Eight Hour Day demo 150th anniversary

Banner from the Melbourne, 1856 demonstration

1856 The first eight-hour working day procession in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

In March, 1856, stonemasons working on Melbourne University held a public meeting and agreed that from April 21 they would work for only eight hours a day. Each working day should be one-third sleep, one-third work and one-third leisure. It was not a new concept; Robert Owen (1771 - 1858) had raised the demand for a ten-hour day as early as 1810, and instituted it in his socialist enterprise at New Lanark, Scotland. As early as 1817 he had formulated the goal of the eight-hour day and coined the slogan "Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest".

On April 21 there was a march to Parliament House with other members of the building trade. The movement in Melbourne was led by veteran chartists and mason James Stephens (1821 - 1889), TW Vine and James Galloway. The government agreed that workers employed on public works should enjoy an eight-hour day with no loss of pay and stonemasons celebrated with a holiday and procession on Monday May 12, 1856, when about 700 people marched with 19 trades involved.

By 1858 the eight-hour day was firmly established in the building industry and by 1860 the eight-hour day was fairly widely worked in the State of Victoria. From 1879 the eight-hour day was a public holiday in that state. The initial success in Melbourne led to the decision to organise a movement, to actively spread the eight-hour idea and secure the condition generally. Australia became the first country in the world to legislate for an eight-hour day...

Source: Wikipedia

Early progressives in the Book of Days :: CounterCulture Wiki

See also 'The Abolition of Work', by Bob Black, in the Almanac's Scriptorium

Tagged: progressive, labor, activism, radical, history, australia