Why Labor Day in the United States is different from other countries

Labor Day is celebrated in the United States and Canada the first Monday of every September. Other than being a long weekend that signals the end of the summer, this celebration has a strange and unique history.

Most countries around the globe celebrate Labor Day or International Worker’s Day on May 1 to the point that it is sometimes casually referred to as “May Day”.

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Both dates have their origins in the labor union movements in 19th century America. There are many theories about their respective beginnings.

What is known is that the first public Labor Day celebration was held in New York City in 1883, when the Central Labor Union organized a public parade with several worker organizations.

Supposedly, it was because of this first successful public demonstration that the Central Labor Union proposed an annual September celebration.

Another theory was that early September was first suggested as a midway between the 4th of July and Thanksgiving. Good weather at the end of summer would be perfect to allow picnics and public gatherings to raise funds for the labor union.

Around the same time, another labor union, the American Federation of Labor, issued a resolution calling for the adoption of the eight-hour workday by May 1, 1886.

Labor unions across the United States joined a general strike in favor of the eight-hour workday, with violent clashes between the strikers and the police.

This culminated in the Haymarket Affair in Chicago on May 4, 1886. One protestor threw a bomb at the police, resulting in retaliatory gunfire. Seven police officers died, and over 70 workers were arrested.

Eight anarchists were charged in the outcome of the Haymarket Affair, with four of them executed. Three years later, in 1890, the Second Socialist International in Paris organized international demonstrations to commemorate the “Martyrs of Chicago”.

In the United States, May Day gathered strength as an alternative and more radical celebration of the worker movement, particularly in comparison to the more celebratory September equivalent.

Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 by President Grover Cleveland. A conservative Democrat, it’s possible that him and the rest of the US government were wary of the then-recent memory of the Haymarket Affair and its association with May Day.

The May Day celebration soon spread through socialist, anarchist, and social-democratic movements throughout the 20th century, becoming the most widely celebrated Labor Day around the globe.

May Day became one of the most important celebrations in Communist countries as China, North Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union, full of parades and revolutionary display.

However, International Workers’ Day is now celebrated in dozens of countries around the globe, regardless of their government’s political leaning.

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The United States and Canada aren’t the only exceptions, though, Japan celebrates Labor Day on the same date as Thanksgiving in the United States, in an event called Labor Thanksgiving Day!