How Labour Day and May Day Became Workers' Holidays
From the Haymarket affair to a global movement for the eight-hour day
·2 min read·541 words
The Fight for Eight Hours
In the 1880s, the average American industrial worker put in 10 to 16 hours a day, six days a week. The movement for an eight-hour workday had been building since the 1860s, but it reached a critical mass in 1886 when the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions called for a general strike on May 1st.
On that date, an estimated 300,000 workers across the United States walked off their jobs. In Chicago, the centre of the movement, 40,000 workers struck. Protests continued for several days.
The Haymarket Affair
On May 4, 1886, a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago turned deadly. As police moved to disperse the crowd, someone threw a dynamite bomb. The explosion and subsequent gunfire killed seven police officers and at least four civilians. Eight anarchist labour organisers were arrested and convicted in a controversial trial. Four were hanged, one died by suicide in his cell, and three were later pardoned by Governor John Peter Altgeld, who declared the trial unjust.
The Haymarket affair became a global cause. In 1889, the International Socialist Congress in Paris declared May 1st as International Workers' Day, choosing the date to honour the Chicago martyrs. Within a decade, May Day rallies were held across Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
Why America Chose September
The United States, where the movement began, chose a different date. President Grover Cleveland, wary of associating a federal holiday with the radical labour movement and the Haymarket bombing, signed legislation in 1894 making the first Monday in September a federal holiday. The immediate trigger was the Pullman Strike of 1894, a nationwide railroad shutdown that Cleveland crushed with federal troops, killing 30 workers. Facing backlash, he pushed the holiday through Congress within six days as a concession to organised labour.
Canada had already established its Labour Day on the same September date in 1872, following a printers' strike in Toronto. The proximity of the two nations made alignment natural.
May Day Around the World
Europe
In France, May 1st has been a public holiday since 1947, and the tradition of giving lily of the valley flowers dates to 1561. In Germany, Tag der Arbeit features rallies and family festivals. Scandinavia combines workers' rights marches with spring celebrations.
Latin America and Asia
Cuba, China, Vietnam, and most Latin American countries observe May 1st with state-sponsored parades. In the Philippines, workers march to Malacanang Palace. In India, May Day is a public holiday in several states, particularly those with strong union traditions like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The Legacy
The eight-hour day, weekends, workplace safety regulations, and the abolition of child labour all trace their origins to the movements that May Day and Labour Day commemorate. Today, the holidays serve different functions in different countries -- a day of political protest in some, a quiet long weekend in others -- but they share a common root in the simple demand that work should not consume a human life entirely.
Whether marching through Berlin on May 1st or grilling in a backyard on the first Monday of September, the underlying message is the same: workers deserve rest, dignity, and a fair share of the wealth they create.