The above lines are excerpts from a song sung by the struggling workers of the United States, whose sacrifices the whole world commemorates today as the International Labour Day. The first of May is almost universally designated as May Day. Workers all over the world celebrate on this day their awakening to the imperative of solidarity and the struggle for a better life, and for freedom from oppression and exploitation. The holy Prophet Mohammed (SM) instructed all in unequivocal terms not only to give due recognition to the workers and labourers but also to ensure that the legitimate dues of a worker are paid even before the sweat on his brows dries up.

From the days of yore, saints and seers have reminded us over and over again that true honour lies in the pride of being able to do one's own job one's own self, that none has any right to despise the workers, that none is authorised to deprive labour, not only of dignity but of reward as well. "Two men I honour," says Thomas Carlyle, "and no third. First, the toil-worn craftsman that with its earth-made implements labouriously conquers the earth and makes it man's. Venerable to me is the hard hand; crooked, coarse... Venerable too is the rugged face, all weather-tanned, besoiled, with its rude intelligence ... Labour is life; from the inmost heart of the worker rises his God-given force, the sacred celestial life-essence breathed into him by Almighty God."

Henry George, one of the earliest socialist writers in this discipline, laid down emphatically: "For as labour cannot produce without the use of land, the denial of the equal right to the use of land is necessarily denial of the right of labour to its own produce." When Carlyle and Henry George uttered these words few people had any thought for the labourer, and none regarded manual labour as particularly dignified. Well-to-do people, educated people, so-called gentlemen would not only look down upon the labourers but would avoid all contact with the toiler. To be able to get one's work done by others was counted as the most valued of gentlemanly privileges.

No wonder, Abraham Lincoln had to remind the Americans (and the people of other countries as well) that the limbs are given for use, to keep them idle is to abuse them, that honest work of all kinds is dignified and worthy of respect, that no stigma attaches to a man because he works with his hands rather than with his head. Abraham Lincoln, the giant among men, who worked his way from a log cabin to the White House, said: "If the Almighty had ever meant a set of men that should do all of the eating and none of the work. He would have made them with mouths only and no hands. And if He had meant another class to do all the work and no eating, He would have made with hands only and no mouth."

But, in spite of the repeated sermons and eye-openers from the great men of light and learning, the world needed an unusually long period to rise to the occasion, grasp the true spirit and understand the dignity of labour, realise and appreciate the rights and privileges of the hitherto down-trodden toiling masses.

Day in and day out, the worker was deprived of the fruits of his labour. He toiled that another might enjoy. He "slaved" that another might be rich. He was reduced to poverty and kept in chronic want to make continuous work necessary for him. He came to be despised because of his poverty, and with this his work also was despised. In course of time, work ceased to have any dignity, and it was the "idle rich" who earned social prestige at the cost of the poor workers' blood and toil, tears and sweat.

What the workers needed badly was the right to breathe freely and comfortably like other human beings. What they needed was the right to give vent to their own feelings with confidence and courage and conviction. What the eternal slaves of the factories and fields and workshops needed was a regulated and systematic working period, together with a good day to rest the hands and give the brain a chance to think about what had been and what was yet to be. He was, indeed, a lot harder up for a chance to rest the hands and use the head than the workers today. His work was tough, his hours were unusually long and sometimes almost unlimited, his pay was small. There was nothing, nothing at all in the world to fall back upon when he lost his job or fell ill or became too old to work.

Naturally, therefore, the workers the world over had no way out but to fight for their existence, an existence with dignity and honour, an existence with ensured rights and guaranteed facilities. This led to May Day which we celebrate today.

Workers all over the world celebrate, on May1st, their awakening to the imperative of solidarity and unity and the struggle for a better life, and for freedom from oppression and exploitation. May Day is also one of the earlier international affirmation of workers' demand for an 8-hour day.

The inspired thought of introducing a holiday for the workers as a means of obtaining the 8-hour working day first originated in Australia. In 1856, the workers there resolved to call for one day of complete work stoppage; the day to be spent in meetings and entertainment instead -- as a demonstration for the eight-hour day. But it was the 21st of April, and not the 1st of May, which was designated as this holiday. In the beginning, the Australian workers thought of instituting such a holiday, but once, in the year 1856. But the first celebration made such a big impact, and great impression, on the toiling masses that it was decided to repeat the holiday annually.

Robert Owen, in 1883, appointed May 1 as the day for the commencement of the millenium, the commencement of Universal Happiness. But the first to follow the Australian workers were the workers in the United States of America. In 1884, a few labour leaders laid down their lives in Chicago on the 1st of May, in their struggle to establish the legitimate right of the workers.

The workers in the Unites States designated the 1st of May as the day of general work stoppage in 1886. On this day 2,00,000 workers left work and demanded the 8-hour day. The persecutions of higher authorities, however prevented the workers for a couple of years from repeating this demonstration, but in 1888 they renewed their decision and designated the First May of 1890 as the next holiday.

The labour movement in other parts of world, specially in Europe, had in the meantime developed greatly. The world-wide upsurge found its highest expression through the First International Labour Congress held in Paris in 1889. Four hundred delegates from different parts of the world attended the Congress. It was the worker Leavigne from Bordeaux, the delegate from the French Trade Union, who moved a motion to give substance to the demand of the eight-hour day by a Universal Workers' Holiday in all countries. The attention of the delegates was drawn to the American worker's decision regarding the 1st of May, 1890. The Convention designated this particular date for international holiday.

By the moves of the motion it was originally intended that the workers should, by direct action, enforce a holiday on May 1, no matter what day of the week it might be. But even after this historic selection of May 1 as the International Labour Day, the Workers' Day of Unity and Solidarity, it needed a pretty long time to overcome the initial obstacles and hindrances. For example, May Day was first celebrated as Workers' Day in Britain in 1892.

Now that May Day has come once again, let us celebrate it in a befitting way, not through mere demonstrations and processions, but through a disciplined and systematic process to strengthen workers' unity and to ensure due protection of the right and privileges of the working class. Let us honour those martyrs who laid down their lives to champion the cause of the toiling masses. As long as the struggle of the workers against the oppressors continue, May Day will continue to be the annual expression of the hopes and aspirations, the dreams and desires of the workers in fields and factories.

But even when the better times shall dawn and all the legitimate demands of all the workers in every nook and corner of the world have been met with due sympathy and considerations, even then, in memory of the battles fought and the sufferings endured, humanity will celebrate the historic May Day.

Syed Ashraf Ali, Former Director General Islamic Foundation Bangladesh