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Havana, May 1 (RHC)-- Today is International Worker's Day... commemorated every May 1st, around the world.  While May Day had its origins in the United States, the U.S. is one of only a few countries that does not celebrate the day.  

In 1889, the International Socialist Congress met in Paris and established the Second International as a successor to the earlier International Workingmen's Association.  They adopted a resolution for a "great international demonstration" in support of working-class demands for the eight-hour day. 

The date of May 1st was chosen by the American Federation of Labor to commemorate a general strike in the United States, which had begun on May 1, 1886 and culminated in the Haymarket Massacre -- in which labor union activists in Chicago were killed in the struggle for the eight-hour movement -- eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.  

International Worker's Day commemorated today throughout the world.