May 1st is a global celebration of the international labor movement and is recognized as a national holiday or formally celebrated in a majority of countries worldwide. Variously called International Workers’ Day, May Day, and International Labour Day, it is celebrated unofficially in many other countries across the globe — including the United States.
May Day has its early origins in the United States, in the late 19th century, with a pathbreaking and historical strike for the eight-hour day. International Workers’ Day commemorates the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. On May 1, 1886, Chicago unionists, reformers, socialists, anarchists, and ordinary workers convened as part of a long-term organizing campaign to make Chicago the center of the national movement for an eight-hour day.
During this extended period of struggle, on the evening of May 4, 1886, Chicago police attempted to disperse a peaceful assembly of workers in Haymarket Square when an unidentified assailant threw a bomb. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing a number of protestors. Organizers of the demonstration were charged with murder — but no evidence was ever found linking them to the bombing. Four of them – known as the “Haymarket Martyrs” were hanged the following year.
In 1889, the first congress of the Second International Workingmen’s Association, meeting in Paris on the centennial of the French Revolution, called for international labor demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. Then, in 1891, May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s Second Congress. In subsequent years, the working class in many countries sought to make May Day an official holiday, and their efforts largely succeeded.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
You must be logged in to post a comment.