May Day Reflection

The holiday on May 1st, known around the world as International Workers Day is a holiday celebrating the labor and struggles of the working class around the world and the rights which they had to fight for. It was a holiday initially started in the united states, yet we do not celebrate it and for the most part have since forgot about it in our national memory. In class when Andy asked us if we knew what May day was, nobody seemed to know, and i personally did not have any idea. We learned that it was started in 1886, after the Haymarket massacre in Chicago, where police killed 12 people during a workers protest, where the workers were trying to attain a set 8 hour work day.

The fact that we in America do not know what May 1st represents, is much more reflective of our society than it is of the people who worked so hard to make sure this day would not be remembered. I feel like we are a very submissive society, which fears authority only when we have to stand up against it. We talk alot, and demonstrate against the establishment, but lack a certain common goal as a society. This is why i think that when these protesters were killed, and the bosses at all the factories fired all employees who were absent on May 1st, we kinda' forgot about what the lives of these 12 people meant, and what the efforts of every person at these protests resulted in. Today we certainly appreciate the 5 day work week and the 8 hour work day, but do not even devote one day to their memory. While virtually every other country around the world celebrates and holds rally's in memory of those who fought for workers rights. We in America do not, and have pretty much suppressed this date and what is represents in our country.

I think that what this shows is that Americans take things for granted. If you asked any average working class person if they appreciated the weekend, and the 9-5 work day, they would without a doubt say yes. But the fact is, we don't appreciate the struggle and the effort it took to get to this point. I think we need to have a major effort in America to bring back the celebration of May Day, and what it means, because we need to appreciate what went in to what we enjoy today.