Remembering Labor on Labor Day

Most people alive today can't remember a time when the history of American labor was actually covered in high school history classes.  But, yes, there was a time when the people who actually worked hard for their measly wages were considered important enough to mention in history classes.  And it wasn't so long ago, either.  Only a few decades.

Labor was recognized back then because it was a known fact that the American worker made things and then turned around and bought things.  And that movement of cash and goods was what put money in the pockets of the business owners.  Back then, the myth of the self-made millionaire was recognized as being a myth.  After all, who became rich without relying on the people who made the stuff and then bought the stuff?  It was all common sense, of course.  How could labor be written out of the history books of America?

That recognition, though, was a long time in coming.  There was a lot of suffering along the way.  It wasn't easy... not by a long shot.  It's hard to gain recognition when you don't have enough money to buy it.

The labor movement in the United States arose from a need for people to live safer, healthier, and somewhat pleasant lives.  Before the labor movement, which spanned the better part of a century, people worked in horrible places and lived, often ten to a room, in dirty hovels and tenements.  They worked six, even seven, days each week from sunup to sundown.  Children worked.  Women worked.  Everyone worked (except the rich, who did relatively little except complain about the people doing the work).  It was grueling.  It was dangerous.

Back in those good old days of unbridled capitalism, there was no OSHA to tell the bosses that their workplaces had to be safe. As a result, people were getting killed at work all of the time.  In mines.  In foundries.  In dressmaking factories.  There were lots of people getting killed.  Some were killed quickly when their workplaces would collapse on their heads.  Some were killed slowly by breathing in all sorts of stuff that they shouldn't have been breathing in.  Some were killed in fires because the buildings weren't safe.  But most of the rich resisted any attempts at reform or .regulation because it would cost them money (and regulation was anti-capitalist), of course.

But workers persevered and eventually organized themselves into labor unions and came to dominate a political party called the Democratic Party.  No, that Democratic Party was not today's Democratic Party.  It had the same name, but that was about the only similarity.  But back then, even the Republican Party was drawn along different lines.  Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican who signed anti-trust legislation!  That would never happen today.  Poor Teddy couldn't get elected dog-catcher nowadays.

Labor had to stand up for itself because the greed of the greedy knew no bounds, but any attempt at organizing meant things were likely to get pretty ugly.  And sometimes, even supportive politicians couldn't save the workers from the murderous wrath of the business elite.  If you'd like an example, consider the 1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago.  Even Chicago's mayor had attended a mass meeting and given the meeting his blessing.  But somebody threw a bomb after he left, and everything went to hell in a hand basket.  Eight were convicted of conspiracy, even though there was no evidence that any of them had thrown the bomb.  Seven were sentenced to death.  Of those, four were hanged, one committed suicide, and two had their sentences commuted by the governor.  It didn't matter that none of them had thrown the bomb.  They organized the meeting, and that was enough.  It didn't matter that the mayor had been there and had blessed the event, either. Again, they organized the meeting, and that was enough.  The people who lived in rows of mansions on lush tree-lined streets, and the newspapers, insisted on the executions.  You just can't have that sort of thing going on.  Violence was never acceptable, even if all the workers wanted was an eight-hour workday and that their co-workers not be killed.

The Haymarket riot was just one event in a continuum of unpleasant altercations.  Just a few years before it, there had been the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania, who were fighting for their rights to be treated like human beings.  Many of them were executed, too, of course.  Mind you, not all of the rabble-rousers were pleasant people.  Desperate people do desperate things, after all.

One of the most deadly disasters in labor history was the fire at the Triangle Shirt factory in New York in 1911.  It killed 146 garment workers, almost all of them women and children who worked 52- hour workweeks.  Many were forced to jump out of windows from the ninth and tenth floors of the building in which the factory was located.  They couldn't escape because the doors had been locked to prevent unauthorized breaks.  The disaster was so horrific that it spurred union membership and legislation in New York that required certain safety features.

Is it any wonder that such things used to be covered in high school history classes?  So this Labor Day, let's remember labor.  Let's treat Labor Day with the same respect we give to Memorial Day. Let's remember the sacrifices of the workers who went before us. Let's remember that a living wage, safe working conditions, and a bit of free time are basic human rights.  And let's not assume that today's business leaders are somehow less greedy or more compassionate than those of previous generations (there is no reason to believe that they are).