WHENEVER they have been exploited, they have changed the perspectives of nations and broken the backs of capitalists. Workers, through the ages, have been playing a crucial role in strengthening economies. On May 1, demonstrations and rallies are held round the world to remind all that even they have a voice. Individually they might be weak, but together they can make a big difference. Revolutions the world over — be it in Russia, China or others — have highlighted the vulnerability of the ruling class.
The working class has existed since the development of agriculture thousands of years ago. Workers, salves, serfs and others were forced into work, and in return they were given something which was hardly worth their efforts. On the contrary, the modern working class is only a couple of hundred years old. And its exploitation is hidden in its wage system. Although it is called the class of ‘free labour’, its exploitation is no less brutal. Children, women, and old people are forced to work long hours under miserable conditions.
May Day originated in the US from the struggle for the eight-hour day. Philadelphia carpenters went on strike in 1791 for a 10-hour day. In 1836, they won and the demand for an eight-hour day was soon raised. Six years later, in 1872, 100,000 workers in New York City went on strike and won. It was in this rising uproar for the eight-hour day that May Day was born.
The history of May Day is quite long, but the Haymarket Square riots are worth mentioning. The tragedy occurred on May 4, 1886, in Chicago. A mass rally was called at Haymarket Square to denounce police attacks (four workers had been killed the day before). Police personnel carried out attacks on striking workers but still 3,000 of them gathered, including the mayor, who wanted to insure that the rally remained peaceful.
Leaders such as Spies, Parson, Samuel Fielden and others addressed the rally, condemning the murder of the workers and demanding an eight-hour working day. Soon after the mayor’s departure, 180 cops closed in on the speaker’s stand and demanded that the rally disperse. The leaders protested and suddenly a bomb was thrown from the crowd into the ranks of the police. Sixty-six cops were wounded and seven later succumbed to their injuries. The cops turned their guns on the striking workers, wounding 200 and killing several.
Within days, the police had arrested seven representatives of workers including Spies, Fielden, Michael Schwab, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Louis Lingg and Oscar Neebe. Parsons evaded the police until he turned himself in on the day of the trial. All were sentenced to death, except Oscar Neebe. Fielden and Schwab petitioned for clemency and had their sentences turned to life imprisonment; Lingg cheated the hangman by exploding a dynamite tube in his mouth. The rest were hanged on November 11, 1887. However, six years later, the governor of Illinois, John Peter Altgeld, pardoned Neebe, Fielden, Schwab and posthumously the five executed men.
After this event, May Day became an annual event. In Russia, Brazil and Ireland, it was first celebrated in 1891. Chinese workers celebrated their first May Day in 1920. Later on, in 1927, workers in the subcontinent observed May Day with demonstrations in Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. By that time, May Day was truly a world workers’ day.
Presently, May Day demonstrations and rallies are held all over the world, but in Third-World countries and specially in Pakistan, things are quite overwhelming. Workers are still forced to work long hours; thousands of women are lured away and trafficked under the pretence of getting work; tens of thousands of children are forced to work and not sent to schools. Although NGOs and workers’ unions are there, there has hardly been any change. On the contrary, most workers are not even aware of the importance of May Day and go about their laborious task as usual.
In Pakistan, the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. This is because the division of resources has always been poor and quite controversial. After the bifurcation of the country, some steps were taken by Z.A. Bhutto. Tax relief was enacted for the poor, land reforms were made in which ceilings were reduced from 500 to 150 acres for irrigated land, for semi-irrigated land it was reduced from 1,000 to 300 acres, and all lands in excess of 100 acres allocated to government servants were confiscated and redistributed. But even today, we find that landowners are still occupying vast amounts of land.
Child labour continues to be one of the gravest situations in the country. Children are employed freely in road-side hotels, automobile workshops, begging and so forth. To deal with this grave situation, some leading personalities are working on various projects, according to which children attending schools will be paid a certain sum. This will increase the interest of knowledge among children and encourage parents who don’t let their children attend school to do so.
In a country like Pakistan, where much of its population is based on agriculture and reside in rural areas — a lot of these areas don’t even have basic necessities — much is still to be done. The working class in Pakistan is afraid that they may not see their children prosper. No country can progress unless its manpower (working class) is happy, satisfied and most of all, powerful, and their is a difference between sweat and blood.
