MAY DAY
PILSEN MARCH (MAY DAY)
One hundred years ago Pilsen was a Polish-German working class
neighborhood characterized by labor radicalism. Located nearby was an open-air
farmers' market--Haymarket Square. The Square itself fell victim to developers
and wholesale grocers who, quite deliberately, pushed the farmers out of
the city. Pilsen has become a working-class Chicano neighborhood. The radicalism
lingers on in barrio politics and the annual Pilsen March which commemorates
the Haymarket anarchists.
This year the march was led by the Hispanic Centennial Committee and
included roughly equal numbers of RCPers, Wobblies, and anarchists from
the Chicago Anarchist Gathering (CAG)--about 400 marchers in all. The parade
route, from Haymarket Square to a neighborhood park, was lined with sympathetic
and curious residents. Although some members of the centennial committee
expressed disgust with the indelicacy of some RCP and anarchist slogans,
the main part of the march was low-key.
Near the end of the route, however, the anarchist contingent, disgusted
as ever by the RCP, decided to cut in line ahead of them, just to do it.
This maneuver placed us beyond the permitted parade route. As very few
of us knew Chicago's streets and none felt like hearing speeches, we just
kept marching. Things were getting interesting.
Passing a post office, one of us took a fancy to Old Glory and commenced
pulling it down. One of Chicago's finest took issue with this display of
disrespect and began to make an arrest. Fast as you can say "direct action,"
he was surrounded by 100 screaming anarchists. The gendarme made a virtue
of necessity and let the fellow off with a warning. Though the Stars and
Stripes yet waved, we were flushed with our victory over state terror.
Marching boldly on to nowhere in particular with no object in mind,
we were determined to hold the street, potholed as it was. Our ambiguous
dreams of rebel glory were dashed when a squad of Chicago cops sealed off
the street and snatched two hostages to get our attention: "Get out of
the street and go home!"
Not having considered any of this, it took some time to get communications
going. "Please, officer could you point the way to Halstead? And by the
way, we won't go till you let these guys free." "They're as good as free.
Just start moving." Uh-huh, a stand-off. After twenty minutes of speculation
and deliberation everyone got their way. We got our comrades back and went
home to dinner. Two victories over the state in one day!
---memo
Well, the RCP was trying very hard to have a boring march, but then
we showed up. Some people invented some funny chants like: "Smash the state
and have a nice day" and "No governments left or right--RCP ain't too bright."
We went single file up to the front. This severely pissed off the RCP.
On the way up an RCP peace pig grabbed me and said we can't go past the
truck carrying the official banners and big wigs. I asked "Why not?" and
he said "that's just the order of things" and I said "I don't recognize
your order" and nobody else there did either. All of the anarchists (and
friends) went past and kept on marching. Unfortunately, we didn't know
where we were marching. But, it was fun. Then RGS from Boulder tried to
steal a flag off a bank, but didn't see the cop. Jim from SF, I and a few
others ran up there because he was being frisked and we got the others
to stop marching and come harass the cop. Alone, surrounded by 300 people
shouting "Let him go!", he flashed a smile and waved and let our comrade
go.
We kept going and Bob from N.Y. and Tentatively were abducted. Then
started the great stand off with the police. Some stood back and others
of us went up to the paddy wagon to harass the cops and convince them to
free our friends. Their demand was that we not necessarily disperse, but
to clear the street. Towards the end of our stand-off, when things weren't
quite resolved, I heard the police radio for the riot squad. On the dead
end street that we were on (it wasn't actually a dead end, but there was
no place to go either) if we had confronted the riot squad we would have
taken a pretty awful beating. Finally, after about 30 minutes (maybe more),
we said we'd go and although lots of us walked on the streets anyway, we
split.
---Chartreuse Colada
We started out toward the end, behind the RCP. Many of our people arrived
at the last minute, so we were not too organized. As we got going, we ran
ahead of the other groups until we got to the front of the parade. I somehow
ended up carrying the big banner in front. When we got to the end of the
parade route, we kept on going, planning to march to Haymarket Square.
The person carrying the banner with me seemed to know how to get there
and this would involve turning off the street, which might have kept us
out of trouble. But by that time, the cops were there and had put a stop
to the march. They had arrested one or two people but finally released
them, and we walked back along the sidewalk.
---David
so, that evening was the time of the may day march. twenty of us piled
into a van and were making our way across town. there were already people
assembled when we showed, including people from the iww and the inevitable
rcpers. the march started off. it cut right through the heart of downtown
chicago's chicano barrio. people watched the march go by from doorways
and upstairs windows. some were amused, some were curious. a lot of young
children thought the marchers in "punk" garb were highly entertaining.
the march was evenly distributed with red and black flags. the head spokesperson
for the rcp was droning on incessantly through her bullhorn, "world revolution!
not world war!" the anarchists responded by rushing to the head of the
march. it was black flags in front, with a few red flags mixed in. however,
the rcp was half a block behind.
after the march had completed its planned circuit, we just kept on
walking. nobody knew where they were going, at least it seemed to me. i
was starting to get nervous because we weren't seeing any police. that
could only mean that they were actually keeping the march under close surveillance
and planned on meeting us somewhere. when the march turned onto a four
lane stretch, i would have laid my last nickel that the cops were just
ahead, or around any given corner. sure enough, a cop car came cruising
by, admonishing us to get onto the sidewalk. no one made any movement to
do so. down the middle of the lane we trooped. like lost puppies, the rcp
followed at the rear. we came to a rise in the road. as we made the top,
there they were, chicago city cops everywhere, some on foot, some in cars.
there were paddy wagons and blue lights flashing everywhere. a bullhorn
ordered us onto the sidewalk. myself and several others started for the
sidewalk. then, about a dozen cops rushed the marchers. out came the clubs.
i had no intention of facing down an attacking cop, especially when there
had been no plans made for a violent confrontation. i bolted between two
houses and came out onto a side street. i stood there for long minutes,
expecting a rush of terrified marchers. i strained my ears to hear the
sounds of street violence, but all i could hear was a mixing of voices
as before. i returned to the gathering. everybody was on the sidewalk.
i learned that one person had been arrested and some people were negotiating
for his release. the man was released. a lot of people were upset about
"compromise with the cops" but, face it! we do it every waking moment of
our lives. the march then started back for where it began. keeping on the
sidewalk, the anarchists formed a tight web of people and most unceremoniously
informed the rcp that they weren't welcome along. they marched off chanting,
"world revolution! not world war!" as insults rained on them.
---Hal
Thursday afternoon was the May Day march, celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Apparently, the annual march is generally made up of a small group of sectarian
leftists, including the RCP. This year they were all but outnumbered by
the assortment of anarchists in town for Haymarket. At first it was just
real exciting to be walking down the street with so many other anarchists;
so many black flags, so much energy. Then I became frustrated. The RCP
had lots of literature to hand out; we, apparently, had none. They shouted
slogans, we shouted counter-slogans; I began to have an uneasy feeling
about what all this would look like to the people whose neighborhoods we
were marching through, and stopped chanting, which at that point had degenerated
into leninists and anarchists trying to drown each other out. At one point,
one of "them" was trying to find some common ground, and chanted "Somos
un Pueblo, sin fronteras" ("We are one People, without borders." We were
walking though several Hispanic neighborhoods.) and was met by an anarchist,
who evidently doesn't understand Spanish, chanting some version of "Smash
the State." All in all, rather annoying. If we can't work with the leninists
at all, then why are we marching together? And we should have had our own
literature, so we wouldn't appear to be represented by them. (Actually,
I do believe in working with leninists, and with liberals, and assorted
others in coalitions, without illusions, both because I feel it's necessary
for the survival of all of us, and also to infuse an anti-authoritarian
presence into these settings.)
After about an hour, a group of anarchists got bored or something,
and decided to march on a different route than the one for which permission
had been obtained. We were heading in the direction of Haymarket Square,
which was about 3 miles away. I don't know if anyone had actually intended
to go all the way there. After a few minutes of this, we were met by a
group of about 10 police and a paddy wagon (which is always a clue to start
looking for side streets, just in case. Here there weren't any). They said
we couldn't keep going, but a group of about 50 of us did, and walked past
the police lines. But we had no particular destination in mind, it seemed,
and when the rest of the march called to us to come back, we did. At some
point the cops grabbed two people for no apparent reason; although we all
may have been guilty of "demonstrating without a permit," the two arrested
were doing nothing any different than the rest of us. We formed a rough
semi-circle around the paddy wagon, and started chanting "Let them go or
we won't go!" (I think this was when the RCP types started calling for
a "retreat", "back to the masses," who, it seemed, were just a few blocks
back, waiting). I was holding the bag of one of those arrested--I had been
next to him taking pictures when the cops were bending his arm back with
their sticks, and he had told me to get the bag when they dragged him to
the paddy wagon. So I knew I was going to stay around and see what happened.
After a few minutes of chanting, and some negotiating with the police,
the two were actually released! We were all delighted and surprised, and
started making our way back to Crosscurrents and the church; many of us
probably anticipating the next day's anarchist anti-capitalist demo through
Chicago's financial district.
---Kathy
I attended both demonstrations and was arrested at the second one.
The first one was on May Day in the Pilsen neighborhood. The parade was
officially sponsored by some other group. I would estimate some 150 people
of the anarchist persuasion were there. The parade went on its route and
we marched in it and among it. At one point, someone attempted to remove
an American flag from a flag pole. He was confronted by a cop. A few people
at first saw the cop and realized what was going down, then the anarchist
contingent at large crowded around the cop with his collar. We were chanting
"leave him alone." I was near the front. I saw the cop scan the crowd,
suddenly realizing he was at our mercy. Prudence told him to "leave him
alone," so he did. I was charged up, but somehow uneasy after that. The
@ contingent got off the parade route, talk had it we were gonna march
all the way to Haymarket Square. We were cut off at a viaduct by police.
The cops set up a sort of "line of death" (line of arrest). A person or
two was grabbed by the cops. It was finally hammered out that we would
peaceably disperse in return for the "hostage." Thursday night's events
concluded quietly.
---Anonymous
THE NINTH HAYMARKET MARTYR SPEAKS
The Untold Story (yuk, yuk)
So, at the May 1 march, the Communist Party (the initiators of
that march) and the RCP split and the A`s have the street. I happen to
be at the head of the march when the heat begins to block it. The sergeant
commanding the police unit barks out for us to disperse, etc., and seemed
to be directing a lot of attention to me--especially as I started to countermand
his orders with my own, like "Fuck you, no way!" So Sarge says "You're
gonna be the first to be arrested, Buddy," and I say "Try it, Motherfucker,"
and, of course, he does. Sarge foolishly grabs this A Superboy, as in the
week preceding May Day I get in plenty of push-ups and street fighting
classes. It was easy to wrestle away from him (he kept saying "Go ahead
and hit me--Take a swing!") and I make a run for it. Now what I had done
was a VERY VERY bad thing and must not go unpunished. I must pay for my
evil ways. So another porker nabs me. The gig is up, and I'm cuffed and
marched to the ole' paddy wagon. Oh well. The thoughts running through
my head at that moment are "Shit, ya gotta go and be a fuckin' hero" and
"I hope mom doesn't find out" and (most importantly) "No partying tonight"
and also just plain "Sheeet!"
Well, just before they shove me into the paddy I sez to good ole' Sarge,
"Gimme a break. Yer gonna bust me--for what?" Sarge sez, "We'll let you
go if you call off the march." So, I get confused--"Was I the leader of
this?" But I do some quick thinking anyway; the crowd is mad and coming
to my rescue--somewhere around this time Tentatively A Convenience tries
to spring me and they dump him into the wagon and lock the door. I say
"Okay" to Sarge (smirk), "but you have to let me and the other guy go,
otherwise everyone will riot." Sarge tells me not to worry--they don't
want the hassle of the paperwork of a couple of chickenshit arrests. I
believe him. I figure these boys wanna go home, relax, and then beat their
wives and stuff.
But I do have to tell the crowd something, and refusing to collaborate
with the fuzz on calling the thing off I figure I can use language that's
masked enough to tell the crowd to keep doing their thing, keep marching
and we'll catch up at your tale end when the cops see you moving out. So
we have the ridiculous spectacle of the cops walking me to the middle of
everybody and me having to tell people, "Yo--Keep partying!" but make it
sound to the fuzz like I'm telling 'em to go home. I thought people could
clearly infer from what I was saying that they should simply move away
and keep on keepin' on. But people initially kept hanging by. Later everyone
told me they were just confused and/or didn't trust the heat to let us
go. Around this time, a buddy from home announces to Sarge that if they
take me they gotta take him. I think that made the cops uneasy. They were
just too tired after a hard day of beating people up to haul us in and
beat US up. They wanted to go home, relax, and watch Kojak do it.
I figured it was a good time to have some fun. I said to Sarge "The
crowd will love it if you uncuff me. They'll think you're a good ole' boy"--and
they did it! Next, I said "Gee Sarge, why don't you let the guy in the
can go and you can keep on holding me. The crowd will probably think you're
an anarchist just like them." (Naw, I didn't think to say the latter part,
but I will next time!) So, they let the dude go! Shucks, I felt like the
commanding officer.
Well, by now the crowd got the hint and started to straggle away. Sarge
gave me one last fatherly lecture (to scare us out-a-towners, no doubt)
on why we should go home because crazies from the bars in the area would
probably haul out and start shootin' at us. This NYC boy stared at him
incredulously.
That was about it. They released me, I caught up to the crowd and said,
"There's nothin' like being the center of attention", got some laughs,
and marched on with everyone.
---"b"oB
At the Mayday march, complete with permit, Bob (sultan of sex) was
the first arrestee. He addressed the cop who told him the march route had
ended and he had to get out of the street with a "fuck you." When the cop
informed him that he'd be the first one arrested, Bob reiterated his statement.
He was arrested. tENT decided that if 200+ anarchists couldn't rip ONE
person back from the cops, they weren't worth a fuck. Obviously, he wasn't
thinking straight--I'd fed him about 4-6 grams of mushrooms a couple hours
earlier--so he shoved thru a couple dozen cops, grabbed Bob and was trying
to shove his way back out of the knot of cops when they grabbed him and
threw him in the pig van. Heh. At this point I noticed that Fred had gotten
real quiet, put his back flag down, and virtually disappeared across the
street to the back of the crowd--back with Jim somewhere. They obviously
knew how much one could count on anarchists. I, on the other hand, pockets
stuffed with fungus, was with the clowns and dykes inciting folx to tip
over the police van. Surprisingly, the crowd surrounded the police for
over 1/2 hour, until they walked Bob out into the middle of the intersection,
took his handcuffs off, let him address the crowd, and then they released
tENT. Big people's victory.
---crowbar
"2-4-6-8, Fuck the Commies, Fuck the State" rang through the streets
of Chicago during the annual May Day March. The next evening the band,
Group of Individuals, belted out a Clash classic with a twist: "I'm so
bored with the RCP." Why did hundreds of anarchists from so many places
share this contempt for the Revolutionary Communist Party? Why should you
care?
The RCP is a Maoist sect that has decided the anarchist movement is
the best source of gullible new recruits. They are carrying on a tradition
of using and abusing anarchists that began when Marx's attacks on the anarchist
Bakunin split the early socialist movement. This tradition was picked up
during the Russian revolution when the Bolsheviks slaughtered the Anarchists
of Kronstadt and the Ukrainian Makhnovists. During the Spanish Civil War,
the Communists stabbed the anarchist led revolution in the back, eventually
delivering Spain to the fascists. In May 1968, in Paris, the Communists
failed the revolutionary movement that was infused with anarchist principles.
The RCP belongs to this tradition of power hungry "revolutionary" politicians
who try to hijack every anti-authoritarian rebellion for their own glory.
In Chicago, when the May Day march was stopped by the police, it was
the "vanguard" RCP that was conveniently taking up the rear.
---Chris
MAY DAY POEM
As the official rally ends
A primal scene unfolds
A new passion play
As mounted police
Cocked like a trigger
Look on
Dumbfounded
A Surging Circle Dance of Dreams
Replaces Wailing Death Moans
Haymarket Square 1986
One hundred years of the eight hour day is enough
Let this dance, this celebration of life
Be the memorial to the martyrs
Those terrorists of old
With nooses
Instead of neckties
And the bright fire of anarchy
Burning wildly in their eyes.
---Ron
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Updated: Nov 98