Where Labor Day came from

I know it isn't Labor Day, but do you ever wonder what it is supposed to be about?

I was thinking about holiday's recently and how most of them have lost their meaning. They are usually just days we get off or days we don't. Several are reserved for being patriotic.

Labor Day commemorates the deaths of thirteen union workers at the hands of US military and US marshals during the Pullman Strike of 1894. The town of Pullman was owned by George Pullman who enjoyed complete monopolistic control of the town businesses when he cut wages and enforced a 12-hour work day. The leader of the strike was Eugene V. Debs. Although he was not a socialist at the time, he was arrested following the strike and read the works of Karl Marx in prison. He would soon become America's most famous socialist. Debs' actions were validated by the Supreme Court, and in 1898, the Illinois Supreme Court declared Pullman's "company town" to be "un-American" and he was forced to divest ownership.

Maybe next Labor Day we should all remember why we have the day off and ask what we can do for the those in labor who have fought so hard to give us all basic rights in the workplace.