In commemoration of the day when workers in Chicago staged a strike and protests to fight for an eight-hour working day, the International Labor Day is celebrated around the world on May 1st.
On May 3rd, there were conflicts of workers who were members of the trade unions and strikers. The police intervened in the clashes, and four members of the trade unions were killed.
The next day at the Haymarket, anarchists organized demonstrations. A person whose identity was not identified thrown out a bomb, killing seven people and wounding 67 police officers. Eight anarchists have been arrested, charged with murder and sentenced to death, although their guilt has not been established.
At the First International Congress in 1889, it was decided that a major event would be held next year to celebrate May 1 in memory of the Haymarket affair in Chicago, but also as a form of struggle for workers’ rights.
The Second Congress of the Workers’ International decided to hold mass manifestations, demonstrations and strikes from 1890 on May 1, as one of the forms of class struggle, which, by the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, was massive.
In many European countries and American cities in 1890, workers went out into the streets seeking, as in Chicago, eight-hour working day. In Germany, there was a riot when the police were involved in the protests, and in many cities the demonstrations were held despite threats by the authorities that the police would disperse the participants.
Source: RTS
