Sad Story Behind Labor Day- yahoo.news

[AllardChardon]

The Sad Story Behind Labor Day
by Claudine Zap

For most of us, Labor Day means backyard barbecues, weekend sales, and a last carefree day before school starts. But the laid-back holiday has some seriously sad history, including chaos, riots, and even death. Let us explain.

A tragic tale
Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, workers were expected to put in 12-hour days, seven days a week (yes, including kids). Already sounds awful, right? It gets worse. In Pullman, Illinois, a company town that employed and housed workers to build posh railway cars, times had gotten tough. In response, George Pullman cut jobs and wages. It was 1893. Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in protest, demanding higher salaries and lower rents. Other unions joined, refusing to work the Pullman cars, turning the small-town fracas into a national fury.

With mail cars backing up, and riots worrying train execs, President Grover Cleveland stepped in. He declared the strike illegal and sent 12,000 troops to break the strike. Cue brutal protests and bloodshed. The strike was broken, but so was the spirit of the workers. To reach out to the labor movement, Congress rushed the national holiday into law. The bad will resulted in Cleveland losing re-election. But the day off for hot dogs endures.

When is it?
Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. This year, that would be Monday, September 7. According to the Department of Labor, Congress passed an act in 1894 making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

So, working stiffs everywhere, say it now, with feeling: Happy Labor Day.


~~~
I haven't posted for a while and I found this article interesting, so I decided to share it and say Enjoy Labor Day at the same time.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

The Sad Story Behind Labor Day
by Claudine Zap

For most of us, Labor Day means backyard barbecues, weekend sales, and a last carefree day before school starts. But the laid-back holiday has some seriously sad history, including chaos, riots, and even death. Let us explain.

A tragic tale
Back in the days of the Industrial Revolution, workers were expected to put in 12-hour days, seven days a week (yes, including kids). Already sounds awful, right? It gets worse. In Pullman, Illinois, a company town that employed and housed workers to build posh railway cars, times had gotten tough. In response, George Pullman cut jobs and wages. It was 1893. Thousands of workers walked off their jobs in protest, demanding higher salaries and lower rents. Other unions joined, refusing to work the Pullman cars, turning the small-town fracas into a national fury.

With mail cars backing up, and riots worrying train execs, President Grover Cleveland stepped in. He declared the strike illegal and sent 12,000 troops to break the strike. Cue brutal protests and bloodshed. The strike was broken, but so was the spirit of the workers. To reach out to the labor movement, Congress rushed the national holiday into law. The bad will resulted in Cleveland losing re-election. But the day off for hot dogs endures.

When is it?
Labor Day falls on the first Monday of September. This year, that would be Monday, September 7. According to the Department of Labor, Congress passed an act in 1894 making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

So, working stiffs everywhere, say it now, with feeling: Happy Labor Day.


~~~
I haven't posted for a while and I found this article interesting, so I decided to share it and say Enjoy Labor Day at the same time.

You mean it has nothing to do with having babies?

 

[penandpaper]

Its history so quickly forgotten after a second helping of beans, potato salad, and another burger. Maybe another hot dog too.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Verdad]

It's of some interest, too, that the rest of the world celebrates International Worker's Day on May 1. It's in May that the riots took place, but the US adopted a different date for the holiday, presumably so as to avoid commemorating the riots.

May Day has meanwhile gotten to be associated with socialism, communism, barbecues, and all that other ungodly stuff.

 

[rgraham666]

Cleveland grossly overstepped his authority in this case. The normal chain of command was that the Mayor would request aid from the Governor and then the Governor would request it of the President.

The only people who asked for help was the railway executives. Trains were moving, but not those with Pullman cars.

Here is more information on the town of Pullman which was a community 'designed' to George Pullman's specifications. It worked about as well as most planned communities do and contributed greatly to the unrest of the Pullman workers.

People who talk about the 'Good Old Days' are usually delusional.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Actually, much the same thing happened on the docks in Portland, Seattle and San Francisco. Strikebreakers, club weilding thugs and police (owned by the large shipping companies) were comon. Beating deaths occured on more than one occasion and many, many strikers were arrested.

 

[sadangel]

I am learning a lot about how Labor day came to be. I don't remember ever learning any of this in High school. Maybe it was during the 3 months I was out of school due to major surgery.

Thanks y'all for the history lesson. I do appreciate it.

 

[sadangel]

Cleveland grossly overstepped his authority in this case. The normal chain of command was that the Mayor would request aid from the Governor and then the Governor would request it of the President.

The only people who asked for help was the railway executives. Trains were moving, but not those with Pullman cars.

Here is more information on the town of Pullman which was a community 'designed' to George Pullman's specifications. It worked about as well as most planned communities do and contributed greatly to the unrest of the Pullman workers.

People who talk about the 'Good Old Days' are usually delusional.

That was an interesting read. I didn't know any of that. Wow. I never stop learning!! And at Lit of all places.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Bull Shit story.

Originally Organized labor wanted May Day for the holiday but was dissuaded by New York politicians sympathetic to Labor and opposed to Socialists. There was no holiday between Independence Day and Columbus Day AND the politicians liked it becuz of its proximity to run-off elections in the early Fall.

Where do you people find so much crap! And you eat it up!

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I am learning a lot about how Labor day came to be. I don't remember ever learning any of this in High school. Maybe it was during the 3 months I was out of school due to major surgery.

Thanks y'all for the history lesson. I do appreciate it.

Angel, there is a book titled, "Growh of a City - 1880 to 1950" written by a professor of history at PSU. It's dreary reading but there are a couple of wonderful chapters about the labor movement in Portland, naming names, dates and including photos. It seems the KKK was involved as were most of the business and political structure of the time working against the "wobblies" and labor movement.

The resto of the 800 or so pages is rather boring.

 

[sadangel]

Angel, there is a book titled, "Growth of a City - 1880 to 1950" written by a professor of history at PSU. It's dreary reading but there are a couple of wonderful chapters about the labor movement in Portland, naming names, dates and including photos. It seems the KKK was involved as were most of the business and political structure of the time working against the "wobblies" and labor movement.

The rest of the 800 or so pages is rather boring.

I'll have to look it up. Thanks JJ.

 

[R. Richard]

The Pullman affair was justified as necessary to keep the nation's trains running.

As to the scumbags beating strikers, it's what you should expect. The scumbags don't enforce law, they work for the people who run a town. The rules are enforced to keep the status quo in order.

Of course, they don't really teach this in school. You don't educate sheep,you shear them.

 

[AllardChardon]

The part that amazes me and, therefore, the reason I posted this article is the reference to the 12 day work week, 7 days a week, kids included. We forget how good we have it today and what it took to make it this way, bloodshed, once again.

Speaking of High School, it is amazing how much our teachers choose to leave OUT of the story. Makes life after HS rather revealing, though, if you dig just a little deeper, not too far.

And, no, there is no Day yet for labor pains. That would have to be Labor Pains Day or some such thing. I could celebrate four times harder than the single child mommy on that day, if it ever comes. Ha Ha!

 

[Verdad]

Bull Shit story.

Originally Organized labor wanted May Day for the holiday but was dissuaded by New York politicians sympathetic to Labor and opposed to Socialists. There was no holiday between Independence Day and Columbus Day AND the politicians liked it becuz of its proximity to run-off elections in the early Fall.

Where do you people find so much crap! And you eat it up!

Well, Wiki agrees with me, but that's admittedly not worth much. If I was wrong, I'll gladly defer to your knowledge.

International Workers' Day is the commemoration of the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour day, killing several demonstrators and resulting in the deaths of several police officers, largely from friendly fire. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. These were so successful that May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International's second congress in 1891. The May Day Riots of 1894 and May Day Riots of 1919 occurred subsequently. In 1904, the International Socialist Conference meeting in Amsterdam called on "all Social Democratic Party organizations and trade unions of all countries to demonstrate energetically on May First for the legal establishment of the 8-hour day, for the class demands of the proletariat, and for universal peace." As the most effective way of demonstrating was by striking, the congress made it "mandatory upon the proletarian organizations of all countries to stop work on May 1, wherever it is possible without injury to the workers."

[...]

In the United States, however, the official Federal holiday for the "working man" is Labor Day in September. This day was promoted by the Central Labor Union and the Knights of Labor organized the first parade in New York City. The first Labor Day celebration was held on September 5, 1882, and was organized by the Knights of Labor. The Knights began holding it every year and called for it to be a national holiday, but this was opposed by other labor unions who wanted it held on May Day (as it is everywhere else in the world). After the Haymarket Square riot in May, 1886, President Cleveland feared that commemorating Labor Day on May 1 could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Thus he moved in 1887 to support the Labor Day that the Knights supported.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Well, Wiki agrees with me, but that's admittedly not worth much. If I was wrong, I'll gladly defer to your knowledge.

The move from agrarian serfdom to industrial servitude is not entirely black. Everything we now hold dear, from industrial relations, healthcare (don't laugh), came out of the transition from a rural economy to an industrial one.

 

[AllardChardon]

Verdad,

And that is exactly what I meant about digging a little deeper and backing up your comments beautifully. Well done, and now I know more than I did about why we ignored the world's observance of this day to create our own. It was the President at the time, Grover Cleveland, and it cost him his re-election, thank the voters.

Allard

 

[rgraham666]

Another sad bit of the history of labor relations; The Ludlow Massacre.

Allard? That twelve hour workday was often a twenty four hour workday on alternate Sundays when workers were moved to another shift. They did get six hours off at Christmas though.

This calls for a little Tennessee Ernie Ford.

ETA: Canada wasn't free of labor strife either.

 

[Verdad]

The move from agrarian serfdom to industrial servitude is not entirely black. Everything we now hold dear, from industrial relations, healthcare (don't laugh), came out of the transition from a rural economy to an industrial one.

Sure. I had no special agenda in mentioning May Day except to add a bit of info and maybe tease a little those among us terrified of 'socialism'. It was in good spirits, though, and anyone who's got a better grip on that piece of history than me (which I'm sure is any number of people around) can add more detail.

Verdad,

And that is exactly what I meant about digging a little deeper and backing up your comments beautifully. Well done, and now I know more than I did about why we ignored the world's observance of this day to create our own. It was the President at the time, Grover Cleveland, and it cost him his re-election, thank the voters.

Allard

Thanks, Allard. Glad to see you back here!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, Wiki agrees with me, but that's admittedly not worth much. If I was wrong, I'll gladly defer to your knowledge.

Last year I researched Labor Day for a newspaper article I co-authored. I dont want to debate the topic becuz I'm not invested in winning, I simply want to dispute the version you folks are so giddy about.

I win bets all the time about historical curiosities.

Did you bother to read what you posted? It confirms what I posted. The holiday came BEFORE the labor trouble, and was held in September to avoid the link with socialism, it also served the interests of politicians canvassing votes.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/GroverCleveland/

Here's Cleveland's official biography.

He was elected President twice and defeated for the third try. The labor issue cost him votes but it was his opposition to high tariffs and opposition to replacing gold with silver to back the value of the dollar that cost him the 3rd election.

Jeez Louise people! Get your shit straight.

 

[Verdad]

Last year I researched Labor Day for a newspaper article I co-authored. I dont want to debate the topic becuz I'm not invested in winning, I simply want to dispute the version you folks are so giddy about.

I win bets all the time about historical curiosities.

Did you bother to read what you posted? It confirms what I posted. The holiday came BEFORE the labor trouble, and was held in September to avoid the link with socialism, it also served the interests of politicians canvassing votes.

Of course I read what I posted. You object to the part where I said a different day was adopted for the holiday so as to avoid association with the riots. And the article cites that as at least a part of the reason for choosing September and not May. The other part is, as you said, the Labor tradition winning over the Socialist one.

I've no idea why you get grumpy. I know American history is a strong suit for you, and I don't mind learning.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I've no idea why you get grumpy. I know American history is a strong suit for you, and I don't mind learning.

Fuck American History. Do what I do. Just make it up as you go along

 

[AllardChardon]

This thread is about the workers, their labors, their trials, their losses and the ultimate win that they bestowed on us in the process. This year I remember all those who lost their lives in this struggle the world over, whether it be in May or September, 1917 Russia or 2009 America, for remembrance is the key to passing on that knowledge to the younger generations, IMHO.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Fuck American History. Do what I do. Just make it up as you go along

I just realized Jesse Jackson is the invisible man since Obama was elected!

Naah! I dont believe you make anything up, and youre right much of the time. This is about the highest compliment I award.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

This thread is about the workers, their labors, their trials, their losses and the ultimate win that they bestowed on us in the process. This year I remember all those who lost their lives in this struggle the world over, whether it be in May or September, 1917 Russia or 2009 America, for remembrance is the key to passing on that knowledge to the younger generations, IMHO.

Horseshit.

The noble worker steals about 600 billion dollars from his employer every year; professional thieves make do with 20 billion.