International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May
Day ) is a celebration of the social and economic achievements
of the international labor movement commonly sees organized
street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working
people and their labour union throughout most of the countries
of the world — though, as noted below, rarely in the United
States and Canada. International Workers' Day is the
commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when
Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the
eight hour day, killing several demonstrators and resulting in
the deaths of several police officers, largely from friendly
fire. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International,
meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and
the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond
Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890
anniversary of the Chicago These were so successful that May Day
was formally recognized as an