Montenegro celebrates International Labor Day

Today in Montenegro, as in many countries around the world, the International Labor Day is celebrated, and in this connection many cultural and musical events take place in many major cities.

International Labor Day - May Day is celebrated today throughout the world, including Montenegro, in memory of the events of 1886, when tens of thousands of workers in the American city of Chicago started a strike, demanding a reduction in the number of working hours from 15 to 8 . This protest began on 1 May, the first conflict between the workers and the police happened, and on 4 May, mass demonstrations of workers were held in the city of Chicago demanding an eight-hour day that ended in a clash with the police and bloodshed as the US authorities, not wishing to reduce the 15-hour working day, ordered the police to take harsh measures against the protesters.

During the dispersal of the demonstration, a bomb was thrown by the unknown, because of the explosion, and because of the subsequent mass shelling, eight policemen were killed, more than 50 law enforcement officers were wounded, as well as at least four workers and about fifty civilians (according to some sources, there were only about 50 killed). After that several trade union activists were sentenced to death.

In memory of these events and the struggle for workers' rights, the Congress of the Second International, which was held in Paris in 1889, declared 1 May - the Day of Solidarity of Workers of the World and offered to celebrate this day with mass demonstrations, during which people could put forward their social requirements. After this, the First May holiday was officially recognized in many countries of the world and became annual.

In Montenegro, 1 May is marked by traditional May Day festivities, when a large number of people go to nature early in the morning to socialize and grill meat. This year the slogan of the International Labor Day is "For higher wages in Montenegro".

Today, in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, the Union of Free Trade Unions (USSCG) held a protest on Argentina square to remind the authorities of the disastrous situation of tens of thousands of workers in Montenegro. In addition, the USSCG stated that it is the duty of all true trade unions in the world to ensure that the annual celebration of the First May does not allow to forget those people who have paid their lives in the struggle for a better future for the workers.

In addition, the Montenegrin Labor Party organized this year's May Day protest march, a rally and a picnic under the slogan "Two euros a day, is this a life" in the town of Nikshich.