International Labour Day-
Oregon was the first state of the United
States to make it an official public
holiday. By the time it became an official federal
holiday in 1894,
thirty U.S. states officially celebrated Labor Day. Thus by 1887 in North America, Labor Day was an established, official
holiday but in September, not on 1 May.
1 May was
chosen to be International Workers' Day to commemorate the 4 May 1886 Haymarket
affair in Chicago.
The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike
for the eight-hour
workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at the police. The
police responded by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators. The following day on 5 May in Milwaukee Wisconsin, the state militia
fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man
feeding chickens in his yard.
May Day has been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist and
anarchist groups since the Second International. May Day is one of the most
important holidays in communist countries such as the People's Republic of China, North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union.
May Day celebrations in these countries typically feature elaborate workforce
parades, including displays of military hardware and soldiers.
In 1955, the Catholic
Church dedicated 1 May
to "Saint Joseph the
Worker". Saint Joseph is the patron saint of workers and craftsmen, among others.
During the Cold War,
May Day became the occasion for large military parades in Red Square by the Soviet Union and attended by the top leaders of the Kremlin,
especially the Politburo,
atop Lenin's Mausoleum. It became an enduring symbol
of that period.
Today, the
majority of countries around the world celebrate a workers' day on May 1.
