Comment on Got plans for May Day tomorrow?
Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone 3 weeks agoOn 21 April 1856, Australian stonemasons in Victoria undertook a mass stoppage as part of the eight-hour workday movement.[15] It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring American workers to have their first stoppage.[16] 1 May was chosen to be International Workers’ Day to commemorate the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago.[17] In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a general strike for the eight-hour workday
eureka@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
Yes. If this is pointing out a contradiction, I can’t see it.
If you want to bring back 21 April for commemorating Australian/Victorian workers too, I will gladly join you. They deserve it. I’m saying that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also partake in May Day (May 1), which is an international day like the Christmas holiday. Christmas still celebrates an international religious event even if the day it’s usually celebrated on was chosen by Romans.
Aussieiuszko@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
We don’t need to bring it back, we still celebrate it every year in March.
If Australia had invented Christmas, I’d be in favour of us changing the date to one that relates to our accomplishment as well.
eureka@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
What happened in March? I don’t know as much about other states’ Labour Day history.
I think that’s missing the point of International Workers’ Day - it’s not just about our national accomplishments like Labour Day. Our labour movement has had effects on other countries (e.g. our pioneering contribution to the eight-hour day struggle, green bans, the Dalfram dispute re: Imperial Japan, black bans of the Dutch Black Armada trying to colonise Indonesia, wharfies in general), and other countries on our struggles (again, maritime work in general is an example, where worker unions and members from different countries regularly interact and interrelate. An interesting specific example was the solidarity actions with Australian waterside workers in 1998, including parliamentary and harbour actions in Spain, anti-scab actions in New Zealand, and the picketing of Australian embassies in the Phillipines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the USA^[1]^.
We live in a global capitalist economy, our work often relies on the products and demand from other countries, and therefore an international perspective of labour is useful for any of us who want the best outcomes for our worker class. And so, while it’s obviously not the most important thing in the world, I believe celebrating an explicitly international labour day is constructive and beneficial even from a local perspective.