Symbols are important in our lives and today is no exception. Every day should be Labor Day in this oligarchy to keep us aware of where all wealth originates. I have trouble with the symbolism behind this day as opposed to the "real" Labor Day on May first. Let's talk about "our" Labor Day.
Labor Day in the United States is a holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September. It is a celebration of the American labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.
Labor Day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor, who organized the first parade in New York City. After the Haymarket Massacre, which occurred in Chicago on May 4, 1886, U.S. President Grover Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the affair. Thus, in 1887, it was established as an official holiday in September to support the Labor Day that the Knights favored.
The equivalent holiday in Canada, Labour Day, is also celebrated on the first Monday of September. In many other countries (more than 80 worldwide), "Labour Day" is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers' Day, which occurs on May 1.
Do you see the problem? Read on below and we will talk more about the symbolism.
I have lived and worked in France, Germany and Israel and participated in the celebrations on May first. Nothing even approaches the solidarity I felt then. Workers were celebrating everywhere and the oligarchy in Paris, in particular, always got very nervous. Police and troops were often mobilized, "just in case".
In France my colleagues were members of strong University Unions. When labor called a general strike in France they shut down the country. If we had that kind of Labor Movement here today the symbolism I speak about would be almost moot.
We certainly have nothing to be ashamed of when we consider our history. Workers suffered, fought and died for what we enjoy and take for granted today. Unions were to be feared by the oligarchy which is why they had to be brought down.
The link above tells us:
The form for the celebration of Labor Day was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday: A street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations", followed by a festival for the workers and their families. This became the pattern for Labor Day celebrations. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the civil significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the Labor movement.
I don't know about where you live but nothing is different here today other than it is another holiday. As a child during WWII the role of labor in the war effort was given almost as much attention as the soldiers. Then came
Ronald Raygun
Upsurge in World War II
The war mobilization dramatically expanded union membership, from 8.7 million in 1940 to over 14.3 million in 1945, about 36% of the work force. For the first time large numbers of women factory workers were enrolled. Both the AFL and CIO supported Roosevelt in 1940 and 1944, with 75% or more of their votes, millions of dollars, and tens of thousands of precinct workers.
However, Lewis opposed Roosevelt on foreign policy grounds in 1940. He took the Mine Workers out of the CIO and rejoined the AFL. All labor unions strongly supported the war effort after June 1941 (when Germany invaded the Soviet Union). Left-wing activists crushed wildcat strikes. Nonetheless, Lewis realized that he had enormous leverage. In 1943, the middle of the war, when the rest of labor was observing a policy against strikes, Lewis led the miners out on a twelve-day strike for higher wages. The bipartisan Conservative coalition in Congress passed anti-union legislation over liberal opposition, most notably the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947.
A statistical analysis of the AFL and CIO national and local leaders in 1945 shows that opportunity for advancement in the labor movement was wide open. In contrast with other elites, the labor leaders did not come from established WASP families with rich, well-educated backgrounds. Indeed they closely resembled the overall national population of adult men, with fewer from the South and from farm backgrounds. The union leaders were heavily Democratic The newer CIO had a younger leadership, and one more involved with third parties, and less involved with local civic activities. Otherwise the AFL and CIO leaders were quite similar in background.
Reagan and unions
Cloud argues, "the emblematic moment of the period from 1955 through the 1980s in American labor was the tragic PATCO strike in 1981." Most unions were strongly opposed to Reagan in the 1980 presidential election, despite the fact that Reagan remains the only union leader (or even member) to become President. On August 3, 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) union—which had supported Reagan—rejected the government's pay raise offer and sent its 16,000 members out on strike to shut down the nation's commercial airlines. They demanded a reduction in the workweek to 32 from 40 hours, a $10,000 bonus, pay raises up to 40%, and early retirement.
Federal law forbade such a strike, and the Transportation department implemented a backup plan (of supervisors and military air controllers) to keep the system running. The strikers were given 48 hours to return to work, else they would be fired and banned from ever again working in a federal capacity. A fourth of the strikers came back to work, but 13,000 did not. The strike collapsed, PATCO vanished, and the union movement as a whole suffered a major reversal, which accelerated the decline of membership across the board in the private sector.
Schulman and Zelizer argue that the breaking of PATCO, "sent shock waves through the entire U.S. labor relations regime.... strike rates plummeted, and union power sharply declined." Unions suffered a continual decline of power during the Reagan administration, with a concomitant effect on wages. The average first-year raise (for 1000-plus–worker contracts) fell from 9.8% to 1.2%; in manufacturing, raises fell from 7.2% to negative 1.2%. Salaries of unionized workers also fell relative to non-union workers. Women and blacks suffered more from these trends.
It is hard to comprehend the symbolism here. Raygun was a puppet we all know that. America likes its class B actors and politics IS theater.
My son committed suicide in 1981 after writing songs about Raygun and his policies. From his journals it was clear that the symbolism of the Raygun act contributed to his depression. But that is another whole story.
Here we are today in the aftermath. The nature of capitalism (for lack of a better word to describe this economy based on greed and unlimited growth and inequality) is becoming clearer by the day. Its nature as a system is very impressive. It seems that the way it kills or swallows up anything in its way can not be touched by the weak political process we have at our disposal. It can pick and choose among the fruits of our scientific and technological creations and discoveries rejecting better ideas if they do not serve it and feeding those that do.
Symbols are loaded with meaning if we bother to bring them to the conscious mind and deal with their content and meaning. Today I am in total solidarity with my fellow workers, but I mourn what has happened to us.