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英语六级考试网祝同学们五一快乐!
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May Day
This article is about the holidays celebrated on May 1st. For other uses, see Mayday.
May Day is May 1, and refers to any of several holidays celebrated on this day. May 1 was a traditional springtime holiday in many pre-Christian European pagan cultures, and many elements of these holidays are still celebrated on May 1 today, such as the Maypole. "May Day" also refers to various socialist and labor movement celebrations conducted on May 1, unrelated to the traditional celebrations to commemorate the Haymarket Riot of 1886 and the international socialist movement generally. The latter event is an important holiday in Communist countries and Waldorf Schools.
The earliest May Day celebrations appeared in pre-Christian Europe, as in the Celtic celebration of Beltane, and the Walpurgis Night of the Germanic countries. Although the pagan-oriented celebrations faded as Europe became Christianised, a more secular version of the holiday continued to be observed in the schools and churches of Europe well into the 20th century. In this form, May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing the Maypole and crowning of the Queen of the May. Today many Neopagans, especially Wiccans, celebrate reconstructed versions of the old pagan holidays on May 1.
Among American non-pagans, May Day is now more commonly celebrated as a commemoration of the Haymarket Riot of 1886 in Chicago, United States which occurred on May 4, but was the culmination of labor unrest which began on May 1. The date consequently became established as an anarchist and socialist holiday during the 20th century, and in these circles it is often known as International Workers' Day or Labour Day. In this form, May Day has become an international celebration of the social and economic achievements of the working class and labor movement.
International Workers' Day
International Workers' Day (a name used interchangeably with May Day) is a celebration of the social and economic achievements of the international labor movement. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of working people and their labor unions throughout Europe and most of the rest of the world — though, as noted below, not in either the United States or Canada. More radical groups such as communists and anarchists are also given to widespread street protest on this day as well.
May Day was originally the commemoration of the Chicago riots of 1886: in 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centenial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle (1889), following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago riot. These were so successful that May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. The May Day Riots of 1894 and May Day Riots of 1919 occurred subsequently.
In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social-Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." As the most effective way of demonstrating was by striking, the congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."
May Day has long been a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist, communist, and anarchist groups. In some circles, bonfires are lit in commemoration of the Haymarket Riot, usually right as the first day of May begins [1].
Due to its status as a celebration of the efforts of workers and the socialist movement, May Day is an important official holiday in Communist countries such as the People's Republic of China, Cuba, and the former Soviet Union. May Day celebrations typically feature elaborate popular and military parades in these countries.
In countries other than the United States and Canada, resident working classes fought hard to make May Day an official holiday[citation needed], efforts which largely succeeded. For this reason, in most of the world today, May Day is marked by massive street rallies led by workers, their trade unions, anarchists and various socialist and communist parties.
The First and Second Red Scare periods ended May Day as a mass holiday in the United States, which now celebrates its Labor Day on the first Monday of September, due to its importance in Communist countries.
劳动节简介
亦称"五一节",定在每年的五月一日。它是全世界无产队级、劳动人民的共同拥有的节日。
五一国际劳动节源于美国芝加哥城的工人大罢工。1886年5月1日，芝加哥的二十一万六千余名工人为争取实行八小时工作制而举行大罢工，经过艰苦的流血斗争，终于获得了胜利。为纪念这 次伟大的工人运动，1889年7月第二国际宣布将每年的五月一日定为国际劳动节。这一决定立即得到世界各国工人的积极响应。1890年5月1日，欧美各国的工人阶级率先走向街头，举行盛大的示威游行与集会，争取合法权益。从此，每逢这一天世界各国的劳动人民都要集会、游行，以示庆祝。
为什么要把这一天定为国际劳动节呢？这还得从19世纪80年代的美国工人运动说起。
当时，美国和欧洲的许多国家，逐步由资本主义发展到帝国主义阶段，为了刺激经济的高速发展，榨取更多的剩余价值，以维护这个高速运转的资本主义机器，资本家不断采取增加劳动时间和劳动强度的办法来残酷地剥削工人。
在美国，工人们每天要劳动14至16个小时，有的甚至长达18个小时，但工资却很低。马萨诸塞州一个鞋厂的监工曾经说过这样的话：“让一个身强力壮体格健全的18岁小伙子，在这里的任何一架机器旁边工作，我能够使他在22岁时头发变成灰白。”沉重的阶级压迫激起了无产者巨大的愤怒。他们知道，要争取生存的条件，就只有团结起来，通过罢工运动与资本家作斗争。工人们提出的罢工口号，就是要求实行八小时工作制。
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