Input | Output |
---|---|
Link | YouTube |
Published | 2019/08/30 |
Theme | |
Status | article incomplete |
Beau says:
Labor Day carries dual meanings of celebrating labor and suppressing labor movements, rooted in historical events like the Haymarket riot and violent strike suppression.
History enthusiasts
The full transcript provides a detailed historical context and insight into the origins and complex nature of Labor Day celebrations.
Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Beau again.
So today we're gonna talk about Labor Day.
What is it, other than the official end of hot dog season?
Really, that's a thing, and Labor Day is really the end of it.
To Europeans and pretty much everybody else in the world, it's May Day.
This is when we celebrate May Day.
To Americans, it's the day we don't wear white after.
There's three theories about that rule.
One is that the upper class, well, the old money
didn't like the new money, so they came up
with crazy fashion rules so they could
spot the new money coming.
This was one of them.
The other is that it bookends the seasons.
So you don't need summery white clothing after Labor Day.
The third is that fashion magazines kind of came up
with the rule because this is when they start running
ads for fall clothing.
What is it really?
How did it really start?
depends on whether or not you believe in the book of Peter or Matthew Maguire. Two guys,
both proposed the same thing around the same time. Both were union guys. And it was a celebration
of labor, of union activity, of blue collar workers, of socialist ideals. The first Labor
day was September 5th, 1852 in New York, and it was a parade put on by the Central Labor
Union.
And it carried on like that for a number of years.
And then in the 1880s, well, organized labor started getting really organized.
That's when you had the Haymarket riot, and that's kind of where May Day comes from.
And in 1894, the Pullman Sleeping Car Company, well, they laid a bunch of people off.
And those people that got to keep their jobs, well, their wages were cut by up to a third.
But they didn't lower the rent or the prices in the company town.
This caused a strike.
Grover Cleveland was president.
He liked to be seen as a friend to labor.
So he signed legislation enacting Labor Day just before he sent federal troops to this
strike to crush it, where they wound up opening fire on the strike and killing 30 about, wounding
a whole bunch of others.
We have Labor Day because it was supposed to be a cover.
People were supposed to be talking about this rather than him crushing the strike.
He didn't know the outcome of the strike and how it was going to be put down quite as violently
as it was.
That's where Labor Day comes from.
You guys be careful this weekend.
It is one of the most dangerous weekends in the year.
I think second only to Memorial Day.
So be careful.
Enjoy your hot dogs.
And remember, this is a day to celebrate lefty ideas.
Really.
Anyway, it's just a thought.
Y'all have a good day.
Okay.
{{Shirt}}
{{EasterEgg}}