Still part of the fight for
economic and social justice
By Michael Hirsch
For generations, May Day, the
International Workers Day celebrated by working people in more than 200
countries, was ignored in the United States, the country of its origin. In
fact, the annual holiday is as American as cherry pie, commemorating as it does
the 1886 nationwide general strike in which U.S. trade unionists — largely
foreign-born — walked off the job in support of an eight-hour workday.
This year’s observance marks
the 127th anniversary of that campaign to humanize the workday — and of the
tragedy at Chicago’s Haymarket Square that followed three days later..
May Day, 2006. 1,000,000 march in Los Angeles
Back in 1886, when the
typical work day was 10, 12 or even 14 hours long and joblessness was rife, the
demand for a work day limited to eight hours at decent wages was viewed as
dangerously radical. The eight-hour-day movement was spearheaded by two
organizations, the craft-dominated Federation of Organized Trades and Labor
Unions (the forerunner of the American Federation of Labor) and the Knights of
Labor.
