International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries is a celebration of labourers and
the working classes that
is promoted by the international labour movement, socialists, communists or anarchists and
occurs every year on May Day (1 May),
an ancient European spring festival. The
date was chosen for International Workers' Day by the Second International, a
pan-national organization of socialist and communist political
parties, to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago on 4 May
1886. The 1904 International Socialist Conference in Amsterdam, the Sixth Conference of the Second International,
called on "all Social Democratic Party organisations and trade unions of
all countries to demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal
establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and
for universal peace."
Being a traditional European
spring celebration, May Day is a national public holiday in
several European countries. The date is currently celebrated specifically as
"Labour Day" or "International Workers' Day" in the
majority of countries, including those that didn't traditionally celebrate May
Day. Some countries celebrate a Labour Day on
other dates significant to them, such as the United States, which celebrates Labour Day on
the first Monday of September
in India, Labour Day is a public
holiday held on every 1 May. It
is celebrated as Antarrashtriya
Shramik Diwas. The holiday is tied to labour movements for communist and
socialist political parties. Labour Day is known as "Kamgar Din" in Hindi,"Karmikara
Dinacharane" in Kannada, "Kamgar Divas" in Marathi and
"Uzhaipalar dhinam" in Tamil. In North India, and "Thozhilaali Dinam" in Kerala,
Labour Day is mostly not given its previous importance as a holiday now.
The first May Day celebration in India was organised in Madras (now Chennai) by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on 1 May 1923.This was also the first
time the red flag was used in India. The party leader Singaravelu Chettiar made arrangements to celebrate May Day
in two places in 1923. One meeting was held at the beach opposite to the Madras High Court; the other meeting was held at the Triplicane beach. The Hindu newspaper,
published from Madras reported,
The
Labour Kisan party has introduced May Day celebrations in Madras. Comrade
Singaravelar presided over the meeting. A resolution was passed stating that
the government should declare May Day as a holiday. The president of the party
explained the non-violent principles of the party. There was a request for
financial aid. It was emphasised that workers of the world must unite to
achieve independence.
1 May is also celebrated as
"Maharashtra Day" and "Gujarat Day" to mark the date in 1960, when the two
western states attained statehood after the erstwhile Bombay State was
divided on linguistic lines. Maharashtra Day is held at Shivaji Park in
central Mumbai. Schools and offices in Maharashtra remain closed on 1
May. A similar parade is held to celebrate Gujarat Day in Gandhinagar.
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