Context

• May 1 is celebrated as International Workers Day, a day of celebration of the working class. In India, it was first celebrated in 1923 in Madras.
• This year’s theme is “Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of Social Partners”.

About

Background:

• International Workers’ Day is celebrated to commemorate the 4th of May of 1886, the Haymarket affair (Haymarket Massacre) in the Chicago, when workers were on the general strike for their eight-hour workday. Suddenly, a bomb was thrown over the crowd by an unidentified person and then police started firing over the workers and four demonstrators were killed.
• It was decided to be celebrated on annual basis as a May Day in the meeting (in 1889) of Paris through a proposal by the Raymond Lavigne.
• In the year 1891, May Day was officially recognized by the International’s second congress to be celebrated as an annual event.
• The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Engels in 1848 had a great impact on workers across various countries that were feeling the heat of industrialisation.

Why is May Day celebrated?

• It is celebrated to promote the requirement of eight-hour work day. After the lots of efforts made by the workers and socialists, eight-hours was declared as the legal time for the workers in the national convention at Chicago in 1884 by the American Federation of Labour.
• It commemorates the event of Haymarket Massacre as well as to promote the social and economic achievements of the working group people.

Celebration in India:

• The country witnessed the first celebration of Labour Day in 1923 in Madras. It was led by Singaravelar, leader of the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan who held two meetings, one at Triplicane Beach and one near the Madras High Court.
• It was at these meetings that a resolution was passed urging the British government to declare May 1 as a Labour Day and also a government holiday. It was the first occasion in India on which the red flag was used.
  
  

  International Labour Organization (ILO) ILO is an agency located in the United Nations, established to deal with labour issues on international level. It has around 185 members of the total (193) UN member states. It deals with all the complaints violating the international rules for labour class people. It has tripartite governing structure in order to create free and open debate between the social partners and governmental body. International Labour Organization secretariat works as an International Labour Office. It organizes an International Labour Conference on annual basis in the Geneva in the month of June to make general policies, planning programmes and deciding budget.

Significance

It is celebrated on international level to promote and encourage the international labour associations.