May 2022 is also a special day for Sri Lanka. For years, all parties in Sri Lanka have celebrated May Day to show their political influence. A fraudulent May Day celebration has been called off in a city near Colombo with party representatives and their supporters. Sri Lankan workers are adding the real workers’ struggle to history once again.
May 1, 1888, was a special day for American workers, and went down in history as the day when statesmen treated workers, or as many statesmen could show their nakedness. About 65,000 workers flocked to Chicago to demand an eight-hour shift.
But on the third day of the strike, four workers were killed in an attack by armed police. Police and workers exchanged words that day, and a police officer was killed in a bomb blast. It escalated into a confrontation that left six police officers dead.
Workers’ leaders Augustus Spice, Albert Pardens, Adolf Fischer, George Engels, Samuel Fielden, Luis Lang, Michael Stwatch and Oscar Niebe were arrested by police and later charged. Oscar Niebe was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Samuel Fielden and Michael Steward were sentenced to life in prison.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), which met in 1889, decided to perpetuate the memory of its bloodthirsty comrades who fought for eight hours of service. Accordingly, May 1 of each year was declared as International Labor Day and the first Labor Day in Sri Lanka was celebrated in 1927. The first May Day rally in the history of Ceylon began in 1933 at Price Grounds in Colombo and ended at Galle Face Green. In 1956, May Day was declared a public holiday in the country.
Today’s 2022 05 01. Sri Lanka’s name is echoed around the world as a country struggling against the rulers. The oppressed class was the first to join the struggle. The oppressed are the people who do whatever is not a burden to the government and support their children. Other public servants were also struggling, further oppressing the oppressed masses with those workers. They are demanding their trade union rights.
On behalf of the Sri Ravana Lanka Media Network, we would like to wish all the real workers, or those who are not paid by the government, the struggle for World Labor Day 2022 and the creation of a country worthy of their livelihood, a victory in this struggle.
Sri Nissanka Mayadunna.
