The strike of May 1: Labor Day – Universal History

Labor Day is celebrated internationally on May 1, this is due to a series of strikes that began on May 1, 1886 in Chicago until May 4 of the same year. The strike achieved a reduction in the working day in the United States and then spread to the rest of the world.

Background to the strike of May 1, 1886

Industrialization favored the strengthening of the bourgeoisie, the dominant social class in the economic, political and cultural aspects of XIX century society. Economically, the bourgeoisie dominated the scene with large merchants, bank and factory owners. Economic liberalism guaranteed them free enterprise with reduced government intervention in the economy..
Politically, the bourgeoisie allied with the rulers and some even took power. Supported by the ideas of liberalism, they handled categories such as citizenship, the equality of all men before the law, human rights and the obligation on the part of the State to respect and protect them. Political liberalism strongly criticized serfdom, people should be free to work whatever they want or move where it suits them best.
Culturally, the bourgeoisie generated an ideology that exalted individual effort, dedication to work and the importance of success reflected in the generation of fortune in a short time.
The industrialization process had created a large class of proletarians.who in order to live had to sell the only thing they possessed: their labor power.
Today it may be very familiar that anyone has to sell their labor power to live, that is, to have a job. But between 1750 and 1850 the dominated classes had other things besides their labor power.. For example. peasants owned land and artisans owned their craft tools and machines. As capitalism strengthened, many peasants and artisans became factory workers.

Working conditions before May 1

These workers had to adapt to new forms of relationships at work and at home. They had exhausting work days of 14 to 16 hours a day, with a few minutes to eat, unhygienic and high-risk working conditions. Women’s and children’s work was accepted, for which they paid half the salary given to men, even if they carried out the same activities.
In several cases the system of heated beds in which the new factories built huge dormitories where they housed the workers who had recently arrived in the cities. Since the spaces were not enough for everyone, they were rotated. When a worker finished his work shift he would arrive at the bedroom where another worker had just gotten up to start his day.
The workers accepted these new ways of living because they had no other means of survival.. Without land and without the means to become bourgeois themselves, they had to sell their labor power to the factory. You will remember the Ludista movement and Carlism, which were the first reactions of the workers to this new social relationship. Later, the workers formed mutual groups that sought to help each other in the face of unforeseen events and the precariousness of their living conditions.

protests and strikes

Although it was not considered legal and was repressed by the police, one of the means that the worker had to put pressure on the factory owner was the strike. The first time the strike was recognized as a legitimate and legal means of the labor movement was in 1864, in England..
One of the most important strikes of this period was the one that occurred in Chicago in 1886. Between May 1 and 4 of that year, the American workers went on strike., demanding the establishment of the eight-hour working day. The protests, suppressed by the police, resulted in some dead workers. They are known as the “Chicago Martyrs.” As a result of these protests, the eight-hour work day was established in the United States. Subsequently, this workers’ achievement spread to the rest of the European countries, and during the 20th century practically to the rest of the world. To commemorate this movement May 1st is celebrated worldwide as International Labor Day..
At the same time that the labor movement improved its organization and achieved some of its demands, a new political trend began to take shape that made strong criticisms of the capitalist system: socialism.
Led by thinkers like Karl Marx. Frederick Engels, Michael Bakunin and Iose Proudhon. among others, the new movement stressed the unfairness of the situation.