anarkismo.net: Why May Day matters to Botswana: radical roots, today's struggles by S. Byrne, P. Chinguwo, W. Mcgregor, L. van der Walt

When we celebrate May Day we rarely reflect on why it is a public holiday in Botswana or 
elsewhere. Sian Byrne, Paliani Chinguwo, Warren Mcgregor and Lucien van der Walt tell of 
the powerful struggles that lie behind its existence, and the organisations that created 
it and kept its meaning alive, including its roots in the radical working class struggles. 
---- WHY MAY DAY MATTERS TO BOTSWANA ---- Sian Byrne, Paliani Chinguwo, Warren Mcgregor 
and Lucien van der Walt ---- Mmegi, volume 30, number 65, (Botswana), pp. 8-9, 3 May 2013 
---- May Day, international workers day, started as a global general strike commemorating 
five anarchist labour organisers executed in 1887 in the USA. Mounting the scaffold, 
August Spies declared:'If you think that by hanging us, you can stamp out the labour 
movement - the movement from which the downtrodden millions, the millions who toil and 
live in want and misery - the wage slaves - expect salvation - if this is your opinion, 
then hang us! Here you will tread upon a spark, but there, and there, and behind you and 
in front of you, and everywhere, flames will blaze up. It is a subterranean fire. You 
cannot put it out.'

Anarchist* roots

May Day's roots in the revolutionary workers' movement are often forgotten. It arose from 
the anarchist movement - anarchism is often misunderstood. Anarchists like Spies wanted 
society to be run by the ordinary workers and farmers, not capitalists or state officials. 
In place of the masses being ruled and exploited from above, society and workplaces should 
be run through people's councils and assemblies, based on participatory democracy and 
self-management.

Anarchism was a global mass movement from the 1870s, including in the USA. Its stress on 
struggle from below for a radically democratic socialist society appealed to the oppressed 
in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas.

The 1880s USA looked like China today: massive factories, poverty, slums, and the 
oppressed working class under the boots of the powerful, wealthy elite. Anarchist workers 
fought back. They were central to the US-wide general strike of May 1, 1886, involving 
300,000 workers. Unions demanded the eight-hour working day, and justice for the masses.

Storm centre

Chicago was the storm centre: the third largest US city, where the elite flaunted its 
wealth in the face of poor American and immigrant workers. Chicago saw the largest May 1, 
demonstrations, against the backdrop of terrible working conditions and poverty, worsened 
by economic depression.

The power of the Chicago movement rested not just on numbers, but also on revolutionary 
ideas. It was the anarchist International Working People's Association (IWPA) that led the 
massive march of 80,000 people through Chicago, growing during the following days to 
100,000.IWPA leadership included black women like ex-slave Lucy Parsons, immigrant workers 
like Spies, and Americans like Oscar Neebe and Albert Parsons.

Its Pittsburgh Proclamation called for 'the destruction of class rule through energetic, 
relentless, revolutionary and international action' and 'equal rights for all without 
distinction of sex or race.' Internationalist in outlook, the IWPA and the Chicago-based 
anarchist Central Labour Union (CLU) it led, fought for all working and poor people, 
regardless of race or nationality. It published 14 newspapers, organised armed 
self-defence and mass movements, and created a rich tapestry of revolutionary 
counter-culture like music.

Anarchists rejected elections in favour of mass organising and education. Elections, the 
IWPA said, achieved nothing much: the state was part of the system of elite rule; 
politicians were corrupted into the ruling elite. Instead, most IWPA activists stressed 
unions as the basis for genuine workers' and farmers' democracy: unions should undertake 
factory occupations, leading to an anarchist (free) society.

Haymarket Martyrs

On May 3, Chicago strikers fought with scabs; police killed two strikers; the IWPA called 
a mass protest against police brutality at Haymarket Square. Here, an unknown person threw 
a bomb at police, who then shot dead many workers.The Chicago elite used the clash to 
crackdown on anarchists. After a blatantly biased trial, eight anarchists were convicted 
of murder, falsely blamed against all evidence for the bombing.

Spies, Albert Parsons, George Engel and Adolph Fischer were hanged in 1887. Louis Lingg 
committed suicide instead. Samuel Fielden, Neebe and Michael Schwab got life 
sentences.Rebuilding, anarchists and other socialists formed the Socialist International 
in 1889. This proclaimed May Day as Workers Day, a global general strike to commemorate 
the Haymarket Martyrs, fight for eight-hours, and build global workers unity.

So May Day began as an example of globalisation-from-below. And it continues to be a 
rallying point for workers everywhere, facing social and economic injustices 120 years on.

Struggles in Botswana

Batswana migrant workers have a long history of involvement in May Day struggles in 
Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. This is not surprising: until the 1970s, most waged 
workers worked outside Botswana.The achievement of May Day inside Botswana would take far 
longer. Independence in 1966 opened a period of stable parliamentary rule, but it did not 
solve widespread local poverty and inequality.

A teachers' association was formed in 1937, and the first proper union, the Francistown 
African Employees Union was founded in 1948. The 1960s saw the formation of the 
Bechuanaland Trade Union Congress in 1962, and the rival Bechuanaland Federation of Labour 
in 1965. But unions remained weak into the 1970s. Workplaces were small; the agricultural 
sector remained huge; trade union legislation also created obstacles to unions operating, 
while banning political and sympathy strikes.

A new Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) was formed in 1977, but there were only 
eight registered unions, with less than 6,000 members combined, a year later.However, the 
working class in Botswana was growing rapidly, especially on mines and in the state 
sector. The number employed locally for wages rose from 10,000 in 1960, to 60,000 in 1978 
- topping the 40,000 Botswana workers in South Africa.

In 1975, Botswana was shaken by a strike of unprecedented scale and violence at the 
Selebi-Pikwe copper-nickel mine, opening a new chapter of class struggle. The paramilitary 
Police Mobile Unit was used; workers were fired and then selectively rehired.But the first 
campaign for a May Day followed the strike. Initiated by the opposition Botswana National 
Front (BNF), it involved demonstrations.

May Day 1978 saw workers demonstrate in Gaborone, with banners supporting May Day, and 
criticising government. That evening saw a commemoration at the Botswana Trade Union 
Education Centre, formed in 1971. A petition was prepared, calling for an industrial 
court, a Ministry of Labour to deal with labour issues, and a reduction in wage differentials.

In 1979, the BFTU held a May Day event, where it hosted Public Service and Information 
Minister, Daniel Kwelagobe, as guest. He was presented with a memorandum, including 
demands for May Day to be an official holiday and for changes in the bargaining system. 
However, none of these initiatives were successful.

Escalating struggles

The 1980s saw the unions take a tougher stand, as relations with the state worsened. They 
opposed new laws enabling employers to prosecute union actions, enabling easy dismissals, 
and giving the Minister of Home Affairs extensive powers to intervene in unions - 
especially around politics.

Meanwhile, May Day celebrations continued to be held, although the day was not recognized 
by the state. In 1989, the government Manual Workers' Union (MWU) used the May Day events 
to criticize plans for privatisation.

In 1995, the MWU congress demanded that May Day be recognised, and that Botswana ratify 
all the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions. Also present at this congress 
were unions from Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe - a sign of the growing power 
of unions in the region. In the late 1990s, the ILO listed unions in South Africa, 
Swaziland and Zimbabwe as among the fastest growing in the world.

Today, tomorrow

Finally, in 1996, May Day was proclaimed as a public holiday in Botswana. However, many 
problems remain. May Day has subsequently been used to fan the flames of discontent. In 
2001, for instance, the MWU reiterated the demand that ILO standards be adopted. Wages 
remain low, causing strikes in the mines and unrest in the state sector. The economy is 
growing rapidly, but inequality is high. In agriculture, land and cattle are often 
centralised in the hands of a few, pushing more people into wage labour. Privatisation 
plans remain in place. And as in the SADC region more generally, the 8-hour day is still 
not a reality.

Conclusion: May Day today

The Haymarket Tragedy remains a symbol of countless struggles against capitalism, the 
state and oppression. Freedoms won in recent times rest on the sacrifices of martyrs like 
the IWPA anarchists, and on Botswana's workers in 1948, 1975 and in subsequent years.

May Day is a symbol of the unshakeable power of working class solidarity, and of 
remembrance for martyrs. It can serve as a rallying point for new anti-capitalist, 
participatory-democratic left resistance.We need to defend and extend the legacy of the 
Haymarket affair, and to build the working class as a power-from-below for social change.

AUTHORS [in 2013]: Sian Byrne works for the National Labour and Economic Development 
Institute (Naledi), South Africa. Warren Mcgregor is an activist, postgraduate and 
part-time lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; 
Lucien Van Der Walt lectures at Rhodes University, South Africa; Paliani Chinguwo is a 
researcher at Southern Africa Trade Union Coordination Council.

* For an in-depth analysis of anarchism's roots and global history: Schmidt, M. & van der 
Walt, L. (2009). Black Flame: The Revolutionary Class Politics of Anarchism and 
Syndicalism. AK Press: San Francisco.
Related Link:http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=1&aid=1035&dir=2013/May/Friday3

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