MAY DAY!!! International Workers Day
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| Haymarket Martyrs (Public Domain) |
The Knights of Labor had been agitating for the eight hour work day for years, drawing in hundreds of thousands of workers who opposed capitalist power. On May 1, 1884, The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, forerunner of the AFL, resolved that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886."
By May 1, 1886, workers were taking to the streets to demand the 8-hour day. The movement was centered in Chicago. 50,000 workers were already on strike, with 30,000 more joining their ranks the next day, bringing Chicago manufacturing to a standstill. On Monday, May 3, a fight broke out at McCormick Reaper between locked-out unionists & non-unionist scabs. Heavily armed police moved in with clubs and