On Monday, the United States celebrates Labor Day, designated a national holiday in 1894, celebrating the dignity and worth of labor and the working class. To most Americans, it celebrates the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year: probably few of us pause to consider its meaning and the implications of such a holiday. But the symbolism of a holiday celebrating the working class is in fact startlingly radical, even if some people skeptically dismiss it as a mere gesture. Even as a gesture, it points to a change in modern social mythology.
September 3, 2021
September 3, 2021
September 3, 2021
On Monday, the United States celebrates Labor Day, designated a national holiday in 1894, celebrating the dignity and worth of labor and the working class. To most Americans, it celebrates the end of the summer and the beginning of the school year: probably few of us pause to consider its meaning and the implications of such a holiday. But the symbolism of a holiday celebrating the working class is in fact startlingly radical, even if some people skeptically dismiss it as a mere gesture. Even as a gesture, it points to a change in modern social mythology.