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International Workers' Day May 2020

Updated: May 10, 2020

Its background and significance

The first day of May is celebrated as International Labor Day to commemorate the sacrifices and progress achieved by workers and laborers.

May Day, or International Workers' Day, is also called the day.

History of Labor unions in the United States voted on May 1, 1886, to go on a

strike asking that employees not be forced to work for more than 8 hours a day.

Only three days after the strike began, a blast occurred on Haymarket Square in Chicago which left many dead.


The International Socialist Conference proclaimed 1 May to commemorate those who died in the blast as a day reserved for the laborers. The commemorative day was founded at an 1889 meeting and eventually spread to other parts of the world.


The first Labor Day was celebrated in India on May 1, 1923, Chennai in the present day. Labor Kisan Hindustan

Party celebrated the day.

The red flag, symbolizing Labor Day, was first used in India. Prominent communist leader Malayapuram Singaravelu Chettiar raised the flag and held meetings for the occasion to be celebrated.


Chettiar passed a resolution saying the government would declare a national Labor Day

holiday in India and the country has continued to celebrate May Day ever since.


International Workers' Day has also been marked by gatherings, demonstrations, and strikes across the world, according to an article in Al Jazeera.

Some of the most well-known activities of the day include acts of American civil disobedience against the 1971 Vietnam War.

More recently in 2016, May Day saw a variety of demonstrations and marches around the world in places such as Istanbul, Moscow, and Taipei where workers either commemorated the holiday or called on governments to slash working hours and increase salaries.


In India, Maharashtra Day and Gujarat Day are also celebrated as 1 May. They attained statehood on this day in 1960, after the division of Bombay (now Mumbai) based on linguistic lines.




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