Barbara Kopple’s films Harlan County USA and American Dream captured labor struggle as it was happening: on picket lines, inside unions, and under pressure. Decades later, both remain some of the finest labor documentaries ever made.
A Martyred Miner’s Sacrifice (1925), An Empty Threat (1775), ‘The Part Which Black Folk Played’ (1935), Danger! Curriculum Deviation! (1965), A Very, Very Unpopular Treaty (1960), How to Shrink an Economy (1930)
This company violated the law before the strike, they violated the law at the beginning of the strike, they violated the law at the end of the strike.
Labor militants ousted entrenched leadership in the United Mine Workers in 1972, an historic breakthrough that led to setbacks and successes.
Reader Comments: Kansas Vote, 2022 Elections; Missing From the Reconciliation Bill; Ukraine and the Peace Movement; David Moberg Remembered; NLRB Orders UMWA To Pay; Visionary Art of Ralph Fasanella; Cartoons, Resources, Announcements; more ....
“The Constitution of the United States protects American citizens’ rights to stand on the side of a road and call a scab a scab,” United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts said in response to a circuit court restraining order.
The Battle of Blair Mountain saw thousands of miners battling cops’ machine guns—and enduring aerial bombardment. Yet today hardly anyone remembers a thing about it.
“They don’t want to pay the profit back that we earned that company,” UMWA District 20 vice president Larry Spencer told the rally. "Give us a fair contract and we’ll go back to work in these coal mines" The strike is the longest in Alabama history.
Reader Comments: With Minimum Wage Can't Afford Rent; US Blockade of Cuba Sparks Protests; Recovering Racist History; Climate Change on Lake Michigan; Socialism No Longer Dirty Word; Lots (and lots) of Announcements
Striking Alabama Miners Call Out NYC Hedge Funds for Bringing in Scabs
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