“Without labor nothing prospers.” – Sophocles, about 450 BC

When a teenager, one of the aspects that I found confusing about D&D was the distinction between Intelligence and Wisdom; magicians used the former, clerics the latter. As a youth I had intelligence in spades but it took marriage and old-age for me to gain an appreciation for wisdom and to begin to develop some for myself (but not much my wife will argue.)

I was reminded of Intelligence vs. Wisdom when researching Labor Day for this post.

One – why had I never learned more about this holiday before?
Two – “Labor” day. Duh. It’s a day to celebrate laborers, guilds, unions, etc. Why didn’t I think of that?

According to Wikipedia, the holiday originated in Canada out of labor disputes (the "Nine-Hour Movement") first in Hamilton, then in Toronto, Canada in the 1870s. American labor leader Peter J. McGuire witnessed one of these labor festivals in Toronto and organized the first American "labor day" on September 5, 1882 in New York City.

In 1894 the Pullman Strike became a national issue when 125,000 workers on twenty-nine railroads quit work rather than handle Pullman cars in support of striking Pullman plant workers. President Grover Cleveland, in defiance of a court injunction, sent United States Marshals and some 12,000 United States Army troops to break the strike in Chicago. 13 strikers were killed and 57 were wounded.

In an attempt to reconcile with Labor, Cleveland urged legislation making Labor Day a national holiday. It was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike. The US politicians kept Canada’s September timeframe for the holiday in order to avoid association with the communist & international Labor Day of May 1.

Bottom Line

Society needs labor. Food has to be grown, items manufactured, roads built, and so on. This is the foundation of civilization. Without labor there would be no growth. In theory it’s possible to have a 100% service industry –doctors, barbers, librarians, people helping people, by just recirculating the money around. The book/movie “City of Ember” is like this where residents live entirely inside a bomb shelter. But it can’t last forever. Eventually food and supplies run out and the infrastructure breaks down without labor.