Fact file

• » May Day or Labour day - celebrated in around 80 countries to mark the labour movement and worker’s rights - has its origins in the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago.
• » This Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.
• » India’s very first Labour Day was celebrated on May 1, 1923 in Chennai, on Marina Beach.
• » The red flag – now a symbol of the left movement - was used for the first time in India during this event too. A resolution was also passed that the government should declare May Day as a holiday.
• » The event was organised by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan and Malayapuram Singaravelu Chettiar, who became one of the founders of the Communist Party of India.
• » Today in India, organisations and trade unions arrange pageants, children enter contests so they can understand the importance of fairness for workers, and political leaders make speeches.
• » May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries, including Bolivia, India, Chile, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Bahrain, Bangladesh, China, Israel, Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan.