I wonder...when my grandpa went into the Army, after basic training instead of sending him to the Pacific (where he ended up at the very end) they sent him to Minneapolis and put him in a war plant "undercover". He was a machine toolist so he knew what proper work looked like, and the reason he was put there was because there were allegations that some workers in the plant were doing substandard work as a way to sabotage.
Turns out, it was true and they arrested the workers who were doing it.
My brother joined the Socialist Workers Party during the Vietnam era.
I remember him being at a demonstration in DC at about the same time my cousin Danny was getting vetted and background checked to work for the CIA. He and his wife both served the Company as analysts (or so they said).
It seems that a pro-union governor had to eventually kow-tow to the businesses. It seems a recurring pattern ... the companies win the battle, but lose the war. The unions tend to succeed even despite these early losses.
That was true until the owner class got the congress and the courts to restrict union activities like organizing and labor action, when the tide turned against labor. It started in the '70s and accelerated in the '80s and remained so until the very recent past.
Corruption in the union leadership was also a big contributing factor to labor's loss of power.
Yet there it is. My dad was a teamster near the end of the Jimmy Hoffa era. Mostly he was in the Intl Ladies Garment Workers and some textile workers union.
"Oh, we got a great big convoy, truckin' through the night"
... the fact that my brain remembers that song after all the gallons of alcohol I've consumed to kill brain cells over the years is both remarkable and horrifying.
A thoroughly engrossing as well as intermittently enraging read, Mister Loomis. It is enormously humbling to look back and recognize just how much in the way of blood, sweat and tears have been shed on behalf of worker's rights [and too often their essential humanity...] and the incredible respect, staunch regard and unwavering support we proles owe our unions.
Now I'm hearing that "...support the union label!" song I remember seeing on the TV in the seventies when in was in primary school. We really ought to see about bringing that sort of PSA back.
OT. This time we might not be able to blame Substack.
"Ferocious solar storm could give US [late on Friday or early Saturday] rare view of northern lights. Large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday morning, Noaa says"
A ferocious solar storm powerful enough to knock out or disrupt satellite and communications systems, the power grid and radio signals was raging on Friday, space weather researchers warned.
The severity of the geomagnetic storm that has propelled multiple solar flares towards Earth in recent days also brings a spectacular bonus for sky watchers: a rare but stunning view of the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights, in places they are rarely seen in the US.
More commonly visible only in Alaska and Canada, the show could be visible overnight in states including California, Colorado, Missouri and Virginia, and perhaps as far south as Alabama.
By contrast, if one of the servers was hosted at a university and got hit by an errant throw during track practice, we could blame Substack AND Discus.
Because it was all before my time, I never really stop to think about it, but y'know there was a pretty long history of using the National Guard against labor activists for a long, long time. It makes me wonder, but if Governors weren't so used to pulling the National Guard trigger against labor, would we have had Kent State?
There were quite a few state militia armories in NEPA (very few are left) that were built in the 1890s/early 1900s so that the PA State Militia/National Guard could be easily organized to help put down coal mine strikes. The largest left is the Kingston Armory (still in use by the PANG), which is located near the former anthracite mines in the Wyoming Valley. The other one, the Watres Armory in Scranton, covered the northern anthracite fields. It's now an art gallery.
In some ways it was a golden age of driving. The performance needs of bootleggers led to what we now know as the automobile customization market, and NASCAR. Some of those boys learned to make cars do things that were previously impossible to outrun the revenuers.
I was sarcastically agreeing which means I was laughing at your assertion, dude who bickering for 3 days before agreeing with my position. All you have is bad faith and lies
Great article, Erik! Many Thanks!
Ta, Erik. There was much here I didn't know before I read this.
I wonder...when my grandpa went into the Army, after basic training instead of sending him to the Pacific (where he ended up at the very end) they sent him to Minneapolis and put him in a war plant "undercover". He was a machine toolist so he knew what proper work looked like, and the reason he was put there was because there were allegations that some workers in the plant were doing substandard work as a way to sabotage.
Turns out, it was true and they arrested the workers who were doing it.
So I wonder if they were socialists or not.
My brother joined the Socialist Workers Party during the Vietnam era.
I remember him being at a demonstration in DC at about the same time my cousin Danny was getting vetted and background checked to work for the CIA. He and his wife both served the Company as analysts (or so they said).
It seems that a pro-union governor had to eventually kow-tow to the businesses. It seems a recurring pattern ... the companies win the battle, but lose the war. The unions tend to succeed even despite these early losses.
Or am I reading this incorrectly?
That was true until the owner class got the congress and the courts to restrict union activities like organizing and labor action, when the tide turned against labor. It started in the '70s and accelerated in the '80s and remained so until the very recent past.
Corruption in the union leadership was also a big contributing factor to labor's loss of power.
Hoping there will be a post on Sloppy Steve Bannon losing his conviction appeal for contempt of congress. I suppose he'll appeal to the supremes next.
I imagine he'll get a similar response to Navarro.
He's a peon, the Grand Legal Minds of SCOTUS don't care about peons.
Better happen soon. The bar will be open before you know it.
Hard to imagine kicking a local out of an international union because it was too successful in its strike.
Yet there it is. My dad was a teamster near the end of the Jimmy Hoffa era. Mostly he was in the Intl Ladies Garment Workers and some textile workers union.
"Oh, we got a great big convoy, truckin' through the night"
... the fact that my brain remembers that song after all the gallons of alcohol I've consumed to kill brain cells over the years is both remarkable and horrifying.
A thoroughly engrossing as well as intermittently enraging read, Mister Loomis. It is enormously humbling to look back and recognize just how much in the way of blood, sweat and tears have been shed on behalf of worker's rights [and too often their essential humanity...] and the incredible respect, staunch regard and unwavering support we proles owe our unions.
Now I'm hearing that "...support the union label!" song I remember seeing on the TV in the seventies when in was in primary school. We really ought to see about bringing that sort of PSA back.
Look for / The Union label
When you are buying / A coat, dress, or blouse.
Remember somewhere / A Union sewer
The wages going
To run the house and feed the kids
We work hard / With no complaining.....
I'm not to clear on the rest.......
Look for the union label
when you are buying that coat, dress or blouse.
Remember somewhere our union's sewing,
our wages going to feed the kids, and run the house.
We work hard, but who's complaining?
Thanks to the I.L.G. we're paying our way!
So always look for the union label,
it says we're able to make it in the U.S.A.!
Fucking corporate!
Fascinating stuff, thank you.
Another outstanding trip into deliberately ignored history by Professor Loomis. Bravo! There is strength in unions!
OT. This time we might not be able to blame Substack.
"Ferocious solar storm could give US [late on Friday or early Saturday] rare view of northern lights. Large sunspot cluster has produced several moderate to strong solar flares since Wednesday morning, Noaa says"
A ferocious solar storm powerful enough to knock out or disrupt satellite and communications systems, the power grid and radio signals was raging on Friday, space weather researchers warned.
The severity of the geomagnetic storm that has propelled multiple solar flares towards Earth in recent days also brings a spectacular bonus for sky watchers: a rare but stunning view of the aurora borealis, otherwise known as the northern lights, in places they are rarely seen in the US.
More commonly visible only in Alaska and Canada, the show could be visible overnight in states including California, Colorado, Missouri and Virginia, and perhaps as far south as Alabama.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/10/northern-lights-severe-storm
Hope you'll have clear skies where you are - because it's overcast here.
By contrast, if one of the servers was hosted at a university and got hit by an errant throw during track practice, we could blame Substack AND Discus.
And of course it’s overcast.
Well, if the thunder don't get ya, the lightning will.
-- Grateful Dead
THANK YOU.
Kinda makes this Minneapolitan, with a Teamster trucker for a grandpa, want to ask Mom how in blue hell she can vote Republican.
Because it was all before my time, I never really stop to think about it, but y'know there was a pretty long history of using the National Guard against labor activists for a long, long time. It makes me wonder, but if Governors weren't so used to pulling the National Guard trigger against labor, would we have had Kent State?
There were quite a few state militia armories in NEPA (very few are left) that were built in the 1890s/early 1900s so that the PA State Militia/National Guard could be easily organized to help put down coal mine strikes. The largest left is the Kingston Armory (still in use by the PANG), which is located near the former anthracite mines in the Wyoming Valley. The other one, the Watres Armory in Scranton, covered the northern anthracite fields. It's now an art gallery.
Good wondering.
Makes ya think! {furrows brow, tries to look smrt}.
Normally, this is the situation. But the state NGs can be "federalized", as Eisenhower did in Little Rock, to enforce Federal directives.
Imagine being a trucker in the '30s. Brick roads, unpaved roads, no highways, trucks breaking down all the time, phones hard to find - oy.
A few years later (1949) "Thieves Highway" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVSfoZg2cPY
cf. 'They Drive By Night,' 1940: https://youtu.be/dZCbLFGYf9E
Cars then were wild. Like you were expected to be pretty handy and stocked with spare parts to stay on the road
Mad Max does NASCAR
It was just wild, like actually having to monitor and fill the radiator., so better keep a hug of water around. Or oil.
"Overtime" and "sick leave" and "disability insurance" and such being foreign concepts.
In some ways it was a golden age of driving. The performance needs of bootleggers led to what we now know as the automobile customization market, and NASCAR. Some of those boys learned to make cars do things that were previously impossible to outrun the revenuers.
Which is why old-school NASCAR was really fun to watch. Like the FATHER of the Dale Earnhardt who was the father of Dale Jr....
Wild reading cursorily on the Communist League. Essentially dissident Trotskyites purged from/unhappy with the Stalinist Comintern.
The Stalinist Comintern was essentially an organ of the state capitalist Stalinist state, which had issues with labor, too.
I don't do the no true Scotsman fallacy on the USSR under Stalin.
Tankie, you love Stalin, so your opinion is moot.
Sure, Jan
I was sarcastically agreeing which means I was laughing at your assertion, dude who bickering for 3 days before agreeing with my position. All you have is bad faith and lies