Posted on 09/03/2023 9:18:10 PM PDT by DoodleBob
International Workers’ Day originated from events that took place in the US. Despite this, Labor Day is celebrated in September, and the global holiday is often overlooked. With the resurgence of the labor movement and an increase in workplace organization, many cities in the US are now hosting parades to recognize the invaluable contributions of workers on May Day.
In the US, Labor Day has been held on the first Monday in September since the 1880s. There have been efforts to switch it to May to align it with International Workers’ Day, but remnants of Cold War tensions have soured this endeavor.
While the US does not celebrate International Workers’ Day, the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago inspired the Marxist International Socialist Congress to choose 1 May as their day of action in Paris in 1890.
On 1 May 1886, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, which later changed its name to the American Federation of Labor, called on its members to strike for an eight-hour workday. In Chicago, workers at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company participated in a strike to demand that their leadership implement the change. More than 400 police officers guarded the factory to prevent the entrance of the workers on strike. On the third day of the strike, a few protestors tried to break through the police line to confront the strikebreakers, and they were shot. Local anarchist groups quickly released a pamphlet detailing the event and encouraged workers to join a rally at Haymarket Square the following day.
Details on the number of workers who participated in the rally are unclear and range from 600 to 3,000. Those in attendance chanted, marched, and listened to speeches. Towards the end of the day, police moved into the area to disperse the protestors, and before they reached the crowd, a bomb was thrown in the direction of the police. The officers quickly began shooting, creating a stampede and chaos that left six police dead and 60 wounded. As for the workers, two deaths were confirmed, but the total death and injury count was never released.
Repression of the labor movement swiftly followed, but the event would later be recognized as a critical moment in the US labor movement’s struggle for an eight-hour workday.
The Marxist and socialist ties to International Workers Day made it popular among organized labor in the US in the early part of the 20th century. However, in the decades that followed, as the Cold War progressed and the Red Scare motivated the ever-increasing attacks on organized labor, the idea of moving the US Labor Day to May became politically toxic.
Unionization in the US reached its peak in 1950. That year more than a third of all workers in the country were card-carrying union members. Union membership was popular since it was organized labor that won major victories for workers. Additionally, muckrakers, activists, and unions improved the safety conditions of workers and encouraged that laws be passed to protect children from exploitive labor practices.
After World War II, Cold War politics motivated the US government to restrict the power of organized labor, and laws like the Taft-Hartley Act made it illegal for unions to contribute to political campaigns. Today, this idea seems ludicrous to many as the Citizens United Supreme Court decision allows corporations to donate to campaigns.
Additionally, the law severely limited the ability of unions to encourage striking, saying that the practice formed a threat to national security. The bill was also influenced by McCarthyism and required that union leaders state publically that they had no ties to the Communist Party and that they had no intention of overthrowing the government. This provision of the bill was deemed unconstitutional in 1965, but by then, many leaders had been accused of communist loyalties and removed from their posts.
Today, the impacts of the Taft-Hartley and other anti-union bills are clear, as union membership in the US hit a historic low of 10.1% before recovering to 11.3% in 2022.
Because we aren’t commies.
OMG, I didn’t know that!!!!
/S...just in case.
And the unnamed “Labor Day Hurricane” (1935) would lose its point of reference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935_Labor_Day_hurricane
Because thats the commie worker day.
Exactly!
That’s right!
And another reason is that the government made a deal with the mob to let them have the Unions, to keep the Commies out.
Labor Day is a time to be off work for a day and spend it with your family. It’s part of this, and for these reasons alone it is perfectly placed and appreciated:
Memorial Day (BBQ), Independence Day(BBQ), Labor Day(BBQ), Thanksgiving (Turkey), Christmas (Rib Roast), Easter (Ham)
Tell me the difference between organized labor unions and extortion.
Ya pushing Marxism now? :)
No, thanks.
I’m proud to go to work on May 1. I want all the world to know that in this country we definitely DO NOT celebrate commie day.
Hey! Don't forget Juneteenth! (Fried ch.....nevermind).
Because we are not a Communist totalitarian state, at least not yet.
“And another reason is that the government made a deal with the mob to let them have the Unions, to keep the Commies out.”
Unions are communistic, imo.
Yeah, but they kept the Russian Commies out, and that’s what mattered.
Ours is more like, er, Workers’ Day.
There are plenty of crappy unions out there. But there are plenty of good ones. I’m thankful to be in a good one and work around other good ones. Unions that demand safety and fair wage and practices, and we also hold each other accountable and have and will continue to run off the shitbags that are bad at their job. It’s professionalism.
There are plenty of crappy workers all on their own out there as well. All things being equal, if workers never organized, you can bet your ass that we’d all be working 12 hours days in unsafe environments and low wages. Unions have done a lot of good in the USA, and yes, plenty of bad as well.
After what major unions did to obstruct our national war effort during WW2, I can never have respect for them. Amplified by my 15 years sentence working in Detroit, trying to bring GM and Ford powertrain plants into the 21st century, with the UAW fighting us every step of the way. Abusing our techs, stealing their tools, and even sabotaging our machines. To call them Luddites would be too kind. Not for nothing did GM saleried engineers say the initials stoof for United Against Work. Then there’s my memories of the rampant corruption in the Fairchild Republic plant that made the A-10, back in the ‘70s. Rumor had it that the Air Force curtailed the A-10 program because of it. Those are the highlights. No, unions are just another form of organized crime in my experience, and don’t deserve a holiday. /rant
Ahhhh too bad so sad. The commies don’t like us
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