Under the socialist-leaning People’s Revolutionary Government, led by Maurice Bishop, Grenada declared May 1 a public holiday in 1978 to honor workers and their contributions to national development. Bishop’s government aligned itself with labor and peasant movements and actively promoted worker education and ownership. The decision to formalize May Day as a state holiday marked a key moment in Black Caribbean governance, where working-class power was enshrined in law and celebrated openly. Bishop’s rhetoric on this day connected local labor with global anti-capitalist struggles, particularly those in Africa and Latin America. The annual observance became a symbol of empowerment and international solidarity among Afro-Caribbean people.
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