发布时间:2006-11-12 12:14:47ter by trade, McGuire had worked since the age of eleven, and in 1882 was president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (UBCJ). Approaching the City’s Central Labor Union that summer, he proposed a holiday that would applaud(赞许)”the industrial spirit-the great vital force of every nation,” On September 5 his suggestion bore fruit, as an estimated 10,000 workers, many of them ignoring their bosses’ warnings, left work to march from Union square up Fifth Avenue to 42nd Street. The event gained national attention, and by 1893 thirty states had made Labor Day an annual holiday.
The quick adoption of the scheme may have indicated less about the state lawmakers’ respect for working people than about a fear of risking their anger. In the 1880s the United States was a land sharply divided between the immensely wealthy and the very poor. Henry George was accurate in describing the era as one of “progress and poverty.” In a society in which factory, owners rode in private Pullmans while ten-year-olds slaved in the mines, strong anti-capitalist feeling&nbs上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] 下一页 |