Labor Day: Hoe on the shoulder and Christ in the mind, the advice of Venerable Cleopas

International Workers' Day is a celebration of workers, the working class in general, and their historic struggle to obtain social and economic rights, and is marked every year on May 1.

In many other countries, however, International Workers' Day is the perfect opportunity used by unions of several professional categories to make their social or professional demands known.

The Advice of Venerable Cleopas

The recommendation of Venerable Cleopas of Sihăstria is to take Christ with us to any work, for growth and peace of mind.

"Brothers, let us work with love; let us work, but let us have God in mind. No one can stand idle. But in our sweat and toil, in the fields and in the factories, in the offices, in the enterprises and wherever we may be, let us have God in mind. Let us have Christ, and with Him we can do all things. Hear what the Apostle Paul says: I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me! And without Him, we can do nothing!".

"When you go to plow, man, and have taken the hoe on your shoulder, also take Christ in mind: Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner (sinner). If you work in the workshop and have put your hand to the hammer, the chisel, the saw or if you are a bricklayer or carpenter, or whatever craft you have, whenever you hit the hammer, say also Lord Jesus!".

“First let us ask for God’s help and then, with God in mind, let us go to honest and clean work,” said the Venerable Cleopas.

International Labor Day

May 1 is a non-working day in Romania and in dozens of other states.

In 1884, at the National Convention in Chicago, the Federation of Craft Organizations and Trade Unions (later, the American Federation of Labor) initiated the introduction of a resolution stipulating that the duration of a legal workday should be eight hours or the workweek should be 48 hours. The following year, the Federation reiterated its proclamation, declaring that it would be supported by strikes and demonstrations.

Workers throughout the United States organized demonstrations on May 1, 1886, to support their cause. The largest demonstration took place in Chicago, where approximately 90,000 workers participated, of whom about 40,000 were on strike.

However, three days later, in Haymarket Square in Chicago, where the number of strikers had reached over 65,000, things escalated and the police intervened brutally. There were deaths and injuries. In 1889, the demands of American workers reached France.

On July 20, 1889, on the occasion of the first Congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris, it was decided that May 1 would be celebrated as International Labor Day, on this occasion demonstrations were organized to mark the tragic events in Chicago, but also to determine the authorities to accept the eight-hour workday. Between 1890 and 1891, demonstrations took place in the USA and in several European countries.

International Workers' Day was officially recognized as an annual event at the Second Congress of the Second International in Brussels in 1891.

In the United States and Canada, this holiday is celebrated on the first Monday in September.