Zenroren Members Celebrate May Day in Chicago, Birthplace of the World Labor Holiday

A delegation of 74 members of Zenroren, the progressive Japanese labor federation, participated in a variety of May Day events in Chicago, where they were guests of the UE Western Region. They joined in a massive rally and march through downtown by Chicago-area workers, estimated to number between 50,000 and 100,000, for immigrant rights. The speakers included Zenroren Vice President Tamiko Komatsu, who was introduced by UE Western Region President Carl Rosen.  Shown in the top photo are members of Zenroren and UE in the march from Union Park to Daley Plaza.

Earlier that day, Vice President Komatsu dedicated a plaque, expressing Zenroren's solidarity with workers' struggles in the U.S. and worldwide, on the base of the Haymarket Memorial sculpture at Haymarket Square. Shown in the second photo are Komatsu with Chicago Federation of Labor Secretary-Treasurer Jorge Ramirez and Al Martin, Field Director for the Illinois AFL-CIO. The plaque was designed by UE.

The monument, sculpted by Mary Brogger in 2004, marks the site of the May 4, 1886 labor rally for the eight-hour workday. The explosion of a bomb, which killed police officers and civilians, was blamed on labor activists, seven of whom were arrested and four executed. The Haymarket events gave rise to annual labor protests and celebrations around the world on May 1, which became the international workers’ holiday. On each May Day since 2004 a new solidarity plaque from an international labor group has been added to the base of the statue.

Photo credits: Carl Rosen; Karmen Ortloff of the Illinois Labor History Society.

Below: Video on the the May Day celebration produced by Chicago's Labor Beat.