Where Do I Begin……………….
May Day is now synonymous with International Workers’ Day or more commonly known International Labour Day. It is a day of celebration of the factory workers, labourers employed in different trade, workmen or employees of different vocations around the world and the International labour movement. On this day, which is a public holiday in most of the countries of the world, the workers organise parades, demonstrations, seminars and other activities to disseminate the significance of the day amongst general public. Its a day for celebration and partying for them too.
The significance of the day lies in the fact that on this day a labour movement was started that went through painful and disastrous consequences but could unify the workers of different countries to fight for their just demands, start organised movements to achieve those demands and to steer the movements to victory.
We get record of first well organised movement and demonstrations of the Australian Stonemasons in 1856. The principal demand on that occasion and all subsequent movements that were organised at different places every year since then was the fixation of eight hour working day for all workmen. Of course the business owners,industrialists and capitalists were in no mood to pay any heed to this very just demand. Organisations representing and working for the demands also were being consolidated and International Socialist movement came out with strong support. The Communist Manifesto has already spread amongst them the idea of strength and power of the proletariat. Theory of surplus value, the main theme of Marx’s economic theory has taught them that the workmen of the world,in Marx’s words the proletariats are the driving force behind the development of society and civilisation. Their labour creates the surplus value between price of a commodity and the price of raw materials. But despite that respectable and huge contribution to the economy,they are ignored totally and denied even the basic amenities of day to day life. In other words the capitalists were using them as virtual slaves and compelling them to live a sub human life whilst they themselves were reaping the harvest of the hard labour of the workmen. The manifesto ended with a clarion call to the workers of the world to rise and go forth to conquer the whole world. They only had their shackles to lose. International Workmen’s Association under the First International was coordinating and giving support to all struggles, movements and demonstrations organised by Workmen across the globe.
As the movement grew,in 1886 the American Federation of Labour called for a general strike of all workmen in Chicago on 1 May. The principal demand of the workers was an eight hour working day, which as usual went to the deaf ears. Rather,the police was working to diffuse the movement. This time,the workers also were in no mood to compromise. The movement grew,fights ensued between police and workers at different quarters of Chicago resulting in casualities. On 4 May at Chicago Haymarket square an agitated group of workers were confronted by police. A bomb thrown by someone,who could not be identified, exploded causing casualties amongst the police. Subsequent police action and riots caused extensive dammage. Four workers and seven policemen(mostly to the bomb blast) lost their lives. About 150,mostly workers and civilians were injured. Of course, about 50 of the policemen were in the injured list. Few hundred of the workers were arrested and some of them were prosecuted. Amongst the prosecuted were leaders and planners of the movement. Many of them were not even present during the Haymarket incidents. Court proceedings resulted in capital punishment of four of the prosecuted activists. To protest against this injustice and to press forward their demands,the Workmen in many countries in Europe and both north and south Americas organised demonstrations and parades the next May Day. Since then,it has become an annual event in the International Workmen movement calendar.
For better cooperation between workers of different countries and for effective coordination, in 1889 Second International Socialist Congress of Marxists was convened to replace the loosely bonded International Workmen’s Association (First International). In it’s 6th Congress in Amsterdam in the year 1904 the Second International called upon all the workmen and Social Democratic parties of the world to organise energetic demonstrations internationally on 1 May every year for achieving eight hour working day,the class demands of the Proletariat and universal peace.
Exploitation of workers by their employers,be it industrial or agricultural, had been there since time immemorial. But after the Industrial revolution in Britain (and soon afterwards in other European countries and America) saw a sharp rise in the exploitation since 1830/40s. Consequently, workmen voices against their plight started to be heard. They started demanding social justice against inhuman working conditions,low payments and long working hours. In 1817 Robert Owen, an industrialist and simultaneously rights supporter put forward the idea of eight hours labour, eight hours recreation and eight hours rest in his social community in Scotland. It became popular with the workers as in those days their working shifts extended even upto 12/14 hours a day. As has been discussed,labour organisations were demanding social justice for the workers and trying to unite workers under their banners to push forward the demands through negotiations and demonstrations. General strikes were at times resorted to. Partial successes were achieved in certain sectors and organisations. But there always had been loopholes in the agreements or even legislations that the employers could utilise to their benefit and the universal demand of an eight hours working day remained elusive. Though we find in records that in Spain an eight hour working day was declared for factory and fortification workes as early as in the late sixteenth century, we don’t find anything of the sort in existence after the industrial revolution in the nineteenth century anywhere in Europe.
After the call of the Second International from Amsterdam in 1904,the social democratic political movement, which was getting stronger in those days in different countries, took initiatives to unite the workers to observe the May Day in all countries to achieve their goal as mentioned earlier. The movement was gaining momentum and solidarity of workers nourished by their labour unions and social democratic patrons was getting stronger day by day. The WW1 was a deterring factor but while the war was at it’s concluding stage, Tsarist Russia walked off the WW1 and the Russian Revolution gave birth to a Socialist Russia and ultimately USSR. It became a novel type of government on earth where proletariats represented by the Communist Party came to power to rule the country. USSR was the first country in the modern era to declare an eight hour working day by a government decree. In 1919, following decisions of the Versailles Treaty, an organisation named International Labour Organisation was formed to ensure social justice internationally in the field of means of production. There were representatives of different governments, employers and workers in the formation, policy making and running the organisation. In it’s charter,ILO has incorporated the principle of eight hour working day in 1920. Most of the European countries implemented same after USSR did it or soon after the ILO was formed. The USA passed a federal law of eight hour day in 1869.But that was applicable for government workers. Only in 1938 after passage of Fair Labour Standard Act it has become mandatory to have 8 hours working day and 48 hours working week. Amendment of the Act in 1940 however has reduced the working week to a 40 hour one.
