May 1st is a celebration of the international labor movement and is recognized as a national holiday in more than 80 countries worldwide. It is celebrated unofficially in many others, including the United States. In fact, May Day -- as it is commonly known – got its start here in the United States in the 1880s with a pathbreaking and historical strike for the eight-hour day.
International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. Police attempted to disperse a peaceful assembly of workers during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing a number of protestors. Organizers of the demonstration were charged with murder, though no evidence was ever found linking them to the bombing. Four of them – known as the “Haymarket Martyrs” were hung 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.
