Unhappy anniversaries

I happened to notice, thanks to a cursory web scan, that today is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, which set off a chain of disastrous events that led to the First World War. To be fair to Princip, he probably didn't have the whole world war thing in mind when he did it, but that's the way history rocks it.

If there is one thing historians of the 20th century agree upon, it is that this war, a product of arrogance, ignorance and imperialism, was an unparalleled disaster that set in motion the other nasty events of the 20th century. It would be hard to imagine the rise of Nazism without the humiliating defeat of Germany and the punitive treaty that followed. I doubt that the Bolsheviks would have been able to achieve a monopoly of power without the near collapse of Russia the war brought about, which would have also meant no Stalinism.

Ironically, many of the people at the time who opposed the war, such as radicals and socialists, were marginalized and persecuted.

There's not much point in speculating on the "what if?" question. I think some kinds of imperialist/colonial wars were inevitable given the state of the world economy at the time. But it would be hard to imagine a worse course of events, the effects of which we are still feeling.

(Did you guys notice the elegant way in which I avoided ending that lest sentence with a preposition?)

A friend of mine in New Hampshire pointed out in this blog post that yesterday was also the 100th anniversary of the conviction of radical labor organizer and songwriter Joe Hill of the Industrial Workers of the World. Hill would have undoubted protested the war as well had he lived, but he was executed in Utah in 1915 on questionable murder charges.  Hill wrote some of the best and funniest labor songs ever written, which some disreputable rabble-rousers, myself included, know by heart.

Here's hoping for a better century to come, although I'm not inclined to bet the farm on it.

Scissorbills

Last night I had the opportunity of discussing health care with someone from a few counties away. The particular topic was the expansion of Medicaid coverage under health care reform to low income working people earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

The person in question, who was uninsured, underpaid and appeared to be a candidate for diabetes, hypertension and/or heart disease, didn't think this was a good idea. Apparently, some unworthy people might receive coverage as a result.

I remained polite, of course, but inside wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Folks with this kind of attitude were referred to by the Industrial Workers of the World or Wobblies as "Scissorbills," meaning someone who would cut off his or her nose to spite the face (think duck bill). Joe Hill wrote two songs about such people titled "Scissorbill" and  "Mr. Block."

The second song is better known these days Here's the chorus:

Oh Mr. Block you were born my mistake
You take the cake
You make me ache
Go tie a rock on your block and go jump in the lake
Kindly do that for liberty's sake

(Note: I only quote that for the sake of historical and cultural relevance. I don't actually want such people to jump in lakes. At least not when it's this cold outside. Ask me again in springtime.)

The discussion reminded me of a dark saying that I think was said by Theodor Adorno to the effect that domination is perpetuated by the dominated. That may sound shocking but it is a basic axiom of the theory of nonviolent action that systems of injustice would be unable to function if people didn't cooperate with them. If that cooperation, sometimes called the "pillars of support," is removed, the whole thing comes tumbling down.

Alas, that's easier said than done, although here and there it has happened. Some folks may not get there this time around.

One big onion

I have soft spots for several individuals and organizations beyond the realm of bourgeois respectability. One such group is the Industrial Workers of the World, a radial union founded in 1905 to join skilled and unskilled workers into One Big Union.

The Wobblies, as they were known, got pretty well smashed in the wake of World War I but a remnant is still around today. I was pleasantly surprised to find this article about Wobbly or Wobbly-inspired inroads to organizing in the food chain.

Some of the Wobbly approaches to organizing pioneered among mobile harvest or lumber workers just might be useful today in trying to organize workers unprotected by traditional unions.

I wish em luck.

HOLY OVERWORKED METAPHOR, BATMAN! Here's George Lakoff on why the fiscal cliff metaphor sticks and here's something local organizers did about it in WV.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Droning on

Back in the heyday of the Industrial Workers of the World, footloose organizers rode the rails into skid rows, lumber camps and hobo jungles to sign up workers for the One Big Union. Often, they used song as an organizing tool, taking familiar tunes and changing the words around "so they made more sense," as the late great Utah Phillips used to say.

The spirit of the Wobblies lives on these days in a friend and co-worker of mine known here as New Hampshire Slim. At least one of his songs has even made its way into the latest version of the IWW Little Red Songbook.

I can picture Slim right now hopping freight trains and spreading the rebel gospel to the downpressed wage slaves of that New England state, whilst regaling one and all with song. Here's his latest effort, which is sung to the tune of a popular Bob Dylan song. It is reproduced with permission. From Slim, not from Bob, that is. Nothing personal, Bob...but these days

Everybody must get droned

They’ll drone you when you’re leaving from the bar,They’ll drone you when you’re driving in your car,They’ll drone you when you’re trying to be discrete,They’ll drone you when you’re marching in the street.

Well I would not feel so all alone,Everybody must get droned.

They’ll drone you when you’re maintaining law and order,They’ll drone you when you’re getting near the border,They’ll drone you when you’re sitting in the park,They’ll drone you when it’s light and when it’s dark.  

Well I would not feel so all alone,Everybody must get droned.

They’ll drone you when your minding your own business,They’ll drone you when you’re improving your physical fitness,They’ll drone you when you’re at a private luncheon,They’ll drone you while performing a bodily function,

Well I would not feel so all alone,Everybody must get droned.

They’ll drone you when you’re at a wedding party,They’ll drone you if you’re early or you’re tardy,They’ll drone you when you’re riding in the bus,They’ll drone you if you’re them or if you’re us,

Well I would not feel so all alone,Everybody must get droned.

Slim has a blog worthy of a look that he updates whenever he is not riding the rods or working the wheat harvest. You can find it here.

BAD MEDICINE. Here's a look at what Paul Ryan's budget would do to El Cabrero's beloved state of West Virginia.

MORE OF THE SAME. Here's a look at the Long March of Ayn Rand's BS into the mainstream of American political thought.

IT EVEN RHYMES. Here's a fun and quick look at what's wrong with trickle (tinkle?) down economics.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Tidings of capital gains

I have a friend and co-worker in New England who loves to re-write old songs to bring them down to date in the manner of the Wobblies of old. Arnie Alpert, aka New Hampshire Slim, has even had his work appear in recent editions of the Industrial Workers of the World's Little Red Song Book.

In the spirit of Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, T-Bone Slim and Haywire Mac McClintock, here's one of his newest offerings, inspired by current events. You know the tune.

God bless you very wealthy men,
Good news I have to tell:
The market’s back, you’re making more
Each time you buy and sell.
With layoffs more, your profits soar,
You’re living rather well.
O tidings of capital gains.

God bless you very wealthy men,
Your friends are working late,
You do not have to fret that you’ll be taxed on your estate,
Your kids for sure will be secure
Their lives will all be great
O tidings of capital gains.

God bless you very wealthy men,
The richest one percent,
Collect one-fourth of all income,
We don’t know how it’s spent.
This is no joke, the systems broke
It is not merely bent.
O tidings of capital gains.

God bless you very wealthy men,
Do you repeat this song?
You owe success to your hard work, no one helped you along.
You’ve raised yourself to the top shelf;
Your bootstraps must be strong.
O tidings of capital gains.

God bless you Wall Street gamblers,
Your lifestyle’s very swank
Your taxes slashed, your check’s been cashed,
Your bail-out’s in the bank.
You do not have to worry that our
Jobs are in the tank
O tidings of capital gains

ON THE DEAL. Here's Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on the unemployment/tax cut deal between President Obama and congressional Republicans.

OLIGARCHY now.

MASSEY ENERGY stocks jumped earlier this week in reaction to the announcement of the retirement of its CEO. The AP reports that Don Blankenship will receive at least $12 million in his severance package.

CREATING THINKING discussed here.

URGENT DINOSAUR UPDATE here.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED

Solidarity forever (and today)

It's a little known fact that Ralph Chaplin's song "Solidarity Forever," an internationally famous labor anthem, was inspired by events in West Virginia. Chaplin, writer and long time labor activist with the Industrial Workers of the World, lived for a time in the Mountain State and edited the Huntington Socialist and Labor Star, one of several labor newspapers then published in the state.

During that time, he was inspired by the solidarity of coal miners during long and bitter strikes that raged in Kanawha County in the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek areas around 1912-1913. It took him a while to finish the song, which is sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Today most people familiar with the song only know the chorus. In celebration of Labor Day, here's the whole thing:

When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.

CHORUS:
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.

Is there aught we hold in common with the greedy parasite,
Who would lash us into serfdom and would crush us with his might?
Is there anything left to us but to organize and fight?
For the union makes us strong.

Chorus

It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.

Chorus

All the world that's owned by idle drones is ours and ours alone.
We have laid the wide foundations; built it skyward stone by stone.
It is ours, not to slave in, but to master and to own.
While the union makes us strong.

Chorus

They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.

Chorus

In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.

Chorus

THE TWO BUMS, PLUS WAL-MART AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND A WV ITEM

Caption: Here are two bums.

(This week's posts are loosely connected. If this is your first visit, please consider clicking on the last two.)

El Cabrero has a soft spot for the Wobblies, a nickname for the Industrial Workers of the World, a radical branch of the labor movement that saw its best days between its founding in 1905 and the massive political repression that accompanied the First World War.

Their goal was to unite all workers, regardless of skill, race, sex, religion, or national origin, into One Big Union. They were also very clever in making use of funny and irreverent songs, poems, and signs (similar to modern bumper stickers) which they called silent agitators to get their message across.

They gave the labor movement some of its best songs, such as Solidarity Forever, which was inspired by a coal strike in El Cabrero’s beloved state of West Virginia, The Commonwealth of Toil, Bread and Roses, and The Preacher and the Slave.

One Wobbly poem called The Two Bums, is the most eloquent statement on social policy that I’ve ever found.

Then as now, people are all to ready and eager to blame all social problems on poor and working people and ignore the vast harm done to the vast majority by a wealthy and powerful minority of people who own and control most economic and political power.

Here it is:

The Two Bums

The bum on the rods is hunted down as an enemy of mankind
The other is driven around to his club, is feted, wined and dined.

And they who curse the bum on the rods as the essence of all that's bad
Will greet the other with a willing smile and extend a hand so glad.

The bum on the rods is a social flea who gets an occasional bite
The bum on the plush is a social leech, bloodsucking day and night.

The bum on the rods is a load so light that his weight we scarcely feel
But it takes the labour of dozens of folks to furnish the other a meal.

As long as we sanction the bum on the plush the other will always be there
But rid ourselves of the bum on the plush and the other will disappear.

Then make an intelligent organised kick get rid of the weights that crush
Don't worry about the bum on the rods get rid of the bum on the plush.

(Railroad trivia note: the "rods" referred to here are the rods underneath rail cars--not a very safe way to travel cross country.)

ON THE PLUSH. Our old friend Wal-Mart made the cover of the print version of Business Week again, but this item about its human rights record from the online version of the magazine is even more interesting. Here's the lead:

Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental group based in New York, is best known for scathing reports on political issues such as the Rwandan genocide and the Congo's use of children in its military. But late on Apr. 30, the human rights group focused on Wal-Mart (WMT), issuing a report that charged the giant retailer with using strong-arm tactics and, in some cases, illegal means to stop its workers from forming unions. In a 210-page report, the organization says "the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus."

This is only the second time in the organization's 29-year history that it has issued a book-size report on a corporation. The first one was on Enron in 1999. The study's author, Carol Pier, says the group decided to focus on Wal-Mart because of its broad impact on labor practices and the U.S. economy. "Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the world. Therefore, the way it treats its workers matters," says Pier, senior labor rights and trade researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Our message is that when the world's largest economy has labor laws that are so weak that it is unable to prevent the world's largest corporation from violating workers' rights to organize, it is troubling."

WV ITEM. We hear a lot of complaints in this state from conservatives about the drastic growth of state government. Last week, Antipode did some math and found that state spending actually declined over the last 25 years as a proportion of state GDP.

GOAT ROPE ADVISORY LEVEL: ELEVATED