International Workers' Day (Labor Day) with ProWater Solutions Zimbabwe
Most Zimbabweans know May 1 as Labor Day, a global holiday that commemorates the working class and organized labour around the world.
Each year, people across the globe commemorate Labor Day, also known as International Workers’ Day, with large-scale political protests (paywall) organized by socialist groups and labour unions. In many countries, May Day is an official public holiday, and workers have the day off.
Though it’s celebrated internationally, Labor Day originated in the United States and has its roots in the rise of trade unions in 19th century Chicago, their hard-fought battle for workers’ rights, and the fight for the eight-hour workday.
What is Labour Day?
Labor Day is an international holiday honouring the struggles of the working class and efforts of labor unions. International Workers’ Day was officially recognized in 1889 at the first International Socialist Congress in Paris to commemorate the Haymarket Affair—a bloody confrontation between striking union workers and Chicago police in 1886. |
| International Workers' Day (Labor Day) with ProWater Solutions Zimbabwe |
What was the Haymarket Affair?
For years, factory workers had been forced to work up to 16 hours a day in unsafe conditions. As they organized into unions, they began campaigning for an eight-hour workday.The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions chose May 1, 1886 as the date when the eight-hour day would become standard. The unions organized a general strike in support and on the first, hundreds of thousands of workers protested and held rallies across the country. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 walked off the line in Chicago alone.
What began as a peaceful protest quickly descended into bloody violence. On May 3, when workers mobbed a group of strikebreakers trying to leave a plant, Chicago police fired into a crowd, killing at least two.
Outraged labor activists, anarchists, and union workers staged a rally the next day in Haymarket Square. The event was largely calm, and crowds were beginning to disperse as the final speaker, British socialist Samuel Fielden, began his speech. According to a New York Times article from May 5, 1886 (pdf), the audience grew “wilder and more violent as he proceeded.”
Police moved to break up the remaining crowd and someone threw a homemade bomb into their path, instantly killing one officer and mortally wounding six others. Witnesses said there was an exchange of gunfire between the police and demonstrators, but it’s unclear who fired first or if any police were hit. According to historian Paul Avrich, the police fired on the fleeing protestors, reloaded, and fired again—killing at least four civilians.
Within two minutes, the entire square was empty except for the dead.
Seven policemen and at least four workers were killed, and another officer died two years later from complications relating to an injury sustained in the gunfire. Around 60 policemen were wounded, along with dozens of civilians (officials were unsure how many were actually hurt during the incident because many workers feared they’d be arrested if they sought medical treatment).
Eight anarchist activists were found guilty of murdering the cop who died from the bomb blast, though there was no evidence linking any of them to the crime. The media and trial itself were heavily prejudiced against the defendants, six of whom were German. The judge sentenced seven to death and one to 15 years imprisonment.
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