Labour Day History, May Day

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The origin of Labour Day can be traced back to Philadelphia in December 1869, were a group of nine tailors, led by Uriah S. Stephens, who called themselves “Knights of Labor” established a Labour Organization. The Labour Organization was initially kept Seal, Knights of Labour

secret but grew rapidly in 1872. The Labour Organization grew even larger at the collapse of the “The National Labor Union, [1866 to 1873]” in 1873, who were a large group of workers and reformist, who tried unsuccessfully to pressure Congress into making labor reforms, specifically an eight-hour workday. The effort failed, and the Union itself broke apart. Most of the reformers were immigrants from Europe who pursued the same interests back in Europe.
The membership of the Knights of Labor peaked in 1886, under Terence V. Powderly, with a total of over 700,000. The Knights held the motto "an injury to one is the concern of all", the Knights of Labor attempted to further its idealistic aims--an 8-hour day, the abolition of child labor, equal pay, the elimination of private banks. The Knights were organized both as all-inclusive "general assemblies" and as "trade assemblies" consisting of workers within particular crafts. Women, black workers (after 1883), and employers were welcomed, and bankers, lawyers, gamblers, and stockholders excluded.
The Knights aided various strikes and boycotts, winning important actions against

Union Pacific in 1884 and on the Wabash Railroad in 1885. However, failure in the Missouri Pacific strike in 1886 and violence by strikers, including the Haymarket Square riot, led to disputes between the craft unionists and the advocates of all-inclusive unionism. With the additional problems of an autocratic structure, mismanagement, further unsuccessful strikes, and the emergence of the American Federation of Labor in 1886 under Samuel Gompers the organization quickly shrank from its 1886 peak. By 1890 membership was only 100,000, and by 1900 it was practically non-existent.

Knights of Labor organized a parade in September 5, 1882 in New York City. Another parade was held in 1884 were the Knights passed a resolution to make these parade an annual event.
There were many other Labour Organizations, but notably the affiliates of the International Workingmen's Association [also called the International or the First International. The International Workingmen's Association was established in 1864 and had their first meeting in London, England] who were seen as a hotbed of socialists and anarchists, favored a May 1st holiday. Originally the organization contained British trade unionists, anarchists, French socialists, Italian republicans and was organized by a small group around Karl Marx. Later disputes between Marx and Mikhail Bakunin, the most prominent anarchist in the International, led to a split between the Marxists and Bakuninists in which Bakunin's followers were ejected from the International. In order to maintain control of the International, in 1872 Marx relocated the organization to New York City. The organization disbanded 4 years later, at the 1876 Philadelphia conference. Latter attempts to revive the organization over the next five years failed.
With the event of Chicago's Haymarket riots in early May of 1886, president Grover Cleveland believed that a May 1st holiday could become an opportunity to

commemorate the riots. But fearing it may strengthen the socialist movement, he quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day. The date was adopted in Canada in 1894 by the government of Prime Minister John Thompson, although the concept of a Labour Day actually originated with marches in both Toronto and Ottawa in 1872. On the other hand, socialist delegates in Paris in 1889 appointed May 1st as the official International Labour Day.
The First International was largely considered to be a major factor leading to the creation of the Paris Commune of 1871. Although this was not in fact true, Marx did write a defense of the Commune.

Labor Day has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in the United States and Canada since the 1880s. The September date has remained unchanged, even though the two governments were encouraged to adopt May 1 as Labor Day, the date celebrated by the majority of the world. Moving the holiday, in addition to violating U.S. tradition, could have been viewed as aligning U.S. labor movements with internationalal sympathies.

Most other countries celebrate Labour Day on May 1, known as May Day. In Europe the day had older significance as a rural festival, but over time it has been replaced by the labor connotations of the holiday. The holiday has become internationalized and several countries hold multi-day celebrations including parades, shows and other patriotic and labor-oriented events.

In Germany, Labour Day was established as an official holiday in 1933 after the NSDAP rose to power. It was supposed to symbolize the new found unity between the state and the working classes. Ironically, just one day later, on May 2 1933, all free unions were outlawed and destroyed. But since the holiday had been celebrated by German workers for many decades before the official state endorsement, the NSDAP attempt to appropriate it left no long-term resentment.

In Australia, Labour Day is October 1 in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In the Northern Territory it is called May Day but (unlike in most other countries with such a holiday) occurs on May 5, not May 1. In Victoria it is the second Monday in March, and March 1 in Western Australia and Tasmania (the latter calls it Eight Hours Day).

In New Zealand, Labour Day is a public holiday held on the 4th Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the 8 hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than 8 hours a day. He encouraged other tradesmen to also only work for 8 hours a day and in October 1840 a workers meeting passed a resolution supporting the idea. On 28 October 1890, the fiftieth anniversary of the 8 hour day was commemorated with a parade. The event was then celebrated annually in late October as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 government legislated that the day be a public holiday from 1900. The day was celebrated on different days in different provinces. This led to ship-owners complaining that seamen were taking excessive holidays by having one Labour Day in one port then another in their next port. In 1910 the government "Mondayised" the holiday so that it would be observed on the same day throughout the nation.

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