Srilanka, May 1 -- On May 1st, 1886, during a protest in Haymarket Square, Chicago, workers who demanded an eight-hour workday, was violently confronted with gunfire. To pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in that fight, the Second International, convened in 1889, proclaimed May 1st as International Workers' Day, which has been observed annually ever since.

This year, the working people of Sri Lanka, together with the general public, commemorate International Workers' Day at a time when our nation and society are undergoing a profound and progressive transformation under a people-oriented governance bringing an end to a corrupt and elitist political system that has existed for 76 years, upheld by a rotating power structure d...