The Real History of Labor Day and the War on American Workers

Today's headlines focus on the loss of decent jobs, stagnating real wages, and Supreme Court split decisions that are bad for working people. We might think this is due to a post-Great Recession economy or to decades of downsizing and offshoring, and the job market will eventually get better. Yet, even many economists say this jobless and wageless "recovery" is likely to represent a new normal. What no one talks about is that a more subtle, but effective, war against workers has been going on for over a century. In the early days of industrialization, striking workers were shot by corporate-sponsored vigilantes or rounded up at gunpoint and deported. Once beaten into submission, workers were easier to control and armed forces were only necessary to break the occasional strike. The "law" took care of the rest. Today, the submission of workers is accomplished more easily because we have been propagandized to see each other as the enemy. No matter who you are--white or black, man or women, native or immigrant--or even who wins the next election--most of us are going to be working harder for less. The War on American Workers tells the REAL history of Labor Day and working Americans that is conveniently left out of our history books.