financed. Or paid for with a tax on Wall Street transactions. Or financed with a combination of these methods. Public funding. Public administration. Public delivery… nothing controversial; just like public education.


A National Public Child Care System would create over three-million new jobs providing working class families with free child care.


We need to restore the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (C.E.T.A.), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).


“At Will Employment” legislation in states across the country needs to be rescinded and repealed to expand democracy in the workplace and provide workers with the right to freely participate in the communities where they live.


All attacks on immigrant workers, documented and undocumented, need to end.


Planned Parenthood needs to be defended and programs expanded.


We insist Congress and the president enact full employment legislation which makes them legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment; assure everyone who wants a job employment at real living wages in line with the actual cost-of-living.


Full employment would provide stability for Social Security; everyone paying in; everyone getting something out. A Basic Income for All must be guaranteed. Pensions must be honored and protected. The Wall Street swindle of pension funds must end; restore the Glass-Steagall Act.


Turn Habitat for Humanity into a massive public works project to create jobs and assure everyone has a decent home.


Free education through university; cancel student debt. End military recruitment in the high schools.


Unemployment and lack of a National Public Health Care System is the price we pay for militarism and wars. We are entitled to a Peace Dividend……... Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood.


Name                 Address                     City                               State                                      E-mail
1.
2.
3.
4.



My Letter to the Editor...


Re: Feb. 9 article, “Trump looks to stabilize health insurance market”


So, the “health” — read: profits — of the health insurance industry supersedes the human right of access to health care?


Left out of the discussion is the real solution to this health care mess, which would eliminate the health insurance industry: national public health care based on the public education model. Publicly financed. Publicly administered. Publicly delivered.


It makes more sense to finance a network of publicly funded neighborhood and community health care centers across the country dispensing free health care for everyone instead of squandering the precious wealth of our nation maintaining over 800 military bases dotting the globe protecting Wall Street’s interests and wasting trillions of dollars on these dirty wars from which only the Wall Street merchants profit.


ALAN MAKI, LAKEWAY


About May Day...

New Masses, May 6, 1941

By: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn 1941

May 1st: The Sun of Tomorrow

“Primo Maggio, il sole dell’ Avvenire” – May First, the sun of tomorrow! as our Italian comrades so beautifully it, is here again. It links ancient traditions, these modern times, and the future. Always a people’s natural holiday, since time immemorial it was the occasion for the gathering of the of the poor and lowly for one gala day of festivity. For the last fifty-five years it has been universally recognized and cherished by workers around the world as an International Labor Holiday. It is actually the only holiday celebrated internationally. It obliterates all differences of race, creed, color, and nationality. It celebrates the brotherhood of all workers everywhere. It crosses all national boundaries, it transcends all language barriers, it ignores all religious differences. It makes sharp and clear, around the world, the impassable chasm between all workers and all exploiters. It is the day when the class struggle in its most militant significance is reaffirmed by every conscious worker.

This day is to the enlightened worker an augury of a new world, a classless world, a peaceful world, a world without poverty or misery. It is the glowing promise of socialism, the real brotherhood of mankind. On this day in 1941 the wise words of Lenin; “Life will assert itself. The Communists must know that the future at any rate is theirs,” will light up the lonely jail cells of Browder and Thaelman and countless others. Lowhummed snatches of revolutionary song will be heard in concentration camps. On the sea, in military barracks, in the forced labor of factory or mill, the hearts of the driven workers will beat to unison with those far away who parade joyously behind gleaming red banners, to stirring music on Moscow’s Red Square. “Do your damnedest to us!” they mutter between clenched teeth, the conscripts in European trenches, the prisoners in Franco’s dungeons, in Hitler’s hell holes, in Mussolini’s prisons; “Your days are numbered. You can’t stop the final victory of the people!"
International? That must be “foreign,” many folks mistakenly infer. But what could be more international in its origin and population than these United States? Proudly we declare May Day is American. It is not a foreign idea. Many good ideas come from abroad, but this is an American idea exported to all other countries from America. May Day as an official labor holiday was born in the fierce struggles of the eighties to establish an eight-hour day. Workers of all nationalities, immigrants, political refugees, exiles, from every foreign land; native born grandsons of the American Revolution and Civil War veterans made a common, determined demand: “Eight hours shall constitute a legal day’s work from and after May First, 1886.” The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor of the United States and Canada (later to become the American Federation of Labor) called upon the workers to down tools. Enthusiastic, they poured out in the first American general strike. It spread from city to city, over 3,000 miles. The whole continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was astir: 192,000 won the demand. The employing class, appalled at the solidarity of the workers, struck back viciously. Six workers were killed and many wounded at the McCormick Harvester Works in Chicago.


May Day was baptized in the blood of American workers. A protest meeting Haymarket Square May 4, 1886, resulted in another bloody battle and a bomb frameup. It caused the railroading to the gallows of Albert Parsons (whose ancestor had been at Valley Forge) and three of his comrades, Engel, Fischer, and Spies. "Let the voice of the people be heard!" cried Parsons, as the noose tightened around his neck. It has been, it ever Will be on May Day, brave martyred hero of yesterday! This year the newly organized, victorious strikers of the International Harvester Works in Chicago will hallow your names on May first.


The struggle for the eight-hour day was renewed. The AFL decided to reinaugurate it on May 1,1890. To widen its effectiveness they sent delegates across the sea to Paris to the International Labor Congress. They proposed that May first be officially declared an international labor holiday. This was done amid great enthusiasm, on July 4, 1889, the 100th anniversary of the Fall of the Bastile, after the delegates had heard recounted the struggles of the brave American workers. With the passing of the years the growing needs of international labor expanded the significance of May Day far beyond the eight-hour demand.


Rosa Luxemburg, brave woman Socialist of Germany, who was later brutally murdered by the militarists, sounded the alarm against a World War in 1913. She called upon the workers to make May Day a mighty demonstration for peace and socialism. “Workers of the world, Unite!” became the insistent cry on May Day. Every vital issue was pressed, more and more militant slogans raised in each country and internationally.


Are you a bad member of your family because you go out of your home to be a good citizen of your state? Are you a traitor to your state because you are equally concerned shout your country? Are you betraying your country if you are also an internationalist – dedicated to the brotherhood of man? Only workers are forbidden to be internationalists. It’s perfectly proper for J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford; for the bankers, the munitions trusts, the chemical companies. It’s proper for scientists, stamp collectors, athletic associations, musicians, spiritualists, people who raise bees, to be internationalist – but not workers. Only the clasped hands of the workers across the boundaries are struck down in every country. It will pass for all anthropologist to say in abstruse language, “There is but one race – the human race!” But let a worker say, “Brother, fellow worker, comrade” – and there’s hell to pay. He should be sent back from where he came from! He should be deprived of his citizenship; he should lose his job; he should be jailed! If a Christ-like voice should challenge them: “But what about loving thy neighbor as thyself?” the wild man from Texas would roar: “Who said that? He’s a Red, subversive, a trouble maker!” Let us not be dismayed in the slightest by all this frenzy. Let us remember the cool words of Lenin: "Acting thus the bourgeoisie acts as did all classes condemned to death by history." Every beautiful May Day of solidarity, triumph, and hope is another reminder to us to take “the long view” – the Bolshevik view of passing events. The road ahead may be rougher but it is shorter than the road behind.


Once they laughed at us, these rulers of America. We were still, small voices, crying in the wilderness, we were dreamers of idle dreams, Utopians; we couldn’t change human nature. What would the world be without the profit incentive? Answer that now, you agitating soap boxer. We were as Vanzetti said: “Talking at street corners to scorning men!” But this was two decades ago. Now they know, the rulers of the world, that the era of socialism has begun. They have been tried and found wanting. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics not only guarantees a peaceful, happy, secure life on one-sixth of the earth’s surface to nearly 200,000,000 people. It is a constant inspiration to downtrodden and exploited workers in every capitalist country in the world to “go thou and do likewise!” On May Day we salute the Soviet Union – land of socialism – land of peace and plenty, the great ideal of labor since time immemorial, the cooperative commonwealth of all who toil. “It works, brothers!” they say in the deep, dark mines; “It works,” they say by the blazing furnaces in the steel mills; “It works,” says the tenant farmer; “It works,” says the sailor in the hold of the ship and the truck driver rushing through the night. No bosses, no landlords, no bankers, no munnitions makers, no loan sharks, no employment agencies; no child labor; no prostitution; no unfinished educations; no broken old age; no long hours; no low wages; no speed-up; no unemployment; no rich, no profiteers, no capitalism. Organization is the stage we have advanced to now. Music to the ears of all old time agitator is all the justified scorn and contempt the average worker expresses uncompromisingly of the boss class. These workers don’t take off their hats; they don’t say “Sir!” They are unafraid. There is a fighting class spirit abroad in this land today among the people.
MAY DAY traditionally celebrates victories won; makes new demands; presses forward slogans of immediate action. Have we won victories in 1941? You tell it, you hundreds of thousands, union men of Bethlehem Steel; US Steel; Allis Chalmers; International Harvester; New York Transport Co.; Ford Motor Co. Ten million organized workers in America today and more to come. Skilled and unskilled, black and white, native and immigrant, man and woman, young and old – shoulder to shoulder. Let the war mongers shout; let the profit-mad rave. “We shall not be moved!” retort these millions of American workers on May Day. There is nothing to be despondent about; nothing to be weary about – not so long as we are organizing and fighting. Not so long as we are holding what we have won in an iron grip; are moving forward, getting more. Not so long as there is unswerving resistance to the Roosevelt-Willkie war party among eighty-six percent of the American people. Organize. Fight. Press Forward – that’s the spirit of America’s May Day in 1941.


Organize and fight, to stay out of war! Against all imperialism and fascism, including American!


Protect labor’s rights to organize, to make demands, to strike. No blackout of the Bill of Rights. Defend the rights of minority parties – the Communist Party – vital test of the people’s rights to free elections. Stop war profiteering. Lower the cost of living. Resist wage cuts and longer working hours. Free all fighters against imperialist war. Free Earl Browder! End Jim Crowism and anti-Semitism in our country. Cement a friendship with the Soviet Union. These slogans are aloft, the fighting slogans of America’s May Day everywhere. For peace and socialism is in the hearts, in the minds, on the lips of millions around the world May First, 1941. The “sun of tomorrow” shines upon us. The future is ours.



May Day - 1951

Howard Fast

IS IT SUBVERSIVE
to march on May Day? Well, by now you know that anything which does you some good and takes a nickel out of the boss's pocket is subversive. A dollar raise is "subversive," and it's "subversive" to want your kids to grow up instead of becoming corpses in Korea.
But how "subversive" is May Day? It just happens to be the most American holiday we have. It was brought into being in 1886 by the Chicago workers, in their struggle for the eight-hour day. Remember their slogan:
"Eight hours of work, eight hours of sleep, eight hours of recreation!"
The kept press, the bosses and the sellout artists screamed that it was "subversive," but the American working class fought it through, and the eight hour day became an accepted thing.
Not without the workers paying a price. There was never a time when good things came easy. Even then, the bosses worked with the time-honored pattern of frameup and lies, and four of the best and bravest leaders of American labor were framed for a crime they never committed; and then they were sentenced, and executed.
And one of them, a brave and honest man, August Spies, said, as he stood on the gallows:
There will come a time when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today!"
And his words have come true. This May Day, millions of workers will march in every corner of the earth. They will march on that day which our working class ancestors won with their courage and militancy.
James Turnbull's drawing (above) and Fred Ellis's (opposite page) deal with the historical and international aspects of May Day. Turnbull and Ellis are not only among the best of America's labor cartoonists, but fine graphic artists as well. Fred Ellis is the foremost cartoonist of America's labor press.
WHY DO THEY FEAR
the worker's holiday? Why, when a hundred days in the year are celebrated, is the one day that the American working class has chosen as its own day hated and maligned?
Why do they scream that May Day is subversive, a foreign importation, an "un-American" plot?
What are they afraid of? They have many sweet words about organized labor, but on that one day when organized labor marches through the streets of New York City, the corrupt press, the bosses and the sellout artists scream with rage and fear. Why?
We have some answers, good answers. Answers which mean life and peace to you, as workers, and to all the millions of good and decent people in our land – people whose only hope of happiness lies with the working class.
Here are some of them – good reasons why you must march for life, for peace, for freedom on May 1st.
WE MARCH FOR PEACE
on this May Day. Back in Civil War days, the Confederate soldier summed up his position in these words:
"A poor man's fight and a rich man's war."
A lot of truth in that. You never saw war profiteers in the infantry. The workers do the fighting and dying; the bosses grow rich. Only this time, they're playing with atom bombs. Your boss can buy himself an atom-proof shelter in the Sherry Netherlands Hotel. You and your wife and kids are supposed to fry and like it.
More than any other group, the working class suffers from war; and only the working class, in all its strength, can lead and win the fight for peace.
That's what we march for this May Day, for peace, for a decent world where our kids can look to a future other than death. The whole of the human race looks to the American working class to win its fight for peace.
For a peaceful co-existence with the Soviet Union!
For an end to the Korean war!
For peace, friendship and trade with China!
The struggle and desire of the worker for peace is a new theme in American graphic art; but it will yet be one of the great themes of our time. Here, Charles White (opposite page) and Philip Evergood (above) render this theme graphically as a tribute to the working class on this May Day. Evergood has long been considered by many critics as one of the best of all living American artists, and Charles White is a talented and outstanding graphic artist.

I conceive of labor as a giant. This giant has the power and strength to do almost anything. His history as you know has been exploitation, betrayal and misleadership. He has been blinded and hypnotized by this poison propaganda to the extent that he is not fully aware of what goes on about him. He does not want war, yet he works for war, pays for war, and sends his sons to a war he does not want. He produces all the necessities of life, yet he has a difficult time getting some of these necessities for himself and his family, and so with his education, culture, amusement.
When this giant finally stands up and lifts his head out of the fog, it will be then that we will have no hysteria, loyalty acts, McCarran Bills, wars, persecution of the minorities, lynchings, rats, inflation, gangsterism, corrupt politicians, Peglers, and what not, but a wonderful MAY DAY.

WILLIAM GROPPER
In the history of the American labor movement very few artists share that place of honor and integrity and consistent service occupied by William Gropper. For three decades American workers have found their hopes, their dreams and their bitter anger mirrored in the magnificent drawings and paintings of William Gropper. Gropper's integrity has become a by-word in the field of American culture. He cannot be bribed or bought, nor can he be swerved from his chosen arena of struggle in the defense of the workers and oppressed people of America. Gropper's reputation is an international one. Not only has he drawn for the labor press in a score of lands, but his paintings have an honored place in the galleries of Europe and Asia as well as America.
WE MARCH FOR FREEDOM
from want on this May Day. There was a time when our great labor unions could look with pride and confidence on the gains they had won under honest and militant leadership.
That is not the case today. We have come through a period when the sellout artists did their work well. The Taft-Hartley Act has crippled organized labor. President Truman has broken strike after strike. Supporting the war makers, the Murrays and the Reuthers split the CIO. And honest and militant labor leaders, such as Harry Bridges and Julius Emspak, are thrown in jail.
Wage freezes, phony escalator clauses, and skyrocketing prices – these add up to misery for the American people. There can be no freedom and no peace in America without a free and powerful and courageous trade union movement. Recent strikes in coal, railroad, textile and packing house have demonstrated that labor will resist the war profiteers. This resistance must be directed into the building of a great peace movement of the working class. Only the struggle for peace can defend the hard-won gains of the workers.
There can be no freedom for American workers if the Communist Party is outlawed and the Communist leaders jailed. This meant fascism in Germany and in Italy, and it means fascism here. And under fascism, workers are slaves.
Above all other things, it was to enslave the working class that the fascist McCarran Bill was passed.
Down with the Taft-Hartley Act and the McCarran law!
We march for freedom from want on May Day.
Robert Gwathmey has often been compared to Picasso; and certainly as a colorist and linear designer, he has no peer in America. His superb paintings of Negro workers hang in many galleries. In his drawing (above) he depicts a Negro worker laying aside his tools to March on May Day. His worker is gravely calm, deliberate and conscious of his role.
WE MARCH FOR EQUALITY
on this May Day, and in defense of our Negro brothers. "Labor in white skin can never be free, while his brother in black skin is branded!"
It is almost a hundred years since those words were written, but they were never more true than today. The same Truman government that is smashing organized labor has instituted a veritable blood bath among the Negro people.
Because the Negro people are overwhelmingly workers, and because the Negro people understand and oppose the injustice and horror of the Korean war.
The Hitler-like murders of the Negro people must stop! John Derrick and the seven Martinsville martyrs already dead – the Trenton Six and Willie McGee to die – the bloodbath must end!
On this May Day, we march shoulder to shoulder, Negro and white – for democracy and equality. We march with full understanding and bitter memory of the murder of six million Jews by the fascists of Hitler Germany, and we take a sacred vow that this will not happen here.
We demand an end to segregation! We demand an end to Jimcrow in every form and manifestation! We say:
"Hands off the leaders of the Negro people! Hands off Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois and William L. Patterson! Free Lieutenant Gilbert!
We call for unity of all Negro and white workers!
The above drawing by Hugo Gellert was chosen as the poster for this May Day. Hugo Gellert is a muralist, painter, and graphic artist of note.
WE MARCH FOR THE CONSTITUTION
of the United States and for the people's Bill of Rights on this May Day.
The Truman government has torn the Constitution to shreds. For the first time in a century and a half, our jails are crowded with political prisoners, Negro and white. Artists, writers, film workers who have taken their stand on the side of the working class are either in jail or facing imprisonment – as are Communists and trade unionists.
Leaders of people's organizations are being jailed daily. Guilt by association or through the testimony of stoolpigeons is becoming the legal pattern of America.
Leaders in the peace movement are being terrorized and jailed. The greatest of all American scholars, W.E.B. Du Bois, leader of the American peace movement and of the Negro liberation movement, has been indicted and faces five years in jail – in spite of his 83 years.
The un-American Committee has become the fascist inquisition of America. Workers, artists, professionals – all who fight for peace and freedom are hailed before it. The Smith Act and the McCarran Bill round out the fascist work of this committee.
Great peoples' leaders, like Paul Robeson, are denied passports and virtually imprisoned in America.
Only the working class can restore the Bill of Rights to the American people. Freedom for all Americans to assemble and speak!
We march for the Constitution on May Day!

Ten of America's fine artists have joined together in the making of this pamphlet. They undertook the task as a tribute to our working class and as a manifestation of that unity of workers and intellectuals which is our only guarantee for free expression and democratic culture. Each of the drawings was made expressly for this pamphlet, and the result is a splendid achievement in working class art.

March on May Day – Tuesday, May 1st FOR PEACE
FOR FREEDOM
FOR NEGRO EQUALITY
FOR THE BILL OF RIGHTS
FOR ECONOMIC SECURITY
This pamphlet is published by the
United Labor and People's Committee for May Day
Hotel Langwell, 123 W. 44th St., N.Y.
Telephone: JUdson 2-5067
Pamphlets may be ordered in bulk at $7.00 per hundred, at $5.00 per
hundred in quantities over a thousand.
Pictures or text may be reproduced without permission.





1919 May Day Speech.
by Eugene V. Debs
https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1919/0501-debs-maydayspeech.pdf