From different neighborhoods, thousands participate in a May Day parade, with arrests for flying the red flag, and evening celebrations at a half dozen Chicago halls in 1906.

‘May Day in Chicago’ from The Chicago Socialist. Vol. 6 Nos. 373 & 374. April 28 & May 5, 1906.  

The committee on arrangements for the May Day celebration have perfected all arrangements to fittingly celebrate labor’s international holiday in Chicago next Tuesday.

They have secured from the park commissioners all the privileges desired for the use of Douglas Park for the exercises in the afternoon, where the several divisions of the parade will converge.

The following halls have been selected as the points from which the different divisions of the parade will start:

First Division.

The first division of the parade will start from Central Labor Union Hall, 55 North Clark street, as soon after 2 o’clock as possible. This division will consist of the several labor unions on the North Side and all Socialist party members on the North and Northwest Sides.

Second Division.

The second division will start from Apollo Hall, Twelfth street and Blue Island avenue. This division will consist of the Jewish workers and Socialist party members from the Northwest Side who live in that vicinity.

Third Division.

The third division, consisting of the Bohemian unions and Socialists and members of all Southwest Side Socialist branches, will start from the office of the Bohemian Socialist daily paper, “Spravedlnost,” corner Eighteenth and Loomis streets.

The different divisions of the parade will assemble at 2 p.m. May 1, and proceed to Douglas Park as soon after that time as possible.

The Evening Program.

The committee on arrangements have secured the following halls in which the evening portion of the program will be carried out.

Social Turner Hall.

The program at Social Turner Hall, corner Belmont and Paulina streets, will consist of speeches in English and German, followed by a good program of music, recitations and a turner exhibition. Comrade Peter Knickrehm will speak in German and Seymour Stedman in English.

Ulich’s–Both Halls.

Uhlich’s, both halls, located at 27 North Clark street, have been secured by the committee for the evening of the first of May. At these halls the program will consist of vocal and instrumental music, recitations and turning exhibitions. There will be speaking in both English and German. Albert Eisemann and Arthur Strum will speak in German and T.J. Morgan and Peter Sissman in English.

Metropolitan Hall.

At the Metropolitan Hall Abraham Kohn, editor of the Jewish Vorwaerts and Peter Sissman will be the speakers of the evening. A good program of music, recitations and other entertaining features has been arranged to follow the speaking.

Italia Hall.

The speakers at Italia Hall, corner of Allport and 18th street, will be Frank Hlovack and K. Pergler in Bohemian and in English J.M. Barnes, National Secretary of the Socialist party. The speaking will be interspersed by an entertaining program arranged by the Bohemian comrades.

Einigkeit Turner Hall.

The speakers at Einigkeit Turner Hall will be S. Dreiffus in German. Carl Stover and J.M. Barnes in English. A good program of general entertainment will also be rendered.

Vorwaerts Turner Hall.

The program at Vorwarts Turner Hall on 12th street will consist of vocal and instrumental music, turning exhibitions, etc. Speeches will be delivered in German by Jacob Willig and in English by Mrs. Corinne S. Brown and A.W. Mance, editor of the Chicago Socialist.

Freiheit Turner Hall.

At the Freiheit Turner 1237 S Halsted street, speeches will be delivered by C.L. Breckon and Carl Strover in English and Comrade Charles Fritz in German, followed by a good program of music, recitations, etc.

Badges and Buttons.

The arrangement committee has had a special May Day badge printed with appropriate wording and the Socialist emblem on it. These badges will be sold for ten cents each, and the session of one of them will entitle the possessor to entrance without further charge to any of the halls in the evening.

The following comrades have been selected as marshals of the parade: Peter Knickrehm, Geo. Koop, Carl Strover, Henry Kraft and Fred Scholl.

The committee on arrangements will be at the Socialist party headquarters every afternoon and evening from 4 to 8 o’clock to complete all the details to make the May Day celebration a success.

May Day Celebrated in Chicago. May 5, 1906.

Socialists and different progressive trade unionists celebrated May Day in Chicago last Tuesday by several parades which converged at Douglas Park. The different divisions of the parade from various parts of the city assembled at the hails as announced in last week’s Chicago Socialist and proceeded to Douglas Park, where they listened to speeches in the various languages.

It is estimated by the different news papers that there were between four and five thousand men in the different divisions of the parade, despite the fact that it was raining or threatening to rain all day.

Police Interfere.

The only unpleasant incident of the whole day’s proceeding was the needless and unwarranted interference by the police in the matter of displaying of red banners. The committee on arrangements had secured permission from the chief of police to hold the parade and from the park commissioners to assemble In the park.

When the various detachments assembled in front of their balls and were forming in line with their union and society banners the committee was informed by the police that they had instructions from their superior officers not to permit any red banners of any description whatever to be displayed in the parades.

The officer in charge of the police squad was informed that it was our understanding of the law that with the American flag displayed at the head of the procession we were entitled to display our party and union banners in the parade. We also pointed out to the officer that the banners that were being displayed were not red flags, but union banners with inscriptions on them. To this the officer replied that he had his orders from his superior to allow no red flags of any description to be displayed in the May day parade.

The police then ordered that the union and society banners be taken down, which order was complied with.

Some of the detachments were permitted to proceed to the park with their banners displayed without any interference by the police.

With very few exceptions the paraders, to the demands of the police and furled the red banners under protest. And despite the lying headlines of a sensational “extra” yellow edition of Hearst’s Chicago American announcing a “bloody riot” in progress and the arrest of twelve men, there was, as a matter of fact, only one arrest throughout the whole day and evening.

A Polish branch of the parade proceeding along Ashland avenue displayed a banner of the Polish branch of the Socialist party, on which the words “Workingmen of all countries unite,” were inscribed, was halted by the police and Comrade Wladzilinski, who was bearing the banner, was arrested, and with the banner taken to the West Lake street police station, where after some time, he was booked on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Several comrades, among whom were Fred Schall, Ernest Bulher and John Vogt, went along to the police station and soon arranged bail for our comrade. Comrade Vogt, being a property holder, was accepted as bondsman.

Wednesday morning Comrade T.J. Morgan appeared at the police court to defend Comrade Wladzilinski when the case was called. The witnesses for the prosecution all testified that they did not see the accused do anything more “disorderly” than bolding the banner in the parade.

Comrade Morgan asked the court if he was inclined to consider that disorderly conduct, and the court admitted that he was inclined that way.

Comrade Morgan explained to the court that this parade had been arranged by the Socialist party and that they had a permit from the chief of police to hold it. He further explained to the court that the banner in question was in no sense an emblem of anarchy, but the emblem of an orderly legal political party that had polled over 27,000 votes at the election in Chicago a few weeks ago.

This statement by the defendant’s attorney set the court to thinking some more on what constitutes disorderly conduct, and be continued the case until Wednesday, May 9.

The Evening Exercises.

In the evening the workers in the various parts of the city assembled in the halls in their vicinity and listened to speeches, singing, recitations, etc.

Despite bad weather, police interference and some lack of proper preliminary arrangements in detail, the celebration labor’s international holiday was a success.

The principal meetings in the evening were held at Uhlich’s, Metropolitan and Freiheit Halls, all of which were well attended by enthusiastic audiences.

The speakers at Uhlich’s Hall were T.J. Morgan and A. Eisemann in English and Anton Strum in German. A collection of $15.75 for the defense of Moyer and Haywood was taken up. The music at this meeting was furnished by the Liedertafel Freiheit.

The principal speaker of the evening at Metropolitan Hall was Abe Kahan, editor of the Jewish Vorwaerts. He spoke on the significance of May day world over and held his audience spell-bound for over two hours.

The speakers at the Freiheit Turner Hall were Chas. L. Breckon in English and Chas, Fritz in German. with music by the Juvenile Drum and Fife Corps.

With the experience gained this year we should be able to arrange for a May day celebration in Chicago next year that will eclipse anything of the kind on the continent.

The Chicago Socialist, sometimes daily sometimes weekly, was published from 1902 until 1912 as the paper of the Chicago Socialist Party. The roots of the paper lie with Workers Call, published from 1899 as a Socialist Labor Party publication, becoming a voice of the Springfield Social Democratic Party after splitting with De Leon in July, 1901. It became the Chicago Socialist Party paper with the SDP’s adherence and changed its name to the Chicago Socialist in March, 1902. In 1906 it became a daily and published until 1912 by Local Cook County of the Socialist Party and was edited by A.M. Simons if the International Socialist Review. A cornucopia of historical information on the Chicago workers movements lies within its pages.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/workers-call-chicago-socialist/060428-chicagosocialist-v06w373.pdf

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/workers-call-chicago-socialist/060505-chicagosocialist-v06w374.pdf