1. An early champion of declaring Labor Day a national holiday in the late 19 century was:

a. President William McKinley;

b. Financier J. P. Morgan;

c. Cigar Makers Union leader Samuel Gompers;

d. Peter MaGuire, socialist leader of the Carpenters Union.

2. In the U.S. conservative “business unionists” led by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) until the 1930s supported:

a. Organizing skilled workers only;

b. Accepting discriminatory policies against minority and women workers;

c. Opposing the formation of an independent labor political party;

d. All of the above.

3. From the 1920s on, the Communist Party, USA, fought to establish:

a. One big union;

b. Cooperation between business and labor;

c. Inclusive industrial unions open to all workers, regardless of skill, ethnicity or gender;

d. Unions that stay out of politics.

4. Communist Party activists played a leading role in organizing most of the major strike victories won by the American labor movement in the 20th century. Which of these victories did not have CPUSA activists playing a major role:

a. The San Francisco General Strike of 1934;

b. The Flint General Motors Strike of 1937;

c. The Ford Motor Company Strike of 1941;

d. The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1903.

5. Perhaps the most telling example of the long-term effects of the Cold War based anti-Communist labor legislation and purges of Communist and left leadership from unions is:

a. The sharp rise in real wages that American workers have experienced in the last 40 years;

b. The greater income equality that has developed over the last 40 years;

c. The decline in the percentage of unionized private sector workers from 35% in 1947 to less than 10% today;

d. The improvement in pension and health care benefits that unions have won in the last 40 years.

6. Donald Trump giving a Labor Day speech this year would be as trustworthy as:

a. Bernie Madoff establishing a new hedge fund;

b. Confederate President Jefferson Davis proclaiming his support for racial equality;

c. Publisher Rupert Murdoch proclaiming his support for socialism;

d. All of the above.

Get your answers here.

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