![]() ![]() In 1894, President Grover Cleveland defused the holiday by deciding on a new date. While this date caught on in the rest of the world, not so here. ![]() Following violent labor strikes in Chicago in May 1886, climaxing in the Haymarket massacre, American unions chose May 1 to commemorate these events. The reasons for the holiday’s different dates and traditions in the United States and the rest of the world are revealing. In many European countries, this will amount to little more than celebratory parades, but in others - France comes to mind - governments will brace themselves for massive and potentially violent protests over what labor has become. Yet across the globe, in communist and capitalist countries alike, workers will mostly spend the day not working, but instead marking Labor Day. May 1 will be a Monday like any other in the United States, with Americans going about a typical workday. ![]()
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