Every May 1st, the workers from around the world commemorate the great event that is a demonstration of the workers in the United States in 1886, which demanded the implementation of eight hours of work. This demand associated with the current environment, when the workers were forced to work for 12 to 16 hours per day.
The first strike of the working class in the United States occurred in 1806 by workers Cordwainers. The strike brought to who court and also raised the fact that the working class in that era worked from 19 to 20 hours a day. Since then, the struggle to demand reduction working hours become a common agenda of the working class in the United States.
There are two people that is considered to have contributed an idea to honor the workers, Peter McGuire and Matthew Maguire, a machine worker from Paterson, New Jersey. In 1872, McGuire and 100,000 workers went on strike demanding a decrease in working hours. He went on talking with the workers and unemployed people, lobbying the city government to provide jobs and overtime pay. McGuire became known as "bullies peace of society."In 1881, McGuire moved to St. Louis. Louis, Missouri and began to organize carpenters. Finally established a unity consisting of a carpenter in Chicago, with McGuire as Secretary General of "United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America." The idea of organizing workers according to their trades spread around the country. McGuire and laborers in other cities planned a holiday for workers on the first Monday in September in between Independence Day and Thanksgiving Day.
On September 5, 1882, the first Labor Day parade was held in New York City with 20,000 participants carrying banners that read 8 hours, 8 hours rest, 8 hours recreation. Maguire and McGuire played a key role in organizing this parade. In subsequent years, the idea spread and all states celebrated.
In 1887, Oregon became the first state to make it a public holiday. In 1894. Presider Grover Cleveland signed a law that made the first week of September, official national public holiday.
First International Congress was held in September 1866 in Geneva, Switzerland, attended by various elements of workers' organizations around the world. Congress sets a demand to reduce working hours to eight hours a day, the previous (still in the same year) has made the National Labor Union in the U.S.: As these constraints represent the general demands of the United States working class, the changing demands of the congress has become common ground the working class worldwide.
One may set as the day the world working class struggle in the Congress of 1886 by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions for, besides giving the moment demands eight hours a day, give a new spirit of working class struggle that reached a massive in that era. May 1 was chosen because in 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, inspired by the success of labor action in Canada in 1872 [1], requires eight hours of work in the United States and entered into force on May 1, 1886.
On May 1, 1886, approximately 400,000 workers in the United States held a huge demonstration to demand the reduction of their working hours to 8 hours a day. This action lasted for 4 days from the date of May 1.
Large demonstrations that took place since April 1886 was initially supported by around 250 thousand workers. Within two weeks enlarged to around 350 thousand workers. City of Chicago is the heart of the movement followed by about 90 thousand workers. In New York, the same demonstration was followed by about 10 thousand workers, in Detroit followed by 11 thousand workers. Demonstrations also spread to various cities such as Louisville and Baltimore demonstration unite white and black workers. Until May 1, 1886, demonstrations spread from Maine to Texas, and from New Jersey to Alabama, followed by half a million workers in the country. These developments also provoked a great reaction from the business people and local government officials at that time. Through Chicago's Commercial Club, spent approximately U.S. $ 2,000 to purchase equipment in order to deal with machine gun demonstrations.
Peaceful demonstration demanding the reduction of working hours is over with the victims and the unrest. About 180 police confronting demonstrations and ordered that the demonstrators disperse. A bomb exploded near the cordon. The police were indiscriminate firing workers who were demonstrating. As a result the victim fell from the unions on May 3, 1886, four workers were killed and dozens others injured. With alleged involvement in a bombing eight labor activists were arrested and imprisoned. As a result of this action, the police apply the prohibition against any worker demonstrations. But the workers do not simply give up and in 1888 returned to action with the same demands. In addition, also decided to re-do the demonstration on May 1, 1890.
In July 1889, the World Socialist Congress held in Paris to set the events in the U.S. on May 1 as a day of workers of the world and passed a resolution containing:
A large international action should be organized on one particular day in which all countries and cities at the same time, on a day mutually agreed, all the workers demanded that the government is legally reduce working hours to 8 hours per day, and carry out all the results of the Congress International Labour France.
This resolution received a warm welcome from many countries and since 1890, the 1st of May, which is termed the May Day, celebrated by the workers in various countries, despite they got strong pressure from their government.
