04/10/2006 May Day - May Day

(May Day 1919, Russia)


“There was a riot of voices, and in a minute Rose and Key found themselves flowing with the jumbled crowd down Sixth Avenue under the leadership of a thin civilian in a slouch hat and the brawny soldier who had summarily ended the oration” (Page 77).

The holiday for which Fitzgerald’s “May Day” was an entirely day that what it is known, rather not known for in the United States today. As a child, I knew May Day through its association with the beginning of Spring and school fairs. I was quite sheltered as a child. In fact, May Day is most famous for falling on the same day as International Workers Day. A holiday that has close ties with the Communist party. Knowing this now the riot at the offices of the New York Trumpet makes a lot more sense.

May Day’s United States origins can be traced back to 1886 on the first of May when over 800,000 workers went on strike throughout the United States in support of the eight hour work day. The support for the eight hour work day was especially prevalent in Chicago where “300,000 workers struck and marched through the city streets in a huge display of proletarian power” (May Day, New Haven). Two days later outside of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company a fight broke out between protesters and police. When the skirmish was all said and done, the Chicago police had killed four protestors and wounded several others. Obviously, the workers and anarchists throughout Chicago did not look upon this favorably and decided to march in protest of “the bloodthirsty Chicago police” (May Day, New Haven). The protest at Haymarket Square began peaceful enough. In fact, the protestor’s were behaved so well “that Mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. who had stopped by to watch, walked home early” (Wikipedia, Haymarket Riot). As the events to the day came to a close and police were dispersing the crowd a bomb was thrown at the police line, killing one and injuring several others. Thus, a substantial riot followed. The next day following the riot,

“under the direction of State's Attorney Julius Grinnel, police began a fierce roundup of radicals, agitators and labor leaders, siezing records and closing socialist and labor press offices. Eight men were finally brought to trial for conspiracy” (Chicago Public Library).

The eight hour work day wasn’t officially recognized by the United States until some fifty years later. Finally in 1938 “the Fair Labor Standards Act under the New Deal made it a legal day's work throughout the nation” (Wikipedia, Eight Hour Day).




Fitzgerald, F. Scott. “May Day”. Tales of the Jazz Age. First Pine Street Books: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2003.
The picture is from, http://www.postcardman.net/100889.jpg
Chicago Public Library
May Day, New Haven
Wikipedia, Eight Hour Day
Wikipedia, Haymarket Riot