May Day:

Another May Day has come and gone in the United States without incident. This international holiday associated with the laboring class passes without notice in the United States while the rest of the world celebrates the achievement of Labor. Of course we have our own Labor Day in September. It comes and goes in an innocuous picnic fashion each year. It's the last blast of summer, but rarely do we pause and think about the plight of the worker.

Strangely, the association of May Day and Labor had its roots here in the United States. The May 1st date is used because in 1884 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions demanded an eight-hour workday in the United States, to come in effect as of May 1, 1886. This led to the general strike and the U.S. Haymarket Riot of 1886, but eventually also in the official sanction of the eight-hour workday.

The rest of the world now celebrates May 1st as a day to honor labor? Why did the US government move Labor Day away from the May 1st date? Was it to avoid commemoration of our own first bloody May Day?