Yes, we know September 1 is Labor Day but May 1 is International Worker’s Day and not only is it celebrated around the world by different countries, but it is also the original “Labor’s Day” and it started here, in the United States. This date was symbolic, commemorating the Haymarket affair, which took place in Chicago, in the United States, in 1886.

On May 1, 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada decided to protest and go on strike. Tired of being forced to work up to 16 hours a day in unsafe conditions, between 300,000 and 500,000 US workers went on strike in cities and towns across the U.S.

In Chicago, there was an estimated 40,000 people protesting in a well-coordinated and largely nonviolent strike. However, on May 4, in Chicago’s Haymarket Square, a bomb was thrown at the police, killing seven of them and at least four civilians.Police subsequently rounded up and arrested eight anarchists, all of whom were convicted of conspiracy. A court sentenced seven to death and one to 15 years imprisonment. Four were hanged, one committed suicide rather than face the gallows and two had their sentences commuted to life in prison. Those who died are regarded by as the “Haymarket Martyrs”.

In 1889, the Second International, the international organization for workers and socialists, declared that May 1 would from then on be International Workers’ Day.