Mission Statement
May Day was founded in the United States as a result of the great struggle and sacrifice of life that resulted from the general strike of 1886 and the movement for the eight hour work day. Globally, on May 1st of each year, workers in massive celebrations all around the world pay tribute to their labors and honor the struggle for better conditions. Workers in the United States have been denied their history and their common bond with workers in other countries. Join us in our commitment to educate and inform our fellow workers and all Americans about the origins of May Day, so that we may reclaim our proud heritage.
MAY DAY, "MADE IN THE USA"Versión Española
When the immigrant-rights movement chose May Day for its big demonstrations last year, people shouldn't have been surprised. The worldwide workers' holiday was "Made in the U.S.A."
May Day's roots are deep in American history. In 1886, seeking the spark that would ignite the struggling labor movement, the fledgling American Federation of Labor called a general strike for the eight-hour day to begin on May Day, the carpenters' traditional day for setting wages and conditions.
As young men in the 1870s, AFL leaders like Sam Gompers and the Carpenters' P.J. McGuire -- both members of immigrant families in New York -- had seen a long building trades strike win the eight-hour-day, then lose it in the Crash of 1872. They also knew that the 10-hour day, won in the Philadelphia general strike of 1835, had energized labor before the Civil War.
With the expansion of the railroads, what had once been local and regional labor markets had become national. And by the 1880s it made sense to call for a national general strike for the eight-hour day.
Since wages were then paid by the day, not by the hour, such a strike would reduce working hours at a full day's pay. And that would leave working people more time for their families, for bettering themselves, and for taking an active part in politics.
The AFL's call indeed unleashed a popular movement across America, well beyond its means to control. In that era, the Knights of Labor was by far the strongest labor federation in the U.S., but its leaders did not endorse the strike. As a result many members and lodges abandoned the Knights.
As the first national action for the eight-hour day, the 1886 strike had international significance. All the world was watching on May 1st, when the walkout brought much of the nation's work to a halt. It watched as, acting for the employers -- for capital -- Chicago police killed strikers on May 3 and again in the Haymarket affair on May 4, then rounded up a number of the city's leftist labor leaders and put them on trial, executing four. (A fifth killed himself before execution.) At the request of the AFL in 1889, the world labor movement adopted May Day as its international holiday.
All that has been written out of most American history books. They also omit that organized labor -- P.J. McGuire again in the fore -- unilaterally declared our first Labor Day as a show of strength in New York in September, 1882. We can be proud of that, too.
But we are denied an important part of our heritage by not celebrating May Day. We can be grateful that another generation of immigrant workers, demanding their rights, should have reminded us of that fact. Now we can all move to reclaim what is collectively ours.
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Versión Española...
As you are well aware I’m sure, there was a fascinating deja vu May 1, 2006-- the celebration of May Day with a general strike and boycott by immigrant workers and their allies. The deja vu is that May Day as a workers’ celebration began with the general strike of 1886, the great Eight-Hour-Day Strike. There had not been another general strike in the U.S. since then.....
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Links
Labor Day: A Poor Cousin to May DayEight Hours For What We Will
Friends
May Day 2007LaborNet:Online Communications for a Democratic Labor MovementIndustrial Workers of the World:A Union for All Workers
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