Beyond the contemporary solidarity Fist and March of Worker’s Day, lies an historical struggle and deaths of workers in the nineteenth century.

Tracking back from May 1886, where thousands of Labourers were seen in the streets demonstrating their struggle against the 12 – hour working day which accumulated to lengthy days and weeks.

Nobody was spared in this agony and even a child was caught up in this violation.

To defy the odds and make a change, the workers unified in the United States, singing one song and having one voice in requesting a favourable working of 8 hours instead of the law abiding 12 hours which was causing misery.

The demonstration all began as a peaceful protest but it was interrupted by a sporadic gun shots from the Police which led to several deaths.

This however didn’t deter the distraught labourers from staging another demonstration the next day and this time around, a bomb was diffuse into the crowd and this led to more tragic incident. In addition, eight workers were arrested and seven sentenced to death while one had to serve 15 years imprisonment.

Unfortunately, the person who threw the bomb was never identified but people had to slain their lives in order to be heard by the government.

This symbol of struggle for Laborers to gain their fundamental rights had to be named “The Haymarket Affair”. This fight also birth May 1 , a day set aside to celebrate workers since their request of 8 hours daily was amended as a law by the government.

Today, thousands celebrate the international Labourers’ or Workers’ day across the globe. But amidst this celebration, we as workers should not forget the fallen heroic Labourers who gave up their lives in the struggle to obtain the 8 working hours we are enjoying at present.

Although, the fight of Workers’ fundamental rights is a continuous movement, we should not wave off the fact that we are the fabric of the society and without our diverse effective efforts in our daily duties, the world will be eroded in trenches.