2024-04-30 23:03:20
This Wednesday, May 1, we are celebrating, like every year, the Labor Day; an anniversary of global importance. This day pays significant tribute to all the workers, recognizing their efforts and commitment. This global commemoration brings to the fore the ongoing fight for labor rights and dignity in the workplace, emphasizing the importance of fair working conditions.
But, Why exactly is it celebrated on May 1?
The Hay Market
To understand the origin of this celebration, we must go back to the May 1, 1886. On this day, industrial workers in all Chicago factories went on strike. Their demand was to be included in the By Ingersollsigned by President Andrew Johnson in 1868, who ordered a 8 hour work day for public employees, except in cases of absolute necessity.
During that time, in Illinois (the state to which the city of Chicago belongs), the only labor regulation for industrial workers was one that limited the workday. more than 18 hours. According to this law, if there was no valid reason to extend the working day and the worker had to work even longer, the employer had to pay $25 fine.
This strike was marked from its beginning by the violence between protesters and the police. However, the victims were not only protesters, but also the scabs who decided to stay away from the protests. On 3 May, a series of clashes took place between industrial workers who joined the strike and those who did not. As a result, the battle left this biased six dead and several dozen injured between scabs, protesters and police.
After that fateful day, an anarchist pamphlet written in German, the Chicago Workers Newspaperdistributed 25,000 copies of a proclamation calling all industrial workers in the Grass Market Square on the 4th of May. The pamphlet said: “In the face of white terror, we respond with red terror.”. Yesterday the women and children of the poor mourned their husbands and fathers, while they were in the palace of the rich toasting with expensive wine in honor of the bandits of order… Dry your tears, you who suffer! Have courage, slaves! Get up!”.
During this day, which would be called later “The Haymarket Massacre” someone hiding in the crowd threw a explosive device against a group of police officers, killing six of them and wounding sixty others. This event unleashed a wave of uncontrolled violence that ended with the police shooting indiscriminately against the protesters and arresting many of them. In all, the result of this confrontation was the 38 workers died and 115 were injured.
The response of American society and the press to the Chicago events was a heavy criticism of the “labor movement”. This reaction allowed an unfair trial against the leaders of the demonstration, although it could not be proven that they were the ones who threw the bomb. The trial began on June 21, 1886 with 31 accused, of whom 8 were ultimately convicted. The sentences varied: one defendant received 15 years of hard labour, two of life imprisonment and five were hanged.
On November 11, 1887, only four of those were executed Was put to death, since Louis Lingg committed suicide the day before. Their names were George Engel, Adolf Fischer (who wrote the pamphlet Arbeiter-Zeitung), Albert Parsons and August Spies. Spies’ last words were prophetic: “The voice that you are going to stifle will be more powerful in the future than any words that I could say now.” In fact, on the day of the execution, the streets of Chicago collapsed at a funeral parade in his honor, which brought together approx 25,000 people outraged for the events.
As time passed, a new trial examined the case and concluded that the original process it was not fair, and so, neither were the convictions. None of the evidence managed to link any of the convicted men to the May 4 explosion (Albert Parsons was not even present during the Haymarket riot). Basically, it was decided that the trial that cost the lives of the Haymarket Five was a scene, the performance of the a collective betrayal released against communist and anarchist ideas.
Years later, in 1889, the Conference of Socialist Workers of the Second International, an association of socialist, labor and anarchist parties around the world. At this conference it was ordered, from then on, to celebrate the first day of May International Workers’ Dayin memory of “the Haymarket martyrs”.
Why is May 1st not celebrated in the United States?
Although it may seem paradoxical, United States of America, where the commemoration originated, does not celebrate Labor Day on May 1 as in many other countries. Instead, it commemorates the the first Monday of September. The choice of this date is due to the deliberate intent of the US authorities distance from socialist signs associated with the celebration, which often prompts demands and mobilization from trade unions and left-wing organisations.
The choice of the first Monday in September as an alternative to Labor Day in the United States came from a proposal presented by a union leader at a meeting of the European Union. ‘Central Labor Union’ in New York City, May 8, 1882. The first Monday in September was proposed by Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Cabinetmakers and a delegate of the ‘Central Labor Union’ of New York.” as a general. holiday for the working classes”.
McGuire claimed that this day would happen “on the most pleasant season of the year, almost halfway between the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, and would fill a big gap in the national holiday calendar.” In this way, Labor Day was celebrated for the first time in this country on the first Monday of September 1882 i. New York, following the plans of the ‘Central Labor Union’ and other organizations that sought to establish a leave for workers.
#celebrated