Labo(u)r Day

I unfortunately haven’t been able to tear myself away from installing kitchen cabinets long enough to write a proper Labor Day essay, but it would be remiss of me not to observe the holiday of a movement (and its music!) so emotionally significant to me and my childhood and my intellectual development. So by way of soundtrack, let’s have my favorite song in the IWW’s “Little Red Songbook”:

Once you’ve taught yourself the chorus (it’s dead easy), I’ll leave you in the safe and brilliant hands of Chris Hayes, whose essay “In Search of Solidarity” is a must-read.

Labor Day often seems like just another federal holiday, as silly as Columbus Day or Flag Day. But if there is any holiday whose original purpose is worth contemplating on that day, it’s this one. Remember the thousands of men and women who have stood on picket lines, who have walked out of factories, who have sometimes died in the name of higher wages and better working conditions and fair treatment. To quote Woody Guthrie:

Oh you can’t scare me, I’m sticking to the union
I’m sticking to the union, I’m sticking to the union
Oh you can’t scare me, I’m sticking to the union
I’m sticking to the union till the day I die.