Dubbed “the Negro Eugene Debs,” Frank Crosswaith was one of the great socialists of the early to mid-20th century. And his message was unwavering: only a vigorous labor movement and democratic socialist policies can deliver a better life for black workers.
At the dawn of the Great Depression, millions of workers were angry and didn’t see existing unions rising to the moment. They managed to build a fighting labor movement that transformed labor law and won the welfare state as we know it.
In 1877, one million workers went on strike and fought police and federal troops in cities across America. The monikers “Great Upheaval” and “Great Railroad Strike” undersell what verged on a second Civil War — this time pitting labor against capital.
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People have always been fighting to make things better, and that fight has never been easy, but has always been just. Kim Kelly's book chronicles the working-class heroes who were pushed to the margins or simply left out of U.S. labor history.
The Civil War was a revolutionary upheaval that crushed slavery and stoked hopes of a broader emancipation against the rule of property. We should draw on that memory today for struggles against racism and capitalism.
Karen Sieber
Labor and Working Class History Association
Karen Sieber tells us of the effort to honor the memory of slain union organizer Ella May Wiggins and the struggle for power by textile workers in the South.
Mary Anne Transciatti
The Labor and Working Class History Association
Barring any unforeseen obstacle, the Triangle Fire Memorial will be dedicated on the building where the fire happened on the fire’s 112th anniversary, March 25, 2023. It will be New York City’s first labor memorial.
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