A Short History Of The International Workers’ Holiday 1886-1986 Philip Foner 1986 192p 5 x 8 A useful introduction to the history of labor struggles, and the birth, and celebration, of May Day, first as an American, soon an international, workers’ holiday. $6-10 Other works involving philip foner, may day
Or, Songs for Lucy Parsons The May Day Orchestra Vinyl 2009 “The ‘Folk Opera’ concerning the labor question” according to its liner notes, this is the debut release from The May Day Orchestra, a group started by Tim Rakel in 2008 to write historically-rooted albums with various musical accompaniment. Words for the songs … Continue reading May Day
Treatise on Living for the Younger Generations Raoul Vaneigem 1967 336p 5 x 8 ‘People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse … Continue reading The Revolution of Everyday Life
The May Day Orchestra CD/Vinyl 2010 The second ‘folk opera’ by The May Day Orchestra tells the story of Ota Benga, a pygmy man who was taken from Congo and put on display at the 1904 World’s Fair in Saint Louis. A simultaneous narrative about Roger Casement weaves into the songs as does … Continue reading Ota Benga
Paul Avrich 1984 556p 6 x 9 Similar to most of Avrich’s work, this is the definitive take on the Haymarket bombing: the years and social tensions leading up to it, the 8 defendants including their similarities and differences, their executions and the anarchist seed that was planted by … Continue reading The Haymarket Tragedy
125th Anniversary Edition Franklin Rosemont & David Roediger 2012 272p 8 x 11 Marking the 125th anniversary of the 1886 bombing at Chicago’s Haymarket Square, in a revised and expanded edition, this profusely illustrated anthology reproduces hundreds of original documents, speeches, posters, and handbills, as well as contributions by many … Continue reading The Haymarket Scrapbook
Little Big Bangs (st) Little Big Bangs CD/Vinyl 2013 $10-15 May Day The May Day Orchestra Vinyl 2009 $12 Ota Benga The May Day Orchestra CD/Vinyl 2010 $10-15 Postcarious Breakaway CD 2014 $5-10
The Story of the Great San Francisco General Strike of 1934 Mike Quinn 1979 259p 5 x 7 On May 9, 1934, International Labor Association (ILA) leaders called a strike of all dockworkers on the West Coast who were joined a few days later by seamen and teamsters, effectively stopping all shipping from San Diego … Continue reading The Big Strike
Against His-Story, Against Leviathan! Fredy Perlman 1983 296p 5 x 8 How Civilization encroached on free peoples. On every continent scribes, traders and kings promoted division of labor, professional armies, social discipline, national, ethnic and class fervor. Bastard Out of Carolina A Novel Dorothy Allison 1992 320p 6 x … Continue reading Recommended Reading
Helen Ellerbe 1995 227p 5 x 8 How did the Church manage to stay alive and a major player on the political and imperial level for 1500 years? Ellerbe explains: by crushing or absorbing everything that stood in its way. While Dark Side of Christian History covers a lot of the same … Continue reading The Dark Side of Christian History