The history of May Day
by David Brons (Ottawa)

May 1 has a special significance for the labour and anarchist movements. In almost every country of the world, except for Canada and the U.S., it is observed as International Workers’ Day. Ironically, the observance of May 1 has its origins in the struggle for the eight-hour day in Canada and the US.

On May 1, 1886 there was a general strike in support of workers’ demand for an eight-hour day. Most factory workers of the day were immigrants who faced discrimination both on and off the job. It was normal for them to work fourteen-hour days seven days a week. The strike was organized by the major radical labor organization of the time, an anarchist group called the International Working Peoples Association. Prominent organizers with this group were Albert Parsons, Lucy Parsons, and August Spies.

Between 300,000 and 500,000 workers went on strike, including 90,000 in Chicago alone. The police and militia were mobilized but the first day passed peacefully enough. On the third day of the strike, there was a confrontation between strikers and strikebreakers at the McCormick Reaper Works in Chicago. Police opened fire on the crowd, killing four and wounding many others including several children. The people of Chicago were outraged and some were calling for revenge against the police.

A protest rally was called for the evening of May 4 in Haymarket Square. As people listened to speeches by August Spies and other organizers of the strike, the heavily armed police marched into the square, pushing back the crowd and demanding that the rally disperse. As police confronted the strikers, an explosion occurred in police lines, killing one officer. In the darkness and confusion, police opened fire, killing six more of their own and an unknown number of strikers. The Chicago Herald described the scene as “wild carnage” and reported that there were at least 50 dead or wounded civilians lying on the street.

Organizers of the general strike were rounded up and eight of them were charged with “conspiracy” in connection with the events in the Haymarket. There was no pretense of a fair trial. The jury was stacked with businessmen and even included a relative of an injured police officer. No evidence was presented at trial that any of the defendants were involved in the bombing. Instead the prosecutor argued that they should be found guilty simply because they were organizers. In his address to the jury he said, “These men have been selected, picked out by the Grand Jury because they were leaders. They are no more guilty than the thousands who follow them. Gentlemen of the jury: convict these men, make examples of them, hang them and you save our institutions, our society.”

Despite their obvious innocence, all eight were found guilty. Seven were sentenced to death and one was sentenced to fifteen years. The case became an international scandal and there was a worldwide campaign for a new trial. All appeals were rejected although two had their sentences commuted to life in prison. Louis Lingg committed suicide the day before he was scheduled to hang. On November 11 1887, Albert Parsons, George Engel, August Spies and Adolph Fischer were hung. Over 500,000 people attended their funerals.

On June 26, 1893 Illinois Governor Altgeld pardoned the three survivors. He also exonerated the executed men because “the trial was not fair.”

In 1889 the American delegation to an international labour convention proposed that May 1 be adopted as a workers’ holiday to commemorate class struggle and the “martyrdom of the Chicago Eight.” The observance quickly spread around the world. It was also initially observed in Canada and the U.S., until the governments designated a less politically-charged Labour Day in September.

May Day is a time to remember past struggles and demonstrate our hope for a better future. It has its origins as a day of solidarity among workers around the world and solidarity with class-war prisoners. In North America we need to reclaim May Day as a day of solidarity and direct action in struggle for the rights of workers and migrants