The History of May Day

by Alexander Trachtenberg

In this classic reprint from 1937, Alexander Trachtenberg delivers a concise history of the origins of May Day. The origin of May Day is indissolubly bound up with the struggle for the shorter workday � a demand of major political significance for the working class. This struggle is manifest almost from the beginning of the factory system in the United States. Written by Alexander Trachtenberg in 1935 is an invaluable asset for any Marxist-Leninist student. Although the demand for higher wages appears to be the most prevalent cause for the early strikes in this country, the question of shorter hours and the right to organize were always kept in the foreground when workers formulated their demands against the bosses and the government. As exploitation was becoming intensified and workers were feeling more and more the strain of inhumanly long working hours, the demand for an appreciable reduction of hours became more pronounced.

40 pages, Paperback

Published October 5, 2018

Reviews

[Vivek KuRa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always attributed Mayday to a Communist or Socialist state. But I was so surprised to know that Chicago was the epicenter of this resistive campaign via Haymarket affair through this book .
Book explains the origin of demands such as 8hr labor and minimum wage put forward through the workers union from the US cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Even though the origin of the now commonly followed global practices of 8hrs labor is through the strikes and protests by US workers, Mayday has been sidelined over the years in the fear of revolutionary agitations and red scare by the US capitalists. Instead, it was suppressed and replaced with a much mellow "Labor Day" in the US which is observed as a day of rest and recreation rather than remembered as a day of resistance and revolution.

A simple brief history of May Day.