quote:The relative freedom of the West Virginia miners was quickly overshadowed as industries began to exhibit more and more control over the region. Soon company towns dominated the coalfields, and miners had no choice but to live in them. Every aspect of a miner’s life was controlled by what existed for him in the operator-owned town. Only paid in company script, miners had no choice but to shop at the company store, which greatly inflated prices in order to compensate for wage increases. Towns were unsanitary and lacked any kind of central political structure. Important information on voting and politics were withheld from miners, and the company post-master routinely scrutinized thier mail. Operators controlled every aspect of the town and ruled unjustly and often times violently. When population and discontent began to rise in company towns, operators installed private police-like guards who patrolled the streets and instituted their own brand of martial law.
(empasis added)
*the first non-union member of my family going back at least 2 generations. And that's only because they don't have a union for what I do.*
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I just wrote a 15-page paper on John L. Lewis. One of the major themes of it was how although Lewis claimed to lead the United Mine Workers democratically, he in fact ran it like the Soviet Union, a veritable dictatorship.
My point was that even though he went on to do great things in his 20th year and after, as leader of the UMW, he did little to help the plight of Mine Workers during those years. And because of that, I argued that the ends should not justify the means in this instance.
Besides, the guy turned into a wack job for the last 20 years of his presidency.
So, in essence, I am for voting rights for miners.
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quote:I just wrote a 15-page paper on John L. Lewis. One of the major themes of it was how although Lewis claimed to lead the United Mine Workers democratically, he in fact ran it like the Soviet Union, a veritable dictatorship.
Trog, I'm really not that up on specific labor leaders.
My father told me that when he was growing up, there was a billy club that sat in the corner of the kitchen. It was a souvenir - my grandfather took it away from a cop who was using it to bust heads on a picket line.
The closest I have to a "hero" is Saul Alinsky, who worked organizing local groups to exercise political power. I'm currently living in the city he started his career in - my hometown is one he came to to help organize the African-American community (at the invitation of African-American leaders). One of his books is probably the one I refer to most often - mostly for comfort, I've got most of it down by now. I'm on my third or fourth copy of Rules for Radicals since a youth minister turned me on to my first one when I was fifteen.
Alinsky is good reading - a pragmatist who looked at the world as one going through constant revolutions. Checking him out might take some of the stink out of the Lewis reading.
A free and open society is an ongoing conflict, interrupted periodically by compromises. --Saul Alinsky
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