The Haymarket affair.

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So it's international workers day today.

This is a holiday that the United States has made a point to erase from our collective memory and there is a reason for this.

Because they don't want you to know.

It was Chicago, and the year was 1886. There was a protest, by radical socialists, Anarchists and communists. The goal was to win the 8 hour work day.

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This was a turbulent time for the laborer. For too long the worker had toiled tirelessly 12 hours a day, 6 days of the week, for $1.50 a day.

It was organized largely by Lucy and Albert Parsons.

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It started on may second after a day of peaceful picketing, the Chicago police attacked and killed several of the picketers.

The next day, some one responded to the police killings by throwing a bomb at the police.

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This sparked more killings by the police and Marshall law. People's houses were searched without a warrant. Unions newspapers were shut down. The true nature of the ruling class showed it's ugly head.

Authority through violence, repression of none-conformists through violence, and when the repressed retaliate, there is even more violence.

There was a trial, some say the most notorious in history.

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For there was no evidence presented. This trial was purely political, to shed the blood of the Anarchist.

Out of the 8 tried, 5 we're killed.

The state doesn't want you to remember those who died to improve your life. Have you ever been paid overtime? Have you ever had a weekend? Have you ever only worked 8 hours a day?

Then you have benefitted from this. Remember that. They died, so you could live better.

The martyr didn't die in vain.

The Haymarket affair. | Ecency