Only a few know that the very first celebration of International Workers' Day — what we now call May Day — in India took place in Madras.
Published May 01, 2025 | 12:00 PM ⚊ Updated May 24, 2025 | 7:35 PM
Malayapuram Singaravelu — widely known as M Singaravelar.
Synopsis: The very first celebration of International Workers’ Day in India took place in Madras. The man who made it happen, Malayapuram Singaravelu — widely known as M Singaravelar — deserves to be remembered wherever May Day is marked.
On May Day, most of the world pauses to remember the rights won and the struggles endured by the working-class people. Streets ring with speeches, red flags flutter, and slogans echo through factory gates.
However, only a few know that the very first celebration of International Workers’ Day — what we now call May Day — in India took place in Madras (now Chennai).
Not just that, the celebration was not limited to a single part of the city, but in two corners of it on the very same day in 1923. The man who made it happen, Malayapuram Singaravelu — widely known as M Singaravelar — deserves to be remembered wherever May Day is marked.
The Indian labour movement did not begin with Singaravelar, but his role was transformative. By the early 20th century, India’s industrial cities were humming with mills and factories, employing thousands under harsh working conditions by the British. The idea of workers uniting to demand rights had been growing, but mostly in scattered, unorganised forms.
In 1918, something changed. The Madras Labour Union, formed on 27 April that year, became India’s first organised trade union. As T Veeraraghavan recorded in The Making of the Madras Working Class, it marked a critical turning point.
Spearheaded by figures like BP Wadia and later supported by others, including Thiru Vi Ka (Thiruvarur Viruttachala Kalyanasundaram) and Natesa Mudaliar, the union laid the groundwork for an organised working-class voice in colonial India.
Meanwhile, in southern Tamil Nadu, labour unrest had already taken root as early as the 1900s. VO Chidambaranar (also known as Kappalottiya Tamizhan) had begun organising dock workers and mill labourers in Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli.
His fiery speeches against British-owned companies and his formation of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company made him a hero to workers and a threat to colonial power. His arrest in 1908 led to widespread protests, setting a precedent for labour-led political agitation, noted AR Venkatachalapathy in Tirunelveli Ezhuchiyum VOC-yum (1908).
Similar waves of unrest were seen in other parts of the Madras Presidency, particularly among press workers, tramway employees and municipal labourers.
Leaders like Subramania Siva, Dr TM Nair, and Sarangapani emerged as vocal advocates for workers’ rights. However, something more cohesive was needed, a political platform that placed labour at the heart of its vision.
Singaravelar was a man ahead of his time. A trained lawyer, a nationalist, a rationalist and an early socialist thinker, he was deeply influenced by the global tides of Communism. As chronicled in Singaravelar: South India’s First Communist, he saw the workers’ cause not as a subsidiary issue of nationalism, but as a cornerstone of India’s future.
In July 1922, Singaravelar helped organise a strike by workers at the Aluminium Company in Madras. His home in Thiruvanmiyur became a meeting point for workers and political thinkers alike.
Even while being a member of the Indian National Congress, he increasingly felt the party wasn’t doing enough for the labourers.
When the Congress failed to truly prioritise workers’ demands, even after forming the AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress) in 1920, Singaravelar began dreaming of something new.
It was Singaravelar who took the bold step to mark May Day on Indian soil. On 1 May 1923, two public meetings were held in Madras, one at Marina Beach near the High Court, and the other at Thiruvanmiyur Beach. The gatherings were unprecedented.
For the first time in India’s history, workers assembled under the red flag, which was officially hoisted that day. That flag went on to become a symbol of resistance, solidarity and unity for generations of Indian labourers.
The Marina gathering was presided over by Singaravelar himself. It was there that he announced the launch of a new political party, the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan, India’s first political outfit dedicated explicitly to workers and peasants.
“1 May is a sacred day for workers across the world,” he said, adding, “Let us, in India, also raise our voice in solidarity and mark this day as the foundation of a just and free future.”
He declared the party’s commitment to peaceful means and published a policy statement advocating for eight-hour workdays, better wages, social welfare, and democratic rights for labourers. He also urged that 1 May be declared a public holiday in India. The English-language newspaper The Hindu, in its 2 May 1923 edition, reported the meeting and the party’s launch in detail.
At the same time in Thiruvanmiyur, MPS Velayudham led a parallel gathering, accompanied by speakers such as Subramania Siva, voicing the same demands and celebrating the spirit of international solidarity. Together, the two meetings represented the first formal May Day celebration in India, and more symbolically, the first time the red flag was unfurled in Indian politics.
During the May Day celebrations, Singaravelar hoisted both the Indian National Congress flag and a red flag bearing a distinctive emblem: A hand holding a gear, encircled by a sickle.
According to the book Sinthanai Sirpi M Singaravelar and Thanthai Periyar, published by the International Institute of Tamil Studies, this red flag featured a circular design with the phrases “Food, Clothing and Shelter” around the emblem and “Workers of the World” inscribed below it.
This design also appeared on the cover of the political movement’s manifesto, symbolising its ideological goals.
Though the Labour Kisan Party was short-lived, its impact was long-lasting. Singaravelar continued to be an active force in Indian communism and joined the Communist Party of India (CPI) when it formally emerged.
He laid the foundation for what would become a strong tradition of labour politics in Tamil Nadu and India at large. The AITUC, CPI, and later trade union platforms drew heavily on the organisational groundwork laid by him and his comrades.
Leaders like VO Chidambaranar had already set an example in linking economic injustice with anti-colonial resistance, and Singaravelar expanded that vision into a national framework.
Together, they connected the fight for independence with the parallel fight for worker dignity.
As India marched toward 1947, that dual spirit of anti-imperial and pro-labour thinking continued to animate struggles across the country.
When M Singaravelar embraced socialist politics, the Self-Respect Movement was simultaneously taking root in the Madras Presidency.
Around this time, leaders such as EV Ramasamy Periyar parted ways with the Indian National Congress and pioneered a distinctly Tamil social justice movement.
Singaravelar did not stand apart from these developments. He is remembered as someone who marched alongside Periyar and others in their struggles.
Former Tamil Nadu chief minister CN Annadurai once remarked: “Comrade M Singaravelar deserves a place in the ranks of Lenin, Trotsky and Saklatvala.”
Annadurai further observed, “The ones who internalised Marxist thought and conveyed it in a way the common person could understand, through writing and speech, were Periyar Ramasamy and Comrade Singaravelar. Singaravelar worked tirelessly to help the Self-Respect Movement grow. No true follower of the movement can ever forget his contributions.”
In the 1930s, Singaravelar and Periyar came together to shape what would become known as the Self-Respect Socialist Movement. Despite the British colonial government’s efforts to suppress the socialist movement, Periyar’s ideas of republicanism, revolution and rationalism gained ground.
Singaravelar actively contributed to this ideological wave through his writings in Periyar’s publications, such as Kudiarasu, and his journals, including Puduvai Murasu and Pudhu Ulagam. He was at the forefront of efforts to promote rationalism among the public, and both he and Periyar played key roles in challenging superstition.
These struggles were noted by Dr Muthu Gunasekaran in Sinthanai Sirpi M Singaravelarum Thanthai Periyarum. Singaravelar also helped lead major initiatives associated with the Self-Respect Movement, including the landmark atheist conference.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
