Radical History of May Day

By Nikoli Weir

Every year on the first of May, working class people all over the world celebrate International Workers’ Day, sometimes referred to as May Day. In the rest of the world, huge parades are held in every major city. In America, a small section of the working class gets the day off. In Europe there are demonstrations led by socialist and labor parties; in America there are barbecues. 

Why are American International Workers Day celebrations so different from European celebrations? To know that we have to look at the history of the holiday. International Workers Day was started by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to honor and commemorate the American general strike of 1886, which began on May 1st. It is estimated that as many as half of one million people participated in the strike.

Workers were primarily striking for an eight-hour workday. On May 3rd, soon after the strike was declared, a demonstration was held in the west side of Chicago at a McCormick Harvesting Machine Company location. At this rally, police fired their guns into the crowd, and two protestors were killed and many others injured. In response to this act of state terrorism, socialists and anarchists in Chicago called for a protest on the following day, May 4th. 

The demonstration began peacefully, but eventually the police ordered the crowd to disperse, and attempted to enforce this order using violence. In response, someone from the crowd threw a bomb at the police line, killing one officer. In an act of bloodthirsty frenzy, the police drew their weapons and began firing indiscriminately into the crowd of protestors. In response to the police mowing down a crowd of people, many protestors drew their own guns and returned fire at the police in self-defense. 

By the time the fight was over, sixty police officers had been wounded, eight had been killed, and an undetermined number of protestors were killed and wounded. This event is known as the Haymarket Affair. 

In response to the massacre of protestors by police, the mayor of Chicago illegally and unconstitutionally banned socialists and trade unionists from meeting and assembling. Newspapers published by the socialists and trade unionists were raided by the police and shut down, and eight socialists and anarchists were brought to trial for the throwing of the bomb. 

The trial was rigged from the start; according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, “the partisan Judge Joseph E Gary conducted the trial, and all 12 jurors acknowledged prejudice against the defendants.” Because the prosecution had no evidence that any of the eight defendants were involved in coordinating the attack or throwing the bomb, their writings and speeches were used as evidence against them. “The jury, instructed to adopt a conspiracy theory without legal precedent, convicted all eight. Seven were sentenced to death.”

Due to outrage on the part of the American people, two of the seven death sentences were commuted. On November 11th, 1887, four innocent people were executed by the government after being convicted of a crime they didn’t commit by a kangaroo court. The fifth defendant set to be executed took his own life instead. 

To honor both the Haymarket Eight and the martyrs slaughtered by the police, socialists and trade unionists all across the world began celebrating May Day, and in many countries, it would go on to become an official holiday. But not in the United States. The American government and the rich oligarchs who control it fought desperately to suppress the radical history of May Day, and to co-opt its celebration in a way that wouldn’t oppose their rule. 

In the end, they succeeded, and now instead of International Workers Day, or May Day, Americans celebrate Labor Day. Instead of parades with banners and red flags, we have cookouts and barbecues. The rich and powerful killed five of the Haymarket Eight, and then for good measure they buried their memory. It’s up to us to rediscover the radicals of the past who gave up their lives to try and create a better world. It’s up to us to carry the torch of Liberty, Equality and Solidarity forward into a brighter and better future.