Labor Day. The history is a little more interesting than just picnics and hot dogs.
To appreciate it, some background is necessary.
At the time the United States was founded, most people were self-employed, working as either farmers or in trades, such as:
- baker,
- butcher,
- carpenter,
- cabinetmaker,
- upholsterer,
- tailor,
- milliner - clothes merchant,
- cobbler - shoe maker,
- chandler - candle maker,
- cooper - barrel maker,
- wheelwright - wheel craftsman.
- blacksmith,
- gunsmith,
- printer, and
- apothecary.
Then, the Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century.
Where Ireland burned peat from bogs, Britain burned coal from mines.
The problem was that mines kept filling up with water.
Scottish inventor James Watt came up with an invention to pump water out of mines -- a steam pump.
Workers moved from farms to factories. The products they manufactured were imported into America.
During the colonial era, Britain prevented factories from being built in America.
After the Revolution, Samuel Slater built the first factory in America in 1790, a cotton spinning mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
The first union in America was a shoe makers union in Philadelphia in 1794.
President Washington signed a bill putting a tariff tax on European-manufactured products making them more expensive in order to encourage people to purchase American-manufactured products.
Tariffs were the main source of income for the Federal government, as there was no income tax till Lincoln's temporary one during the Civil War.
Tariff taxes that helped the Northern states hurt the Southern states, as the South was agricultural with few factories.
This fueled animosity between the North and South prior to the Civil War.
Factories produced items like clothes, glass, dishes, and farm tools for a fraction of the previous costs.
Women were freed up from tedious daily tasks, such as hand-weaving thread, hand-sewing cloth, and hand-washing clothes.
Instead of carrying water from a well, pumps and pipes brought water directly into homes.
New ways of making stronger iron and steel helped build bridges, skyscrapers, steamboats, and mining machinery.
Railroads began taking people safely and inexpensively across the entire nation, opening up unprecedented mobility and opportunity.
Factories and railroads hired workers from the millions of immigrants, who, while working, learned the language and trade skills.
President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in 1886 to welcome immigrants, who were mostly English, Irish, Scandinavian, Italians, Greeks, Poles, Russian, Jews, and Germans.
Most immigrants were hard workers, as noted by German sociologist Max Weber in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1904-1905.
Weber documented how modern capitalism evolved out of the Protestant Calvinism in Northern Europe, which emphasized self-discipline, hard work, frugality, thrift, and avoidance of all forms of indulgence for religious reasons.
In 1867, Horatio Alger began publishing a best-selling novels, such as:
- "Ragged Dick";
- "Strong and Steady, Or, Paddle Your Own Canoe"; and
- "Shifting for Himself: Or Gilbert Greyson's Fortune."
These were stories were about immigrants, impoverished orphans, or homeless street boys, who sold newspapers, polished shoes or sold apples, demonstrating the Protestant work ethic, and rose from humble beginnings to achieving success.
In 1894, Orison Swett Marden wrote "Pushing to the Front", and in 1897, he founded SUCCESS magazine, publishing inspirational stories of success in life through common-sense principles and well-rounded virtues.
Immigrants were not a financial burden on the government, as there were no government welfare programs.
Some German immigrants brought with them Karl Marx's ideas of "critical theory," which divided citizens into groups, pit them against each other in a "class-struggle," to forcibly redistribute wealth.
These ideas only found limited acceptance in America, as wealth could be achieved in one lifetime if one was innovative and worked hard. This era was referred to as The Gilded Age.
The situation was different in Europe, where wealthy elites owned most of the property, passing it from generation to generation for centuries, leaving little for commoners.
Socialist ideas created labor tensions, with some workers even embracing the anarchist goal of tearing down the capitalist system, naively hoping a utopian socialist economy would take its place.
Factory working conditions were often unsafe, as noted in Charles Dicken's Hard Times, 1854, and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, 1905.
Though immigrants were not forced to work in factories, many joined in organizing unions push for better working conditions, an 8-hour work day, and income taxes on the rich.
Union organizing flyers were printed in English and German languages.
Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical reaper, built a factory in Chicago. A Presbyterian, McCormick felt his reaper would help to fulfill a religious mission to feed the world.
In 1869, McCormick donated $10,000 to Dwight L. Moody to build the Chicago Y.M.C.A.
German immigrants holding socialist ideas organized a protest on May 4, 1886, near the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company plant in Chicago.
The "peaceful" protest turned into the Haymarket Riot. A protestor threw a dynamite bomb at the police.
Then came a railroad strike.
George Pullman founded the Pullman Railroad Sleeping Car Company.
Pullman saw that workers needed a place to live, so he built them houses in a safe little village around the factory, with rent deducted from paychecks.
Workers were paid company "scrip," similar to food stamps, which were redeemable at the company-owned grocery stores.
It was considered a utopian workers' paradise community, in the vein of Sir Thomas More's Island of Utopia, published in 1516; and Sir Francis Bacon's New Atlantis, published in 1626.
To keep the company afloat, George Pullman had to make cuts in wages and lay off hundreds of employees, though, for the time being, rents and groceries stayed the same price.
A high school drop out named Eugene Debs got a job cleaning grease from freight engines.
He briefly served as a Terre Haute city clerk and one-term Indiana state representative.
Then rioters pillaged and burned railroad cars, destroying an estimated $80 million worth of property in 27 states.
More violence erupted, and two were killed.
After the riots, Americans blamed the Democrat Administration.
"We are on the eve of very dark night, unless a return of commercial prosperity relieves popular discontent with what they believe is Democratic incompetence to make laws, and consequently with Democratic Administrations anywhere and everywhere."
Patriotic Americans celebrated May 1st as "Loyalty Day," officially recognized by Congress, April 27, 1955, and proclaimed an annual holiday by President Eisenhower with Public Law 85-529.
It did not help the Democrat Party as it had the biggest mid-term loss in decades.
What happened to Eugene Debs?
He was arrested, because the railroad strike obstructed delivery of U.S. mail, and he was put in prison for six months.
- corporate income tax, 1894;
- personal income tax, 1914; and
- inheritance estate tax, 1916.
Debs and socialist rioters were defended by the attorney Clarence Darrow.
Darrow later defended evolution in the Scope's Monkey Trial.
After six months in prison, Eugene Debs was released.
He then founded:
- the Social Democracy of America, 1897;
- the Social Democratic Party of America, 1898; and
- the Socialist Party of America, 1901.
Debs ran five time for U.S. President as a socialist, 1900 till 1920. He won zero electoral votes, so he wanted to get rid of America's electoral process.
When World War One started, Debs urged resistance to the draft.
One draft-dodger was Roger Baldwin, who later founded the A.C.L.U. to help defend those who were accused of being socialist agitators.
"I am for socialism ... I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the propertied class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal."
Eugene Deb's reputation spread around the world to Russia, where he influenced socialist leader Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin organized the Bolshevik Revolution overthrowing Tsar Nicholas II and killing an estimated 12 million.
Lenin cited Debs in "An Open Letter to Boris Souvarine," published January 27, 1918, in La Vente, No. 48:
"Look at America—apart from everything else a neutral country. Haven’t we the beginnings of a split there, too: Eugene Debs, the 'American Rebel', declares in the socialist press that he recognizes only one type of war, civil war for the victory of socialism, and that he would sooner be shot than vote a single cent for American war expenditure "
(Eugene Deb's Appeal to Reason, "When I Shall Fight," No. 1032, September 11, 1915).
Lenin wrote "On the Appeal of the German Independents," February 1919, (Lenin Miscellany XXIV, 1933; Lenin Collected Works, 1971, Moscow.)
"I quoted the statement of the 'American Rebel,' Eugene Debs, to the effect that he would rather be shot than agree to vote for imperialist war loans, and that he would agree to fight only in a war of the workers against the capitalists."
Debs gave an anti-government speech in Canton, Ohio, June 16, 1918, resulting in his arrest.
He was charged with ten counts of sedition and sentenced to ten years in prison.
A May Day parade was organized in Cleveland, Ohio, to support Debs, led by union members, socialists, and anarchists.
Debs' attorney asked for a Presidential pardon, but Woodrow Wilson wrote "denied" across the paperwork, stating that during World War I:
"... while the flower of American youth was pouring out its blood to vindicate the cause of civilization, this man, Debs, stood behind the lines sniping, attacking, and denouncing them ...
This man was a traitor to his country and he will never be pardoned during my administration."
The next President, Warren G. Harding, also did not pardon Debs, and the White House released the statement:
"There is no question of his guilt ... He is ... a dangerous man calculated to mislead the unthinking and affording excuse for those with criminal intent."
Theodore Roosevelt had criticized Debs for fomenting "bloodshed, anarchy, and riot," calling him one of the nation’s most “undesirable citizens.”
After the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin decided to take his revolution global, forming the Communist International in 1919.
Members of Debs' Socialist Party of America followed suit and formed the Communist Party USA on September 1, 1919.
That is when they decided to support Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his New Deal welfare programs during the Great Depression and for his treaty with the Soviet leader Josef Stalin during World War Two.
Reagan commented on communist infiltration of the Democrat Party:
"I didn't leave the Democratic Party; the Democratic Party left me."
"Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States."
Former Democrat U.S. Senator Zell Miller stated in an interview for his book Deficit of Decency, 2005:
"Unfortunately, the national Democratic Party has lost its way ... and they've been taken over by the very liberal, left-wing leaning special interest groups that you have in Washington."
In Chicago, a statue was erected to honor the police officers killed in the 1886 Haymarket Riot.
That statue was blown up on October 6, 1969, by the anarchist "Weatherman Underground" during their Days of Rage.
Weatherman Underground member Bill Ayers later helped launch the political career of a young Illinois State Senator Barack Obama.
Bill Ayers stated:
"I am a radical, leftist, small 'c' communist ... Maybe I’m the last communist who is willing to admit it ... The ethics of communism still appeal to me. I don’t like Lenin as much as the early Marx."
"Myself and Alicia in particular are trained organizers ... We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories."
In America, laborers work hard for wages with which they can buy things, trucks, houses, cars, boats, guns, and other personal possessions.
They also can give away some of their possessions to those in need in charity.
In socialist countries, laborers work hard, but own no possessions.
Marx and Engles wrote in the Communist Manifesto, 1848:
"The theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property."
In 1971, John Lennon and his second wife, Yoko Ono, co-wrote the song "Imagine," with socialist-themed lyrics:
"Imagine there's no heavenIt's easy if you try ...
Imagine there's no countries ...And no religion, too
Imagine no possessions ..."
"You will own nothing but be happy."
Marx described socialism as a transition phase from capitalism to communism, in The Critique of the Gotha Programme, Part IV:
"Between capitalist and communist society there lies the period of the revolutionary transformation."
Lenin stated:
"The goal of socialism is communism."
Author Ayn Rand wrote:
"There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force; socialism – by vote.
It is merely the difference between murder and suicide."
“Capitalism” is where individuals have their own money, or capital, and can invest it in a business to provide goods or services - the production side.
The term "socialism" was coined by French political philosopher Henry de Saint-Simon, 1760–1825, to mean the opposite of the "individual."
Use of the term socialism was popularized by mid-to-late 1800s European theorists, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky, and Antonio Gramsci.
John F. Kennedy stated in his Inaugural Address, 1961:
"The Rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God."
Harry S. Truman stated in his Inaugural Address, 1949:
"We believe that all men are created equal, because they are created in the image of God."
“Socialism is precisely the religion that must overwhelm Christianity."
James W. Wardner summarized Gramsci's views in Unholy Alliances, 1996:
"In the new order, socialism will triumph by first capturing the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media by transforming the consciousness of society.”
The most opportune time to transition from "individual" to "group" is in crises.
Marx and Friedrich Engels explained (Marx and Engels Collected Works, Volume 10, page 318):
"Conspirators by no means confine themselves to organizing the revolutionary proletariat - working class. Their business consists in ... spurring it in to artificial crises ...
For them the only condition required for the revolution is a sufficient organization of their own conspiracy. They are the alchemists of the revolution."
It should be acknowledged that Unions did help to bring about:
- an end of child labor
- an 8-hour work day,
- a 40-hour work week,
- minimum wages,
-
safer working conditions, and
- more benefits for workers.
These benefits, as good as they are, came with a cost.
Companies began to look for ways to cut expenses and limit the power of unions.
Henry Ford's Motor Company was one of the first companies required to implement union benefits.
Ford was said to have met a Yemeni sailor at port.
Witnessing his hard work, Ford told him if he showed up at his auto factory he would give him a job that paid five dollars a day.
The sailor spread the word, leading to chain migration from Yemen and other Middle Eastern countries to Detroit.
"The origin story of how the Yemeni community in Michigan is an interesting one.
Way back in the early 1900s, Henry Ford started recruiting Yemeni workers to work at Ford’s factories.
After a few years, Ford sent for more workers and the Yemeni American community began to grow.
People who gained citizenship during their time working for Ford brought family over and started lives in Michigan while remaining close to their family back in Yemen."
Unions were anti-immigrant, as cheaper immigrant labor undercut union wages.
Another unanticipated consequence of the cost of workers' benefits was automation and out-sourcing as ways companies could stay competitive in the global marketplace.
After World War Two, America helped rebuild Germany and Japan with new factories.
They hired lobbyists to push for U.S. politicians to lower tariffs so they could bring their less expensive products in, gaining a competitive advantage over American factories.
Higher costs of doing business in the U.S. included:
- Higher wages;
- Increased taxes;
- Expensive lawsuits;
- Burdensome regulations;
- Environmental restrictions;
- Crony capitalism, globalist capitalism, vulture capitalism, and big tech monopolies, where career politicians provide subsidies, contracts, and relax regulations for companies supporting their political agendas and reelection campaigns; but deny those benefits and even weaponizing government against companies not supporting them.
As American-made products became more expensive in comparison to foreign-made products, consumers bought fewer of them, resulting in American factories needing fewer workers.
"Squeeze the sponge and the water goes out" - as manufacturing costs in America rose, manufacturers moved with their jobs to other countries.
Many companies were sadly put in the position of going out of country or going out of business.
President Donald J. Trump's tariffs are an attempt to bring factories and jobs back to America, making it more profitable for factories to be located here than there.
Globalists are happy to work with socialist and communist governments as a means secure monopolies and guarantee profits.
"individual" capitalism being patriotic, supporting the country that gives equal opportunities for advancement;
and
"globalist" capitalism which squelches competition by supporting one world government socialist politicians who return the favor with profitable government contracts, exception of regulations, and insider trade deals.
As unions grew, another situation developed. Union leadership often held values different than rank-and-file workers.
Many workers supported the Second Amendment, traditional marriage, biological male and female definitions of sex, and protection of the unborn, yet union leadership often funneled union dues to support candidates who voted for opposing views.
Ironically, socialist strategy includes raising unemployment rates so unemployed workers will sign up for welfare benefits.
"Every fresh slump must ruin more small capitalists and increase the workers who live only by their labor.
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushschev reportedly told Ezra Taft Benson, Eisenhower's Secretary of Agriculture, in 1959:
"We won't have to fight you; We'll so weaken your economy, until you fall like overripe fruit into our hands."
Instead of attracting manufacturers back to America, many unions have focused on increasing membership by recruiting from other occupations, such as government, education, medical professionals, sports, service industry, and retail.
Warning American workers of the hidden danger of the "social justice" movement, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who had spent 11 years in labor camps in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, stated, June 30, 1975:
"I ... call upon America to be more careful with its trust ...
Prevent those ... who are attempting to establish even finer ... legal shades of equality -- because of their ... falsely using the struggle for peace and for social justice to lead you down a false road ...
They are trying to weaken you; they are trying to disarm your strong and magnificent country in the face of this fearful threat ...
I call upon you: ordinary working men of America ... do not let yourselves become weak."
America’s entrepreneurial spirit was articulated by Booker T. Washington, who founded the National Negro Business League in 1900.
He stated:
"Anyone can seek a job, but it requires a person of rare ability to create a job ... What we should do in our schools is to turn out fewer job seekers and more job creators."
Reagan stated in 1988:
"I believe we really can say that God did give mankind virtually unlimited gifts to invent, produce, and create.
And for that reason alone, it would be wrong for governments to devise a tax structure or economic system that suppresses and denies those gifts."
A spiritual insight is found in First Corinthians 15:58:
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
--
American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate.
Exceptional Article!
An eye opener – if we do not stand up, speak up, vote & fight for right, and denounce what is un-Godly, who ordained USAmerica! Our young are in serious jeopardy from brainwashing, false USA history that is being taught in schools! God help us seek Your will & answer to Your guidance! May God forgive us and put God back into govt & schools & churches & hearts!
Bill, my friend, you’ve nailed it again. You are without a doubt the best historian in the world today. AND even better you’re not politically correct, but support God through it all.I’ll see you next month in Ozark.
God Bless
Derral
Dear Mr. Federer,
THANK YOU for this thorough, eye-opening compilation of facts which I have never known prior to reading this article. Every detail builds on the previous facts stated to provide a clear overview of what has been exactly going on, both in America and in the world, in all my seventy years of life, and long before I was born. It presents a clear understanding of what manner of people we ought to be in this day, both spiritually and as true Americans. This country is a magnificent work from GOD, our Creator. We must continue to stand strong and defend her always! Thank You again.
BLESSINGS!
B. Diehl
Wow! This is fantastic. As a Christian and patriot I align strongly with capitalism. We have a very low production rate in the U.S. b/c of the ungodly ideology of communism which leads men to operate out of fear which leads to greed. We reallly needed this teaching while I was in business school. Thank you, Mr. Federer.