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From: jeanne@ecse.rpi.edu (Philippe Jeanne)
Subject: May Day
Message-ID: <ya2gnkd@rpi.edu>
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Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY
Date: 1 May 91 22:51:34 GMT
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May 1st is traditionally Labor Day in most western european countries, and
I think, a significant number of other countries, but not the US. This morning 
I heard on RFI (Radio France Internationale) an editorial dealing with the 
origins of this date. According to this show, the origins of the celebration
of Labor day on May 1st are to be linked to a demonstration which occured in
Fourmi (where is it ?), and at the end of which the troop fired on the workers
and killed a lot of them. The story I had heard before was quite similar
except that the place of this demonstration was in the US (Chicago or Detroit)
which makes it very paradoxal: the US being one of the few countries that do
not celebrate Labor Day on May 1st. 

Has anyone heard another story, which would confirm either of the hypotheses
or a new one maybe ? By the way, what about islamic countries, or south-east
asian countries ? Do they celebrate it as well ?


Philippe Jeanne

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