People worldwide gathered to commemorate International Workers’ Day or May Day on May 1.
The day is important for workers and labor rights campaigners. It is celebrated to commemorate workers’ struggle against oppression and rights violation.
The date had been chosen to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago in the United States. Workers, forced to work up to 16 hours a day, were fighting for an eight-hour workday.
On May 1, 1886, around half a million workers in the U.S. went on a strike. Chicago was the epicenter of the struggle where 40,000 workers took part in the strike.
The strike and subsequent death penalty that seven workers were sentenced to galvanized the labor movement. In 1889, the Second International declared May 1 as International Workers’ Day.