Labor Day

While normal fifteen-year-old boys were discovering fifteen-year-old girls, I was on the frontline saving the world. It was 1948. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger albums played in my head and Paul Robeson’s bass baritone voice shivered me to the core. We had the best songs and I had Truth in my back pocket.

I was given a stack of leaflets promoting Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party. Among those papers was the argument for repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act which was designed to break the unions. The bill had passed over Truman’s veto. It prohibited the closed shop, jurisdictional disputes and mass picketing which ultimately led to the severe decline in membership in the C.I.O. and A.F. L.      

I covered several five-story apartment buildings, slipping my election material under doors running from floor to floor, while eluding the superintendent. I was a foot soldier, and we lost the war.

At that time unions represented over one-third of American workers. Today, that figure is less than eleven percent. This, in spite of 10,000 Starbucks and 2,500 Amazon workers recently signed up which may signal a new awakening.

Like most holidays, Labor Day has lost much of its historical roots. It is celebrated as just another three-day weekend replete with mattress sales and backyard barbeques.

The struggle for a decent wage and healthy working conditions needs to be restored to the forefront of our national heritage. Both noble and ignoble acts ranging from Lincoln’s son who helped break the Pullman strike in 1894, to the sit-down strikes during the Depression, to the sanitation worker's strike in Memphis in 1968 in which M.L King gave his life. Those who labor give their lives for a certain dignity, for a recognition of their humanity.

On the other hand, the working class is not free of racism or misogyny. Sadly, there is a long history of denying Blacks membership in unions. Could it be while folksingers sang their praises during the Depression, some may have been Klansmen or part of lynch mobs? Today, right-wing populism consists largely of White workers, gullible and misdirected and incited by fear and loathing.

Our Capitalist system rewards greed which translates to cheap labor. To this end sowing bigotry and discord among the workers serves the bottom line. The great achievement of corporate America has been getting the exploited to vote for their exploiters.

Unionism is still largely a progressive force. But I have come to realize the trap of extolling the rank and file and painting them with such a broad brush. Absolutes belong to fifteen-year-olds.