Labor Day: How the mov't became a national holiday
American heritage
While the labor movement is international, Labor Day in the U.S. falls on a different date than in most of the rest of the world.
Among the international labor movement, May 1, also called May Day, is International Workers' Day. Over 80 countries observe the holiday in the spring rather than in September.
International Workers' Day tends to be celebrated the way America's Labor Day was generations ago, with unions holding widespread demonstrations.
According to Officeholidays.com, the U.S.' selection of a different day to observe Labor Day, rather than May 1, might have roots in anti-socialist sentiments among the political establishment.
"There is some suggestion that the reason for this was to avoid the commemoration of riots that had occurred in 1886," noted the site. "The adoption of May Day by communists and socialists as their primary holiday [might] have been … another reason as they further [increased] official resistance to May Day labor celebrations in America."
