Every year on May 1, we commemorate the strike of 300,000 workers in Chicago, who demanded an eight-hour day. That strike was bloodily suppressed. The execution of four strike leaders on false evidence sparked a global wave of solidarity, which is commemorated every year on May 1, except in the US itself.
During one of the demonstrations in Chicago, provocateurs threw a bomb at the police. Four innocent trade unionists were executed for it. Public Domain
Just months after the 1886 May Day Committee strikes for the eight-hour day, four strike leaders were executed in what is still considered the most egregious judicial scandal in US history. To escape the pressure for the recognition of a Labor Day and not to be reminded every year of this miscarriage of justice, US President Cleveland decided from now on to hold its own Labor Day on the first Monday of September, far away from 1 May in the rest of the world.
In 1886, 8-8-8 was the requirement for a livable working day. Public Domain
Anyone who claims that Labor Day on May 1 is no longer relevant, that the battle has long been over and that all rights are firmly entrenched, is mistaken (or in bad faith). All social rights are again under pressure: pension, job security, employment conditions, social security, unemployment insurance, leave and the right to sick leave. They are not being abolished in one go, but are being broken down layer by layer, as this article about the social struggle in France shows.
Countries where May 1 is commemorated (red)
May 1 is not celebrated in the Netherlands. The FNV trade union is still trying to introduce the tradition, but is encountering a lot of resistance from right-wing and liberal parties. In 1933, Hitler decided on April 10, 1933 to also declare May 1 a German holiday. Trade union leaders then came to Berlin to celebrate May 1. Most were arrested and many of them died in the concentration camps.
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