- May Day was proclaimed in 1886 to demand an 8-hour workday, to show international working-class solidarity, and to demonstrate defiance of the capitalist class and the inequitable wage system. By the 1900s, May Day was declared a day of strike and celebrated with parades, meetings, festivals, rallies and cultural programs. The 1909 May Day Parade in New York City saw thousands brave a rainstorm to show their solidarity. Women and children marched in their own trade sections and in special women’s and children’s divisions. The children drew cheers as they marched, wearing ribbons with slogans in English, Russian, or Yiddish, saying “Down with slavery” and “Abolish child labor.” This was followed the next day by a large gathering at Cooper Union for festivities, including music recitations, a May Day Queen, Goddess of Peace, and a play. May Day and other displays of protest influenced legislation to regulate the workplace and child labor. Despite opposition by industrialists and religious and patriotic organizations, in 1938, a child labor law passed. Although a triumph, the law was not comprehensive, and the struggle to abolish child labor, especially in agriculture, continues.
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