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From Easter to May Day

Michael Ceraolo

A hundred of us left Massillon, Ohio
on Easter Sunday, March 25, 1894,
accompanied by a large contingent of reporters
(twelve of whom would make it the entire way),
and began the trek to our nation’s capital

When asked the purpose of this I answered
“The aim and object of this march to Washington
has been to awaken the attention
of the whole people to a sense of their duty
in impressing upon Congress the necessity
for giving immediate relief
to the four million of unemployed people”

This went against the grain of the times:
once you’d made it you weren’t supposed
to concern yourself with those who hadn’t
But in my forty years on Earth
I hadn’t always been successful;
I’d had some tough times
during the depression twenty years earlier,
and I remembered what that was like
and wondered why many others didn’t

The march was also the first instance
of what would become much more common
during the next century and more,
and
for the march itself and the idea behind it
the papers said I was a
“Candidate for an Asylum”
that we were
“Populists of the lowest grade”
and,
with the inevitable personalization
of large economic issues,
that I was guilty of “Coxey’s Folly”

The papers seemed surprised
that in many places along the way
people came out to cheer us and feed us,
voluntarily,
but they didn’t realize
that at the same time they were ridiculing us
their articles were turning the unemployed
from abstract concept into human beings

Of course,
we couldn’t and didn’t always count
on being fed at no cost to us,
so
periodically I left the march
to undertake fund-raising duties,
taking the train to various locations
and returning as soon as the work was done

Others joined the march along the route:
we were up to about 270
around Homestead and Pittsburgh,
including,
depending on which report you believe,
either Frick’s or Carnegie’s nephew

During the march many would walk with us
part of the way in a show of solidarity,
then return to their regular lives;
the numbers reported reflected
the total of permanent marchers
As we neared Washington
that number was around 350;
in the city we picked up many more
so that the final stretch to the Capitol
had between 500 and 600,
again depending on which report you believe

We made it to the Capitol on Tuesday,
May 1st as we had planned
And although
“The Constitution of the United States
guarantees to all citizens the right
to peaceably assemble and petition
for redress of grievances,
and furthermore declares that
the right of free speech shall not be abridged”
I was not permitted to speak,
was in fact arrested
for attempting to do so

One of the advantages of a long life
(I lived to be ninety-seven)
is seeing some things you dreamed become reality
Improving the nation’s roads, specifically,
and the general idea that the government
had a role to play in alleviating unemployment
both eventually came about
And fifty years later I was even
allowed to give the planned speech
before Congress
Here’s part of it:

“We have come here through toil and weary march,
through storms and tempests,
over mountains
and amid the trials of poverty and distress
at the doors of Congress
in the name of Him whose banners we bear,
in the name of Him who pleaded
for the poor and the oppressed,
that they should heed the voice
of distress and despair that is now
coming up from every section of our country,
that they should consider the conditions
of the unemployed of our land
and enact such laws as will give them employment,
bring happier conditions to the people,
and the smile of contentment to our citizens”

“In doing so,
we appeal to every peace-loving citizen,
every liberty-loving man or woman,
every one in whose breast the fires of patriotism
and love of country have not died out,
to assist us in our efforts
toward better laws and general benefits”



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