May Day button: 1973 ca.
A May Day pinback button designed and distributed by the Revolutionary Union (later Revolutionary Communist Party) circa 1973.
History of May Day – the workers day
“In the late 19th century, as trade unions and the labor movement grew, a variety of days were chosen by trade unionists as a day to celebrate labor. May Day was chosen to be International Workers’ Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.
“On May 1st, 1886, there was a general strike for an eight-hour workday. On May 4th, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of the strike, when an unidentified individual threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers.
“This led to the deaths of seven police officers and four civilians; sixty police officers were injured as well as numerous civilians. Hundreds of labor leaders and sympathizers were later rounded up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a miscarriage of justice.
“On May 5th, 1886, in Milwaukee, the state militia was called out by the Governor of Wisconsin at the request of North Chicago Rolling Mills in Bay View to protect their mill. A strike for the eight-hour day a few days earlier had shut down most of the businesses in the area except for North Chicago Rolling Mills.
“As the workers, supports, and their families approached the mill, one of the militias fired upon the crowd which resulted in chaos as a total of seven individuals were killed, including a seven-year-old boy and a man feeding chickens in his yard. This became known as the Bay View Massacre, or the Bay View Tragedy.
“In 1889, at a meeting in Paris held by the first congress of the Second International (an organization of Socialists and Labor Parties,) Raymond Lavigne set forth a proposal calling for an international demonstration on the 1890 anniversary of the Haymarket Massacre.
“May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s second congress in 1891. In Amsterdam in 1904, the International Socialist Congress called on all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8=hour day.
“On May 1st, 2017, workers around the country joined with Immigrants and Immigrant Worker Rights organizations to march for rights and dignity for all workers.
“May 1st continues to this day to be an international day to honor all workers and lift up the need for workers’ rights around the globe.”
--by Jay Reinke, Milwaukee Area Labor Council
The United States and some other capitalist countries enacted alternative days to celebrate labor in an effort to downplay the radical roots of May Day.
In the U.S., Labor Day is the official holiday, not May Day.
From Wikipedia:
“There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically charged date of May 1.
“Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.
“In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative, formally adopting the date as a United States federal holiday through a law that he signed in 1894.”
Nevertheless, socialist, anarchist and communist organizations along with some trade unions have continued the May Day celebration in the United States.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHBqjB8L8i
Donated by Craig Simpson
May Day button: 1973 ca.
A May Day pinback button designed and distributed by the Revolutionary Union (later Revolutionary Communist Party) circa 1973.
History of May Day – the workers day
“In the late 19th century, as trade unions and the labor movement grew, a variety of days were chosen by trade unionists as a day to celebrate labor. May Day was chosen to be International Workers’ Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.
“On May 1st, 1886, there was a general strike for an eight-hour workday. On May 4th, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of the strike, when an unidentified individual threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers.
“This led to the deaths of seven police officers and four civilians; sixty police officers were injured as well as numerous civilians. Hundreds of labor leaders and sympathizers were later rounded up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a miscarriage of justice.
“On May 5th, 1886, in Milwaukee, the state militia was called out by the Governor of Wisconsin at the request of North Chicago Rolling Mills in Bay View to protect their mill. A strike for the eight-hour day a few days earlier had shut down most of the businesses in the area except for North Chicago Rolling Mills.
“As the workers, supports, and their families approached the mill, one of the militias fired upon the crowd which resulted in chaos as a total of seven individuals were killed, including a seven-year-old boy and a man feeding chickens in his yard. This became known as the Bay View Massacre, or the Bay View Tragedy.
“In 1889, at a meeting in Paris held by the first congress of the Second International (an organization of Socialists and Labor Parties,) Raymond Lavigne set forth a proposal calling for an international demonstration on the 1890 anniversary of the Haymarket Massacre.
“May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s second congress in 1891. In Amsterdam in 1904, the International Socialist Congress called on all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the 8=hour day.
“On May 1st, 2017, workers around the country joined with Immigrants and Immigrant Worker Rights organizations to march for rights and dignity for all workers.
“May 1st continues to this day to be an international day to honor all workers and lift up the need for workers’ rights around the globe.”
--by Jay Reinke, Milwaukee Area Labor Council
The United States and some other capitalist countries enacted alternative days to celebrate labor in an effort to downplay the radical roots of May Day.
In the U.S., Labor Day is the official holiday, not May Day.
From Wikipedia:
“There was disagreement among labor unions at this time about when a holiday celebrating workers should be, with some advocating for continued emphasis of the September march-and-picnic date while others sought the designation of the more politically charged date of May 1.
“Conservative Democratic President Grover Cleveland was one of those concerned that a labor holiday on May 1 would tend to become a commemoration of the Haymarket affair and would strengthen socialist and anarchist movements that backed the May 1 commemoration around the globe.
“In 1887, he publicly supported the September Labor Day holiday as a less inflammatory alternative, formally adopting the date as a United States federal holiday through a law that he signed in 1894.”
Nevertheless, socialist, anarchist and communist organizations along with some trade unions have continued the May Day celebration in the United States.
For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHBqjB8L8i
Donated by Craig Simpson