The May Day celebration

May Day is the international Workers celebration that started in Chicago IL, here in the USA. We used to see big parades in the Soviet Union on May Day and many people thought the day had something to do with the Russian Revolution. But it is actually a day celebrating the winning of an eight hour day, from 10 hours.

For those of us in the US it is a great time to honor our own heroes of revolution such as August Spies. He was one of the four men hanged for giving speeches during the Haymarket rally and riot. Anarchist groups were involved in the early union struggles so it is a holiday for the entire left.  -សតិវ អតុ

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Below is an article giving some of the basics of May Day’s beginning:

From Kasama Project;

The Birth of Revolutionary May Day:
That Troublesome Element in

Haymarket Square

By Mike Ely
A circular passed hand-to-hand, calling for militant action in the U.S. on May 1, 1886:
“One day of revolt – not rest! A day not ordained by the bragging spokesmen of institutions holding the world of labor in bondage. A day on which labor makes its own laws and has the power to execute them!”
The workers who struck on May 1st faced police bullets. Their leaders were executed. Outraged, an international gathering of revolutionary workers declared that May First would become a worldwide day of resistance and revolution.
May First is our day and this is its story:
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