OMNI
MAY DAY LABOR DAY INTERNATIONAL
WORKERS DAY, MAY 1, 2024
Compiled by Dick Bennett for a
Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
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“International Labour Day 2024: Date, history,
significance and all that you need to know.”
ByTapatrisha Das, Delhi. Hindustan Times. Apr 30, 2024 .
International
Labour Day 2024: From date to significance, here's all that you need to know
about the special day.
International Labour Day
2024: The workers and the working class are the driving force of a country.
They are the ones who do most of the work to initiate development.
The nation and the state are built by its infrastructure, development and the
economy. The workers get down to the roots of things and start work at the
basic level to initiate positive changes to the country and the world. Workers
and the working class are extremely important as they are the backbone of a
society. We should ensure that we take care of their wellbeing regularly and
listen to their issues. Every year, International Labour Day is observed to
raise awareness about the struggles and the contributions of the workers and
the working class to society. As we gear up to observe the special day, here
are a few things that must be kept in mind.
Every year, May 1 is observed as
International Labour Day.(Sameer Sehgal/HT Photo)
ALSO READ: International Labour Day 2020: Why we celebrate May Day
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Date:
Every
year, May 1 is observed as International Labour Day. This year, International
Labour Day falls on Wednesday.
History:
In
1886, a large demonstration happened in America where the labourers demanded
eight hours of work on a daily basis. However, soon the demonstration went out
of hand and lot of people got hurt. This incident came to be known as The
Haymarket Affair. This incident marked the start of the International Labour
Day. In 1889, a lot of socialist parties in Europe came together and decided to
celebrate May 1 as International Labour Day. Since then, the special day has
been observed every year on the same day.
Significance:
International
Labour Day helps us to recognise the contributions of the labourers and the
working class in development of the society and the country. It also urges the
labourers to learn about their rights. Labourers are often exploited, and it is
important that they know their rights to protect themselves. It also urges
people to come together to develop the working and living conditions of the
workers.
Tapatrisha is Content
Producer with Hindustan Times. She covers stories related to health,
relationships, and fashion.
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
For
the traditional spring holiday, see May Day. For other labour-related holidays,
see Labour Day
(disambiguation).
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some
countries[1] and often referred to as May Day,[2][3] is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the
international labour movement and
occurs every year on 1 May,[4][5] or the first Monday in May.
In 1889, the Marxist International Socialist Congress met in Paris
and established the Second International as
a successor to the earlier International
Workingmen's Association. They adopted a resolution for a
"great international demonstration" in support of working-class
demands for the eight-hour day.
The 1 May date was chosen by the American
Federation of Labor to commemorate a general strike in the
United States, which had begun on 1 May 1886 and culminated in the Haymarket affair four days later. The
demonstration subsequently became a yearly event.[5] The 1904 Sixth Conference of the Second International,
called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of
all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal
establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace".[6]
The 1st of May, or first Monday in May, is a
national public holiday in
many countries, in most cases as "International Workers' Day" or a
similar name. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on other dates significant to
them, such as the United States and Canada, which celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of
September.[7] In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated 1 May to "Saint Joseph the Worker". Saint
Joseph is the patron saint of
workers and craftsmen, among others.[8][9]
Origin[edit]
On 21 April 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook
a mass stoppage as part of the eight-hour workday movement.[10] It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring
American workers to have their first stoppage.[11] 1 May was chosen to be International Workers' Day
to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.[12] In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a
general strike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May, the police acted to
disperse a public assembly in support of the strike when an unidentified person
threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers. The event led to
the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; sixty police
officers were injured, as were one hundred and fifteen civilians.[13][14] Hundreds of labour leaders and sympathizers were
later rounded-up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen
as a miscarriage of
justice.[15][nb 1] The following day on 5 May, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the state militia fired
on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding
chickens in his yard.[17]
In 1889, the first meeting of the Second International was
held in Paris, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne [fr] that called for international demonstrations on the
1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests.[5] On 1 May 1890, the call encouraged May Day
demonstrations took place in the United States and most countries in Europe.[18] Demonstrations were also held in Chile and Peru.[18] May Day was formally recognized as an annual event
at the International's second congress in 1891.[19][20] Subsequently, the May Day riots of 1894 occurred.
The International Socialist Congress, Amsterdam 1904 called
on "all Social Democratic Party
organisations and trade unions of
all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal
establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and
for universal peace."[6] The congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all
countries to stop work on 1 May, wherever it is possible without injury to the
workers."[6]
In the United States and Canada, a September holiday,
called Labor or Labour Day, was first
proposed in the 1880s. In 1882, Matthew
Maguire, a machinist, first
proposed a Labor Day holiday on the first Monday of September[nb 2] while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union (CLU)
of New York.[21] Others argue that it was first proposed by Peter J. McGuire of the American
Federation of Labor in May 1882,[22] after witnessing the annual labour festival held
in Toronto, Canada.[23] In 1887, Oregon was the first state of the United
States to make it an official public holiday. By the time it became an
official federal holiday in
1894, thirty US states officially
celebrated Labor Day.[22] Thus by 1887 in North America, Labour Day was an
established, official holiday but in September,[24] not on 1 May.
Today, the majority of countries around the world
celebrate a workers' day on 1 May.
“All out for Palestine on May Day!”
AROC <info@araborganizing.org> April 29, 2024.
ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE ON
MAY DAY
Wednesday, May 1st, 2024
This International Workers Day, as Israel’s genocide of
Palestinians unfolds in Gaza, we rise to the call by Palestinian workers and
the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions to demand an end to US
complicity in Israel’s war against our homelands. We honor and uphold the
radical legacy of labor and an internationalist struggle for human
dignity, solidarity, racial justice, social justice, and an end to war and
exploitation across the world.
Join us for three actions across the Bay Area this May Day!
San Francisco for a May Day March and Rally
May 1st, 10am
24th Street BART Plaza
Fight
for a San Francisco for its working-class residents! Collective power and
resources for our working-class communities, not to big businesses, war, or the
police! Solidarity with the people of Palestine, end the state-sponsored
violence of Israel and the US! Click here to endorse or
volunteer.
Join
Oakland Sin Fronteras for a May Day March and Rally
May 1st, 2pm
Oakland Federal Building
For the first time since 2019 Oakland Sin Fronteras is
back!
International
Workers’ Day has been a time to uplift the struggles, honor the sacrifices, and
celebrate the triumphs of working people across the world. As we stand on
Ohlone Indigenous land this May 1st, we march in celebration and in resistance
with our families, friends, neighbors, and co-workers in our communities, and
in solidarity with working people across all borders, to continue the historic
struggle against economic and social inequity.
As the working class in Oakland, we march for a #FreePalestine 
Oakland
Port Shutdown
May 1st, 4pm Meet at West Oakland BART
For updates: text “Gaza” to (833) 6330604
Click here
to endorse
This May Day, we rise to the call to action by workers of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions. Palestinian workers urge us "to stand in solidarity with our struggle and take decisive action to honour the countless martyrs lost and the families torn apart, and build pressure for a free Palestine."
Copyright © 2024 Arab Resource
& Organizing Center (AROC), All rights reserved.
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San Francisco, CA 94110
Move to
Amend on May Day 2023
Move to Amend 2023 Apr 29, 2023 Happy
International Workers Day (AKA May Day)!
We stand in solidarity from the imperial core of
the United States with the exploited nations (sometimes referred to as
"third world" or "developing nations") and workers around
the world. We know that wealth is stolen from workers and given to the elites,
as well as from the exploited world to the imperial core. We are working from
within this system on minimizing the ability for corporate greed to exploit our
system. And how do we do that? With people power, of course!
The
#WeThePeopleAmendment is more important than ever to workers and the labor
movement. Join Move to Amend with your fellow
workers today to pass the #WeThePeopleAmendment to end corporate constitutional
rights once and for all!
You can
also join our Labor Caucus, where we
discuss how the intersections of the labor movement and corporate rule.
We stand
in solidarity with those on strike including Coca Cola workers, frontline of COVID workers,
including educators and healthcare workers, and congratulate
Rutger's University staff for their recent strike!
Together,
the workers of the world will win!
· 
Artist credit: Antonio Berni
Thank you
for helping us make the connections that will grow and strengthen the movement
against corporate rule!
PS: Did you miss our May Day commemoration
video about East Palestine? You can watch it here. Solidarity
forever!
Move to Amend
http://www.movetoamend.org/
“Amazon shows us the many faces of worker alienation
and resistance today.” Editor. Mronline.org (4-19-23).
Originally published: Marxist Sociology
Blog on April 5, 2023 by
Sarrah Kassem (more by Marxist Sociology Blog) | (Posted Apr
18, 2023)
Human Rights,
Imperialism, Inequality, LaborUnited StatesNewswire, ReviewAmazon, Amazon
Mechanical Turk (MTurk), Google,
Meta, Uber
Once again
we find ourselves in moments of economic crisis. As we battle through inflation
and rounds of devaluation, thousands of workers around the world have lost
their livelihoods. Yet amidst this all, we have seen workers across the globe
go on strike and protest. A manifestation of these inequalities of our world
today can be seen in the platform economy with transnational players like
Amazon, Google and Meta. This also includes platforms which have become a
contemporary embodiment of precarity: gig platforms like Uber and its Uber Eats
or Amazon Mechanical Turk.
In my book, I take a
closer look at the workers who power the platform economy behind the interfaces
to investigate more closely the different ways by which platforms alienate
workers and how workers claim their agency and collectively organize. MORE click on title. See: Sarrah Kassem. Work and
Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization. Bristol UP, 2023.
Sarrah Kassem is Lecturer and
Research Associate in Political Economy at the Institute of Political Science
at the University of Tübingen. Her work focuses on workers in the platform
economy and their different forms of labor organization.
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