Instead of attacking Juneteenth, conservatives could spend their time criticizing a holiday with a far more radical history: Labor Day.
Since Juneteenth was first recognized as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden in 2021, conservatives have dedicated a considerable amount of time to making fun of the celebration. Some of this criticism is warranted, as its recognition was largely virtue signaling by Biden, and Juneteenth has been used to push left-wing narratives about “equity and racial justice.” However, the holiday’s creation was a campaign promise by former President Donald Trump in 2020.
The holiday celebrates a fundamentally good part of the American story: the end of slavery. In contrast, Labor Day explicitly accepts left-wing narratives about organized labor and even has Marxist origins.
International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day, which was the model for Labor Day, has its roots in an 1886 labor strike in Chicago famous for the Haymarket affair, in which a labor demonstrator threw a bomb and killed a police officer. A few years after this incident, an international socialist coalition declared May 1 a day of protest.
Friedrich Engels, who co-wrote The Communist Manifesto, praised May Day demonstrations, saying, “The spectacle we are now witnessing will make the capitalists and landowners of all lands realize that today the proletarians of all lands are, in very truth, united. If only Marx were with me to see it with his own eyes!”
By 1894, the movement for a Labor Day in the United States was putting pressure on President Grover Cleveland to declare a national holiday. He was cautious not to have it fall in May to avoid the clearest socialist and anarchist connections. As a compromise, Congress selected the September date because unions in New York City had long held celebrations that month.
While the most radical aspects of the holiday were rejected, organized labor has been a well-established member of the Democratic coalition for a century. Even today, union voters prefer Democrats by a considerable margin and are a critical voting bloc for the Left. Republicans still have an overwhelmingly negative view of labor unions, but few question the institution of Labor Day.
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Labor Day is accepted by almost everyone as the ceremonial end of summer and is celebrated with barbecues, water balloon fights, and neighborhood block parties before children go back to school and the football season starts. Few people are aware of its far-left origins. Realistically, neither it nor Juneteenth is going anywhere anytime soon. It also would not be wise to campaign on taking away everyone’s long weekend.
Instead of harping on Juneteenth’s negative aspects, conservatives should look for ways to celebrate within the holiday’s established framework as they have with Labor Day. Point out the fact that the GOP was founded by abolitionists or that Republican President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and then have a cookout and enjoy your day off from work.