The picnics, speeches, and parades of today’s Labor Day were all part of the first celebration, held in New York City in 1882. Its promoter was an Irish-American labor leader named peter J. McGuire. A carpenter 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 “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.
今天劳动节的野餐、演讲和游行都是1882年在纽约市举行的第一次庆祝活动的一部分。它的发起人是一位名叫彼得·J·麦奎尔的爱尔兰裔美国劳工领袖。作为一名木匠，麦奎尔从11岁起就开始工作，并于1882年担任木匠与木工联合兄弟会（UBCJ）主席。那年夏天，在参加该市中央工会时，他建议增加一天假期，用于称赞“工业精神是每个国家的巨大生命力”。9月5日，他的建议取得了成效，估计有1万名工人从第五大道的联合广场游行至第42街举行游行罢工，其中许多人无视老板的警告。这一事件引起了全国的关注，到1893年，已有30个州将劳动节定为一年一度的节日。
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 ran high. Demands for fundamental change were common throughout the labor press. With socialists demanding an end to “wage slavery” and anarchists singing the praises of the virtues of dynamite, middle-of-the-roaders like Samuel Gompers and McGuire seemed attractively mild by comparison. One can imagine practical capitalists seeing Labor Day as a bargain: A one-day party certainly cost them less than paying their workers decent wages.
该提议的迅速通过与其说表明州议员对劳动人民的尊重，不如说表明他们担心激怒劳动人民的风险。19世纪80年代，美国是一个贫富分化严重的国家。亨利·乔治（Henry George）准确地将这个时代描述为“进步与贫困”的时代。在一个工厂老板现有私人普尔曼卧车（Pullmans），而十岁的孩子在矿井里劳作的社会里，强烈的反资本主义情绪高涨。要求进行根本性变革的呼声在整个劳动新闻界都很普遍。社会主义者要求结束“工资奴役”，无政府主义者歌颂炸药的优点，相比之下，像Samuel Gompers和McGuire这样的中间道路者显得很温和。人们可以想象，务实的资本家把劳动节视为一笔交易：一天的休息肯定比付给工人体面的工资要便宜。
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