The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1899-09-02
HISTORY OF LABOR DAY.
Why Annual Holiday Is Given to the Working
Slaves .*:
BY EDWARD KRIz.

I The Feudal lord, knowing the cause OF
| their easy conquest of the enervated Ro-
! man empire, for a long period held their
| own class in preparation for war. The
mobility were trained only to one occu-
pation-and that was war,H*and lead their
trained retainers to war in person. So nu-
merous were the serfs that even with their
warlike training the nobility must have
had its fears of revolt. So the same old
game, as the aristocrats Of Rome found so
successful in holding the slave in submits
4, sion, was resorted to. The clergy. preach
| ed submission here, for a reward in the
hereafter, and every device. which could
! prevail upon the ignorant kserf was re-
! sorted to. Here, again. we find the period
of liberty. This time for only two days
and in some cases only one day in each
year, was given to the serfs when they
might consider themselves free. They,
like the slaves of Rome, were their own
masters for that period, It was the same
! carnival but under a different name. The
| annual holiday, so to speak, was now
called the "Saturmalia or F,ashings." At
last new class appeared, springing from
the serf class, and grew in to trading
class called the Burger class. AS this class
grew lin wealth and power so as to at
tract the attention of the nobility, a des-
Z perate struggle arose on the part of the
nobility to suppress the rising burger class
| and on the part of the burger class to
overcome the power of the nobility. This
struggle soon assumed 9 the nature Of a
class struggle, carried on by the mighty
! tide Of social evolution, which at last in the
closing years of the Eighteenth century,
illuminated in the revolution. The thea
tire of action being FrSSnce, where, after
the mighty upheaval ofages Of oppression,
sweeping in one blow Pom its lofty pedes-
! tai Of power the |. nobility, the burger ,,r
class became the ruling class. with Its
mighty weapon. the army Of France, COM
posbd Of hbtorars welded. by the genius
Of Bonaparte, beat to death, throughout
the whole Of Europe, the Feudal nobility
as a ruling class, and enthroned In pomp
and power the now Il iu1npilan Mt buyer class
from which has deye,oned our present ruiz
ing class. the capitalist class. s
WIN these records Of .hiss orv before US.
we NAV: be able to read the signs Of our
own times and know thereby that history
il again repeat ting Itself. Our capitalist
class, now absoluteSin power. and holding
that power only SO long as IT. can dupe
the laboring class into giving its consent
view with alarm the tendency on the part
Of the iaboring class TO antagonize it's
forces into trade unions and political par
ties. They seek to stem the rising tide. of
social evolution by fraud and deceit.
Throwing Its bone to hungry Ia Dor no stifle2
enacted into law an annual holiday for
wage slaves. A day set apart for labor.
This f3avs az all others iss u1ononoNzed byt
laclxies and demdgneiles III capitalism 10
I'M the laborer full aof wind and elo-3
quence;4 pat them ion the back and tell
them how great they 4 are i ven while,
dispising them as slaves s
sss yet. only for q siiof ia the
walls OF ignorance and ipersti ton wilt
cr,nnble into dust, the labor 81 viii see
Alright and recognize tfictr mi ssfon Ro-
man Aristocrat Carnival We ropeaIs i. Fe1l-
DIAL Saturnalia OF F,aslltngss Modern Y nj
ted States and It's Ca pftal1st &: l4abor DayT-l
by such flimsy tricks the afoomed capital
list class may stem the tide Of social eyo7s
luton, but no $:toWer eHIsed man can
stay for TALL time its onward course. AS,
the history of the past ssl1oW that Seach:
step in the course Of social evolution ]; IS
made by an oppressed class overt wing IN
power; as the oppressed barba rians OF
- ~ az 3. w..
enre y tne 2
anu % tl ne 'N,
themselves N ,poWtar as = u.1si aiu
hopli.y, anu .ne
When the slsss iil's -
ro st - = os
4; : !: +; !: !; ;; e;