Monday Morning Quote
Quotes
Monday Morning Quotes
Monday Morning Quotes
www.mondaymorningquote.com ~ www.mondaymorningquotes.com
MMQs on facebook /// @MonMornQuote on
Substack
Since 1998 I've been sending out these reflections first thing each
week--one or more quotes plus my thoughts about the intersections and
contradictions. They're archived here back to 2002, and a new one is
posted every Monday morning. Dialogue is still welcome . . .
RSS / 
View Quotes
Quote #1254 - #WorkForIt
07 Sep, 2026
WORK FOR IT
"The labor movement means just this: It is the last noble protest of the American people against the power of incorporated wealth."
Wendell Phillips
"What does labor want? We want more schoolhouses and less jails; more books and less arsenals; more learning and less vice; more leisure and less greed; more justice and less revenge; in fact, more of the opportunities to cultivate our better natures, to make manhood more noble."
Samuel Gompers
"I pray for the day when working men and women are able to earn a fair share of the wealth they produce in a capitalist system."
Mother Jones
You thought control by wealth was new?
It may be more out of control than ever before,
but it is not new.
Everything we struggle for now
we have struggled for before,
many times before:
Respect for labor, both paid and unpaid:
Appropriate pay for labor, sharing in the rewards of that work;
Rights (voting rights, civil rights) for all people,
and a means of redress for those who have been denied rights.
Justice. Equity. Appreciation.
Now we have people in power
who crave the exact opposite,
(a return to an absolute monarchy their fever dream,
an oligarchy or plutocracy their goal, at the very least).
And again we struggle
to say "we are here"
to say "we all do the labor and we all matter"
to say "every adult citizen has the right to vote
and every vote has the right to be counted"
to say "this is our country and our government"
to push back against this mercenary lawlessness.
This is always a profound moment to take stock:
Labor Day, end of summer,
the harvest,
the new school year,
the Jewish New Year,
the new theatrical season.
So this is what I am thinking about this morning
on Labor Day:
We are here.
We all do the labor and we all matter.
Every adult citizen has the right to vote
and every vote has the right to be counted.
This is our country and our government.
But there will always be those who cynically play the system
and try to ensure it is not so,
so it will never be handed to us;
we must always work for it.
What will we do--what must we do--
to make it real?
to keep it real?
Shellen Lubin
September 7, 2026
 |
 |
 |
|
||
 |
|
 |
|
||
This website was created by
