The History of Labor Day – and Why It Matters for Our Future

September 05, 2017

WRITER

Did you know that the history of Labor Day is both socialist and racist? People wanted labor unions in the 1800s because factory working conditions were horrifying, and socialists exploited their pain for an agenda, something that we now commemorate each September. On radio Tuesday, Glenn explored the history of the holiday and its implications for our future.

“They want to take the downtrodden, and they want to turn them into revolutionaries who will level the playing field by the redistribution of wealth,” Glenn said. “It’s the same story that’s happening today was happening back in the 1800s.”

Marxists got a “foot in the door” by taking advantage of the terrible working conditions of the time. Peter McGuire, an influential advocate for unions who is known as the “father” of Labor Day, selected Sept. 5 as the date for the first labor parade since it was halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving.

Even though they were pretending to fight for every worker, early labor activists limited their advocacy based on race.

“The labor unions now are using this and saying ‘All laborers matter, all labor lives matter,’” Glenn explained the activism of the time. “Well, except if you’re black or you’re Asian or you’re Irish; then we don’t accept you.”

This article provided courtesy of TheBlaze.

GLENN: On the president's plate now: Hurricane Harvey. $8 million he needs from Congress. He's got to get Congress to move the debt limit. The investigations are continuing on Russia. He now has Korea. He has -- another thing he's dealing with: Keith Schiller, his former bodyguard, he apparently is crushed by the departure of this man who has been by his side forever. He's got a lot going on his plate. And then we have Antifa. Do we have an update on Antifa, what happened this weekend?

STU: Well, the LA -- California is now trying to classify them as a street gang, which is -- the Berkeley mayor said Antifa is no different than a street gang. However, I totally disagree with that. It's much, much worse than a street gang, but, yes, it's similar.

GLENN: Have you noticed though that they're starting to turn? Everybody is starting to turn on Antifa, which is a really good thing. Well, not everybody is starting to turn. They're starting -- they're slowly coming to this.

STU: When you've lost Nancy Pelosi though, that is a big moment in your life.

GLENN: You've lost a lot.

Let me share something with you that yesterday we celebrated Labor Day. And do we even know what we were really even celebrating? Do we even know this came from Canada? It's Marxist. It was a union strike. Riots. Death.

And the very first time. We've heard this in every movie. You know, I've watched Air Force One. "Mr. President, we cannot negotiate with terrorists."

Do you realize that this, that Labor Day is our negotiation with terrorists? That's the only reason why we have this.

In the late 1800s, Americans started to gravitate toward labor unions. And we did it because everything in factories were horrible. The factories and the mines, all of the things that were fueling the second industrial revolution. Unions were needed because people were working 12-hour, 15-hour workdays, seven-day workweeks. There was no compensation if you were hurt on the job. You had low wages. No benefits. Inadequate breaks. They were filthy, dangerous workspaces. You want to talk about a safe space -- I don't think there was any.

And the problem was, is America went through a change kind of exactly the way it's going through right now, to where it's leaving a whole group of people behind because we haven't figured it out yet. So in the late 1800s, the Industrial Revolution was leaving a whole group of people behind. And this is where Marxism, Marxist, socialist, the Antifas of the world, this is their sweet spot, because there's a sense of basic unfairness.

And it's down at the bottom. And that is the point that Marxists like to make. Get the bottom to rise up.

They want to take the downtrodden. And they want to turn them into revolutionaries, who will level the playing field by the redistribution of wealth. It's the same story that was -- that's happening today, was happening back in the 1800s. So the factory working conditions, and the fact that some people were making a lot of money, and some people were working seven days a week and they didn't have anything, gave Marxists a foot in the door.

And this is where a guy who most Americans have never even heard of, Paul -- no, Peter J. McGuire. This is where he comes in. He was living in New York City. He was an Irish Catholic from New York. He was a devout Marxist. Here is 1874. He cofounds the Social Democratic Working Party of North America. That's the first communist, Marxist political party in the US.

He also founded something that we all know because we still have it today. He was the cofounder of the American Federation of Labor. The AFL. AFL-CIO. This became the most powerful union in the country. And his goal, stated, was to convert and transform America to a socialist nation through labor unions. So this is sweeping the entire West because of the Industrial Revolution. And labor officials up in Toronto, Canada, invite this guy and say, you got to come up. We have this labor festival that you're going to love. And we've been doing this for ten years now. You guys have to do this.

And so McGuire goes up and he loves it. He comes back and he's like, we have to have a parade. Now, imagine, you're a coal miner. And you're like, "You're going to have a, what?"

"We've got to have a parade." So he picks the day of the parade as September 5th. And the reason why is because he felt it fell halfway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. I didn't even know this part of the story.

So the parade was a hit. Thirty-thousand-plus marchers skipped the work for the day in New York. They listened to speeches. The last thing I'm going to do on my day off is listen to a bunch of speeches about 8-hour workdays and how Marxism is going to heal the world, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then they have a big parade in New York City. It becomes huge, and it becomes an annual event. And it catches on all around the country, and the labor unions now are using this and saying, "All labor is matter. All labor lives matter." Well, except if you're black or you're Asian or you're Irish, then we don't accept you into the AFL. But other than that, all laborers matter.

Did I forget to tell you the Marxist that started the labor unions -- before you build a statue, we should probably tear it down, because he was a wild racist. Five years go by, Labor Day is now an official holiday in 30 states. But they can't get the United States government to declare it a holiday. Because at that point, we're not declaring holidays as the federal government. States can do whatever you want. It's 1894. And there is a strike done by the AFL that is huge. And it changes the way America looks at September 5th.

It was in Pullman, Illinois. Now, if you've ever heard the name Pullman before, it might be because you know George Pullman. You know Pullman, Illinois. Most likely, you know it because of the Pullman train car. I don't think I could tell you what Pullman train car was, other than it was the best train car made. And I think it was a sleeping car.

Well, who has got the money to stay in those sleeping cars? Oh, my gosh. It's the wealthy people.

So 1894, the economy tanks. And things get really bad. And Pullman, who is this capitalist who actually has a -- from what I understand, has a pretty good relationship with his -- with his people, because he's done kind of what the Cadbury people did. Yeah, the chocolate people over in England. And that is, they saw that Marxism was not the answer. But they also saw that there were problems. And so Cadbury went, and they built themselves a town. And they put doctors in the town. And everybody who worked there could live in the town. Well, Pullman does kind of the same thing, except his heart is not really in it.

So when the economy collapses, he of mind to lay off hundreds of people. And then anybody who remained, he had to lower their wages. But he also was their landlord. And the landlord side of him was like, "I don't being what happened at your job. That doesn't affect me." And so he didn't lower the rent for any of the company houses.

This is what opened the terror for the Marxists to come in. The evil capitalists can't get away with that. They had to shut him down. So the workers went on strike. And all of the sympathetic railroad workers around the country joined in. And then just like it does in Berkeley -- just like it happens every single time: a Marxist, socialist rally turns violent -- turns violent. And rioting sets in. They burn hundreds of these rail cars.

The unrest cripples the railroad industry, shuts down the railroad, shuts down the delivery of the US mail. And one of the worst, Grover Cleveland, gets involved. He's president at the time. And he decides he's going to send in 12,000 troops into Chicago to break the strike.

How does that work out? Just like you would imagine. The troops and strikers, they start to exchange fire. Two strikers are killed.

Now, why doesn't president Cleveland have people on his side? Because there was a problem. People were hungry. People weren't looking at reason anymore. And they were seeing people get rich, while they were being screwed. It's the only reason why the labor unions were necessary. Because there was a need for somebody to stand up.

President Cleveland is -- this is not a good response. And he's now in crisis. And it's also a midterm election year. And the Democrats don't want to lose. So what does Cleveland do?

As he's getting ready to pull the troops out? He holds negotiations, and Congress rams through a bill to make Labor Day a federal holiday. We negotiated with the terrorists. We said, "If you pull out, we'll not only help you with Pullman, but we'll also make Labor Day a national holiday." Of course, we don't negotiate with terrorists. So we're going to wait a whole six days after the strike was broken. Then we'll do it. But those are two -- they're completely unrelated.

The Marxist terrorists had torched the railways. The trains across the country had stopped. And the president delivered his first gift.

What we celebrated yesterday was a Canadian idea, copied in America, by the Marxist founder of the American Socialist Party. And the AFL. It was made a federal holiday by a Congress and president trying just to save face and win votes in an election year. And it was the very first of countless bones that the Democratic Party would throw to labor unions over the next century.

Oh, and, by the way, Peter J. McGuire, the Marxist, racist, anti-immigrant, cofounder of the American Socialist Party, AFL, in 1901, it ended for him the way it usually ends for these guys. Either in a violent death or going to jail. In 1901, he was arrested for embezzling union funds. Stealing from the workers. Because I guess for some people, socialism, eh, it moves too slowly in the redistribution of wealth.

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'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

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Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

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Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck resurrects the 9-12 Project to support Charlie Kirk's family

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The dangerous lie: Rights as government privileges, not God-given

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When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

POLL: Is America’s next generation trading freedom for equity?

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A recent poll conducted by Justin Haskins, a long-time friend of the show, has uncovered alarming trends among young Americans aged 18-39, revealing a generation grappling with deep frustrations over economic hardships, housing affordability, and a perceived rigged system that favors the wealthy, corporations, and older generations. While nearly half of these likely voters approve of President Trump, seeing him as an anti-establishment figure, over 70% support nationalizing major industries, such as healthcare, energy, and big tech, to promote "equity." Shockingly, 53% want a democratic socialist to win the 2028 presidential election, including a third of Trump voters and conservatives in this age group. Many cite skyrocketing housing costs, unfair taxation on the middle class, and a sense of being "stuck" or in crisis as driving forces, with 62% believing the economy is tilted against them and 55% backing laws to confiscate "excess wealth" like second homes or luxury items to help first-time buyers.

This blend of Trump support and socialist leanings suggests a volatile mix: admiration for disruptors who challenge the status quo, coupled with a desire for radical redistribution to address personal struggles. Yet, it raises profound questions about the roots of this discontent—Is it a failure of education on history's lessons about socialism's failures? Media indoctrination? Or genuine systemic barriers? And what does it portend for the nation’s trajectory—greater division, a shift toward authoritarian policies, or an opportunity for renewal through timeless values like hard work and individual responsibility?

Glenn wants to know what YOU think: Where do Gen Z's socialist sympathies come from? What does it mean for the future of America? Make your voice heard in the poll below:

Do you believe the Gen Z support for socialism comes from perceived economic frustrations like unaffordable housing and a rigged system favoring the wealthy and corporations?

Do you believe the Gen Z support for socialism, including many Trump supporters, is due to a lack of education about the historical failures of socialist systems?

Do you think that these poll results indicate a growing generational divide that could lead to more political instability and authoritarian tendencies in America's future?

Do you think that this poll implies that America's long-term stability relies on older generations teaching Gen Z and younger to prioritize self-reliance, free-market ideals, and personal accountability?

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