One productive thing that the recent split in the AFL-CIO already produced was a newfound interest in the labor movement. Sure, it only lasted a week, and the only reason the mainstream media latched onto the story was because it involved unions fighting with each other, but still for a few days the labor movement was featured on the front page of the paper.
So it seems like as a good a year as any to remind people of something that your boss probably doesn't want you to know: today is not labor day. The creation of the first Monday as Labor Day was another step by corporate bosses and the government to defuse and derail the nascent progressive socialist movement that existed in this country in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
A brief history below the fold.
The story of Labor Day is intertwined with the story of the struggle for an eight hour day. The goal of eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for personal and familial obligations had been floating around the international labor movement for a little while, but gained serious steam in America when the predeccesor to the American federation of Labor (AFL) issued a declaration in 1884. It stated:
"eight hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886, and that we recommend to labor organizations throughout this district that they so direct their laws as to conform to this resolution."
Whether or not the movement would be able to enforce an eight hour day in the face of coordinated capitalist opposition would be an early test of their organizing power. Meanwhile police, private security and the national guard stocked up on arms and prepared.
In Chicago, on May 3rd, 1886, the two sides clashed and a striker at McCormick Harvester Machine Company was killed, others were injured. Anarchists, who were the vanguard of Chicago's movement, called for a mass meeting the next day in Haymarket Square.
Speakers spoke, police marched in, suddenly a bomb exploded, killing one officer instantly and fatally wounding others. The officers opened fire on countless spectators.
Historians will never know who threw that bomb, an agent-provacateur or an anarchist. However they are pretty sure that the eight anarchist organizers who were charged and found guilty in the incident had nothing to do with it and were prosecuted because of their outspokenness. They were sentenced to die. Four were hung, one commited suicide and after a swell of public support, the last three were pardoned in 1893. The eight-hour day, eventually survived the capitalist assault, and the working class will always have the Haymarket martyrs to thank for that (even though current conditions force many to work eight hours at one job and then head off to their second job).
Meanwhile, nearby Pullman, Illinois was a bustling company town for George Pullman's railroad workers. In 1893 business slowed down and many workers had their pay drastically cut. Their rents at the Pullman owned houses stay steady though.
Soon the workers were out on strike, led by Eugene V. Debs and the American Railway Union. President Grover Cleveland worried about interruptions in business and damage to his reputation deployed 12,000 troops to break the strike. The ARU was torn apart, Debs was imprisoned and the workers were forced to pledge never to unionize again. It was a complete and total victory for the bosses
Cleveland had a problem though, he was up for reelection in 1894 and had just alienated the working class. For a decade or so there had been calls for a national Labor holiday- and some states had even started one on their own. Six days after crushing the Pullman strike, Cleveland signed legislation designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
Why was the first Monday in September chosen. Some say it is because it is halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving, a time when workers could use another day off. But the truth is that it is notable more for what it is not. It is not May Day. May 1st, known as May Day, is celebrated as the Labor Day for most of the Western world in commemoration of the Haymarket martyrs and the bold goals for advancement that used to define the labor movement.
May Day unfortunately was perverted by both Stalin and Hitler who would use the occasion for military marches and the unveiling of new weaponry. During the cold war the US called May 1st, Law Day to highlight differences between our political system and the Soviet system
Many radical groups in the US still celebrate May Day. In my adopted hometown of Pittsburgh in 2001, police beat and arrested May Day marchers after claiming that one had thrown a chair at police officers. The Salcedo Press in Chicago hosts a huge May Day Blast party every year. Tons of other groups use the day as an opportunity for rallies, teach-ins and other productive actions.
However, the US working class will never be able to join and help lead the international labor movement if we don't all celebrate the true worker's holiday in memory of one of the greates events in our country. We have the choice to either celebrate a day of meaningful goals and sacrifice or celebrate a day created by an opportunistic politician after bosses crushed a strike.
Enjoy today if you have it off. Please don't refer to it as Labor Day though. Either call it end of summer day, or boss's day or join me in simply calling it Monday Off. Go to the beach, see a movie, throw a barbecue or picnic and have a union-produced beer or two or ten.
More importantly, remember what to do on May 1st, the real Labor Day throughout the world and in the collective memory of the international labor movement. Join me in calling in sick at work. Spend part of the day enjoying yourself, but also attend a May Day event. If there isn't one near you, organize one. It can be as simple as a labor related film screening or as complex as a workers revolt at a workplace.