This article was originally published on Labor Day in 2010. I can't remember what possessed me to write an abbreviated history of the national holiday's origin, other than a few (and highly tenuous) comparisons to BioShock. So go ahead and get learning, and then enjoy a well-deserved day off!
For many gamers, Labor Day is a pleasant excuse to spend a three-day weekend playing video games. Little do they know that the events leading up to the creation of the national holiday contain enough political intrigue to form the backbone of the next BioShock. Join us now for your Labor Day history lesson.
George Pullman Eugene V. Debs
George Pullman: America's Real Life Andrew Ryan
Our story begins with an American industrialist named George Pullman. Pullman owned a company that produced high-end railroad sleeping cars (train cars whose seats could be converted into bunks for sleeping). His sleeping car was called the Pullman Sleeper, and gained widespread popularity in 1865 when he arranged for one to be used to transport the body of Abraham Lincoln from Washington D.C. to Springfield.
In 1880, Pullman used his fortune to create his own town 14 miles south of Chicago, which he promptly named after himself. Pullman, Illinois, wasn't built at the bottom of sea, but the founder's vision of a Utopian city was as unnerving as the principles behind Rapture. George Pullman owned everything within his town's limits, giving him unprecedented control over how it was run. Only Pullman company workers were allowed to live in Pullman's town; their rent was automatically removed from their paychecks, drawn from Pullman's bank. The town's visitors, mainly salesmen looking to do business with Pullman, could stay at the luxurious Hotel Florence – Pullman's primary residence, named after his oldest daughter. The hotel was off limits to Pullman company workers.
Common vices were banned in the town, including alcohol (guests of the Hotel Florence were exempt). Independent newspapers were prohibited, as were town meetings, public speeches, and private charitable organizations. Pullman even had his own team of inspectors, who had the right to enter residents' homes without notice to check for cleanliness. If things weren't up to snuff, the worker's lease could be terminated on the spot, giving them 10 days to vacate the premises. Pullman's chokehold on the lives of his workers led to the following infamous quote of one of the town's residents:
"We are born in a Pullman house, fed from the Pullman shops, taught in the Pullman school, catechized in the Pullman Church, and when we die, we shall go to the Pullman Hell."
A view from Pullman, Illinois
The Death of a Utopian Future
For over a decade Pullman's tightly controlled town thrived. Then came the economic depression that has become known as the Panic of 1893. The railroad industry was hit hardest by the depression (and arguably caused it), including Pullman's company – and when the Pullman company suffered, so too did Pullman, Illinois. In order to survive the economic downturn, Pullman cut his workers' wages and increased their work hours, without adjusting the price of rent or the cost of items in the town's stores. When his employees formed a delegation to address the 12-hour workdays and reduced wages, Pullman refused to meet with them.
Enter Eugene V. Debs, a former Indiana senator, and a leader of the American Railway Union. Many of Pullman's workers were already members of the ARU, which began discussing a nationwide boycott of Pullman cars in response to the unfair work conditions. Debs was initially against the boycott, but after failing to change the ARU's mind, participated in the strike, and became the movement's poster boy. The boycott began on June 26, 1894. By June 30th, 125,000 railway workers were on strike, creating an instant national dilemma. The United States government responded with an injunction against the strike, on the grounds that it was obstructing the US Mail, which was being carried by Pullman cars. Debs and the rest of the workers ignored it.
The ARU strikes in support of Pullman's workers
Federal Strikebreakers and a Shattered Legacy
In early July, President Grover Cleveland ordered 12,000 US Army troops and US Marshals to break up the strike, which was being run out of Chicago and had peaked at more than 250,000 workers participating across the nation. The strike ended just a few days after troops arrived in Chicago, but not before 13 strikers were killed, and 57 more were wounded during the conflict. In the end, Debs was sent to prison for six months for disobeying the federal injunction, the American Railway Union was disbanded, and Pullman's workers had to pledge they would never unionize again.
But Pullman's legacy did not escape the strike unscathed. Pullman was strongly criticized for the handling of his workers, and his company town was condemned by critics like Richard T. Ely as being patently un-American. Four years after the strike, the Supreme Court of Illinois required the Pullman company to sell the town, and it became a neighborhood in Chicago. George Pullman was still so unpopular with laborers that when he died in 1897, he was buried in a lead-lined coffin under several tons of concrete and steel rails to prevent the desecration of his corpse. This caused journalist Ambrose Bierce to quip: "It is clear the [Pullman] family in their bereavement was making sure the sonofab*tch wasn't going to get up and come back."
A National Holiday is Born
George Pullman's reputation wasn't the only one tarnished by the 1894 strike. President Cleveland was falling under harsh scrutiny in the wake of the strikers' deaths, and questions were being raised as to whether he had the constitutional authority to order federal troops to break the strike in the first place. In an effort to appease the upset labor unions, congress quickly proposed and passed legislation to make Labor Day a national holiday, and it was signed into law by President Cleveland just six days after the strike ended.
President Cleveland ultimately lost his bid for reelection to Benjamin Harrison, but the new national holiday was happily embraced not only by laborers, but all of America's citizens. While elaborate street parades and fireworks displays may have faded over the 100+ years since its creation, Labor Day is still largely appreciated as a day for barbecuing, hanging out with friends, or even playing games in your living room. However you plan to spend Labor Day, enjoy the extra time off with the knowledge that you now know the full story behind the national holiday.
Information from this article can be found at: PBS NewsHour's Origins of Labor Day, the Pullman State Historical Site, and Richard T. Ely's "Pullman: A Social Study." Additional information was taken from Wikipedia.
from www.GameInformer.com - The Feed http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2017/09/04/your-labor-day-history-lesson.aspx
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