May 1, 1886

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/history/05/01



May 1 is International Workers Day. May Day started in the United States. On the first May Day, May 1, 1886, the labor movement called for an eight-hour workday. Two days later, the Haymarket Massacre occurred in Chicago during a strike support rally. Haymarket has been indelibly linked to May Day ever since.

Other May 1 milestones:

May 1, 1830 - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born. The renowned labor organizer, who lived to be 100, said, "I live in the United States, but I do not know exactly where. My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression. My address is like my shoes; it travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong."

May 1, 1888 - Nineteen machinists at the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad assembled in a locomotive pit to decide what to do about a wage cut. They voted to form a union, which became the International Association of Machinists.

May 1, 1894- The cross-country march by Coxey’s Army, thousands of unemployed workers, culminated in a march down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C.

May 1, 1933 - The first issue of the Catholic Worker was published.

May 1, 2006 - Millions of immigrants, participating in a national day of mobilization, stayed home from work to demonstrate their economic power and demand comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws.

[Starry Messenger]

1. K&R

[octoberlib]

2. K&R !

[Enthusiast]

3. K&R!

[teamster633]

4. k & r

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

---Karl Marx

[jomin41]

5. K&R n/t

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Workers unite!

[d_legendary1]

7. We need to remind people about the history of labor

and sadly it is not taught in public schools. We have to keep the past alive for those who were never around for the struggle.