by Nicholas Hefling and Peter Bohmer
Oh, Labor Day, what a glorious day! In leftist circles, we sometimes hear conspiracy theories about how the September Labor Day was a “counterrevolutionary” move by the state to distract workers from the real labor day, May Day. The truth is a bit more nuanced.
The late 19th century was a vibrant period of labor militance and major worker strikes. To appease labor unions and the growing support for making Labor Day a holiday -- and to undermine the radical association with May Day -- the United States made Labor Day a national holiday in 1894.
The idea for a September labor celebration actually came from across the border. In 1872, Toronto printers struck for a nine-hour workday, and the annual labor celebrations that grew out of their fight became a fixture in Canada. When Peter J. McGuire (a key leader of the early American Federation of Labor) witnessed one such Canadian festival in 1882, he was inspired to bring the idea stateside. The first U.S. Labor Day was in fact celebrated September 5, 1882, in New York City — before May Day was immortalized in 1886.
May Day, on the other hand, was inspired by the sacrifice and fierce determination of Chicago workers in the 1886 Haymarket Affair. What began as a peaceful rally became one of the most violent days in U.S. labor history when someone (whose identity has never been officially confirmed) bombed the square with dynamite to kill anarchist militants and striking workers. Workers’ demands for an eight-hour work day enraged bosses who enlisted the police to crack down on the labor movement with lethal force. Although there was no evidence linking them to the bombing, seven anarchists were sentenced to death for the explosion. Of those seven, four were hanged, one committed suicide, and two later had their sentences reduced.
International Workers’ Day (May Day) is inspired by, and in memory of, the fight of those courageous Chicago workers. Beginning in 1926, May Day was commemorated worldwide with huge demonstrations and the closing of most workplaces. From Russia to France to Mexico, the explosive labor struggle in Chicago is honored by labor movements across the globe and is observed as an official holiday in many countries — with one notable exception, the United States.
The capacity for organized workers to win better wages, benefits, conditions, and the ability to make decisions over the workplace faces steep challenges. As a result of increasingly hostile federal and state governments, labor is weakened in both the private and public sector. Most people in the U.S. work for private companies. Only 6% of workers in the private sector are unionized, a steady decline since the mid-1950’s when more than a third of workers in the private sector were in a union. The few private unions that are still active are often unable to win even limited demands. Since the 1990s, when massive trade deregulation opened borders for large corporations, private sector unions have faced the unique challenge of capital flight -- where employers pick up and move to a new location without organized labor
Capital has the ability to transcend borders while the majority of workers do not. When capital can move freely but workers can’t, the scale is tipped in favor of the ruling class. Beginning on May 1, 2006, May Day in the U.S., although not an official holiday, is observed with demonstrations and rallies as International Workers Day with an emphasis on immigrant justice. Confronting globalized capitalism requires a globalized working class struggle. May Day is explicitly international while nationalism splinters the working class -- something the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) has long recognized.
Although the public sector employs only 15% of all workers, 33% of them are members of unions, more than five times the private sector rate. Half of all union members work in the public sector such as in local, state and national government. That turns public sector unions into a primary target for anti-democratic, free-market actors. Namely, major corporations and right-wing leaders. Conservatives attack the public sector precisely because it is where labor most often still wins. For example, the structural assaults against teachers and public education are designed to crush union membership and demonstrate the uphill battle facing labor advocates and social justice movements as a whole.
The growth of neoliberalism causes heightened individualism and lack of solidarity among workers. Revitalizing the labor movement counteracts the atomization of the working class. Organizing a union is about more than winning meager concessions. It is about restoring the dignity of workers, reversing the obscene expansion of wealth inequality, and resisting authoritarianism. It’s about transforming an economic system that reinforces the exploitation of the many for the benefit of the few.
There is growing support among the general public for unionization, which is a prerequisite for reversing the decline we’ve seen over the last few decades. While society would benefit from increased union membership and unionized workshops, strengthened collective bargaining power alone cannot deliver economic justice. To make that a reality, what is needed is social movement unionism — a more radical, class-wide political struggle whose demands go beyond better wages and benefits.
Labor Day should stand for something more than a day off work and a chance to attend a picnic or rally. It should stand for workers having more power in the union, the workplace, and the right to more fulfilling work. It should stand for organizing all workers including the precariat and winning demands that benefit the whole working class.
One powerful narrative that keeps workers’ rights suppressed is the contemporary concept of “work-life balance.” This is a bit of a controversial position because so many labor advocates champion this concept. But the unfortunate and unintended result of this framing is that it ends up telling workers that your life at work is somehow not your life. In the “work/life balance” narrative we’re all made out to be either an employee or a civilian, as if there are two severed halves of our existence that aren’t intrinsically related. Labor organizing taken seriously seeks to materially improve working conditions and life outside the workplace. Organizing should never be reduced to a workplace; it is a transformation of our relationship to power in all spheres of life.
Labor is more than unions and the workers in unions; it is also nonunion workers and the unemployed. We need to build a labor movement that also organizes for causes off-the-clock that meets worker needs such as universal health and free childcare, that challenges militarism, authoritarianism and AI; that unites with other social movements for justice and liberation and acts in solidarity with workers across the globe. Everyone does labor every day, some just get paid for it.
Happy Labor Day