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Alex Joseph discusses the importance of International Worker’s day by going back to the 19th century to discuss the international holiday’s origins. Then, he discusses both the way that history has transcended time and influenced policies today as well as lessons that can be learned in order to move forward.
Worker’s rights are a...complicated topic in our nation. Every party seems to claim that they are fighting for working-class people and yet, after every election cycle, those are the only people who seem to get left behind in terms of actual policy decisions. As such, social movements and worker-centric ideologies are becoming more popular in the United States as time goes on, with neither traditional Democrats nor Republicans seeming to hold much favor with the workers who form America’s backbone. This is particularly true as younger voters start to arrive at the poles, as Socialism is far more popular among the youth. But the birth of worker’s rights movements in the United States actually goes back a long time, and those who were on the streets back then were hardly giving out copies of Marx’s work in the streets
With International Worker’s Day on the horizon, it is important to understand the history, effects, and lessons that can be learned from those brave first few in order to inform our decisions as a society moving forward.
With International Worker’s Day on the horizon, it is important to understand the history, effects, and lessons that can be learned from those brave first few in order to inform our decisions as a society moving forward.
International Worker’s day (also known as May Day), which is held on May 1st of every year, has a long and winding history. The initial gatherings on May 1st in support of worker’s rights happened after being inspired by strikers in Australia who had stopped working to get an 8-hour workday. On May 1st, 1886, workers took to the streets in a city-wide stoppage in Chicago to demand better working hours. Like the protestors in Australia, they wanted an 8-hour workday, as opposed to the 16 hours some of them were forced to work daily. The protests continued for days until police eventually tried to disperse the crowd on the 4th. At this point, an individual who was never identified threw a bomb and police opened fire into the crowd. The resulting combination of gunfire and panic led to the deaths of 38 civilians and 7 policemen. Hundreds more were injured in what would come to be known as the infamous Haymarket Affair of 1886.
In 1890, after international calls to memorialize the day in honor of those who died fighting for basic rights, demonstrations were planned for May 1st in the United States and across the world. Indeed, while the United States elected to establish its official “Labor Day” in September, the majority of other nations across the world chose instead to recognize their workers on May 1st. Thus, as more countries began to recognize May Day celebrations, it become a de-facto international holiday.
Minimum wage by state (January 2021) , Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States
More than a century has passed since the Haymarket Affair, and since then 8-hour workdays are more or less the norm for the majority of fulltime jobs. Obviously there are exceptions to this, especially for jobs whose salary cannot sustain an individual and their family with just 8 hours of work, and in these cases many individuals work multiple jobs. Indeed, the current state of affairs for working class individuals is still far from perfect.
Currently, there is a national discourse on policies such as raising the minimum wage and protections for workers unions, which are banned in many corporations and sometimes unheard of in certain industries altogether. These policies are often the source of heated debate, with many conservative commentators finding them unfavorable due to their “socialist” nature. Meanwhile, many left-leaning supporters of these policies would disagree or, even if they don’t, simply don’t care and think them to be more ethical regardless.
No matter which side you fall on when it comes to these issues, there is something that the upcoming holiday should encourage all citizens to consider: what rights are individuals entitled to that we take for granted, and what do we see as a luxury that our grandchildren will consider to be basic necessities. To us, it seems a given that an 8-hour workday is only fair, and yet a hundred years ago during the Haymarket Affair it was a contentious issue between working and upper class individuals.
Similarly, while we may say that paying workers a living wage that actually allows them to support themselves is a matter of debate today, would our descendants 100 years from now agree with us, or would they take it as a given that this a right of all workers? In the end, these questions, which were most prominently brought to light over 100 years ago, still shake the very foundations of a nation that is doing its best to figure out what matters most to its citizens.
Perhaps that is often why it is referred to as the “American Experiment,” for this nation represents an exercise in trial and error that is still in progress.
In any case, the important thing is, no matter which sector of this nation you find yourself a worker in, remember that all of the individuals who contribute to the running of our country, whether they be in your industry or not, are vital components to our way of life. So when you consider your rights as a worker and what is best for you, think about how they are only trying to do the same for themselves and their families, and that many have fought and died to start that conversation and finally bring about justice.
In any case, the important thing is, no matter which sector of this nation you find yourself a worker in, remember that all of the individuals who contribute to the running of our country, whether they be in your industry or not, are vital components to our way of life. So when you consider your rights as a worker and what is best for you, think about how they are only trying to do the same for themselves and their families, and that many have fought and died to start that conversation and finally bring about justice.
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