quote:

Originally posted by Breez:
Yes, Labor Day did come about for a reason, and the reason WAS NOT a day for $ales in the stores It is nice to have THAT long weekend


Labor Day: How it Came About; What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

quote:

Textbooks still attribute Abrahan Lincoln's and JFK's and RFK's and MLK's assinations to the "lone actor". But even more egregious is the absence of the true bloody history of the American labor movement. Massacres by National guard, private armies surrounding and beating strikers to death, starving and blackballing and lockouts and bombings-- People need to know how WE THE PEOPLE secured certain rights, like the right to demonstrate or the right to strike, or the right to be protected from child labor or social security itself.

Those who own the schools have done an evil job by telling our story as they would have wished it, not as it was.

quote:

Originally posted by ratfink:

quote:

Textbooks still attribute Abrahan Lincoln's and JFK's and RFK's and MLK's assinations to the "lone actor". But even more egregious is the absence of the true bloody history of the American labor movement. Massacres by National guard, private armies surrounding and beating strikers to death, starving and blackballing and lockouts and bombings-- People need to know how WE THE PEOPLE secured certain rights, like the right to demonstrate or the right to strike, or the right to be protected from child labor or social security itself.

Those who own the schools have done an evil job by telling our story as they would have wished it, not as it was.

It's interesting to me how the right says public schools are indoctrinating our kids with a liberal agenda, and the left is accusing the public schools of only telling the story that the "owners" want the kids to hear. I'm going to assume by owners, one means right wing "owners". I also wonder how many here are doing pretty well for themselves with a public school education.

quote:

Those who own the schools have done an evil job by telling our story as they would have wished it, not as it was.

quote:

Originally posted by ratfink:

quote:

Those who own the schools have done an evil job by telling our story as they would have wished it, not as it was.

Who are the "owners" that don't tell the story of labor that you speak of? I'm sure the "owners" comment wasn't directed at liberal democrats. If it was, then I guess I'm completely wrong and apologize.