International May Day and American Labor Day: A Holiday Expressing Working Class Emancipation Versus a Holiday Exalting Labor's ChainsReinstein, Boris
History
International May Day and American Labor Day: A Holiday Expressing Working Class Emancipation Versus a Holiday Exalting Labor's Chains
Reinstein, Boris
Labor Day; May Day (Labor holiday); Socialism; Working class -- Political activity
These jurisdiction fights, together with the system of agreements and
contracts concluded by separate craft unions with the employers, without
consideration of the interests of the other unions, and of the welfare
of the labor movement generally,—contracts by means of which the members
of the contracting unions are delivered over to the employers tied hand
and foot and deprived even of the right to strike,—lead in innumerable
cases to acts of betrayal and even of direct scabbing of members of one
union against those of another.
Labor Day and Politics.
If the American Labor Day does not represent real unity and solidarity
of the workers in their immediate field—the economic field—what wonder
that it represents the same disruption and betrayal in the political
field? That Labor Day plays a considerable part in the politics of the
country no person familiar with the question can deny.
It must be remembered that America is a county where most of the
workingmen, and now a rapidly growing number of working women, have a
right to vote, and, as the working class—in America, of all countries—is
the class to which the overwhelming majority of the people belong, no
politician can get his fingers into the public pie, and the capitalist
class cannot secure the control over the powers of government they need
so badly, without employing some means of fooling the working people out
of their votes.
American Labor Day is one of the institutions that is made to serve that
purpose, too. The capitalist politicians have conveniently fixed it for
the early part of September, about two months before Election Day, the
season when the politicians make or prepare to make their nominations of
candidates. The big gatherings of union men, voters, at Labor Day
parades, mass meetings and picnics, supply splendid opportunities for
advertising the candidacy of some capitalist politician claiming to be a
“friend of Labor.” They give the false and treacherous leaders of the
unions a chance, in expectation of good reward, to render these
politicians a good service by securing them as speakers at these
gatherings, and otherwise advertising them. They also give these false
and ambitious union leaders a chance to boost their own stock on the
political market by demonstrating to the politicians what a big crowd of
voters the leader can influence for the one or the other political party
of capitalism. It is in this respect both surprising and amusing how
easily the labor fakers bluff and swindle at this game the politicians,
who are otherwise supposed to be such shrewd men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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