Guest Opinion/Commentary*
Monday, September 5, 2011
‘Why Do We Have Labor Day Instead Of International Workers Day?’
Unions piece by
Guest:
Robert Rohlfing
Today we celebrate Labor Day with festivals and parades, but many have forgotten how Labor Day became a national holiday. It is thought that it is in celebration of the labors of all workers, while others claim it is in celebration of the Unions and the struggle that they contributed to working conditions. Labor Day has a history that many today would not like to examine and that is the correlation between the socialist movement and labor. In the early days of the labor movement in America organizers and labor leaders were sympathetic to the teachings of Socialism and Marxism, today we are seeing this emerge once again with current leaders and the message that they are promoting in the political arena.
In Wisconsin this last winter we seen the coming out party of the allegiance between labor and the Socialist Party. Much of the verbiage and signage that was on display exhibited this allegiance. When you seen all of the red in the crowd and the fist in the air signs, this is exactly attributed back to socialist movements throughout time. While under the guise of working in the benefit of members, labor has pushed a much larger agenda. Once the purpose of the unions were thought of as a bridge between workers and employers, today we have seen this shift to pushing for social issues on the national scale and in many cases abandonment of members that are currently enrolled in their ranks. Today you have the Unions involved in Immigration Issues that work counterintuitive to the American labor force. They use the premise of ‘Social Justice’ to justify the abandonment of securing the advancements in wages and benefits that they themselves stood for over time. Today they have turned a blinds eye to the fact that in the quest to recruit new members they have facilitated the very thing that they railed against with workers that have taken jobs away from Americans by occupying positions once held, but now have been replaced with foreign labor. They have pushed for extensions of unemployment benefits instead of addressing the fact that even with around 14 million Americans currently unemployed, Illegal Immigrants are still filling out employment positions throughout the country in factories and warehouses. They turn the blinds eye to all of the tradesman out of work in this economy, while you see Illegal Immigrants still on jobsites all across the nation. In their quest to bring about ‘Social Justice’ They have abandoned the American worker, but this should not come as a surprise once you look deeper into the ideology behind the Unions.
Labor Day first became a national holiday back in 1894 following the deaths of a number of workers resulting from a labor/union organized event known as the Pullman Strike. Legislation to recognize a national holiday for labor moved through congress at an unheard of pace in today’s standards. It took only six days to pass from introduction to passage at the end of the Pullman Strike in an effort to reduce further conflict. A major player in the Pullman Strike was Eugene V. Debs, who later ran for president on the Socialist Party ticket. One of the campaign themes that he used should sound familiar today, “Workers Of The World Unite”. Andy Stern, a former Union leader and one of the advisers to our current President brought this phrase back to the attention of many who may have never heard it before. We all heard Richard Trumpka use it not only during the conflict in Wisconsin, but also in reference to the so called Arab Spring in a recorded message to the protesters. In doing so he has highlighted a much bigger political movement that the Unions are supporting. If workers rights here in the United States was of primary concern, how is using his influence and the members’ dues to push a ‘Social Justice” agenda around the world a primary focus of wage and benefits issue here at home? How is it securing jobs for American workers and ensuring workers rights here at home?
Originally the date was selected to fall in September because President Grover Cleveland did not want it to be recognized with ‘International Workers’ Day’ that is celebrated on May 1st in over 80 countries and was a commemoration of the Haymarket massacre in Chicago. ‘International Workers Day’ was recognized at the Second International’s congress in 1891 and subsequently May Day riots followed in 1894. Later in 1904, at the International Socialist Conference in Amsterdam the call for all Social Democratic organizations and Trade Unions of all countries to demonstrate on May 1st for a 8 hour work day, and demand recognition of rights for the proletariat. Today in the United States we have seen immigration groups come out on May 1st advocating immigrant rights, workers rights and amnesty for undocumented workers. They were joined by socialist and other leftist organizations in the further push for what many call ‘Social Justice’, once again are the Unions more of a political organization or a group that acts as an intermediate between labor and management?
A common theme of Unions, Democratic Socialist of America, and the Congressional Progressive Caucus is that they are ,"engaged in the improvement of the lives of working families - to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.” But it is never defined what they mean when they say economic or social justice. Does it mean equal justice? Are they willing to use whatever means to bring this “Justice” about as they have in the past? When we hear former leaders and organizers in groups such as the SEIU calling for a shutdown of our leading financial institution, and we hear that some are calling for an “Arab Spring” type movement to occupy Washington D.C. to shut down government one has to wonder are we set to repeat events such as the “Battle of Blair Mountain” where in late August to early September of 1921 nearly 15,000 Coal miners engaged in open battle with None Union workers and police that were in opposition to the Unionization of the mines. In these pitched battles heavy machine guns were used and over a million rounds were fired. It was not until the military was ordered in that it was finally put down, but it is a clear picture of just how far events can get out of control. When you have the “bottom” rise up such as in this case, you will inevitably force the “top” to come crashing down.
Not all members of Unions follow along with the Socialist mantra, nor do many want to recognize the roots of Socialist and Marxist ideology that is deeply imbedded in something they support with all of their heart. Without question many good things have come about due to labor unions and all that they have fought for in the past, what so many of us take for granted today be it that we are union or non union can be attributed to much of what was fought for in the past. To deny that unions have no affiliation to socialism is to deny the true history of the movement. What becomes alarming is with the roots so imbedded in this ideology just how far are they willing to go in the present to bring about change that they believe in that does not always correlate with workers rights but with a more radical agenda? With the many allies to the leadership of union leaders that have had questionable pasts such as the SDS the call for “Days of Rage” in the 1960’s and 1970’s and the emergence of these same calls today what will the near future hold for this nation? Will it be a celebration of all labor both non union and union, or will we in the near future be facing strife that has its roots deeply embedded in Socialist/Marxist Ideology?
With the calls from people like Richard Trumpka and Andy Stern calling for Workers Of the World Unite, will we in the future celebrate International Workers Day instead of Labor Day that is in honor of all workers? Will we allow for the push for so called economic and social justice that has no clear definition, but will be used once again to incite “Useful Idiots” to be used as foot soldiers of a much larger radical agenda? Union members need to ask themselves do they really support a Socialist/Marxist agenda or are they more concerned about the wage and working conditions that they face in their workplace, because today the leadership just as in the past are not fully representing you on this day of commemoration of labor.
Robert Rohlfing
Original: http://thedrumbeatofliberty.com/?p=511
Posted by Guest: Robert Rohlfing on 9/5/11 at 10:05 AM
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