Some years ago I was part of a lobby group to change the feast of St.
Joseph the Worker from May 1st to the first Monday in September. The
change would apply only to dioceses in the United States; the country that has
Labor Day in September. The proposal got a respectable hearing from some
bishops but the liturgy police (smile) at the bishops’ conference said no.
In 1889 communist
and other pro-worker groups in Europe designated May 1st as International
Workers’ Day. It is today celebrated as such by many people in Europe, Canada,
Australia and elsewhere. To counter the communists, the Vatican designated May
1st as St. Joseph the Worker Day. Ironically, the May 1st
designation is not directly related to a communist event from Europe. It
commemorates an event in the U.S., specifically here in Chicago. The issue was
an eight-hour workday.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) was interested in an eight hour
day. When he wrote about it in 1867 he referred to the situation in the U.S. A
stateside group, National Labor Union, championed the cause. Move ahead to
1886. The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions obtained a City of
Chicago permit dated May 1st for a rally in support of the
enforcement of eight-hour-per-day laws. This event, writes William Adelman in Haymarket Revisited (Illinois Historical
Society, 1986), has uniquely “influenced the history of labor in the U.S. and
even the world.” What happened?
Late in the evening of the rally someone threw dynamite.
Police fired their guns wildly. Soon seven officers and four workers were dead.
Eight labor activists were rounded up and arrested. Those apprehended included
a lay minister, a printer and others. Within about three months seven of the
activists were found guilty. One was sentenced to 15 years; two others got life
sentences; one was killed in jail. The remaining four were hanged in November.
The issue didn’t totally disappear. Beginning in the
last months of the 19th century various unions were able to include
an eight-hour provision in contracts: the United Mine Workers, a Building
Trades Council in California, the Typographical Union and more. Only in 1937
with the Fair Labor Standards Act did the restriction on working hours become a
national standard. Even then, however, its application was only gradually
extended to various sectors.
In recent times the Illinois Labor History Society (www.illinoislaborhistory.org)
has refurbished the graves of the Haymarket workers who are buried in Forest
Home Cemetery, located in Forest Park, Ill. The Society has several resources related to
the Haymarket event and to the meaning of May 1st.
Haymarket Square
itself, located just west of Chicago’s Loop, is today home to several trendy
restaurants and relatively new condos. Tourists who go there would have to know
some history to understand Adelman’s contention that an event occurred there
that “influenced the history of labor in the U.S. and even the world.”
Parishes in the U.S. routinely include symbols and
prayers about the dignity of work during the Labor Day weekend. It would be an
enhancement, in my opinion, to also have a feast day that weekend honoring that
long ago tradesman, St. Joseph.
“O God, Creator of all things… by the example of St.
Joseph and under his patronage may we complete the works you set us to do and
attain the rewards you promise.” – Collect from Mass of May 1st
Droel edits INITIATIVES (PO Box 291102, Chicago,
IL 60629), a news
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