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Labor Day, celebrated in the United States and also in Canada (spelled Labour Day), have been held on the first Monday in September. The holiday originates in 1887, where in Oregon it was first celebrated. However, its roots are older and related to the wider international efforts by workers to celebrate a holiday. These worker movements were also affiliated with leftist political action, which has shaped the choosing of the date in the United States. The complex, often political history, of Labor Day has also shifted in recent periods.

The development of Labor Day developed through the history of the development of labor unions that arose as early as the late 18th century, particularly as factories and the Industrial Revolution began. With the rise and increasing growth of industrial development in the United States, labor unions increased in membership and, by extension, influence throughout the mid-19th century. This was not unique to the United States, as countries in Europe began to have workers organize and at times begin to conduct protests or even strikes.<ref>For more on the development of labor unions, see: Skurzynski, G. (2008) <i>Sweat and blood: a history of U.S. labor unions. People’s history</i>. Minneapolis, Twenty-First Century Books.</ref>

May 1st was, from ancient origins, a festival day, often associated as a celebration for spring. This day was used by labor activists, socialists, and other labor proponents as a day to celebrate labor and its contribution to society. The events were also used as demonstrations against work conditions in factories. In Chicago, in 1886, May 1 was celebrated as a day calling for the 8 hour workday. On May 4, 1886, in Haymarket Chicago, an organized demonstration, also calling for an 8 hour work day and protesting earlier police killings of protestors, turned violent occurred. A bomb was thrown into the crowd and, combined with subsequent gunfire by police, several police and demonstrates were killed (Figure 1). Interestingly, it was in Europe that saw this event as being influential to the International Workers Conference in 1889 that called for annual demonstrations on May 1st to commemorate the events of the Haymarket event. In 1891, May Day (May 1) became recognized as the official day to recognize labor. In the United States, the events of Haymarket was highly negative to the authorities, while also it made them wary of the increasing power of organized labor.<ref>For more on events that developed from the Haymarket incident and related strikes, see: Rull, J. (2016). <i>The Chicago Haymarket Affair: A Guide to a Labor Rights Milestone</i>. History Press Library Editions.</ref>

In the United States, celebrations in September 5th in celebrating labor had occurred by 1882. The American Federation of Labor and the Central Labor Union were two organizations that had advocated for a day to celebrate labor. Canada in the 1880s had also developed organized celebrations of labor in September, likely influencing US choice for the date. Trade unions in the United States had proposed a September date for a holiday throughout the 1880s. However, there was widespread disagreement, as many larger organizations, which wanted to link themselves with their colleagues in Europe, wanted to celebrate May 1 as Labor Day, holding events of remembering labor and to demonstrate against work conditions and wages. In 1887, Oregon became the first state to celebrate Labor Day.<ref>For more on how Labor day developed in the US states, see: Kevin Boyle (ed.) (1998) <i>Organized labor and American politics, 1894-1994: the labor-liberal alliance</i>. SUNY series in American labor history. Albany, State University of New York Press.</ref>