Haymarket Monument Re-dedication, May 1st, 2011.

Larry Spivack, President of the Illinois Labor History Society, at the unveiling of the restored and re-dedicated Haymarket Martyrs' monument, Forest Park, Illinois, May 1st, 2011. The monument is located in the Forest Home Cemetery, just west of Chicago.

This labor rally was held to mark the 125th Anniversary of the Haymarket Police Riot in 1886.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair

The restoration and re-dedication was organized by the Illinois Labor History Society. (http://www.illinoislaborhistory.org/)

From an anarchist perspective, the most exciting point in the rally was the reading of quotes from the Haymarket Martyrs, themselves. Over the century, trade unionists and socialist or communist Leftists have often suppressed the anarchist commitments of these labor activists, whose actions led to May Day as International Workers' Day. But on May Day 2011, the following labor leaders of today did not shrink from the Haymarket Martyrs' anarchism, in reading their own words:

Tom Balanoff, Pres., SEIU Illinois Council

Roberta Lynch, Deputy Director, AFSCME Council 31

Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union Local 1

James Sweeney, President, IUOE Local 150

Ironically, the words of the anarchists were followed by Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride, who noted that Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld later sacrificed his political career in pardoning the Martyrs.

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