First ever Workers’ Day holiday holds in Nigeria (History and Origin of May Day)
On this day, May 1st 1980 Workers’ Day was first recognised as a public holiday in Nigeria by the People Redemption Party of Kano State. It officially became a national holiday on May 1st 1981, and has been celebrated on this date ever since. “Labour Day” is celebrated in over 80 different countries across the world.
History of Workers’ Day / Labour Day
May Day was first celebrated back in 1890 on May 1st. This was because the international congress of socialist parties in Europe declared May 1st as the ‘Workers Day of International Unity and Solidarity’.
In 1904, the Sixth International Socialist Congress called for all workers, trade unions and social democratic organisations to ‘demonstrate energetically on the First of May for the legal establishment of the eight-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace.’
The date May 1st was chosen because, in the USA, the eight-hour workday first came into effect on that date in 1886. This is thanks to the demands of the Federation of Organized Trades and Labour Unions. There was a general strike and a riot in Chicago in 1886, and eventually, the eight-hour workday was legally recognised.
Great Britain formed from a union between Countries
Also on 1st May 1707, Great Britain was formed from a union between England and Scotland. The union included Wales which had already been part of England since the 1500’s. The United Kingdom today consists of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Kingdom of England was among the most powerful states in Europe during the medieval and early modern colonial periods and on 1 May 1707, under the terms of the Acts of Union 1707, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
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