Building an Activist Movement to End the Occupation of Iraq and May Day: A Call To Action

As the relatively small and peaceful meeting at Haymarket Square was wrapping up, 180 policemen marched on the crowd, and a bomb went off – which many believe was thrown by an agent provocateur. The Chicago Tribune demanded that Parsons, Spies, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden be hanged for murder. The police began smashing up labor offices and beating up innocent people. “Make the raids first and look up the law afterwards,” said John Ashcroft – oops, I mean Julius Grinnell, Chicago’s State’s Attorney. The four men named above were indicted for murder, along with George Engel, Adolph Fisher, and Louis Lingg. Parsons, who had escaped, became a modern Socrates and turned himself in to face certain death. Testimony from “witnesses” who had been threatened with torture and others who had been paid turned out so contradictory that the prosecution shifted to a focus on the defendants’ thoughts and politics. Fielden and Schwab ended up with life sentences; Lingg died in his cell; the others were hanged. Parsons left behind a note to his children that included this:

In the tradition of those who have gone before us and sacrificed so much for so many benefits that we take for granted, I’d like to propose a day of action on May 1, 2008, to include a general strike for peace, impeachment, and human rights. Here are proposals that have already been made from a variety of quarters:

Nearly one hundred Longshore Caucus delegates voted on February 8 to support a resolution calling for an eight-hour “stop-work” meeting during the day-shift on Thursday, May 1 at ports in CA, OR and WA to protest the war by calling for the immediate, safe return ofU.S. troops from Iraq.

“The Caucus has spoken on this important issue and I’ve notified the employers about our plans for ‘stop work’ meetings on May 1,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath.

Caucus delegates, including several military veterans, spoke passionately about the importance of supporting the troops by bringing them home safely and ending the War in Iraq. Concerns were also raised about the growing cost of the war that has threatened funding for domestic needs, including education and healthcare. Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda J. Bilmes recently estimated that the true cost of the War in Iraq to American taxpayers will exceed 3 trillion dollars – a figure they describe as “conservative.”

The union’s International Executive Board recently endorsed Barack Obama, citing his opposition to the War in Iraq as one of the key factors in the union’s decision-making process.

ILWU International President Robert McEllrath has written letters to President John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO and President Andy Stern of the Change-to-Win Coalition, and to the presidents of the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Dockworkers Council to inform them of the ILWU’s plans for May 1.

II. Call to Immigrant Rights Actions 2008!

III. “IMPEACH OR WE GO ON STRIKE!”

Join PTI in building solidarity for the ILWU May 1 Strike. Carry the sign that helps organize an effective, legal, non-violent “work stoppage” in defense of our Constitution, our heritage, and our freedom.

IV. I propose that we take over Washington, D.C., building on what we learned and accomplished on March 12 and 19, 2008