Open Thread – Labor Day
This song was written in 1931 by Florence Patton Reece (1900-1986), an American social activist, poet, and songwriter. She was born in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee the daughter and wife of coal miners. The song was written during a United Mine Workers strike. Her husband Sam Reece was a union organizer, and died in 1979 of black lung.
The bloodiest battles to build a union have been in the coal fields — in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, and Kentucky. And surely the toughest and meanest of all the coal field where men fought for a voice and a place in the sun was “Bloody Harlan” in Kentucky.
In 1931, coal miners in Harlan County were on strike. Armed company deputies roamed the countryside, terrorizing the mining communities, looking for union leaders to beat, jail, or kill. But coal miners, brought up lean and hard in the Kentucky mountain country, knew how to fight back, and heads were bashed and bullets fired on both sides in Bloody Harlan.
It was this kind of class war — the mine owners and their hired deputies on one side, and the independent, free-wheeling Kentucky coal-miners on the other — that provided the climate for Florence Reece’s “Which Side Are You On?” In it she captured the spirit of her times with blunt eloquence.
Mrs. Reece wrote from personal experience. Her husband, Sam, was one of the union leaders, and Sheriff J. H. Blair and his men came to her house in search of him when she was alone with her seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then kept watch outside, ready to shoot Sam down if he returned.
One day during this tense period Mrs. Reece tore a sheet from a wall calendar and wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?” The simple form of the song made it easy to adapt for use in other strikes, and many different versions have circulated.
This version is by Natalie Merchant. The video begins with Florence Reese singing her song…
Come all of you good workers,
Good news to you I’ll tell,
Of how that good old union
Has come in here to dwell.
Chorus:
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
My daddy was a miner,
And I’m a miner’s son,
And I’ll stick with the union,
Till every battle’s won.
They say in Harlan County,
There are no neutrals there.
You’ll either be a union man,
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.
Oh, workers can you stand it?
Oh, tell me how you can.
Will you be a lousy scab,
Or will you be a man ?
Don’t scab for the bosses,
Don’t listen to their lies.
Us poor folks haven’t got a chance,
Unless we organize.
Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton sang songs of coal mining in the 60′s. Billy Edd Wheler’s “Coal Tattoo” was recorded by many. Recently Kathy Mattea went back to her roots and recorded an album of mining related songs, “Coal.”
http://www.mattea.com/KathyMatteaHome2008.html
Happy Labor Day! Here is a favorite union song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOCWUgwiWs
While I’m at it, http://www.DemocracyNow.org features a great interview with Michael Moore today. The show alsways features specials on holidays. I loved the Moore interview, especially when talks about his Academy Award experience.
Let’s not forget Billy Bragg, who has many great pro-labor songs, including this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwbzxemJZIc
Thanks for posting this, Alex. Check out “Between The Wars” as well. Billy is an incredible performer.
Yes, he is an incredible performer. I had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of hearing Billy Bragg live at the Trade Union Hall in Sydney while I was in Oz. I got a lot of beer spilled on me, but the concert was grand (that’s Australia, people get drunk at shows).
Happy Labour Day my fellow Mudflatters
here is hoping that the unemployed will find employment and that someday sweatshops and child labour will be a thing of the past
The bloodiest battles to build a union have been in the coal fields — in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Colorado, and Kentucky. And surely the toughest and meanest of all the coal field where men fought for a voice and a place in the sun was “Bloody Harlan” in Kentucky.
Well I hate to say, bull, but I’ll say bull – Union battles were occurring across the U.S. and in a whole host of sectors from Garment workers to machinists (Pullman strike) to miners. Credit where credit is due. A quick look a John Reeds biography from Wikipedia is informative. BTW, Reed is connected in a personal way to at least one of the delegates who helped draft our Alaskan Constitution. I’ll let y’all figure that one out.
The first of Reed’s many arrests came in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1913, for attempting to speak on behalf of strikers in the New Jersey silk mills. The harsh treatment meted out by the authorities to the strikers and a short jail term which followed further radicalized him. Jack allied himself with the syndicalist trade union the Industrial Workers of the World at this time.[16] Jack’s account of his experiences appeared in June as an article “War in Paterson.” During the same year, following a suggestion made by IWW leader Bill Haywood, Jack put on “The Pageant of the Paterson Strike” in Madison Square Garden as a benefit for the strikers.[17]
In the autumn of 1913 John Reed was sent to Mexico by the Metropolitan Magazine to report the Mexican Revolution.[18] He shared the perils of Pancho Villa’s army for four months, present with Villa’s Constitutional Army when it defeated Federal forces at Torreón, opening the way for its advance on Mexico City.[19] Reed’s time with the Villistas resulted in a series of outstanding magazine articles that brought Jack a national reputation as a war correspondent. Reed deeply sympathized with the plight of the peons and vehemently opposed American intervention, which came shortly after he left. Jack adored Villa, while Carranza left him cold. Jack’s Mexican reports were later republished in book form as Insurgent Mexico, which appeared in 1914.
On April 30, 1914, John Reed arrived in Colorado, scene of the recent Ludlow massacre. There he spent a little more than a week and investigated the events, spoke on behalf of the miners, wrote an impassioned article on the subject (“The Colorado War”, published in July), and came to believe much more deeply in class conflict.[20] That summer he spent in Provincetown, Massachusetts with Mabel Dodge and her son, putting together Insurgent Mexico and interviewing President Wilson on the subject. The resulting report, much watered down at White House insistence, was not a success.[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Reed_%28journalist%29
The relationship to Union (workers and citizens) organizing against the business class is most informative and it wasn’t just miners – it cut across all lines. How stupid we are now – and quick to forget history for what we have been told is the reality.
Good luck to us all.
Good link here:
http://www.economyincrisis.org/content/alexander-hamiltons-advice-obama-administration
and here:
http://will.illinois.edu/mediamatters/show/september-5th-2010/
On September 4, 1949, an angry crowd surrounded the 20,000 friends of Paul Robeson who had come to hear him in an open-air concert at Peekskill, New York. After the event right-wing, anti-communist inspired mobs attacked supporters who were leaving the event. These attacks included smashing the windows of Pete Seeger’s automobile with several family members inside. Sixty years later we remember the great progressive Paul Robeson, his struggles for justice, and his refusal to bow to the politics of reaction.
http://links.org.au/node/1234
Paul Robeson was a superstar. Great singer, athlete, and activist.
Another account – I still have not found the one I’m looking for:
http://www.bencourtney.com/peekskillriots/
This is a superb column that makes comparisons between 1938 and today (economically speaking):
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/opinion/06krugman.html
This paragraph is spot on:
“I had hoped that we would do better this time. But it turns out that politicians and economists alike have spent decades unlearning the lessons of the 1930s, and are determined to repeat all the old mistakes. And it’s slightly sickening to realize that the big winners in the midterm elections are likely to be the very people who first got us into this mess, then did everything in their power to block action to get us out.”
Sorry, stale link. For Rober Reich’s current blog look here:
http://robertreich.org/
Class warfare has returned, but the lower and middle class are unaware that they have been under attack….
True enough – I’ve always been flummoxed by the votes cast in Ohio and Kansas. Of course working for MacD is better than the job I had at the plant – that’s why I’m voting for Raygun, Clinton and Bush!
Citykid
This might have a little something to do with some of the voting that’s been going on…. I think I saw this from a comment section on Progressive Alaska, but the blog article is now gone..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nPSBnnbD9o&feature=player_embedded
Yeh, I’m one angry SOB, SF. And I meant what I said about grabbing Obama and crew (Rahm etal) by the throat. How many civilians are Obama and his crowd (I voted for him) responsible for killing in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq? Sorry, but I’m sick and tired of the same old BS. Us folks on the left, too often, here in the US turn the other cheek while our money, literally is being used to slaughter others elsewhere. I don’t know what more I can say.
You’d be grabbing the wrong crowd and choking it, citykid. The Obama administration did not cause this situation.
Krugman’s column today is nice, for anyone even imagining it would be OK to vot Republican ever again.
I mean, really, to have half the elected government opposed to all effort by the administration to do absolutely anything, and we’re not blaming ourselves for keeping these jacklegs in office?
Here’s the money quote:
“I had hoped that we would do better this time. But it turns out that politicians and economists alike have spent decades unlearning the lessons of the 1930s, and are determined to repeat all the old mistakes. And it’s slightly sickening to realize that the big winners in the midterm elections are likely to be the very people who first got us into this mess, then did everything in their power to block action to get us out.
But always remember: this slump can be cured. All it will take is a little bit of intellectual clarity, and a lot of political will. Here’s hoping we find those virtues in the not too distant future.”
“1938 in 2010″
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/opinion/06krugman.html?ref=columnists
Whoops, seems I’m channelling OMG this morning…
So true – we need the political will for change to occur. As you point out, at least half of Congress isn’t in agreement that change is necessary.
It’s time for politicians to rise above partisan politics and vote for the good of the country. I understand conservatives believe in a different economic paradigm, but really, when that strategy, that philosophy is proven to not work, why cling to it uncritically?
That indeed was the money quote in more ways than one.
You make a good point, Mo, we all have to accept blame for allowing the outdated paradigm believers to stay or get into office. Complacency won’t cut it any longer. We have to vote for the country’s best interests, not our own.
Krugman has actually offered some immediate solutions, in his August 26th column. I say “immediate” relative to the likelihood of some of Reich’s ideas getting implemented with our current Congress.
“So what should officials be doing, aside from telling the truth about the economy?
The Fed has a number of options. It can buy more long-term and private debt; it can push down long-term interest rates by announcing its intention to keep short-term rates low; it can raise its medium-term target for inflation, making it less attractive for businesses to simply sit on their cash. Nobody can be sure how well these measures would work, but it’s better to try something that might not work than to make excuses while workers suffer.
The administration has less freedom of action, since it can’t get legislation past the Republican blockade. But it still has options. It can revamp its deeply unsuccessful attempt to aid troubled homeowners. It can use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored lenders, to engineer mortgage refinancing that puts money in the hands of American families — yes, Republicans will howl, but they’re doing that anyway. It can finally get serious about confronting China over its currency manipulation: how many times do the Chinese have to promise to change their policies, then renege, before the administration decides that it’s time to act?
Which of these options should policy makers pursue? If I had my way, all of them. ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/opinion/27krugman.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Mo, you’re right: Republicans and Tea Party folks are going to howl no matter what. I am very weary of the strategy they keep pulling “just say no” – it didn’t work on that foolish War on Drugs, and it dragging down our economy overall. Like you say, it’s better to try some innovation cautiously than do nothing. We know what doesn’t work: tax cuts to the wealthy. If it worked, they would have created jobs these past ten years, but . . . .
And Rand Paul, running for the Senate, has no idea what “Bloody Harlan” was! He has not tried to learn any history about this state. Ugh.
And if it was up to the Texas School Board, all these references to labor history would be erased from the new curricula.
Better keep these links handy.
That’s what is really scary. Here in Kansas, the Big Deal is online schooling approved by each school board. The board will still get its money per student as long as the online students stay current. No biggie unless no one is monitoring what is being taught. The Texas School Board’s ability to pitch in millions upon millions of dollars does impact hard-copy and online text providers. I wish more people would put pressure on Texas to abolish the strangle-hold they have on what gets taught.
If Paul wins, he wants to eliminate federal regulations and bring the people of Kentucky right back to the days when mine workers died because owners felt safety precautions were too expensive. He’s already claimed that people won’t apply for jobs in mines that are not safe. However, if you’re a third generation miner with a family to support and no other options, you may have no choice.
It’s hard to stand on principal when your children are starving.
I sincerely hope the people of Kentucky think long and hard before casting their vote for Paul. Not only will his victory impact them, but his voice in Senate can affect all of us.
I haven’t been following the Kentucky ads. Do you know if the mining unions are getting that message out? It is a powerful one.
So far I haven’t seen anything in the KY newspapers. Really don’t watch TV, so I don’t know what has been said, if anything. He scares me. He also wants to abolish the Department of Education.
“Do you know if the mining unions are getting that message out?”
I’m in NY so I don’t know what they’re doing to fight him in KY. I only became aware of his campaign platform because of stories online and videos of his interviews. I just don’t understand why people who want to eviscerate the federal government want so desperately to be part of it.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/08/02/paul-mine-safety/
“That means abolishing departments like Education and gutting ones like Commerce and Energy, disbanding the Federal Reserve, and getting rid of regulatory bodies like the Environmental Protection Agency. ” (Because companies like Massey Energy and BP are SOOO responsible and conscientious about protecting their employees and the environment!)
He also believes that we should repeal Health Care reform and actually make people pay HIGHER deductibles for their health care because then it makes the providers compete for customers(!). He has problems with the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, and is all for moutaintop removal coal mining because it just makes the mountaintops ‘a little flatter’ and actually ‘enhances’ the development value of the land. Of course, he neglects to mention the utter devastation that it causes to the surrounding environment. He wants to raise the eligibility age for Social Security or, preferably, eliminate it completely.
http://www.details.com/culture-trends/critical-eye/201008/rand-paul-kentucky-senate-republican-campaign?currentPage=1
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074605/
Harlan County USA – a terrific documentary available to watch instantly on netflix. good movie for a labor day. and hope all mudflatters have a good one.
When the right piles on with criticism the left often joins them:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/tony-blair-takes-on-professional-left-offers-obama-advice-on-how-to-deal.php
I agree. That was a great article. I am not a fan of Blair’s, but I appreciate what he is saying in this article.
Sometimes we just get caught in the process without thinking of the broader consequences of our criticism.
However, as the featured song’s title asks us, “Which Side Are You On,” I think progressives would do well to consider the consequences of their impatient passion for change. Relentlessly undermining your champion during the process of change only weakens your chances of reaching your goal.
Right now, some progressives are doing the work of the regressive right-wingers. With friends like that, why do you need enemies? Change threatens everyone, so as much I would like to see instantaneous improvement on all fronts, I understand that lasting change comes in increments in order for those resistant to change to adjust with minimal rage and retaliation. Attacking and alienating those we elected to effect change makes no sense to me. We need to support and remind them of why they were elected and the promises they made.
Agreed.
“Relentlessly undermining your champion during the process of change only weakens your chances of reaching your goal.”
You are absolutely right. It took a very long time to get into this mess. As impatient as we all are for progress, we need to give the current administration some time to dig us out of the abyss we’re in. By undermining the Obama administration, we are helping to return power to the very people who created this disaster in the first place. While we need to keep holding them accountable, we also need to support them in their efforts to turn this ship around and head to safer waters.
Spot on, ks sunflower! It’s the “impatient passion for change”, IMHO, that’s ‘our’ bugaboo…and that’s working so strongly *against* us.
I can understand ‘them’ being negative about how things are going, that’s to be expected; ‘they’, apparently, are perfectly content with the status quo of the 50s, 60s, and GWBush era. Even the thought of “change” sends them into a dither — they have an relentless passion *against* any change.
But ‘us’? How in the world can we be so intelligent as to know there *has* to be change, and yet be so ignorant as to what it takes to *realize* that change? It’s not like change comes about with a snap of the fingers…it takes LOTS of behind the scenes, methodical, intense groundwork, to get to the point where change can be implemented.
Anymore, ‘our’ “impatient passion for change” puts me in mind of my children when they were young tykes. In particular, their wanting to do something now, now, NOW! Take, for example, a trip to Disney World. Everyone agrees that such a trip would be a wonderful thing…everyone is excited and can’t wait to get there! Fine – that’s all well and good…BUT…getting there takes more than just wishing for it to be, and it (magically) happening.
There are a myriad of things that *Must*! be done *First*! if the trip is going to be successful– making transportation plans, reserving and purchasing tickets, reserving lodging, arranging to board the pets, stopping mail and newspaper delivery, asking someone to water the yard and keep an eye on the house, making arrangements for bill payment if you’ll be ‘away’ when the payments are due, packing suitcases, etc., etc., etc.
No matter how eager my kids –all of us– were for that now, now, NOW! (of the something — the anything!) to happen, that ‘now’ could *not* happen with a mere snap of the fingers. (If it could have been otherwise, it sure would have saved me over the years, a whole bunch of heartburn/heartache over accusations that I wasn’t wanting it as much as they did, that I wasn’t taking their eagerness seriously, that I wasn’t doing everything I could to make it happen yesterday, etc.. Being so young, they had trouble understanding that I *WAS* doing everything I could…but that some things *needed* to First be done!)
I sure do wish ‘we’ progressives would all grow up and, understanding there’s a whole hell of a lot *needing* to be done/changed to make this nation better, that *just because* ALL that change (particularily of the ‘pet-project’ the individual is so passionate about) has not *yet* fully happened, that does *Not* mean there is NO activity being put forth on/towards it.
How silly and counterproductive of ‘us’ to diss, undermine, dismiss, abandon POTUS and his administration in ‘our’ eagerness and insistance that it ALL be: now, now, NOW! — *ALL* of it NOW! ‘We’ should be smarter and wiser, more intelligent to the ins-and-outs of *how* things get done, than that. Leastwise, that’s the way I see it. beth.
Spot on, Beth.
Bravo!
I love the way you explained this! You go girl! You have the message and how to convey!
[as she blushes a most glaring shade of red] Nah…I just have two bethOffshoots who’ve ‘trained’ me to jump in –with both feet and with mouth a’flapping (and most oft, unbidden) — when a concept is presented for digestion: One bethOffshoot *needs* specificity, exactness, and absolutes; the other bethOffshoot *needs* metaphors, analogies, and/or parables. Funny, both bethOffshoots are from the same sets of genes, but they’re diametrically opposite in *how* they process information. After all these years of ‘splainin things to them –each to their own need– I’ve almost become adept at sometimes making sense… sometimes.
beth.
Beth!! wonderful comment.
An Irish perspective on Palin.
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/world/no-sign-of-palins-appeal-dwindling-yet-51469.html
Every time I read about Palin in the international news I cringe with embarrassment. The dumbing down of America is evidenced by her continued presence in US politics. It does not bode well for our reputation around the world.
The election of Barrack Obama brought instant admiration to America by citizens of other countries. The mere fact that the President is unquestionably intelligent and knowledgeable about the world spoke volumes. He is obviously not a war monger and shows respect to other peoples and other beliefs. Positive opinion of the US increased more than 30% in Europe alone (as evidenced by gallup polls). The country’s security and a return to financial success largely depends on this good will.
Palin’s continued presence merely reminds everyone that the country who elected “W” to two terms in office could do it again.
I agree, OMG. I think, too, that more radical progressive attacks on Obama also make other countries wonder why we do not appreciate him more. The progressive attacks must make us seem like petulant children, demanding we get everything our way now.
It’s no wonder the world seems to be taking a step back, watching us as we once watched what we regarded as third-world countries – where political processes had not yet matured. We seem to be acting like late adolescents, almost there, but not quite. But then, I think we regressed dramatically as a nation under GW Bush. Maybe we’re just trying to regain a cultural consciousness after eight years of bravado and greet.
It’s wonderful to know that there are so many of us singing from the same choir sheet.
The lesson that George, the “W” taught our youth and other Americans is that if you disagree with some one, you can violently attack them, take what you want, and bomb them into submission. No need for dialog or fancy wurds (sic). Sarah lurned (sic) sumthin, two!
And if it’s possible, I think she’s even worse than W. And he was horrible, from the beginning to the end of those nightmarish 8 years.
It’s so informative to read about our politics from another perspective. Thanks for the link, Irishgirl.
It still disturbs me that polls show just over one-fourth of the American voting public still support someone such as Palin. That statement “There is also considerable evidence that her political appeal is deep but narrow.” rings true, but is also disturbing because a dedicated minority can do a lot more damage to the system than a complacent majority.
I hope people do not write off Palin’s committed minority because it is a real threat come November and 2012 not because they all-powerful, but because the rest of us may not feel threatened enough to get out and vote against it. I suspect that’s how Joe Miller really won. Ballot 2 brought out the die-hard anti-abortion crowd and everyone else pretty much stayed home, thinking Miller was too extreme to win.
Thank goodness for the net’s ability to give us the opportunity to see ourselves from different perspectives and thank you for sharing the link.
Just remember, about 20% of adult Americans also think the earth is the center of our solar system.
I’m not going to blame teachers solely for such ridiculousness (I’m one myself and worked with some of the most obtuse students on the face of the planet. Some refused to believe that the sun was the center of the solar system. Let’s just say their science grades weren’t the highest.)
But we could use some better educated people in this country.
Any bets on who the majority of “earthers” say they like for president?
Wouldn’t that be a kick to discover? Probably depressing, too.
I thought Wasilla was the center of the universe….. guess I’ve been lurking at C4P too much…..
I read the sentence, “A TV series”, as “ATV series”, and didn’t blink an eye. I was expecting to hear about a Palin 4-wheel vehicle that drives over anything in its path. Seemed to make sense at the time.
These are a good reminder of perhaps not-so-former times, from the St. Nicholas church murals in Pennsylvania:
http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/vankamurals/images/Rosensteel_20080318_IMG_3394.jpg
http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/vankamurals/images/Rosensteel_20080311_IMG_1545.jpg
http://www.ibsenvoyages.com/vankamurals/images/Rosensteel_20080326_IMG_4217.jpg
Those murals are very touching. Thank you for sharing because I had never seen them before. They convey so much pain and yet so much hope.
As I read about the struggles that many, many groups went through to get decent working conditions–and still struggle for–I am reminded of the ludicrous comments one hears about immigrant labor doing jobs that Americans won’t do. Excuse me, but I can’t think of a more difficult job than mining, and that’s full of US workers. Pay a decent wage, and you have US workers.
I’ve done field work and never want to do it again. It’s hard work. But no harder than mining. There’s a lot of people that would be glad for work out doors if it just paid decently.
And, yes, that means that packing houses would have to pay farmers decently, as well. Packing house prices–and thus the ability of farmers to pay their labor decently–can vary widely depending on the crop.
Good points, Baker’s Dozen. People do want to work, but they need to be paid a living wage and receive necessary benefits. Men and women will always take risks and do the hardest work if they feel they can best provide for their loved ones by doing so. We need to make sure the work places are as safe as possible and then pay people for the work they do. I think everyone will benefit if people can take pride in what they do and be fairly compensated.
Packing houses are the big profit margin link in the food chain. They have very little risk because they move their inventory very quickly yet they are the ones who make the big profits. They pay as little as they can to the farmers and turn around and charge the stores the highest they can.
The farmers have lots of weather risk for their crops and the stores throw aways lots of food if they don’t sell it. Our food is big business and the big players are just as bad as any mine owner when it comes to wanting profit over fair labor practice.
The farmers today don’t hire the field hands. They use “labor contractors”. It is the “contractors” who hire the undocumented to work the crops. Here in CA it’s gotten a little better in the fields. Porta pottys are in the field and during the last few years a shade tent with chairs are now seen. I also notice that workers seem to be driving their own cars to work. You don’t see the “labor” buses on the highway as in years past. It’s back breaking piece work done by these workers who supply our food.
Enjoy your Labor Day salads and remember the workers who grew it for you on this day.
Thanks for the insight into how this portion of our food chain works. I am glad some things have begun to change for the better. I hope prosecutors go after the labor contractors who violate hiring practices. Too many people have blamed the farmers. I did not realize that many of them use third parties to do the hiring that hand-intensive crops require.
Our local grocery stores in the KC-metro area are really publicizing which crops come from local farms. They even have special sale days where you can meet the people who are raising the produce, meat, eggs, and milk (and often bread and small-production baked goods or cereals) that we buy. It’s been a slow build, but more people are paying more for the locally-sourced, small-farm goods. Of course, we live in an area where it is still possible for people to buy small acreages to run these small businesses and not all geographical areas in our country facilitate that.
Thanks for the good news and insight to know where to focus our concerns for improvement.
The Public Market here in Rochester was just named the #1 farmer’s market in the country (woo hoo!). It’s the largest of quite a number that have popped up in the area, and they are all popular during the spring through fall seasons. The Public Market stays open throughout the year and has special events like Flower City Days, where local nurseries can sell their plants.
There seems to have been a growing emphasis on supporting the local producers in the past few years and that’s a good thing for everyone. Farmers get a greater market for selling their produce, customers get fresher food, and less energy is used to transport produce from far away. All the grocery stores here have signs that tell which local farms the produce comes from and many of the local farm markets have special days that feature specific fruits and vegetables, offering free tastings and showing how to pick, prepare and store the produce.
You just can’t beat the taste of peaches or corn that has been picked minutes earlier!
There was no migrant labor in my grandfather’s little farming town when I was a kid. None. No little shacks. Everyone, my grandfather included, hired temporary workers from town and from the universities about 50 miles away. Moms with kids in school would pick up pin money. High school kids earned money towards college and necessities. School teachers worked in the fields all summer, and college kids picked up tuition during breaks.
Then Casaer Chavez came along, unionized the whole thing, and everyone ended up hiring less competent migrant labor from a middle man, thus raising prices and lowering profits for farmers. My grandfather couldn’t afford to have his crop picked for a couple of years. It rotted in the fields. He nearly lost the farm. Migrant worker housing sprung up all over. Fewer local kids could afford college, wives couldn’t work part time and take care of their families, too, and the local universities lost students who now couldn’t find seasonal work to support themselves through school.
Mr. Chavez may have made a positive difference in grape country, I don’t know. But in places that didn’t have migrant labor to begin with, he severely disrupted a way of life that was working pretty darned well and created an underclass where none had existed.
My cousin now owns the farm. He grows street trees for a near by city instead of food crops simply to avoid hiring migrant labor and all the problems that go along with it. He’s prospering–and he works hard–but crop growing neighbors are struggling.
Interesting view of the history.
Weren’t the first migrant fruit pickers in California the Oklahomans fleeing the dust bowl? Granted, The Grapes of Wrath is a work of fiction, but it’s hard to believe Steinbeck didn’t base it upon stuff he encountered.
Yes, the dust bowl exiles were some migrant workers and lived in camps. There are great photo by Dorthea Lang of a mom and her kids in Nipomo, CA.
“In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, over 500,000 Mexican Americans were deported or pressured to leave, during the Mexican Repatriation. There were thus fewer Mexican Americans available when labor demand returned with World War II.”
The result then was the Guest Worker Program, often call the Bracero Program. This is a good wiki article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracero_Program
Bakers Dozen I don’t know where your Grandfathers farm was but Chavez never succeeded in making union membership mandatory anyplace that I am aware of. Here in CA we did get a lot of law passed that improved the lot of migrant workers. Also in most of the farm areas I’ve seen here the farms are too big for a small town or distant college kids to work. In a few pockets, we do have family farms and they sell to the local stores, at farmers markets and we have one that has two Thai restaurants to sell their own produce cooked up in Thai fashion. Yum.
Yes, many were.
I also read somewhere that many of the people who settled the Mat-Su Valley area, where I believer Wasilla is located, also went to Alaska because of the Dust Bowl devastation of Oklahoma and other Plains states. Can any local Mat-Su Valley person verify that?
If so, Sarah Palin owes her local heritage to another economic downturn and should therefore be more sympathetic to working people who need fair wages, safe working conditions, reliable and affordable health care, and great education for their children.
Coming from those roots, if my info is valid, Sarah should be a champion of the true meaning of Labor Day, not its antithesis.
sunflower, most former Oklahomans now in the Anchorage/Wasilla area came to Alaska during the pipeline years.
KS SF, you usually have very insightful comments, but I think you are dreaming if you think $P is going to give a poop about any one besides herself.
Thank you all for some very thoughtful info on this Labor Day.
Hiring unionized workers may not be mandatory, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have to do it. There was really no option left once Chavez is done.
The Central Valley farms tend to be too big and remote for locals and university students to pick. That was never true in the Bay Area (which not has almost no farms left) or Southern CA, where there are still many farms outside the LA basin that are perfectly accessible, nor in many areas of the Central Coast. My parents and in laws all picked to earn college money. I picked some in high school. My grandfather’s farm (now my cousin’s) is in Southern California.
The Department of Labor has launched a job search site that it hopes will help people find work in new career paths by building upon the skills you’ve already proven you have. That’s probably a good idea considering that we’ve lost so many manufacturing and consumer servicing jobs to low-wage centers overseas. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’ve changed career paths several times and proving that skills are transferable seemed to me to be most difficult part of the job search.
http://www.myskillsmyfuture.org/
BTW, I tried this site with a couple of job categories I’ve held. I liked the results — lists lots of categories that might work and also gives salary ranges one can expect in each, plus it has a link to potential jobs. It may not work for everyone’s situation, but I applaud this constructive effort.
I am proud that a progressive administration is generating ideas like this.
Any update on when the No-Lady of Alaska/USA is going to be meeting with the Iron-Lady of GB? Summer’s almost over… Just sayin’. beth.
I haven’t heard any more. Palin’s broadcast about her upcoming visit was followed by broad reporting about Mrs. Thatcher’s dementia. Which makes me wonder if the photo op will no longer work. She can’t very well say that she and Lady Thatcher had an in-depth conversation about the state of the world without being blown away by the international media (who she has yet to manipulate in the same way that she has wrapped the MSM around her middle finger–oops, did I just say that?!).
“She can’t very well say that she and Lady Thatcher had an in-depth conversation about the state of the world”.
Sure she could, because it wasn’t until NOW that Margaret Thatcher could dumb down her conversation to the point that SP might understand what she had to say. But yeah, everyone would be all over her for it. Not that it would stop her legions of sycophants from believing that she’s the Oracle of Delphi or something.
I think we all need to buy a copy of this issue of Newsweek (that has a lengthy story about the right wing distortions about Obama).
http://mediamatters.org/research/201009030023
Good idea. It would reinforce MSM’s reporting about those distortions. I just put it on my shopping list. Thanks
A Facebook friend shared this link with me today. This speech was given on October 31, 1936 when our nation was suffering from many of the same problems we are struggling with today. As I read his speech, I began to cry, because FDR “got” it then as we need to “get it” today. If you feel the same way after reading this link, then please pass it on to every source you can think of.
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/text/us/fdr1936.html
Excellent speech, much of it very relevant to our situation today. Thank you so much for sharing this on Labor Day in particular because it relates to how business interests were undermining workers’ interests by distorting facts about progressive legislation. This is a keeper.
Gramiam, thank you so much for the link (c. 30 mins long). From the end of the FDR 1936 NY speech:
“We have need of that devotion today. It is that which makes it possible for government to persuade those who are mentally prepared to fight each other to go on instead, to work for and to sacrifice for each other. That is why we need to say with the Prophet: “What doth the Lord require of thee‹but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” That is why the recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility, not for ourselves as individuals alone, but for our Nation.
That is the road to peace.”
Enjoy this quite explosive article from the new Vanity Fair on Bible Spice:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/10/sarah-palin-201010
And this is the article in the Guardian re the Vanity Fair Article. The last paragraph entitled “her reply” is a scream. I especially enjoyed the last sentence which I think the author must have had his tongue firmly in his cheek!
Where were you last week?
I love the UK Vanity Fair title of the same article: “Smears, Lies and Big Speaking Fees: Inside Sarah Palin, Inc.”
Sure does get right at the point that she is all about making money regardless of many lies and smears she has to repeat.
LABOR DAY FORUM OF EXCELLENCE AWARD!!
I am presenting this award to all of the mudflatters who are taking their Labor Day to promote excellent debate and discussion on such important topics. Really, this is one of the best forum pages I’ve seen. What a bunch of informed and intelligent and engaged folks!
Enjoy the award and keep reminding all what this day is for!!
There was an awesome documentary on our local PBS last week about the longshoremen’s strike on the west coast. Also very violent. A General Strike in San Francisco was required for them to win. Let’s hear it for the Teamsters. It’s all about Solidarity.
The left in this country could learn a few lessons from the idea of Solidarity.
I share City Boy’s frustrations but I agree with many of the posters above that change doesn’t come easily or quickly. After all, “the only person who really likes change is a wet baby” (I borrowed this one). Another friend of mine put it this way ” Obama is throwing dirt, shovelful by shovelful, in a big hole that someone else dug”. He doesn’t have a backhoe to do it with because he doesn’t have the backing of a good part of the politicians in the country. Yes, the Dems in Congress often seem spineless. However, I am sure that there are many things going on that we are not privy to. I could scream and yell and stomp my feet that Gitmo isn’t closed, that we are still losing people in Afghanistan (including Afghan civilians), that the Patriot Act hasn’t been repealed, that we don’t have the universal health care that so many of us wanted. That just makes my blood pressure go up. I can also scream and yell that I am losing my job and that life isn’t fair. That doesn’t do me any good either. I am trying to take the long and patient view instead of yelling that “the sky is falling”. We can and will get through this. Keep voting your conscience, don’t expect everything all at once. Keep breathing.
And it is thanks to President Obama that the sky is not falling. I can only imagine what the country (and the world) would have looked like with 4 more years of Bush/Cheney policies or with a couple of years under the leadership(?) of McCain/Palin.
We now have the horrors of Angle, Paul and Miller (to name just a few) to combat. Let’s hope that voters refresh their memories about the policies that plunged most of the world into the worst economic melt-down since the great depression. Such a slide of economic confidence is not rebuilt in a couple of years; it does indeed take time and careful reconstruction to prevent another like disaster. Does anyone really think that the current crop of right wing demagogues are the people to shepherd the country forward?
Your metaphors are fantastic – very apt, descriptive and easy to visualize. Love the wet baby and change one as much as the filling the hole shovel by shovel because he lacks a back hoe due to a lack of bipartisan backing. LoveMyDogs, our thoughts are with you and our hopes that your employment situation soon has a positive outcome.
If I were an employer, I’d hire you just based on your attitude because, when push comes to shove, attitude is all. It can overcome the odds and make all the difference! Thanks for lifting us all up even when you have challenges to face yourself.
UNION-YES
I second that!
Mind you, I grew up in a factory-dominated town. Actually – many factories where they’d work people 10 to 12 hour days six or seven days a week for six months and they lay most off for six months until new orders came in. Then the cycle would repeat itself.
To try to change things, a couple of militant unions came in then both management and unions created a couple of violent years where unions hired thugs to distribute strike leaflets (and would tip your car over if your window wasn’t down quick enough to take the leaflets – I remember being a kid in such a car), and a few got so carried away they did some of the original drive-by shootings of houses and cars belonging to people who were breaking union picket lines. The companies had their own thugs doing almost exactly the same thing. The vast number of workers were caught in the middle. Finally everyone realized that the violence was accomplishing anyone’s goals, and things calmed down. The unions and the companies changed management and there haven’t been repeats of those turbulent things since.
I still believe in unions. I wish clerical workers and cubicle workers in corporations would unionize because corporations who pay salaries instead of hourly wages abuse those worker a lot – demanding a lot I worked for a corporation that evaded federal wage laws by touting its 37.5 workweek but unless you worked lunches, came in early or stayed late you could not get the work done during normal hours – so heavy was the workload. Those who refused to put in the unpaid hours didn’t keep their jobs long.
So, again – hurray for unions (unless they become as unreasonable as some management teams). Overall, it’s just better to keep workers safe, well paid, and covered with benefits because those workers are generally more productive.
Over the years, I’ve come to believe most people want to feel pride in doing their jobs well, no matter what the job, but they want to be appreciated and receive a fair share of the profits for what they do or produce. Unions, when they work, merely ensure that happens.
So the Koch brothers are the major funders of the climate change deniers. Sorry if this is old news, but this is another reason why Sarah is in bed with the Koch brothers.
They are major polluters and lowlifes.
http://tinyurl.com/2epepr3
Here in CA Big Oil is trying to overrun our Environmental Regulations with Prop 23. The Koch boys just gave a million dollars to Yes on 23. During the Primary PG&E, tried to buy a vote to stop small power companies from forming from new sources of energy. It lost. Both red and blue voters do not like being “bought” by these guys.
We really do need a change in the legal fiction (that’s the correct term BTW) that a corporation is an unnatural person. We have limits on funding by individuals, we really do need to implement tough limits and enforce them as to how much a corporation can give.
If all individuals, rich or poor, have the same limits on how much they can contribute to candidates, why don’t we have the same limits on all businesses as well. If corporations are equal in rights to real people, they should abide by the same limits we have, shouldn’t they?
I watched the PBS series on Appalachia last night, That segment was about the coal mines and the stirp mines. This song was one that was used when they talked about the formation of the unions.
Quite a few years ago, Pete Seeger was in Seattle for the Folk Life Festival and I drug my then 12 year old along. The program included a lot of folk singers who all sang about the unions. When the audience sang along, I joined in and knew most of the words. This was one of the songs that night as well. Daughter, who liked to sing folk songs with me, asked how I knew all the songs. I wasn’t really sure, except that I’d heard them and sung them with friends in the 1960s.
A picture can be worth a thousand words, it’s true. But sometimes a song can carry the message even better and linger long after speeches and photographs are forgotten.
That should be strip mines – you know, and the mountain top removal. It seems some of the current politicians have forgotten that parts of Appalachia were already stripped and changed forever. Who would miss one mountain top, indeed. Whoever that nitwit was should watch the show that was on last night. In fact, all of them should hear the voices of people who have called that part of our country home for generations. They know what will be lost – and what we have already lost.
You said it well! I wish we could get all the Representatives and Senators out to visit the communities and areas devastated by reckless mining policies – not as politicians, but as people talking to people (I know – not going to happen, right?). They need to see, to feel, to experience what happens before they ever vote on it.
Sometimes judges have juries visit the scene of a murder in order to understand what happened. Sure wish we could apply that same principle to our politicians – make them visit the communities that are hurt, see the land that is ruined, have to drink the water that is polluted. Otherwise, for too many, it’s not real, doesn’t count.
I have worked both union and non union places.Can’t say anything bad about either as the nonunion were good places to work and the owners back then took care of employees,not like today where it is all about money no matter how long ya worked at a place. My dad was a union member all his life and if it was not for his union pension my parents would have lost everything when they retired and my mom got sick and eventually passed on.That pension along with his S.S. helped them live in relative comfort in their home,The workers agreed to have their cost of living raises go towards their pension instead of directly to them.I saw a lot of his papers when he got his once a year and they had invested wisely and at that time,before the melt down had plenty of money for retirees.They also had insurance for the people and their wives and only had to pay extra for the spouse until about 8 years ago.When my dad passed away in 2005 he had told me he made more at that time than he had working 40 hours.But ya have to remember he had been retired for almost 18 years.
I think one of the most callous and devastating things Republicans pitched for corporate interests was the right for companies to break contract terms regarding health care and pensions for workers who invested their entire lives for the benefit of those companies. Funds should always be put aside in Trust Funds for those purposes and be inviolate as regards a company’s right to take them away. Some companies do that; others don’t. When workers forego contractual raises to fund retirement or health care, that money should not be allowed to be drained away or the obligations dropped by the company.
I understand that companies go through hard times as well, but generally they are in a better position to reposition their financial situation than any worker. Oops – getting carried away – but my passion is fueled by relentless reporting of astronomical executive salaries, stock options and expense accounts and the pressure to keep pushing up profits regardless of the impact on those who actually create and sustain the business. Okay – time to go away for a while or I will be passing my Union Sign Up card to everyone. Happy Labor Day everyone
Standing in the checkout line at the grocer’s just now, my eye caught sight of the latest issue {9/6} of “The Globe.” Prominently displayed for ‘impulse buy’ purposes, this is the cover: http://www.globemagazine.com/media/originals/201036.jpg
As a matter of principle (and of budget), I didn’t purchase the rag — so I’ve no earthly idea what the “scoop” within its pages actually says. I’d be willing to bet that very *few* folks’ll purchase it, either…BUT you can be damned sure the image and the words from the cover Were processed and Will become part of their ‘information’ about POTUS…part of the ‘knowledge base’ of *everyone* who happens to see it…however briefly.
When the US populace is assaulted at every turn (either overtly or subliminally) with ‘quick-read-information’/crap such as this, is it *ANY* wonder they’re so incredibly, irresponsible dumb and so achingly, appallingly ignorant? beth.
BTW – the online ‘teaser’ for the “scoop”?
Obama Muslim Cover-Up!
President Barack Obama REALLY is a Muslim, say political insiders who insist he’s hiding the truth from Americans as part of a plan to build a mosque near New York’s World Trade Center, which was destroyed on 9-11. In an explosive Special Report, GLOBE blows the lid off what a top government official publicly says is Obama’s shocking confession and documents investigators claim prove he is a follower of Islam. It’s must reading! http://www.globemagazine.com/story/546
To me it goes beyond insulting. First because it lies about the President’s religion and second because it implies that there is something heinous about being Muslim.
Read the link on my post at 25: even General Petraeus is speaking out about the dangerous game that the far right is playing with its attacks against Islam.
This is unconscionable!
We should protest the magazine directly at the vendor level. Perhaps they can place this rag in a less obvious place. They are as distasteful as sexual exploitation magazines -which have the right to be sold but are not displayed out in the open.
Right wing antics are hurting the troops? And hatred toward Islam in the US will help the Taliban’s and Al Qaeda’s recruitment efforts? You mean all the vitriol about Muslims might do some harm to the US image, let’s say, in Afghanistan? Say it ain’t so Sarah and Newt:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703713504575475500753093116.html
I have heard that the story of the Qu’ran burning is causing rock throwing on our troops in Afghanistan. Here’s my question, should our MSM even be reporting this? Why give these guys publicity? They are small fry, why make them more important? Will the MSM make as big a deal over the reaction our troops are getting because of the actions of just a few haters?
Why is it that some self-proclaimed Christians are willing to profane the holy books of other religions but would raise Holy Heck if their own holy book was treated in the same way?
Have they never heard the message “do unto others as you would have them do onto you?”
I sure don’t know which Christ these few insane folks are following, but it’s not one I recognize.
What they are doing is creating a more dangerous environment that any photo of Jane Fonda ever did. These Koran-burners are simply refusing to think of the consequences. I suspect the pastors of these weird cultist churches are doing this not so much out of faith as out of a hope for fame. They see an opportunity to get their fifteen minutes of fame — which, if our troops or cities are harmed in retaliation, will quickly turn their names that will live in infamy.
This is an excellent recap of the President’s Labor Day speech:
http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-labor-day-2010
Whew…lots of posts but had to add this one before I dash off. It’s about Jewish support for Sarah Palin (although the majority do not support her). What I’d like to know is, do her supporters have any idea about her religious beliefs and what she expects (wants) to happen to the Jews in the end of times?
http://www.jpost.com/JerusalemReport/Article.aspx?id=186583
Yeah, I don’t think they do. Nor do I think most Christians have any idea what her coded messages actually mean. That’s the problem with education, whether formal or informal. You can put the information in front of people but they still have to take the time to read it, think about it, research it beyond the initial information. And sadly, most right-wingers just don’t do it. Their information is fed to them by the likes of Fox and Beck and Palin and they are satisfied that that’s enough.
Sad, but true. I agree with both of you (OMG and Pat). Folks just are not willing to learn and think.
So we march day and night by the big cooling tower,
They have the plants but we have the power.
You’ll never leave Harlan alive…
Patty Loveless knows from coal miners and always brings me tears
(that’s good “saltwater therapy” though…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMrFzpbjJcs
Pete Seeger and the Weavers…Solidarity Forever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiKdJoSsb8
Rich Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO ,
“Why Working People Are Angry and Why Politicians Should Listen” …
contrasts anger with hate (at about the 11 minute mark) Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School, April 07, 2010 (Not his most passionate speech, but content-rich with plenty to ponder)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoEZX0AQnLE
in solidarity,
thatcrowwoman
Thank you ‘Ms. Caw’ for the the Trumka speech and Pete Seeger.
There are many (not necessarily ‘Flatters) that need to hear Mr. Tumka. I was impressed with his words during the 2008 campaign. He has spoken to groups who were not prepared to hear the truth, but he told it anyway.
Once again, am close to the last attendee to the party tonight…. However found this on Huff Po and it is a very good read of what needs to be done during the next couple months.
snip] The debate in the next two months must focus on one central question: do you want to entrust our future once again to Republicans who wrecked the economy – not because they were incompetent or had “bad” policies – but because they were bought and paid for by huge special interests like the big Wall Street Banks, Big Oil and the insurance industry. That is a moral question – not a policy question. [end snip
read lots more @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/this-falls-election-is-no_b_706870.html
My comment went ….. into la la land I think
Once again, am close to the last attendee to the party tonight…. However found this on Huff Po and it is a very good read of what needs to be done during the next couple months.
snip] The debate in the next two months must focus on one central question: do you want to entrust our future once again to Republicans who wrecked the economy – not because they were incompetent or had “bad” policies – but because they were bought and paid for by huge special interests like the big Wall Street Banks, Big Oil and the insurance industry. That is a moral question – not a policy question. [end snip
read lots more @ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/this-falls-election-is-no_b_706870.html
The first things on heard on the radio this morning was how horribly the Democrats are doing and that they are going to lose in November in BOTH houses of Congress. I listened to Limbaugh for about 15 minutes (feel I need to hear what crud he is spreading) and he was on President Obama about his ‘dog’ comment yesterday. Called him a ‘boy dog’ or ‘dog boy’, which seemed to have a racial slant to me.
I worry because the Democrats are relying on President Obama to be the main one out there raising money and campaigning (Michelle Obama is going to go out on the stump too) when he has so much to do just being President of the United States! Where is their united front and positive communication about President Obama and review of what he has accomplished during his short term in office IN SPITE OF ‘the party of no’? The constant verbage we hear is anti Obama and I’m sick to death about what is being written about him on Huffington Post and the editor’s commentary. Come on folks – talk about the positive things!
He needs our support!