Tune in at 12 a.m., Monday, September 1st, and hear the Gypsy Scholar present an Orphic Essay-with-Soundtrack “Labor Day: A Misplaced Federal Holiday.” This musical essay will present a historical background to a Federal holiday (supposedly “to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements in the United States”) that was in 1894, after the hard-won successes of the union movement’s labor strikes around May Day, strategically moved to the first Monday in September by President Grover Cleveland in order to distance and disassociate the holiday from the anarchist and socialist power of May Day (1890) and thus to attempt to neutralize the threat to the big capitalist interests in the U.S.A. In other words, the Gypsy Scholar will, at a present moment when the union movement is again on the rise and being more empowered, attempt to raise the awareness of the American people that their Labor Day holiday is actually a misplaced holiday and that the first true Labor Day was May 1, 1890.
Be sure to check out the “Labor Day” webpage dedicated to this musical essay at revradiotowerofsong.org.
Update: This extended program is now available for listening on the “Archived Musical Essays” webpage, along with the corresponding playlist on the “Program & Playlists” webpage, of the Tower of Song website at revradiotowerofsong.com
