Happy International Workers Day

Although the first day of May was once the pagan festival of Beltane, today people around the globe celebrate it as their version of Labor Day. May 1st became associated with the labor movement because of a massive general strike that started in Chicago in 1886. On that day, over 300,000 workers (and around 40,000 in the city of Chicago alone) walked off of their jobs at 13,000 businesses across the United States. On May 2nd and 3rd, the work stoppage gained momentum and the strike grew to include almost 100,000 workers. The action was largely peaceful until the fateful Haymarket Affair of May 3, 1886, which ended in a massive wave of repression, a sensational show trial, and the hanging of four innocent men.

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