WORKING TOWARD LABOR DAY

In the late 19th century, U.S. industry was booming. Millions left their farms and moved to the cities to work in factories, mills, stockyards, shipping centers, mines, and railroads. However, 80-hour workweeks, low wages, few days off, and dangerous work environments eventually became a pressure cooker. Labor unions formed to improve workers’ lots.

Two strains of pushback developed, and Chicago was a flash point. Some were content to fight for worker unionization and improved pay and working conditions. Others advanced a more radical agenda: toppling the government and instituting a new economic order to replace capitalism.

On May 4, radicals held a protest rally in Haymarket Square in response to a picket-line skirmish three days earlier in which two lives were lost upon police intervention. A homemade bomb was hurled at police, killing one officer; fellow officers responded by firing wildly into the crowd. Over a dozen people lost their lives.

Internationally, protesters killed in the “Haymarket Affair” became martyrs. Primarily socialists, communists, and trade unionists around the world established International Workers’ Day in their honor, celebrated on May 1 (a.k.a. May Day).

The Pullman Strike of 1894, also in Chicago, spurred Congress and President Cleveland to act. Strikers from the Pullman Palace Car Company (a manufacturer of railway cars) were supported by the American Railway Union, who refused to utilize Pullman cars. Rail travel ground to a near halt and caused widespread shipping delays and lost business revenue. Federal troops were summoned, violence erupted, and a public relations nightmare ensued.

Out of the chaos emerged Labor Day, an ode to American workers celebrated on the first Monday in September to distinguish it from May Day and its radical underpinnings. It’s a nice day off, but there’s a lot more to it than a burger and beer.