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That's "Vanzetti", but a very apropos topic for this Labor Day weekend. It was brought to my attention that the "Haymarket riot" in Chicago was an important part of the establishment of Labor Day, and I read up on it. The labor leaders of that day were, in our terms, a bunch of commies, but they had a real beef. They were real underdogs to the police and the Pinkertons, and according to the modern interpretation, were trying to keep things in bounds. It's fascinating that the actual bomb thrower at the Haymarket has never been identified, but he is presumed to have been an independent actor on the anarchist/labor side. Seven men were tried and executed for their indirect involment in the incident, and the modern judgement that they were blameless seems to be correct.

All this I find just today, reading up on it. Most interesting to me is the developing history of the commemeration of the event. Originally, there was a monument to the slain policemen ( said now to be mostly victimes of "friendly fire" ) but this monument suffered continued vandalism, and was driven over the years out of existence. Now just in 2004, a monument has been erected at the site of the "riot" in Chicago. It's a modernist sculpture along the sidewalk on DesPlaines Avenue in Chicago. The whole ruckus was over the establishment of an eight hour work day, so think about that.

Good points. Yes, an 8 hour work day. All that labor strife was prior to the formation of unions. And as bad as unions have become, they were necessary in their early days to provide the work force with fair wages and benefits. It’s long gotten out of hand and partly caused the slow death of the US auto industry. But it all gets back to the same problem; overt greed and control on the part of management, that is, bad management. And before anyone draws any conclusions, I am in senior management and once was in a union. And for all you white collar folks out there who’d never been in a union, you think you got your company benefits because you’re college educated? The reason you got your benefits was primarily due to the union work force demands prior; management figured it was easier to give the white collar work force benefits, and have some control over them, rather than the white collar work force also being unionized. Think about it.