In the 1880s, labor leaders believed that the eight-hour day was one of the only demands that could unite all working people. Today, the four-day week could do the same.
Illustration of Haymarket Riot in Chicago by T. de Thulstrup(Getty)
On the evening of May 4, 1886, storm clouds gathered over a rally in Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Most workers had already gone home to beat the rain and 1,000 remained. The mood was tense. The police—who had killed four strikers the previous day—observed the night’s final speech.
Just when the man on stage was about to finish, police ordered the workers to disperse, then surged into the crowd. A homemade bomb exploded, immediately killing one officer and injuring dozens more. The police fired into the crowd, as some armed workers responded.
In the following days, police illegally raided homes and union halls, arresting hundreds as the press egged them on. Eight anarchist activists were charged with planning the bombing. After a trial, which was rigged by the judge and prosecutor to guarantee a conviction, six of them were hanged: Albert Parsons, August Spies, Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, and Samuel Fielden.
The events in Chicago spelled the defeat of a nationwide general strike for the eight-hour day, which had begun on May 1 and brought 340,000 workers onto the streets. The strike inspired International Workers’ Day, which has since been celebrated around the globe. Decades later, the Haymarket martyrs had their vindication: In 1938, the 40-hour week was written into law with the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Unlike the tumultuous half century of fights for the eight-hour day and the five-day week, the eight decades since 1938 have not brought any widespread reduction in work time. Today, almost 140 years later, the events of May 1886 speak to a demand that is finally gaining momentum among American workers: four days of work for five days of pay.
“We believe the four-day, 32-hour workweek can become the standard within the next decade,” Vishal Reddy, acting executive director of WorkFour, told The Nation. “Since 2022, more than 200 companies have piloted the 32-hour workweek across industries like health care, manufacturing, and hospitality,” experiencing large reductions in resignations and absenteeism, as well as increases in revenue.
WorkFour supports the cause on many fronts, according to Reddy, “organizing workers through grassroots chapters, supporting unions in contract fights, building public pressure for legislation, and partnering with employers ready to lead by example.” The volunteer-run organization counts every transition to the four-day week as a victory, whether it be a behavioral health network in Indiana, a Colorado police department, or crowdfunding giant Kickstarter.
But the five-day week still has inertia on its side. In Our Own Time, published in 1989, Philip Foner and David Roediger wrote that “forty hours appear to have become almost sacrosanct as a lower limit for the workweek.” And even when they’re open to a four-day week, managers must be convinced that it will maintain or increase productivity.
In the 1880s, labor leaders believed that the eight-hour day was one of the only demands that could unite all working people, and today, the four-day week is supported by as many as four in five workers. The demand can also appeal to the many workers who have irregular schedules, are underemployed, or work in the gig economy. According to Reddy from WorkFour, moving to the four-day week can create more stable, full-time positions and expand access to benefits for workers who currently work less than full time.
The May 1886 strike was initially planned by skilled tradesmen who could afford to take a pay cut for shorter hours. Organizers quickly realized that this was unacceptable to poorer workers, so the demand became more radical: eight hours’ work for 10 hours’ pay. By the 1880’s, there were some states with eight- or 10-hour laws, but these were practically unenforced. Eventually, eight-hour activists went to Washington to propose a federal law, which was denied by the president, who said that would be unconstitutional (a position the Supreme Court maintained until the 1930s).
Workers also fought for eight hours in smaller strikes and negotiations. However, the demand was a dealbreaker for employers, who believed that having fewer work hours would place them at a competitive disadvantage. This finally led to the idea of a general strike, which seemed like the only remaining option.
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The 1886 strike was organized by two relatively small organizations, which failed to win the support of the 700,000-member Knights of Labor, whose leadership opposed strikes. Although many local chapters signed on, a coalition including the national Knights might have changed the strike’s outcome.
Today, work-time laws are widely accepted and enforced, so legislation could be a viable approach. As WorkFour’s tally of victories demonstrates, some businesses are now open to transitioning to the four-day week, showing that business-by-business approaches like collective bargaining have potential. But for some, like AFA-CWA president Sara Nelson, a general strike remains workers’ most powerful weapon, which could be used to put pressure on either the government or businesses.
The fight for the four-day week will ultimately be in the hands of the younger generations. However, there are currently no youth organizations focused on this issue, and major players like the Young Democratic Socialists of America and the Sunrise Movement do not include it in their platforms. Carlos Callejo III, a YDSA national cochair, explains that they have “traditionally focused on campus issues” such as sanctuary campuses, protecting LGBTQ+ students, and fighting privatization. After a recent pivot to a “mass organizing orientation,” the YDSA has spearheaded the creation of student workers’ unions, “laying the foundation for future union fights around commonsense demands like the four-day workweek.”
Jules M. is a student worker and union organizer at Oregon State University. In his experience organizing undergraduate student workers, the four-day week has not come up as a demand. “A student who is struggling to pay for groceries or rent is likely going to turn first towards a living wage before a four-day workweek.” However, he echoes Callejo, concluding that campus labor organizing will help build power to win “broader demands.”
Though only a small fraction of US businesses have adopted the shorter schedule so far, Reddy nevertheless believes we are building toward a tipping point. “Social change often feels slow until it happens all at once.” And like the eight-hour day before it, the four-day week will not be the end of the story. According to Jamie McCallum in Worked Over, “the temporal aspect of work [is] a point of fundamental conflict in capitalist society.… When we sleep, eat, raise children, spend time with our friends, bask in the sunshine, or take vacations is dictated by those who control our work.” Therefore, we can expect more struggles in the future, with workers fighting for less work and more leisure—and for a little more of their lives to belong to them.
Andrew BerkaAndrew Berka is a Polish American writer covering labor and policy. He is studying social work and Spanish at Texas Tech University.