May Day: the world proletariat celebrates May Day.
May Day represents a celebration of the fighting spirit of the world proletariat, honoring the past and strengthening the union between workers of all nations.
While the colorful parade of flags crowds the Cuban streets, satisfaction shines on the faces of those who ponder the welfare and progress of the country, and joyfully embrace the celebration that every May Day entertains the world proletariat.
The celebration had its origins at the end of the 19th century, when in the United States a movement arose that advocated the reduction of long and exhausting working hours to eight hours a day. Although the issue was presented at the IV Congress of the American Federation of Labor in 1884, no consensus was reached between the government and employers.
This situation motivated the workers to fight for their rights with a general strike that materialized on May 1st, 1886, when a large number of workers gathered in the main thoroughfares of the city of Chicago.
However, to the multiple dismissals and concessions provoked by the mob, were added the media cynicism of the bourgeois press against the proletarian masses, the ferocity of the bosses and police repression, whose brutality caused dozens of injuries and arrests, and six strikers lost their lives.
Days later, in repudiation of the brutality with which the demonstrators were treated, labor leaders called a rally in Haymarket Square. The situation resulted in another bloody scene, when the police force again attacked the population with gunfire.
Eight agents lost their lives, hundreds of workers were arrested and, of these, five ended up being unjustly executed in November 1887 and went down in history as heroes of the international workers’ cause.
In the Antillean context, once the Revolutionary Government was established, Fidel Castro Ruz urged Cuban workers to pay homage to the martyrs of the Chicago Massacre, as well as to the growing spirit of resistance and tireless action of an island whose people, always faithful to the legacy of their ancestors, battle every day for their social and economic development, sovereignty and independence.
May Day represents, therefore, a celebration of the fighting spirit of the world proletariat, honoring the past and strengthening the union among workers of all nations in their quest for a more just, equitable and prosperous future.
Written by Yadiel Barbón Salgado.
