Millions of people across the world participate in demonstrations to mark May 1, the International Workers’ Day.
It is estimated that 80 thousand Hungarian immigrants arrived to Canada in the last century. The number of Hungarian immigrants to the US was higher, several hundred thousand Hungarians ended up in the United States.
They escaped Hungary’s oppression, poverty, the lack of land and employment. Canada and the United States offered work in agriculture, factories, mining and lumber industries. Many of these Hungarian immigrant workers were Socialists and formed mutual benefit insurance associations. The associations provided financial assistance to members affected by illness, injury, or death of a wage earner in exchange for a small monthly fee. The Kanadai Magyar Munkás (Canadian-Hungarian Worker) was published weekly in Hamilton and Toronto by the Canadian Hungarian Sick-Benefit Federation.
In their May 3, 1935 issue the Canadian-Hungarian Worker reported about the Hungarian immigrant workers who marched in Toronto on the annual May Day parade.
György Lázár
