As one of my friends said this morning on Facebook. I doubt if many Americans think of it that way. But last night my little sister said, “what is Labor Day about?” And I had to try to remember what I read about it last year, but couldn’t. I thought it had something to do with Marxism, but promised to do research on it and let her know the details.
There were several reasons why I speculated that Labor Day was motivated by Marxism. 1) We must never forget the enormous emphasis that Marxism puts on labor. The labor theory of value, etc…so when I think of a holiday celebrating the “working man” or the labor class, I think immediately of Marxism. 2) Related to the first point, I suspect that originally, this was a holiday that encouraged and was built on class conflict. The labor class vs. the rich capitalists. It is a classic Marxist set-up.
It seems that in most of the world, Labor Day is held on May 1st. Back in the 1800’s, the Socialists and Communists used May 1st as “Labor Day”…the day to celebrate the working class. And so here in America, to avoid being associated with the Socialists, the government decided that Labor Day would be in late summer/early fall instead of May 1st.
If I had more time, I’d do more research. But I’m so busy laboring that I don’t have time. So you’ll have to look up Labor Day on your own. Suffice to say, it is not what it appears, as few things are.
