VivirLatino

Happy Labor Day! Today marks the last hurrah of the summer season, the last days beaches and pools are officially open, and the day before NYC public school children hit the books again to prep for hight stakes tests that test their ability to take tests (useful skill you know). So while you are enjoying your bbq chicken, your day at the beach, or your mad dash for last minute school supplies and other bargains at the altars of mass consumption, here’s a little history:

The Knights of Labor organized the original parade on Tuesday, September 5, 1882 in New York City. In 1884 another parade was held, and the Knights passed resolutions to make this an annual event. Other labor organizations (and there were many), but notably the affiliates of the International Workingmen’s Association, many of whom were socialists or anarchists, favored a May 1 holiday. In 1886 came the general strike which eventually won the eight-hour workday in the United States. These events are today commemorated as Labor Day in virtually every country in the world, with the notable exceptions being the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. With the Chicago Haymarket riots in early May of 1886, President Grover Cleveland believed that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Thus, fearing that it might strengthen the socialist movement, he quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day.

Via / Wikipedia