The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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May 7, 2012

Your View: Why we marched on May 1

By Paul Prew, North Mankato

— May Day, also known as International Worker’s Day, is celebrated around the world and began in the late 1800s as a fight for an eight-hour workday in the United States. After years of child labor, dangerous working conditions, long hours and low wages, workers called for a nationwide strike for an eight-hour workday on May 1, 1886.

A strike at the McCormick Harvester Works in Chicago was attacked by police who injured many and killed four. The next evening, people gathered in Haymarket Square to protest the killings. As the event was winding down, police surrounded the crowd, a bomb was thrown, and many police officers were killed by their own reckless shooting.

Four people were eventually hanged for their efforts to bring about an eight-hour workday. The eight-hour day was finally instituted as part of the New Deal programs after a surge in labor militancy due to the Great Depression.

We marched on May 1 to celebrate this history, but also as a reminder that the eight-hour day is threatened, and inequality has again reached levels similar to those before the Great Depression. The freedom to assemble, the right to free speech, Social Security, eight-hour day legislation, civil rights, food quality and worker safety legislation were all won by the sacrifices of people who stood up, fought and died to bring us these freedoms and benefits.

 We honor their memory. We marched because we know that we will only see a better future if we stand together against those who wish to enrich themselves at the expense of our health, environment and economic future.

 

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