International Workers' Day

 Why is it necessary for people to work?

 What do you think life would be like if no one ever had to work?

 Is work good? Why or why not?

 Are some jobs better than others? Why or why not?

 What are some of the motivations people have for working? What do you think motivates most people?
What would you consider the strongest motivation? the weakest? 

Read the text and answer the questions:

International Workers' Day (also known as May Day) is a celebration of the international labour
movement. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries and celebrated unofficially in many other
countries.

International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket affair in Chicago. The police were
trying to disperse a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday, when an unidentified
person threw a bomb at them. The police reacted by firing on the workers, killing four demonstrators.
"Reliable witnesses testified that all the pistol flashes came from the center of the street, where the police were
standing, and none from the crowd. Moreover, initial newspaper reports made no mention of firing by
civilians. A telegraph pole at the scene was filled with bullet holes, all coming from the direction of the
police.

In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French
Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for
international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally
recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891

In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social Democratic Party
organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal
establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." The
congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1,
wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."

Source Wikipedia

How many countries celebrate the International Workers' Day ion May 1?
What does this day commemorate?
Workers were on strike, what were they claiming?
How did the police react?
When and where was May Day formally recognized as an annual event?