That Commie Holiday

With the first May Day parade in Red Square since the USSR era, people in the US probably still think of May Day that way, but wait a minute...

May Day, the international holiday of the socialist and workers' movements, is popularly viewed in the U.S. as "that commie holiday." It's commonly associated with big parades and displays of military hardware on Red Square, and exchanges of "fraternal greetings" between leaders of the USSR and its satellites.

In fact, though, it's a holiday that started in the U.S., and is as American as apple pie. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, predecessor of the AFL, called for a nationwide general strike in favor of the eight-hour day. It was to be introduced on May 1, 1886. The political strife resulting directly from that movement included the Haymarket bomb and the subsequent police and judicial riot. The celebration of May Day as a worker's holiday dates back to that movement.-May Day Thoughts: Individualist Anarchism and the Labor Movement