A People's History of the United States: The Working Class

strike Mott's Howard Zinn labor union

Flying Squirrel Community Space was home to a talk on Thursday September 9 hosted by Progressives In Action. The subject was “A People's History of the United States: The Working Class.” Brian Lenzo was the featured speaker. Lenzo is a regular contributor to the blog The Sitch (www.thesitch.com), a member of the International Socialist Organization, and accompanied a humanitarian mission to Gaza in 2009. But the talk was not about deplorable conditions is some far-off place. It was about conditions becoming deplorable for working Americans right here in Western New York.

Much of the discussion referenced the work of the late Howard Zinn (1922-2010) A People's History of the United States. Zinn's purpose in writing the book was “to provide history not just to enrich your life but to give you the tools to deal with the struggles of today.” What can we learn from working class struggles in American history and apply it to today? First of all, that things have not changed as much as we might think, or as much as we would like.

Those in positions of power in this country have represented the rich and powerful, the owning class. Some call this the status quo, public impoverishment of those they rule over. Capitalism generates periodic crises, some of which can be really bad. Long periods of tranquility are interrupted by sudden violent explosions often in the form of wars. Gains made by workers can suffer serious backlashes. Many of the gains earned by workers during the 1930's were set back during the McCarthy years. So-called Reaganomics is a pushback against gains made by workers during the 1960's and is still going on. In 1943, 36 percent of the American work force belonged to a union. That number is down to 12 percent now and declining.

The discussion started with debunking some common myths (or propaganda) regarding labor. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin do not represent the people of the USA. Their tour in Washington DC was paid for by corporate dollars, from companies standing to benefit from preservation of the Bush-era tax cuts, lax regulation, repeal of environmental protections and foreign wars for resources. The press' darling “Joe the Plumber” was likewise debunked as a media caricature. He wasn't a plumber (no license) his name wasn't Joe (it was Sam Wurzelbach) and in fact he was a manager and earned more than 95 percent of working Americans. This is not surprising because many of these corporations also control newspapers, radio and TV stations. Another myth depicts American workers as white males. White males only make up 46 percent of the work force. The typical American worker is more likely to be a chart-toting female hospital worker.

Unfortunately corporations control more than just words. Many wield coercive military power, operating outside the law. In the 1930's Ford Motor Company had a private security force of over 6000. Today Blackwater/Xe has as many mercenary contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan as the US has troops, and the Obama administration is increasing their numbers. On the same day this talk was given, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a decision and ruled that Jepssen Dataplan Inc. was not liable for the unconstitutional rendition and torture of “terrorism” suspects. Jepssen Dataplan is a subsidiary of Boeing, a major defense contractor.

Some Labor history was made right here in Rochester, New York. The Industrial Brotherhood, which later became the Knights of Labor was formed here. They held their 1896 convention in Osborne House, which was located near where the Riverside Convention Center now stands. Their motto was An injury to one is concern to all, which later evolved into An injury to one is an injury to all. Some of their demands were an 8 hour work day, equal pay for equal work, and an end to child labor. Although it took some time, these all eventually became law. Another demand was the nationalization of telegraph and railroad companies. Today that might translate to net neutrality and high speed rail.

Labor history is being made right now in our area by the striking workers at the Mott's plant in nearby Williamson, NY. Mott's, owned by the Dr Pepper Snapple Group, made a half-billion dollars last year and raised the pay of its CEO to $6.3 million. The company wants to cut workers' pay while at the same time forcing them to pay more for health insurance, and lower the pay of new hires to poverty wages. This is about greed in the time of greatest profit. The cuts are not necessary to keep the plant operating. The company wants to lower wages and the standard of living in the area.

This has historical precedent. FW Woolworth Co. was a large department store chain with 2010 stores in 1936. It developed enormous pressure over its suppliers, driving down prices and then wages. A strike at two stores in Detroit threatened to shut the company down. It spread to some competitors, while other competitors raised their workers' pay to prevent being targets themselves. The Woolworth workers won their demands of overtime pay and a 48 hour work week. Most of the strikers were female lunch counter workers, not macho super heroes.

This is not the first time politicians have turned a blind eye to labor issues. While everyone knows about the Hoovervilles and that president's contempt toward workers, few realize that Franklin D Roosevelt's 1932 campaign platform was a balanced budget and preservation of free markets. It was not until his second term that most of the New Deal programs were proposed and implemented. We can do more than just hope that the Obama administration does likewise. We need to elect progressive candidates to Congress, and tell the truth about corporate-backed liars and shills.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, unions around the world took lessons from struggles in America and successfully brought about reforms in their own countries. Now it's time for America to look toward the rest of the world. Two days before Brian Lenzo gave this presentation, between 2 and 3 million workers in France staged a general strike. Their target was the government's “austerity program” and pension cuts. In South Africa, 1.3 million workers have been on strike for three weeks, facing some of the stiffest police action since the fall of apartheid. People in other parts of the world are not afraid to take to the streets, and they cause real disruptions. Our unions need to be on the offensive. This is clearly one of the struggles Howard Zinn wanted us to have the tools to deal with.