America’s Labor Day

Donald Trump has not announced an appearance for Labor Day. Kamala Harris, on the other hand, is traveling to the US rust belt with a lot of symbolism. The column.

What’s better than one Labor Day a year? Two days of work! I spent May 1st on holiday duty for the Frankfurter Rundschau. But in return, I get to enjoy Labor Day as part of my journalistic exchange in the US – which, as always, falls on the first Monday in September, even in business-friendly Texas.

This is the 130th US holiday. When it was introduced in 1894, President Grover Cleveland deliberately chose not to celebrate in May: any association with the socialist struggle day was to be avoided.

The irony of history: The socialist date goes back to protests in the USA. On May 1, 1886, workers in Chicago went on strike for the eight-hour day, and there were clashes with the police. In solidarity, the International Socialist Congress in Paris declared May 1 a general day of struggle for the workers’ movement three years later.

Today, Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer in the USA. Many people travel one last time over the long weekend. After that, the school year really begins. And in an election year like this, the next stage on the road to the White House begins.

This Monday, Kamala Harris will travel with a lot of symbolism in her luggage to swing states and the rich “rust belt” of the USA, including the former industrial strongholds of Detroit (“Motor Town”) and Pittsburgh (“Steel City”).

Donald Trump has not announced an appearance. Perhaps he feels safe when it comes to the working class. According to a survey by the Gallup Institute, 46 percent of Republicans describe themselves as “working class or lower class,” while only 35 percent of Democratic voters do so. And Trump’s triumph in 2016 was famously analyzed as a “revolt” of the white working class.

Where could you find someone on Labor Day weekend? How about a holiday “Gun & Knife Show” in Alpine, Texas? To be honest, I think Labor Day is too precious for that – even if it is the second day.