May Day, otherwise known as International Workers’ Day, is a public holiday in many countries. It is celebrated annually on the first of May. The day is intended to be a celebration of the achievements of labour movements and workers’ unions. May Day is commemorated in many countries around the globe, one of the exceptions is the United States, which marks Labor Day, in September, instead.
It is one of life’s ironies that the United States does not celebrate May Day, as it was events in the United States which prompted the very first International Workers’ Day commemorations.
The Origins of International Workers' Day: Chicago 1886.
In 1884, The Federation of Organized Trades and Labour was campaigning for a legal limit of eight working hours per day. At this time it was not uncommon for men to work sixteen hour days, and conditions were so dangerous that many people died at their workplace.
On May 1st 1886, employees in Chicago began a strike in support of the eight hour day. It began as a peaceful protest and almost one hundred thousand men joined the strike. However, events took a turn three days later, when violence broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works, in Haymarket. Twelve protesters were shot and killed by policemen. A furore followed and in the escalating violence there were also police casualties.
But the injustice of the story does not stop there. Within days of the Haymarket massacre a group of protest’s organizers were arrested and all, except one, were sentenced to death. Oscar Neebe was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment, but he requested to be given the same fate as his fellow protesters, claiming that they were all equally innocent.
The First Commemoration of The Haymarket Massacre.
The very first International Workers’ Day, or May Day, was called for in 1890 in Paris, by the Second International. This was a day intended to commemorate the atrocities of Haymarket. The first International Workers’ Day celebrations were very successful and it was decided that it should become an annual event.
To this day there are still marches to commemorate the events of Haymarket, and in some countries bonfires are lit to remember those who died in Chicago.
How May Day is Celebrated Today.
Today May Day has become a popular day for protests, demonstrations and rallies, from a wide range of groups with varied courses. It is still chiefly used as a day for labour and trade unions, however, to make their points known.
This year will be the one hundred and nineteenth International Workers’ Day. Although the day is celebrated very differently around the world, the overriding emphasis of the day remains the same. May Day is a day of remembrance. It remains a day to commemorate the men who have changed the industrialized world for the better.
