Today I rest, taking advantage of this day I was interested in reading a little about it and here I share with you some of what I read. It is not great content but it is always good to have even a little information on different topics
On Tuesday, International Workers' Day is celebrated in several countries around the world. It is a date of vindication and homage to the Chicago Martyrs, who marched to establish better working conditions and the eight-hour working day, in force until today.
They were trade unionists-anarchists executed in the United States for participating in the mass marches that began on May 1, 1886. However, now is a date that celebrates all workers in general.
Background information. The eight hours of work was a demand that had been coming from the first half of the 19th century, in the context of the industrial revolution, marked by working hours of up to 18 hours, miserable wages and semi-slavery working conditions. "Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep and eight hours for home," was the slogan of the unions demanding change.
In 1884, the majority unions, the Noble Order of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, established in a plenary session that May 1, 1886, would be the last day for employers to implement the 8-hour workday, as required by the so-called Ingersoll Act enacted by the government. Faced with resistance from the companies, they announced that on the day chosen they would hold a general strike.
Days of struggle. The threat of unemployment caused several companies to give in and start implementing the new system. However, in cities like Chicago, then the second most populous city in the United States, employers did not want to give in. Some 200,000 workers took to the streets in protests that lasted until May 4. The repression was savage. On the first day 6 workers were killed at point-blank range and dozens were injured.
On May 4, amidst the riots in Haymarket Square, a bomb dropped by a stranger killed a policeman. The officers then opened fire, wounded hundreds and arrested hundreds more. More than 30 workers were put on trial, but then this number was reduced to 8. Following a trial in which procedural rules were not respected, five were sentenced to hang and three to imprisonment. Those sentenced to death were executed on 11 November 1887.
After the events in Chicago, the companies gradually agreed to set the working day at eight hours.
The celebration of 1 May, in homage to the Chicago Martyrs, was established in 1889 at a meeting of the Socialist Workers Congress in Paris. Over time, several countries joined the ranks and today it is celebrated almost everywhere in the world.