by Most American’s have no clue why they celebrate Labor Day, while the evidence still stands tall all around them as skeletons from a revolution they never had to fight. Old, dilapidated factories from the Industrial Revolution remain embedded in the very heart of most of our cities. Monuments of these yesteryears subsist in our parks and cemeteries, though often vandalized showing no care or appreciation from this generation of the booming era that continues to give them such a blessed time in history.
In the 1800’s, Americans, migrants and children worked 12+ hour workdays, 6-7 days a week. They worked harder than ever to barely survive, with no benefits and no job protection. A very simple study in history shows how this changed by the 1900’s.
- 1882 – 10,000 workers marched on New York City Hall for human rights of laborers. This was considered the first Labor Day Parade (unlike today’s parades that seem to be fading into history).
- 1886 – The Haymarket Affair in Chicago had workers fighting for their rights. The biggest demand was for an 8-hour workday. This Affair turned deadly when anarchists took the lead (these same anti-American anarchist tactics are very familiar to us today).
- 1894 – The Pullman Strike and boycott on the railroads was due to unsafe work conditions and 16-hour workdays. Pullman Car Company had cut wages 25% during a depression but never cut rent and other charges that the company laid on their workers. As the song went, “I owe my soul to the company store…”
- 1894 – Labor Day became the first working man’s holiday. President Grover Cleveland assigned Labor Day as a federal holiday to recognize their contributions to the strength, prosperity and industrial well-being of America.
Today, America still stands great! We continue to reap from the sweat and blood of our forefathers who fought with their lives on our own soil and foreign battlefields to secure our inalienable and constitutional freedoms. Let’s be wary not allow commercialization and a vacationing atmosphere to rob us of the reason we celebrate Labor Day. Let’s do our utmost to let freedom ring throughout this Labor Day holiday.
