peter
Harare Bureau
Zimbabweans today join the rest of the world in commemorating the International Workers Day, also known as International Labour Day or May Day in other countries.
This day is celebrated around the world on May 1 every year.
May Day was first designated as an international labour day by the International Socialist Congress in 1889 and it has subsequently been made a holiday by many nations.
May 1 is regarded not only as a holiday, but a day when workers celebrate and the nation acknowledges the contribution of its work force.
The day is important in recognising the contributions of workers, addressing their plight and promoting their rights and fairer practices at the workplaces.
This day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation and eight hours for rest.
Being a traditional European spring celebration, May Day is a national public holiday in many countries, but in some of those countries it is celebrated specifically as Labour Day or International Workers’ Day.
Some countries celebrate the day on other dates significant to them, such as the United States, which celebrates Labour Day on the first Monday of September.
Beginning in the late 19th century, as the trade union and workers movements grew, a variety of days were chosen by trade unionists to celebrate labour.
May 1 was chosen to be International Workers’ Day to commemorate the May 4, 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.
The police were trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified person threw a bomb at the police.
The police responded by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators.
In 1889, a meeting in Paris was held by the first congress of the Second International, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, which called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests.
May Day was formally recognised as an annual event at the International second congress in 1891.
Subsequently, the May Day Riots of 1894 occurred.
In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam 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”.
The congress made it “mandatory upon the proletarian organisations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible, without injury to the workers”.
Across the globe, labour activists sought to make May Day an official holiday to honour labour and many countries have done so.
In 1955, the Catholic Church dedicated May 1 to “Saint Joseph the Worker”. Saint Joseph is, for the Church, the patron saint of workers and craftsmen (among others).
During the Cold War, May Day became the occasion for large military parades in Red Square by the Soviet Union and attended by the top leaders of the Kremlin, especially the Politburo.
It became an enduring symbol of that period. — The Herald/Online
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