International Workers Day
This content was taken/modified from a email I sent on 5/1/25.
International Workers Day is also known as Labour Day in some countries - this should not be confused with the United States’ Labor Day, which is celebrated on the first Monday in September. Both holidays are meant to celebrate the importance of workers and trade unions in our world - it is thought that President Grover Cleveland supported the September version of the holiday so that there would not be an opportunity for trade unions to recognize the Haymarket Massacre on an annual basis.
I briefly mentioned the Haymarket Massacre in my March 6th email and want to expand a little more on it. Albert Parsons, Lucy Parsons, August Spies, and several other prominent labor leaders organized a series of protests and marches supporting an 8-hour workday in Chicago in May of 1886. Keep in mind that there were not many laws regulating either the number of hours people needed to work each day or the number of days each week they were expected to work. 10 hour days and 6-day weeks were common at the time - by 1880, the average workweek was 60 hours for manufacturing jobs, down from an average of 70 hours in 1830 . There were technically state laws around the country that mandated 8-hour work days as early as 1850, but these usually did not specify a maximum number of days someone would have to work each week and would often have clauses that allowed employers to ignore these rules if a worker signed an employment contract that said they would voluntarily void that right. It wasn’t until the 1920’s and 1930’s that 5-day workweeks became common, and even then they were normally 48 hours. There’s more information about working conditions in this link but my main point is that 40 hour work weeks were something unions needed to fight for, and it took years before any industry treated their demands seriously.
Regarding the actual Haymarket Incident, at a rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on May 4th, 1886, someone detonated a bomb in the crowd. Several people were killed and hundreds were injured. Police arrested 8 labor leaders, (including Albert Parsons and August Spies) in response to this - even though most had not even been present at the scene, prosecutors argued that they were responsible for the violence due to their inflammatory rhetoric and eventually all 8 were convicted on counts of “conspiracy to commit murder.” Many labor leaders saw this incident as a direct attack on organized labor and it’s hard to argue otherwise. The Chicago Commercial Club was very interested in preventing strikes related to the 8-hour workday and raised $2000 (about $65,000 in 2025 terms) to pay for new machine guns for the National Guard to use against strikers if needed. The head prosector in the case repeatedly talked about the dangers these men’s work posed to society and that the jury should “convict these men, make examples of them” in order to “save our institutions.” In addition, police and Pinkerton agents used the threat of additional violence as an excuse to raid the homes and offices of labor leaders without warrants and steal membership files. Finally, newspapers, many of which were owned by wealthy businessmen, used the Haymarket Massacre as an opportunity to demonize immigrants - almost all 8 of the men on trial were recent German immigrants and the papers ran stories about how the American labor movement was filled with violent radicals who wanted nothing more than the blood of citizens.
The tragedy of the Haymarket Massacre was both the injustice of the trial and the blow to American labor. The public turned away from labor unions due to the messaging of both the government and the newspapers, something which derailed the fight for the 8-hour workday for at least another half century. It wasn’t until 1937 (51 years later!) that the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed, making the 8-hour workday a standard.
Bringing this back to May 1st, the American Federal of Labor (the AFL) voted in 1888 to recognize May 1st as a recurring date to continue to organize around the 8-hour workday issue. One year later, the Second International, an international meeting of like-minded labor activists, met in France to discuss the international fight for a standard 8-hour day. Taking note of both the Haymarket Massacre and the AFL’s desire to hold demonstrations on May 1st of 1890, the group collectively decided to make May 1st of each year a recurring date to hold demonstrations in support of the 8-hour workday. Labor groups within dozens of countries began to organize May 1st celebrations and these were popular in the US until the 1940’s and 1950’s when federal celebrations of Law Day and Loyalty Day took focus away from the date.
Today, 160 countries recognize Labor Day on May 1st each year, something incredibly impressive when you remember there are only 195 nations on the planet. Many countries treat it as a public holiday and labor groups use it as an opportunity to hold demonstrations and marches in favor of labor rights. US Labor groups frequently do similar things in September but I think it’s nice that so many people recognize on May 1st how hard and how bloody the fight for basic working conditions was in our country - it shows that many of the issues we care about are things that impact everyone around the world, as well as how much we have in common with the workers of other nations. It also shows the importance of labor unification in the face of blowback or attempts to divide us - popular policy discussions like 40 hour workweeks were derailed for half a century by prejudice and xenophobia.
Anyway, I appreciate you reading through another brief history of the labor movement. I want to continue to recognize leaders from the past and talk about the development of basic workplace rights, so expect more of these emails throughout the year. If there are specific labor-related topics or themes you’d like me to discuss in a future email, feel free to reach out - I’m always excited to learn more about worker history and want to tailor these to member interests.
All best,