Comments on: May Day Greetings to the workers of the world! http://virtualstoa.net/2003/05/01/93597988/ Chris Brooke's Weblog Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:02:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Patchen http://virtualstoa.net/2003/05/01/93597988/#comment-2840 Patchen Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:43:33 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/?p=412#comment-2840 Predictably, the city of Chicago put a freeway through much of what used to be the Haymarket earlier in the century. A monument -- a statue of a policeman, of course -- was first erected in the area in 1889, got moved around a bit over the decades, and was finally relocated to the grounds of the Chicago police academy after being blown off its pedestal with explosives in 1970. But the site of the explosion can still be found, marked with a very small plaque, on the edge of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, just a brick's throw from one of my favorite yuppie-scum restaurants, in fact. (The Chicago public library website has some interesting pictures, including one of the Haymarket Five -- you forgot to mention to one who committed suicide.) Predictably, the city of Chicago put a freeway through much of what used to be the Haymarket earlier in the century. A monument — a statue of a policeman, of course — was first erected in the area in 1889, got moved around a bit over the decades, and was finally relocated to the grounds of the Chicago police academy after being blown off its pedestal with explosives in 1970. But the site of the explosion can still be found, marked with a very small plaque, on the edge of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, just a brick’s throw from one of my favorite yuppie-scum restaurants, in fact.

(The Chicago public library website has some interesting pictures, including one of the Haymarket Five — you forgot to mention to one who committed suicide.)

]]> By: Nick http://virtualstoa.net/2003/05/01/93597988/#comment-2839 Nick Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:42:25 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/?p=412#comment-2839 Interesting - I wasn't aware that the Nazis adopted May Day as a public holiday (not exactly the sort of thing you'd expect from them) but maybe they were also harking back to the day's pagan roots, some sort of effort to reclaim a day of the Volk from the Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy?May Day's not the only holiday the US has switched around, of course. The US equivalent of Rememberance Day is in May. Maybe that'll be a pretext for invading someone when they've run out of ones that are even vaguely credible... harmonisation of international holdays in the name of business stability. Interesting - I wasn’t aware that the Nazis adopted May Day as a public holiday (not exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from them) but maybe they were also harking back to the day’s pagan roots, some sort of effort to reclaim a day of the Volk from the Judeo-Bolshevik conspiracy?May Day’s not the only holiday the US has switched around, of course. The US equivalent of Rememberance Day is in May. Maybe that’ll be a pretext for invading someone when they’ve run out of ones that are even vaguely credible… harmonisation of international holdays in the name of business stability.

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