Could the biggest capitalist day of the year actually have its origins in a workers' protest?!

I've found at least three stories for the origins of Black Friday.

The first is the boring one: that the date represents the day when most (American) retailers, after running at a loss for most of the year, finally turn a profit ('go into the black').

(Not true).

The second has its origins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the United States.

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In the 1950s, police in Philadelphia supposedly started calling the days after Thanksgiving 'Black Friday' and 'Black Saturday' due to the big crowds and traffic congestion they had to deal with. Local newspapers later picked up and ran with the term.

But the best story in my view is that it's linked to workers calling in sick after Thanksgiving.

They just fancied a four-day weekend.

That's right - the biggest capitalist holiday of the year may actually have been a workers' rebellion!

Friedrich Engels had a few ideas of his own about how workers should organise

American workers have long had worse holiday allowances than their European counterparts, so this makes sense to me.

The evidence for this origin story is an article in a 1951 copy of a magazine called 'Factory Management and Maintenance' (not exactly my nightly reading, but bear with me):

"Friday-after-Thanksgiving-itis" is a disease second only to the bubonic plague in its effects. At least that's the feeling of those who have to get production out, when the "Black Friday" comes along. The shop may be half empty, but every absentee was sick - and can prove it."

The article goes on to discuss how employers might deal with this.

One option put forward was to fight it head on by denying pay to anyone absent the day before or after Thanksgiving.

But even back in 1950s America there were laws against not paying sick employees. And they had doctors' certificates to prove it!

According to the magazine, some employers had a more enlightened approach:

"Glenn L. Martin, Baltimore aircraft manufacturer has another solution: When you decide you want to sweeten up the holiday kitty, pick Black Friday to add to the list. That's just what Martin has done. Friday after Thanksgiving is the company's seventh paid holiday."

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Ultimately, faced by the rebellious workers of the 1950s, some employers must have just decided to give a paid holiday anyway.

I like this idea of Black Friday being a little bargain between employee and employer.

It reminds me of the origins of the Saturday/Sunday weekend itself - when employers began to realise that taking a bit better care of their employees by giving them time off actually led to better outcomes for everybody.

Who'd have thought?

The Radical Calendar 2023: inspired by worker struggles of the 19th century

Today probably isn't a holiday for you, unless you're living in the US.

But I hope you'll at least get some time off over Christmas - and can enjoy some paid time off during the year, too, thanks to the protests of workers past.

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