International workers day, 1st of May

On 21 April 1856, Australian?stonemasons?in?Victoria?undertook a mass stoppage as part of the?eight-hour workday?movement.?It became a yearly commemoration, inspiring American workers to have their first stoppage.?1 May was chosen to be International Workers' Day to commemorate the 1886?Haymarket affair?in?Chicago.?In that year beginning on 1 May, there was a general strike for the eight-hour workday. On 4 May, the police acted to disperse a public assembly in support of the strike when an unidentified person threw a bomb. The police responded by firing on the workers. The event led to the deaths of seven police officers and at least four civilians; sixty police officers were injured, as were one hundred and fifteen civilians.?Hundreds of labour leaders and sympathizers were later rounded-up and four were executed by hanging, after a trial that was seen as a?miscarriage of justice?The following day on 5 May, in?Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the?state militia?fired on a crowd of strikers killing seven, including a schoolboy and a man feeding chickens in his yard.

Workers' Day has been celebrated as a national public holiday on 1 May each year since 1995.