#LaborDay special from the @precariousfac archives: "Salt of the Earth" (1954) + links

Salt of the Earth (1954) is an American drama film written by MichaelWilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics. (Image: Library of Congress. March 14, 1954 premier at the only theater in the the city that would show it)

The film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film. The film was called subversive and blacklisted because the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers sponsored it and many blacklisted Hollywood professionals helped produce it.

#PrecariousFaculty Network Links (weekly)

…labor history (1998 Syracuse U strike, pictured: Ben Shahn mural at SU), strikes, adjunct unions, organizing, censorship, social media, academic freedom, adjunct blog posts, Labor Notes Conference, unpaid academic labor, retirement, higher inequalities, two-tier system, adjunct response to NYT Op-Ed

Lawyers, Guns & Money: This Day in Labor History x 33

Yes, I admit to a weakness for blogs with interesting names, a choice not illogically based on the expectation that they be more interesting to read. So far, it's panning out as expected. Plus, a post about labor history is relevant even if not specifically about academic labor. If we are to be involved in Higher Ed Labor Issues, as appears to be the case, then reading labor history makes mighty sense, no doubt more than reading novels about labor or higher ed, even for the lit majors among us. No shortage of action ~ strikes, rebellions, massacres, murder, uprising, deportation and more...

Erik Loomis, Lawyers, Guns & Money, writes, 

A year ago today, I published my first installment of This Day in Labor History. 33 posts and 1 award later, here we are. I thought there might be interest in having them in digest form.

The first Labor Day parade: "Let Labor Unite"

Reposted from Fight Back News, pictures and links added, because a) it's worth it, and b) I have no intention of working on Labor Day. This post was assembled Sunday and scheduled to post Monday. Look for Labor Day relevant music video links here and on our Facebook wall (music keeps it from counting as work)

The huge procession began with 400 members of Bricklayers Union No. 6, all dressed in white aprons. They were followed by a band and then the members of the Manufacturing Jewelers union. The jewelers marched four abreast, wearing derby hats and dark suits with buttonhole bouquets. They all carried canes resting on their shoulders (similar to the way infantry officers carry swords when on parade.)

As the day went on, the parade included contingents from the Manufacturing Shoemakers Union No. 1 (wearing blue badges), and an especially well-received contingent from the Big 6 - Typographical Union No. 6 - whose 700-strong delegation marched with military precision (they had practiced beforehand.) The Friendly Society of Operative Masons marched with their band. They were followed by 250 members of the Clothing Cutters Benevolent and Protective Union, the Dress and Cloak Makers Union, the Decorative Masons, and the Bureau of United Carpenters (who marched with a decorated wagon).  

First Labor Day Parade, 1882, Union Square NYC 

The parade was filled with banners: "Labor Built the Republic - Labor Shall Rule It"; "To the Workers Should Belong the Wealth"; "Down with the Competitive System"; "Down with Convict Contract Labor"; "Down with the Railroad Monopoly"; and "Children in School and Not in Factories," among others. The members of the Socialist Singing Society carried a red flag with a yellow lyre in its center. The banner which perhaps summed up the entire procession best was carried by members of the American Machinists, Engineers, and Blacksmiths Union (who wore heavy leather aprons and working clothes). It read simply: "Let Labor Unite."

It was the first Labor Day parade - and it took place on a Tuesday.

Labor Day became official in this country when the U.S. Congress passed a law in 1894 making the first Monday in September a legal holiday. But this holiday was not simply given to the workers of the United States by the government as some act of charity. The tradition of publicly honoring labor’s contribution to society is a custom established by the workers themselves.

The first Labor Day parade in the United States was held in New York City on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882. More than 10,000 workers marched. It was organized by the Central Labor Union, a body representing 60 unions and over 80,000 people. The CLU was a secret lodge of the Knights of Labor, the major national union of the time.

To really appreciate the September 1882 labor parade, it’s important to keep in mind the profound changes that this country had gone through in the 17 years before it took place. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the capitalists of the North emerged triumphant. They went on the offensive, bitterly opposing labor’s demands. By the time the depression of 1873 took place, any lingering unity between the different forces which had united in opposition to slavery had been torn apart.

Reading Room: A Proposal to American Labor

Remember the reading tradition in US union history? Workers Reading Rooms in hiring halls. Samuel Gompers' cigar rollers voting to have a member on the clock read to them as they worked.

Why not an online reading room right here? Hence, another topic area signaled by Reading Room in the post title. I've been reading on four articles and was going to post links on all of them in this post but changed my mind. Instead, they will come one at a time, substantially excerpted, although I hope you will take the time click through and read each in its entirety. Now for the ellipsis exercise....



A Proposal to American Labor, by Richard B. Freeman and Joel Rogers, appearing in The Nation, June 24, 2002. discusses Open Source Unionism, its history, structure and current application. "Solidarity Unionism" described in this article is making a comeback, and the article is still linked as a resource on IWW website