DEBORAH WANG, BIZ ASIA: People these days tend to associate May 1, or May Day, with anti-globalization protests like the kind that we're seeing London. But the holiday is traditionally one that commemorates the struggle of workers. CNN's Phil O'Sullivan reports on the history of May Day.</s>PHIL O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japanese celebrating May Day as new Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reassure crowds that his plans for painful reform won't forget the workers. These Japanese laborers are continuing the tradition of protest at the beginning of May. While many of us enjoy better working conditions than our forebearers, millions of children still work in sweatshops around the world. Women are generally paid less than men, and unemployment is still a feature of developed economies. During the American Industrial Revolution, workers, including children, were often exploited in dangerous conditions. It was on May 1 in 1884 that the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions called for an eight-hour day. Two days later, the May Day movement had gained momentum, and the first May Day was celebrated. But a bomb set off in Chicago killed a policeman, and the day became discredited due to its association with radical socialists and anarchists. In the early 1900s, as anti-Communist feelings rose in the U.S., May 1 lost favor just as its importance caught on in the rest of the world. Large rallies took place in Cuba and the USSR, just as they were banned in Fascist countries like Italy and Germany. Workers are still protesting against the erosion of workers' rights and the effects of globalization. But the irony of worker protest on May 1 is that in the U.S., the country where the International Worker Day originated, it is no longer recognized. Phil O'Sullivan, CNN, Hong Kong.
The History Of May Day