A Brief History of Labour Day

1st of May demonstration of the SPÖ at Rathausplatz in Vienna. © C.Stadler/Bwag

(KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA) - It’s been a month since the first of May - the starting of a new month in the Gregorian Calendar and yet, it is also a day to celebrate the work of the labour movement - and a recognition of what happened in the city of Chicago on this day back in 1886, where a peaceful workers protest in favour of an eight hour workday suddenly turned bloody on the fourth of the month, as the Chicago Police turned on these protesters and killed eight of them, injured at least seventy more and made north of 100 arrests. The American readers would be familiar with the infamous Haymarket Affair, which was what I was alluding to, which was the key turning point in labour affairs and the news reverberated across the Atlantic into Europe, with even the Second International - a transnational organization of political parties having similar ideology or political orientation, had to agree that annually on 1 May, starting in 1890, that it would be a day of international demonstration to honour the Chicago martyrs in their quest to demand the 8 hour workday that we are all familiar of in the modern day context. However, this is not where it started - it started in a colony of the British Empire, in an island that used to house many British prisoners as they served out their sentences, in effective exile from the Kingdom - and this article will draw a clear timeline from the ideological and philosophical beginnings of 1 May to the present day and ending with explaining the significance for our lives today. 

History

Robert Owen was a British man who had an exceptional entrepreneurial mindset since he was a teenager. He had become the superintendent of a large cotton mill in Manchester, the economic craze back then, and developed it into one of the best organisations in Great Britain. Upon becoming a manager and a partner in the Manchester firm, Owen convinced his partners to purchase the New Lanark mills in Lanarkshire, up in Scotland. Once he arrived in New Lanark, he found a community, approximately 2000 - 500 of them children, who were living in abject poverty, a crime-ridden place and anti-social behaviour was common, and he had a revolutionary idea for that time: provide a better life for the workers, and they would produce better work. He hung a silent monitor over every worker’s station with what he thought of their conduct from the previous day, ranging from bad to excellent. Instead of the common tradition of whipping workers, he used social pressure, and that was more effective - so effective, in fact, he published a book entitled A New View Of Society in 1813 with the central argument being and I quote, “Any general character, from the best to the worst... may be given to any community, even to the world at large, by the application of proper means”. By 1817, Owen realised that improving living conditions was not enough, as the length of the workday itself was very toxic, with workers working anywhere from 12 to 16 hours a day, 6 days a week, and that is when he created the 8-8-8 rule: 8 hours work, 8 hours recreation and 8 hours of rest. That was the spark that triggered the labour movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century to advocate for the 8-hour workday.

The stonemasons of Australia decided to hold a public meeting on 26 March 1856, at the Queen’s Theatre in Melbourne and James Stephens, the labour union leader, declared that “the time has arrived when the system of 8 hours should be introduced into the building trades and that after the 21st of this month [April] we promise to work 8 hours and no longer”. It was summarised by the slogan: “Eight hours to work, Eight hours to play, Eight hours to sleep” - a direct nod to the pioneer, Robert Owen - and indeed they stuck true to their word. Following failed negotiations, the stonemasons decided to down tools on 21 April at the University of Melbourne construction site and marched to Parliament House, the Parliament governing the Colony of Victoria. Within a couple of days, most employers and the government had conceded to their demands due to a labour shortage during the Australian Gold Rush. 

Almost thirty years removed from then, as parts of Australia already had implemented the 8-hour workweek, the Land of the Free was still crushing workers by institutionalising working anywhere between 12 and 14-hour workweeks. In 1884, the labour movement in the United States had had enough, so the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, the precursor to AFL-CIO, resolved that if a national bill that would adopt an eight-hour workday was not passed by 1 May 1886, a general strike would be called by the federation. They chose 1886 because it was “Moving Day” in the United States, which is the date when leases for housing and leases expired, maximising disruptivity for strikes. As history would have it, no national legislation institutionalised the 8-hour workday, and the strike happened, and together with it, the escalation and the Haymarket Affair. 

Only three years later, after the Affair, and after a century of the French Revolution, the Second International was formed in Paris, which brought together socialist and labour parties, continuing the work and legacy of the First International insofar as inheriting both the legacy of Karl Marx and the conflict with anarchists. However, crucial to this tale, they officially declared that every year on the first day of May, with 1890 as the inaugural year, would be designated as International Workers Day in commemoration of the martyrs of the labour movement in Chicago during the Affair, and in so doing, popularised the movement for an eight-hour workday. Ever since that day, right up to today, in 2026, we still celebrate Labour Day, or “May Day” in the United States, as a day of solidarity with the international working class.

Today’s Context

So yes, you can thank a union member for the eight-hour workday. Every year, when you march on the streets in solidarity with your fellow workers, remember the history and the context behind it - from Robert Owens to the Second International’s proclamation of 1 May as International Workers Day. The labour movement of old gave us the privileges we are afforded today, based on courage and determination, and we must build on it further to advance labour causes that reverberate in tomorrow’s reality - and make it suitable for modern times.

The struggle in today’s world is not for the eight-hour workday. The struggle in today’s world is not for the implementation of the five-day workweek. It is the struggle against imperialism, the struggle against rapid artificial intelligence proliferation and the struggle against conflict between states. The Labour Movement across countries must be united and join hands in proclaiming one slogan, but many causes. To advance many causes is not a sign of juxtapositioning, but rather to have foresight in the intricate world we live in today, which is set to be even more complex in the future. The Labour Movement is as strong as its weakest link - we must advance the labour cause for what is just and fair!