III.

International Workers Day

May Day has been set aside to commemorate the labor movement in many countries around the world. An international workers’ day was first called for in 1889 at the Second International, a meeting of socialists in Paris, France. The day was intended to honor anarchist workers who were sentenced to death following the Haymarket Square Riot in 1886 in Chicago, Illinois. That rally had been called at Haymarket Square on May 4 to protest police violence against workers campaigning for an eight-hour working day. The Haymarket Square rally turned violent, though no one knows who started the violence.

May Day gradually became popular in more and more countries, although the United States and Canada chose to honor workers on Labor Day in September. May Day was especially significant in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and other Communist countries. In Moscow the May Day parade featured armored tanks, rockets, and military personnel saluting the nations’ leaders. Since 1999 groups protesting globalization and capitalism have staged demonstrations on May 1 in cities around the world.