Mass Protests of Workers in America Begin - World Report - World

International Labour Day is marked by organized protests and rallies all over the world.

Labour Day has its roots in the American workers' movement in the 19th century. Interestingly, Americans celebrate their Labour Day in September, even though May 1 in fact sprang from the violent protests that took place in America, at Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886.

Communist holiday?

The U.S.A. celebrates Labour Day on the first Monday in September. It used to be celebrated on the first of May in America, but this changed when it became an official holiday in communist countries, especially in the Soviet Union. In 2006, immigrant workers chose the date for the Great American Boycott, to express discontent with the way they were treated by the government. They say that the first of May was chosen deliberately for the first general strike.

Mass protests in America

Labour unions across America started a general strike on May 1, 1886. They sought the standard eight hour work day. The protests spread across the entire country and, within days, 350,000 people from 1,200 factories went on strike. A few days later, riots started at Haymarket Square in Chicago. About 90,000 people participated. The night before, several workers gathered in front of the McCormick Harvesting Machine factory and a fight broke out. The Chicago police attacked the workers. They killed four strikers, wounded several of them and this motivated the workers all over the city to organize a mass protest.

The rally was peaceful at first. August Spies held a speech and the police monitored everything from the side. After a while, the police ordered the rally to dissolve and started marching straight toward the place where the speech was being held. Someone threw a bomb in their direction and killed an officer. They immediately returned fire. Seven police officers and at least four workers were killed in the crossfire. There is no accurate data on the number of the dead and the wounded because the workers were afraid to ask for medical assistance for fear of being arrested.

Death penalty

Eight people were convicted for the murder of a police officer, even though there were witnesses who claimed that the strikers had had nothing to do with the throwing of the bomb. Seven of them were sentenced to death. The penalty caused outrage and protests worldwide, which made the prisoners working people's heroes. After numerous appeals, two of the workers who were on death row were sentenced to life. Lawyers call the trial one of the biggest failures on the U.S. judiciary in history.

Official Labour Day

To commemorate the events in Chicago, numerous workers' protests and conferences were held in later years, such as the First Congress of the Second Internationa, the 100th anniversary celebration of the French revolution and the great workers' protesst in 1894 and 1919. These events were so successful that the first of May was officially recognized as Labour Day at the Second Congress of the International in 1891.

In communist countries such as China and Cuba, Labour Day is an important public holiday. In other countries, the working class had to fight for a long time to make May Day an official holiday.