Why Is May 1st a Holiday in Spain?

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Many traditions or products that are imported from the US receive pushback in Spain: like Halloween, Valentine’s Day, or fast-food culture, just to name a few. However, one tradition that was borrowed from America in 1889 and has continued to be popular amongst the Spanish people is Labor Day, or el Día del Trabajador.

Labor Day is celebrated in Spain on May 1st, and is a day off from work around the country. Even though statistics show that only approximately one in seven citizens is a member of a union, Spanish people treasure their festivos and bank holidays, so if May 1st happens to fall on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is usually declared an official day off. Schools, shops and many other businesses are closed, although tourist attractions tend to remain open. Public transportation offers minimal service.

The First Labor Day

While Labor Day, sometimes called International Workers’ Day, is celebrated in many countries around the world, the history books say that other countries first celebrated Labor Day after being inspired by the movement for workers’ rights in America, specifically after the infamous Haymarket Revolt in Chicago in 1886. The Haymarket Revolt, also referred to as the Haymarket Affair or Haymarket Massacre, was a strike that began on May 1st in an effort to force employers to institute an eight-hour work day. After three days of protests, workers clashed with the police; a bomb that killed several policemen resulted in the imprisonment of approximately thirty civilians and the death of at least five at the hands of police. This incident caused shockwaves around the world, and sparked discussions about labor law and workers’ rights in the streets and town halls in many cities.

In 1889, the Socialist Workers Congress in Paris declared May Day to be International Worker’s Day; Spain was the first European country to celebrate Labor Day later that year.

The way in which this holiday is celebrated has evolved over time; the first official Labor Day celebrated in Spain was marked by violence in Valencia, Catalunya, the Basque Country, and other parts of Spain, resulting in closed factories and other businesses. There was a strong difference of opinion between the Socialist labor movement, which advocated mostly peaceful strikes and protests, and the Anarchist movement, which was militarized during the Spanish Civil War, and encouraged violence as a means of achieving a people’s revolution.  This caused the Spanish government to prohibit public demonstrations for the following year; however, in 1891, the government announced that May 1 would officially be a day for marches and protests, but that both the Socialists and Anarchists would have to respect the rule of law in order to participate. While the Socialists reiterated the importance of specifically peaceful protest in their speeches and communiqués, the Anarchists largely withdrew from the celebrations and directed their focus elsewhere.

The Second Republic and the Franco Era

The day wouldn’t be declared an official holiday in Spain until the beginning of the Second Republic, in 1931. On the Labor Day of 1931, over 300,000 people reportedly marched through the streets of Madrid in celebration, led by a girl dressed to represent “the Republic.”

A few years later, during the Franco era (1936-1975), Labor Day was prohibited completely. A decree in 1938 established a new workers’ code as well as a new holiday on July 18th (Franco’s birthday), called the Fiesta de la Exaltación del Trabajo, or the Celebration in Praise of Work. Throughout the next four decades, any celebrations of Workers’ Day on May 1st were held in private and in secret. Exiles and refugees who had fled from the Franco regime incorporated protests against the dictatorship into their May Day demonstrations, such as a large-scale march organized by the Spanish Socialist Workers Party in 1954 in Marseilles, France, or by brandishing Republican flags in marches in the countries where they were living.

In 1955, the Pope declared May 1st the Fiesta de Sant José Artesano, a.k.a. the Fiesta de Sant José Obrero (the Celebration of Saint Joseph the Artesan, or Saint Joseph the Worker); as Catholicism played a significant role in Franco’s official political dogma, he was essentially forced to incorporate the holiday into Spain’s official calendar of celebrations. In 1956, May 1 was marked by Catholic masses all around the country, honoring the patron saint of workers. Protests and public celebrations of anything having to do with workers’ rights were still prohibited. The Fascist State even organized annual May Day workers’ sporting events and dances in the Chamartín stadium in Madrid—attended by Franco himself—as a sort of substitute to placate the peoples’ desire to protest.

A few years later, in the 1960s, the underground labor movement began “protesting” in small yet significant ways on April 30 and May 1: boycotting public transportation, taking longer than usual work breaks, observing moments of silence and even cautious public gatherings in the workplace. Franco’s police made it a habit of detaining not only persons caught participating in these types of manifestations, but also any individual with a history of left-leaning sympathies. Many citizens were rounded up on April 30 and held in custody until after any protests had been quashed. These preventative arrests served as a deterrent, but didn’t completely stop the Labor Day movement.

Labor Day Today

After Franco’s death, the populace cautiously began holding celebrations on May 1st. By 1977, many of the unions and workers’ organizations that had previously been outlawed (such as Spain’s two biggest unions, the UGT and the CCOO) were back in action, and with avid interest in marching on this historically significant day. In 1978, Labor Day was officially reinstated as a Spanish national holiday. 

Since then, Labor Day continues to be marked by marches, strikes and protests demanding better working conditions, higher wages and expanded guarantees of social protections; unions often use it as an occasion to point out any advances their organization may have gained during the previous year, and to encourage their members to become more active in the union. Protests are usually organized and peaceful, and the various official trade unions are often joined by social or political movements that see improving workers’ rights as a part of their own mission; for example, groups advocating from within Spain’s feminist movement, or the Catalan movement for independence.

Labor Day is celebrated on May 1st in many other countries around the world. However, in the United States this holiday is celebrated in September; this is a result of a decision by former US President Grover Cleveland, who reportedly wanted to avoid celebrating a day historically associated with a violent uprising.