A Brief History of the Original Labor Day - Chicago History

Few people know that Labor Day originated in Chicago, when workers, fed up with cruel working conditions, stood up and fought back against their bosses. In the latter part of the 1800's, as small shops gave way to large factories, the average workday was 12 hours. Child labor was rampant and children as young as (and sometimes younger than) 10 were routinely working in factories, mines and sweat shops.

There were laws against such abuse of children but the laws were not widely respected or enforced. After all, children were a cheap and easily replaceable workforce that allowed for huge profits for the corporations. All in all, America was like a third world nation in these times.

People who worked, who saw their children coming down with black lung disease, silicosis and whose ability to breathe was impaired by the airborne cotton fibers in clothing factories wanted something better from life than merely toiling away like some dumb mule until death brought relief from the miseries of life. this was serfdom ina sense, but unlike serfdom, there were few holidays during which one could relax. trips to the parks were few and far between, and excursions to the country were usually limited to the bosses' families and, of course, the wealthy corporate owners' families.

The average working human being was not some dumb animal incapable of thinking for him or her self, so as these brutal condition went on laborers began to organize, unionize, and struggle for better conditions. Since the usual reaction to this was more brutality, often backed up by the police and even military units, the struggle often became a bloody fight in the streets. Anti-union forces spread rumors that these labor organizers were Communists, Anarchists and Socialists. Many times they were, and who could blame them? Little was known of Communism other than the words sounded really good to a downtrodden sap who had no prospects in life but 6 days a week of 12 hour workdays and little to show for all that labor. Socialism preached a gospel of equality and the honorable workplace. Anarchism was a way to get back at bosses who often watched the work from their lofty offices, like demigods reigning over their mighty kingdoms.

The nation was becoming ripe with the spirit of revolution, and if that had occurred, then America, not the old Soviet Union, would have become the first Communist nation.

People alive today do not know how much they have reason to thank the early unions for many of the social and work place programs that keep them from 12 hour days and other compensations they enjoy while at work. Yet they also do not have the foggiest idea that the goals of the early labor movement were thwarted by the very reactionary forces of huge business, wealth and anti-union sentiments many ungrateful workers share today.

It never fails to amaze me how ignorant most workers are about HOW they got the rights they enjoy these days.  They think it was just what hubwriter & blue collar genius Cold War Baby called Noblesse Oblige in his great hub.  People, these things didn't just come about because of the nobility and generosity of big business.  they were fought for with blood and sweat qand tears just as great as any war you read about.  People died and starved and fought for your rights, so pay them the same respect we all give to our military veterans.  In a way, the early labor and union fighters were like a military, in that they fought the forces of worker slavery and crushing power of the wealthy and politically connected big bosses.

These reactionary forces, using the old Socialist term, were indeed using every power at their command to crush the Union movement.  Their sole purpose was to keep wages low, profits high, singing the Capitalism mantra and convincing the wretched poor that Capitalism was somehow a god to be revered.  They invoked God, calling on people to fight the godless forces of the union they invoked the law, creating new laws in states that held back or stopped union movements.  they used local law enforcement and thugs to break up demonstration and they used newspapers to report only the violence caused by union members.  Often times peaceful demonstrations were busted up by thugs and the Union leaders were blamed for it.  Newspapers, especially those opposed to workers rights and the "Red Scare" tactics of big business, went along and even actively participated. the Los Angeles Times comes to mind as a paper that actively sought to demonize any and all union activities.

Over time these stories have gained the aura of truth, even when they were orchestrated to a speciic, bloody end by big business.  People today hear and pass on stories of union violence and corruption without knowing all the facts, or even having the chance to sort through what is true and what is not.

Needless to say the entire story is much more interesting and much more complicated than you might believe.

Of the many and various bloody attempts to suppress workers from gaining their rights, a few are listed here.

Pullman Strike: (It started Labor Day): Chicago, 1894.  Pullman company, in response to the Panic of 1893, decreased wages but refused to lower rents and other costs in the comany owned Pullman houses the workers were forced to live in.  Strikes were called and eventually 12,000 U.S. troops were called into quell the strike.

Matewan, W. Va.:  Striking miners were killed by hired thugs of the coal company.  Since the company owned the miner's houses, and paid them in company script, the miners could not leave due to the money they owed to the mining company.  This last vestige of serfdom was eventually overturned, but a miner's life was still extremely dangerous and often never paid enough to bring him and his family out of these feudal conditions.

The Ludlow Massacre: In the mining vilage at Ludlow, Colorado entire families were massacred by thugs and national guard units sent to break the strike. Women and children were shot and/or burned to death in their tents.

 Unfortunately, in recent times many Union leaders forgot who they worked for and became as notorious for corruption as the companies they formerly fought against.  However, these failings of Union leaders do not overshadow the great and wonderful things unionism has brought to the workers of the United States today.

I am proud to be a blue-collar, Union man from Chicago and I pay tribute to and honor the valiant Union men who struggled so hard to make life better for all of us today, from my Great-Great-Grandfather, who left Germany in 1848 to find a better life here, to my father, who died a proud Union man.