May Day

International Worker’s Day
The History and Meaning behind the Holiday

The International Worker’s Day, synonymous to May Day, is celebrated annually on the 1st of May and marks the milestones of the Labor Movement. The Labor movement or Labour movement is a broad term for the progress of working people, who fought for equivalent status from their employers and political governments in terms of wages, deference and treatment.

History

The Labor movement initiated at the time of Industrial Revolution, when majority of jobs switched from the Agricultural to the Industrial sector. This was met with great resistance. In the 18th and early 19th century groups such as Tolpuddle Martyrs of Tolpuddle, Dorset were penalized for forming unions which were against the laws of time. The movement gained major momentum with the publication of Pope Leo XIII's document, “Rerum Novarum” also known as “On the Condition of the Working Classes,” in which he advocated a series of reforms including limits on the length of the work day, a living wage, the elimination of child labor, the rights of labor to organize, and the duty of the state to regulate labor conditions. Following the release of the document, the labor movement which had previously floundered began to flourish in Europe and later in North America.

Throughout the world, activity by the labour movement has led to reforms and workers' rights, such as the 2-day weekend, minimum wage, paid holidays, and the achievement of the eight-hour day for many workers. There have been many important labour activists in modern history who have caused changes that were revolutionary at the time and are now regarded as basic.

The 8 Hour Day has been the most memorable achievement so far in the history of Worker Rights’ Riots.

Origin

The International Worker’s day originated in the United States of America, just like Baseball and Apple Pie did. Working conditions in the 19th century were not as pleasant as they are now. People worked at an average of 12-18 hours a day, which is now considered as exploitation of human resources. People were over-worked and under-paid. Many people suffered to death due to heavy working and most of the deaths occurred at workplaces. Child Labour was common and lives were miserable. Life expectancy rate declined to as low as 20 years. People wanted a revolution and that’s when the idea of socialism gained major momentum.

A variety of socialist organizations originated in the later half of the 19th century. Many socialist entered the political field, however their attempts for a change failed as the political field was dominated by big business owners, also known as anarchists.

At the National Convention at Chicago, in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886." The following year, the FOTLU earned support from many miserable laborers and decided to hold strikes in order to support their statement. An year before the Haymarket Massacre, the Anarchist Newspaper published a statement saying “Whether a man works eight hours a day or ten hours a day, he is still a slave.”

Contrary to the misleading of many anarchists, the workers continued their struggle. On May 1, 1886, more than 3,00,000 workers from 10,000 businesses walked out of their jobs in the celebration of the first May Day or Worker’s Day. Within the next two days, the no. of workers who left their jobs kept springing up. Soon a riot broke out and people opposed the police with stones in their hands, to which the police answered with gun fired. About two people were killed and many were wounded in this incident.

Enraged due to the violence around, a public meeting was called at Haymarket. Unfortunately due to the bad weather, only about 3000 people reported out of the tens of thousands that were expected. The crowd remained calm, as the speaker August Spies made "no suggestion... for immediate use of force or violence toward any person..."

As the speech lulled, two detectives reported to the police that “inflammatory” words are being used at the public meeting. The police was quick in action and reached the public square. While the police attempted to disassemble the crowd, a bomb was thrown at the police, which ignited violence, resulting in the death of about seven policemen and about a dozen other people, leaving many severely wounded.

Later it was found out that the bomb was thrown directly or indirectly by one of the anarchist due to which twelve of the suspected anarchists were given death sentences.

After-Effects

Since then, Worker’s Day is celebrated every year on May 1. This day is officially celebrated in 66 countries and unofficially in many others. The US government tried to curb Worker’s Day from public memories by establishing “Law and Order Day” on May 1. Worker’s Day gives us the message to fight for our freedom, our rights and our respect. It is due to the efforts of millions that today we are working like humans rather than slaves and celebrating a holiday. This day marks the efforts of millions in their struggle for justice.