Showing posts with label American Federation of Labor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American Federation of Labor. Show all posts

Thursday, May 1, 2014

May Day: America's Induced Amnesia of International Worker's Day

by Nomad


All around the world, workers are celebrating their own special holiday. Noticeably absent will be American workers. Since its creation, International Workers' Day -if it is ever mentioned at all- has been portrayed as some kind of Communist propaganda tool. 
In fact, it is as American as apple pie. 

As if any more proof were needed that the American public has been brainwashed by the ruling class, there's the example of May Day, otherwise known as International Workers' Day

It's a pity that so few Americans are aware of the historical origins of the worldwide May Day celebrations and protests. It is something that America should definitely be proud of.  The struggle for worker rights is ongoing and the lack of American participation has always been a handicap to the worldwide labor movement. 
Stranger still, those who are aware of the workers' holiday might assume it was a product of a Communist country like the Soviet Union or Cuba or China.  

However, the birthplace of this idea was Chicago back in 1886. Declared two years earlier, it was also the day in which an eight-hour work day was established as a standard. Here's a good source for that history.
At its national convention in Chicago, held in 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (which later became the American Federation of Labor), proclaimed that "eight hours shall constitute a legal day's labor from and after May 1, 1886."
On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history.
Today, May Day is celebrated all over the world. In fact, May 1 is a national public holiday in more than 80 countries. except in the US. 
Take at look at this: