How are you celebrating commie day tomorrow?

Labor Day is on deck. Stock markets, banks and government offices are closed.

Labor day originated from one of two unions in 1882, it's unclear which. Either the Knights of Labor or an offshoot of that union, what is now the AFL-CIO. Both were unions that tried to cover workers from diverse trades with the Knights of Labor welcoming all except bankers, land speculators, lawyers, liquor dealers and gamblers.

The overwhelming focus of unions at that time was the fight for the 8 hour work day, as seen by the slogan in the pic below.

Labor Day parades and picnics became popular across the country and Oregon (no surprise) became the first state to recognize Labor Day as a holiday in 1887 with more states following.

Conservative president Grover Cleveland (a Dem but things were different back then) pushed for Labor Day becoming a federal holiday to stave off the attempts to get International Workers Day (May 1) federally recognized. IWD was seen as being more associated with radicals and the Haymarket affair on May 4 1886 where a labor demonstration in favor of an 8 hour workday in Chicago turned violent when a bomb was thrown and gunfire erupted between police and demonstrators, and 7 cops and 4 civilians were killed.

So Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894.

Parade in 1887



Parade in 1909



Drawing from a report of a labor demonstration in 1854 in Melbourne Australia