Monday, September 4: A Day of Labor
Shoutout to Eugene Debs for helping secure this long weekend
What exactly are we celebrating today, on this most laborious of Mondays?
Back in 1894, a man named Eugene V. Debs led members of the American Railway Union on strike in what is now known as the Pullman strike. This decision had major economic implications and soon President Grover Cleveland declared it a federal crime and deployed troops to break up the strike. Naturally, violence erupted, and two men were killed. As a way to ease tensions after the deaths, on June 28, 1894 Labor Day was declared a legal holiday on the first Monday of September.
(Friendly reminder that unions didn’t win weekends and the minimum wage and laws against child labor and sick leave by being nice or polite or respectful. These things we take for granted now were won by fighting. They were hard-earned by striking and struggling and even occasionally dying.)
But Labor Day is not just a holiday to sleep in and take it easy (although you should certainly do those things if afforded the chance). It’s a day for counsel and meditation. This long weekend affords us an excellent opportunity to take a look backwards, examine the present situation, take an inventory of resources and prepare for the greater work yet to be done. And there is an endless amount of work still to be done.
In honor of this Labor Day, here are some absolute bars dropped by Mr. Eugene Debs himself, more than 100 years ago. The message still rings true today, perhaps now more than ever.
The only line that is drawn is between the working class and their exploiters and that must be drawn straight and reach around the globe. Workingmen, this is the day for you to realize that your interests are the same, that divided you are helpless, that united you can and will conquer the earth!
We never hear of Capital Day, not because Capital has no day, but because every day is Capital Day. The struggle in which we are now engaged will end only when every day is Labor Day.
-Eugene Debs, in his 1903 Labor Day message
Make the most of your Labor Day this year. It’s perfectly natural to feel exhausted or overwhelmed, the only crime is allowing those feelings to stop our collective progress.
Side Items
Liverpool Matchweek 4: