Ralph Chaplin’s 1915 union anthem, “Solidarity Forever,” blared from a pair of loudspeakers riding in the back of a black pickup truck Saturday afternoon as the Chicago Labor Day parade returned to the Far South Side for the first time in two years.
“People think of this just as a holiday, but it’s built out of the blood, sweat and tears of workers in this city,” said Don Villar, secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Federation of Labor, which helped organize the parade. “Labor Day happens because of what happened just a couple miles from here.”
