Today is May 1st, International Workers' Day, and as you can see, it's kind of a big deal around these parts.

Here in Vietnam, May Day is a national holiday, a four-day weekend at that,

as workers celebrate the international movement by visiting their families in their hometowns and going to festivals like the one we're at today.

Of course, Vietnam is not alone in celebrating International Workers' Day.

It's a public holiday in most countries around the world, from Asia to Africa, to Europe, to South America.

In fact, the United States is among a scant minority of countries that do not celebrate International Workers' Day on May 1st.

So, you might be surprised to hear that the origin of International Workers' Day was an event that happened over 130 years ago right in the US of A.

It all started back on May 1st, 1886.

On that day, the mighty gears of American industry ground to a halt when tens of thousands of workers protested across the country to demand an 8-hour workday.

Not surprisingly, the police suppressed these peaceful protests violently,

particularly in Chicago, where police inflicted beatings and random shootings on the protesting laborers for days on end.

By the time the dust settled, 6 unarmed workers were murdered by American police, and enraged Chicagoans occupied a place called Haymarket Square.

The police rushed violently into the crowd when someone whose identity was never revealed detonated a bomb that killed a police officer.

The police opened fire into the crowd, and by nightfall, a dozen more people, police and protesters alike, were dead.

The reaction to these bloody battles between American police and the labor movement was martial law.

Labor leaders were rounded up and falsely convicted of murder, and a general crackdown ensued on workers demonstrating for more humane conditions throughout the "land of the free".

Fast forward a few decades to early May of 1894 during the Pullman Railroad Strike.

More bloody labor protests erupted, with at least 24 people killed.

Then President Grover Cleveland, along with Congress, wanted to quell these protests.

So, the political machine quickly rushed through a public holiday for workers with the hope of quieting protests and building support among the American proletariat for the State.

A natural choice for the date of the holiday would be May 1st, already established as International Workers' Day around the Western world,

but Cleveland was conscious of the bloody events of the Haymarket Affair and didn't want to encourage similar protests among workers.

Thus, he chose the much more neutral first Monday of each September for Labor Day in America.

It's sad and shameful that these important events of labor history have been so completely and utterly wiped from the public consciousness of American workers,

to the point where the majority of other nations in the world commemorate the sacrifice of American workers, while we ourselves treat May 1st as we would just any other day.

And why don't we remember the sacrifices of these American workers in America?

Well, because the capitalist oligarchs who run our nation don't want us thinking about the workers they exploit and murder to maintain a position of privilege in our society.

If you live in the U.S.A., I hope you'll join me in spreading the word about the history of May 1st and the Haymarket Affair with your fellow workers,

and remember the names of the martyrs who were killed in Chicago so that their fellow Americans might have better working conditions.

I'm Emerican Johnson, wishing you a Happy International Workers' Day from Hanoi, Vietnam.

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You can also check out my blog at Non-Compete.com.

Thanks for watching.