We explain what Labor Day is, why it is commemorated on May 1 and what were the events that occurred in May 1886.
What is Labor Day?
It is known as International Labor Day, International Workers' Day or May Day, a public holiday of an international nature, which commemorates the struggle of the labor movement world in favor of better living conditions and job. It is celebrated every year on May 1st.
Labor Day is a national holiday in most of the countries of the world, much used by protest movements and workers' organizations to carry out demonstrations, rallies and other protest events.
Its establishment in the calendar took place in 1889, during the Socialist Workers' Congress of the Second International, which was held in the Paris of the time. The day chosen was intended to pay tribute to the "Chicago Martyrs" of the Haymarket Revolt of 1886.
Although this commemoration is common in many countries of the world, in others of Anglo-Saxon tradition, it is chosen instead to celebrate the Laboy Day (“Labor Day”) on the first Monday in September of each year, since the end of the 19th century.
The reason for this different date is that the US president at the time, Grover Cleveland, feared that assuming May 1 as the date would give more influence to the international communist and anarchist movements in his country. In these countries the commemoration of May 1 is known as May Day ("May Day").
History of Labor Day
To tell the story of Labor Day it is necessary to go back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the United States was a country in full and frenzy industrialization. Chicago was the second most populous city in the country and exerted a continuous attraction on unemployed ranchers and immigrants from other countries, seeking to integrate into the recently created working class.
At that time, workers worked grueling days of 12 to 18 hours of work, which not only consumed most of their day, but also left little time for other types of activities, including rest. It is there that from 1829 the labor movements began the struggle for a new, more humane day: eight hours of work, eight hours of rest and eight hours of leisure.
Already in some laws There was a ban on 18-hour workdays, "except in cases of necessity," which fined any employer who forced their employees to work such a shift with 25 dollars.
In fact, under pressure from the American Federation of Labor, origins anarchists or socialists, many of the governments US provincial governments implemented maximum working hours of between 8 and 10 hours, but always leaving clauses of exceptionality that allowed their increase to 14 and 18 hours. This was due to the Ingersoll Act enacted by President Andrew Jackson.
Considering their expectations and demands mocked, around 200,000 workers began a strike on Saturday, May 1, 1886. The protests continued on May 2 and 3, especially in Chicago, a city where the availability of workforce it caused workers to be subjected to even worse working conditions.
In this context, the Helmans agricultural machinery factory was the only one in operation in the city. He did this by hiring scabs to replace his traditional workers, who had been on strike since February, in opposition to the employer's decision to subtract them from their jobs. wages the cost of building a church.
The fight between strikebreakers and protesters did not take long, and on May 2 the police violently interrupted the strike, killing 6 and wounding dozens.
But the protests continued, and on May 4, 1886, they were centralized in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Around 20,000 people were in the square, in which an act of protest took place between 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. But in view of the fact that at the end of that hour the protesters did not disperse on their own, 180 police officers decided to attack them.
Then one of the protesters threw an explosive device at the police, killing one of the officers, which was responded to by the police with fire at will.
The exact number of those killed by the police is unknown to this day, in addition to those arrested, beaten, tortured and accused of murder, in a trial years later described as illegitimate and malicious, in which three workers were sentenced to prison. and death to another five. The sentences were carried out in November 1887.
The eight-hour workday was finally achieved in 1886, thanks to the massive organization of militant workers and unions union. This marked a before and after in the history of the labor movement, and that is why in 1889 the day of the start of the protests was consecrated as International Workers' Day.