Two Labor Days by William Droel

The original Labor Day parade was held in 1882 in New York City. It was sponsored by the Knights of Labor. Its organizers were two Catholics. Though not related, they share the same last name. Matthew McGuire (1855–1917) was a machinist from New Jersey; Peter McGuire (1852–1906), working in Chicago at the time, was a carpenter. In 1894 Labor Day became a national holiday and was set on the first Monday of September.

St. Joseph, also a carpenter, is associated with Labor Day in a roundabout fashion. The saga begins in my home city of Chicago, where on May 1, 1886, a federation of labor unions began a campaign for an eight-hour workday. A subsequent rally in our now trendy Haymarket area turned violent when someone threw a stick of dynamite. Police then fired wildly into the crowd. Four workers and seven police died. Seven workers were rounded up and sentenced, four of whom were hanged in November 1886.

In July 1889, communist leaders in several European countries designated May 1 as Labor Day to honor the Chicago Haymarket workers. In 1956, to offset the communist influence on Europe’s Labor Day, Pope Pius XII (1876–1958) established May 1 as the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Some US bishops immediately asked to observe the new feast on the first Monday of September in our country only. Permission was granted. Nonetheless, instead of the September date, the May 1 date for St. Joseph took hold in the US.

Ed Marciniak (1917–2004), a Chicago labor activist, saw in the two dates a significant difference in worldviews. People in the US “have never developed a strong class consciousness,” as did those in communist-influenced Europe, he wrote. Working families in Europe drifted away from Catholicism because church officials there and in Latin America got too much “in league with the wealthy against the poor.” By contrast, Marciniak observed, US Catholicism “has never had . . . a hostile working class.” (Since 1968, many Catholics in our country have left the church behind. They walked away out of indifference or, lately, in disgust, but not out of economic or political hostility.) 

An economic system predicated on “class struggle . . . will be inadequate and distorted,” Marciniak concludes. So maybe having two dates in our country (May 1 and first Monday in September) contains a hidden blessing. ♦

William Droel is the editor of Initiatives, a printed newsletter on faith and work (sign up for a free subscription here). His book Public Friendship can be obtained from National Center for the Laity (PO Box 291102, Chicago, IL 60629; $5). Ed Marcinaik’s City and Church, referenced in this article, is also available from NCL ($20).

Image: Juri Gianfrancesco / Unsplash