Music for the Weekend

International Labor Day/May Day yesterday, and the 128th anniversary of the Haymarket Affair this weekend. (The reason May 1st was picked as International Labor Day in the late 19th century was the Haymarket Affair, and May Day has a lengthy history as a Spring festival.) Why does the U.S. celebrate Labor Day in September rather than in May like the rest of the world? The U.S. government instituted Labor Day after the Pullman Strike as a conciliatory gesture to labor (how nice after the government broke the strike with deadly violence!). The government selected September rather than May because they were afraid of associating Labor Day with the Haymarket Affair (perhaps realizing that it would be best if there was not a great deal of contemplation about the government's actions following the Haymarket Affair).

So how about some Billy Bragg for the weekend: