The Catholic - Labor Network

 Documents & Articles which concern Catholic and Labor Issues

 The Catholic-Labor Network E-Mail List 

Some Catholic and Labor Links

Reflections After Labor Day

By Msgr. George G. Higgins

September 4, 1998

    Free societies and free trade unions go together, as history has demonstrated during the violent century now coming to a close -- one which has shown that dictatorships on both the left and the right undermined freedom and democracy by first destroying independent and freely elected unions.
    I want to reflect in this column on the origins of the American Labor Day, which we've just observed, and its meaning at the end of the 20th century.
    It is difficult to determine from the printed historical record precisely why Peter J. McGuire, founder of the Carpenters' Union and originator of the American Labor Day in 1882, selected the first Monday of September instead of the first of May for its observance. There is reason to believe, however, that he and his colleagues wanted to disassociate the American labor movement from the negative connotations of the traditional European Labor Day, which was then the Marxists' property and pride.
    McGuire himself was a socialist of sorts, at least during his trade union career's early stages. He was not, however, a Marxist revolutionary, nor was he anti-religious, despite his unfortunate break as a young man with the Catholic Church in which he was baptized as an infant.
    McGuire and his associates conceived of Labor Day in the United States largely in idealistic or spiritual terms. They intended it to symbolize and promote the dignity of human labor and the brotherhood of man.
    In 1897, on the holiday's 15th anniversary, McGuire wrote that it is "dedicated to peace, civilization and the triumphs of industry. It is a demonstration of fraternity and a harbinger of a better age -- a more chivalrous time when labor shall be honored and rewarded."
    A year later Samuel Gompers, an intimate friend and associate of McGuire's and the first president of the American Federation of Labor, developed the same theme. Labor Day in the United States marks a new epoch in the annals of human history; it is founded upon the highest principles of humanity and is as broad in its scope as the universe, he said.
    It is clear, then, that while McGuire, Gompers and their colleagues in the American labor movement at the turn of the century were dedicated to a defense of labor's dignity and rights, they were not unmindful of the rights of other groups in society, nor were they opposed to the nation's form of government. It was, of course, their earnest hope and confident expectation that Labor Day would dramatize the importance and necessity of strong, effective labor organizations.
    A generation ago there was reason to share their optimism, but unfortunately the labor movement since then has been on the decline, at least in terms of numbers. Many labor-management experts believe that the movement is in a state of serious crisis. A few of these experts even have suggested that the crisis may be terminal.In my opinion, they are dead wrong about that.
    The labor movement is on the move again. It faces many obstacles, but the leadership is moving at a fast pace to overcome them.
    A former U.S. secretary of labor wrote some years ago that we should be concerned about the weakening of our labor organizations because we are not likely to have a free and democratic society without a free and democratic labor movement.
    Trying to have economic democracy without unions, he said, is like trying to have political democracy without political parties. Unions, of course, have their faults and imperfections. So do political parties. But both are essential to a free democratic society.