Matthew Maguire

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Matthew Maguire (born June 28, 1850 in New York , † January 1, 1917 in Paterson , New Jersey ) was an American machinist and trade unionist. He was a candidate for Vice President of the United States for the Socialist Labor Party of America .

Live and act

Matthew Maguire was born on June 28, 1850 on a ship about three nautical miles from New York to an Irish immigrant family. He was a child when his family moved to Paterson. After finishing school, he went to work in one of the city's factories when he was 14.

At the age of 20 he married his wife Martha McCormick, with whom he had nine children.

Maguire was early interested in improving working conditions for wage workers and in reducing working hours. He became a member of the Machinists and Blacksmiths Union , was involved in the eight-hour day movement, and was a strike leader on strike for shorter hours for the first time in the 1870s. Eventually he was appointed secretary of the Paterson Union.

After Maguire accepted a job as a machinist at the Columbia Iron Company in Brooklyn , New York, he became involved in founding the Central Labor Union in New York, of which he also became first secretary. Not time then the idea came far from a Labor Day (German Workers' Day ) to launch and organize. Whether Matthew Maguire or ultimately Peter J. McGuire (1852–1906) developed this idea is still very controversial. In any case, the fact is that the Central Labor Union took over the proposal to hold a demonstration and public holiday for workers, founded a committee for the organization and implementation and sent out 20,000 invitation cards. It is also a fact that Matthew Maguire was entrusted with the organization and implementation of Labor Day. Labor Day, which finally took place in New York on September 5, 1882, was a complete success for everyone involved and should from now on be in the history books and be celebrated as a workers' holiday in many countries around the world.

In 1889 Maguire moved back to Paterson, where he was elected as Alderman in the city council and ran for the office of vice president in 1896 on the ticket of the Socialist Labor Party, next to Charles H. Matchett as a presidential candidate. Both achieved a share of 36,356 votes and thus finished fifth.

After that it became quiet around him. Matthew Maguire died on January 1, 1917 in Paterson.

annotation

The fact that the trade unionist Matthew Maguire came back into the field of history after almost 90 years was actually thanks to a man who was also a machinist by profession, was interested in the history of Labor Day after his retirement as a hobby historian and, after intensive research, was interested in Believed to have established that Maguire was actually the author and was able to prove this with extensive material that was recognized by historians. It was George Pearlman who, with his 1973 report, forced government agencies to abandon the version of the authorship of Labor Day by Peter J. McGuire, published since 1897 by a carpenter's magazine, and to adopt the controversial point of view.

The US unions still hold on to Peter J. McGuire as the originator of Labor Day and the final proof has not yet been provided by any side.

literature

  • William Maxwell Burke : History and Functions of Central Labor Unions . Macmillan , New York 1899 (English).
  • Geoffrey Scott : Labor Day . Carolrhoda Books Inc. , Minneapolis, Minnesota 1982, ISBN 0-87614-178-5 (English).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Family proud of relation to Labor Day - NJ.com: Warren Reporter
  2. ↑ Grace-Ellen McCrann : Matthew Maguire, Father of Labor Day? . The New Jersey Historical Society , August 23, 2000, accessed April 29, 2019 .
  3. ^ Geoffrey Scott, Labor Day , Carolrhoda Books Inc., Minneapolis, 1982.
  4. ^ Vote for Presidential and Vice President Candidates - of the Socialist Labor Party
  5. ^ Election result in the Encyclopædia Britannica
  6. ^ The Paterson Morning Call - Death Roll of 1904-1919 - The Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club
personal data
SURNAME Maguire, Matthew
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American trade unionist and politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1917
Place of death Paterson , New Jersey