Past is prologue, and how we do not learn from history

[nadinbrzezinski]

or rather do not learn history.

So further readying into this history of labor, and Carlton writers in his book published in 1920, that during the 1880s the small businessmen were under attack from large conglomerates who were doing all they could to drive them out of business to concentrate all in as few hands as possible.

So I put my Sony reader down and wanted to cry. That was the reason the Sherman Anti Trust Act was passed, to bring to heel a lot of these large conglomerates (can anybody say House of Morgan? I knew you could)

Now quick. when was the last time the Act was used?

For some of you it hasn't been in your lifetime. The last President to use the Act was Carter...

Why I am actually thinking, I found a title to this work..."those who forget history..."

Now in case you are wondering... well a certain large Corporation is doing the same to small family businesses these days. Can you say Walmart?

Oh and there is more... the conditions of the factories of the Gilded Age existed thirty years before, where we had women working fourteen and eighteen hours a day, living in company provided quarters, and buying from the company store. Oh wait. you think this is gone? Look at many places in the Third World, were we even have the yearly contract, and of course the need to give a two week notice to stop your employment... that last one, if you were wondering where the hell the custom of giving two week notice comes? The mills in New England.

Ah yes, history does repeat itself, doesn't it?

Oh and here is a piece of trivia for those of you celebrating Passover... to my surprise, and purely in the trivia department. we did have corvee labor in the US during the Colonial Period... COOL The way it worked is that labor was compelled to help their neighbors pick up the harvest for a fixed wage ordered by the local judge. Now the Myth says that this was done willfully. Well, there is plenty of documentation of people who were forced, ahem compelled, to do this by court order. This fits the actual definition of Corvee Labor. I thought this piece of trivia would be ironic given how much we like to deny how much our Institutions at times come straight from Europe and we are like connected and such.

Oh and on the notes department, they keep growing... and I got more leads to go read and of course find. I also now know that once I sit down to write this... I will need to go get a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. I mean my copy is just a tad dated... grumble.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Attention Retention Factor is prob...fix so as not to REPEAT...:o) Aloha..

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Well it would help is this stuff

was actually like taught in High School. Most of this does not even make it into lower division history courses in the United States.

And as they say, it never happened.

Here is one for ya... the last GENERAL history of labor was released in the 1960s. Yes, there are two very recent books. One is on the Haymarket Affair, while the second is on the Coal Strike of 1920, but a general history like Carlton's the last to be released was in the 1960s. I have the sneaky that this is not because there is a lack of interest either.

[opihimoimoi]

3. The Vast RW Conspiracy includes subtle efforts to maintain a lower class

J K Galbraith THE GOOD SOCIETY

Social Engineering is in a full blown Flux....ongoing in many arenas/fronts....wealth concentration to absurd levels...is the result...need to reduce greed...find formula asap or we suffer...

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Which brings me to the second possible tittle

"The Second Gilded Age."

This research project is not just for DU posts. This is the early work on a History of American Labor. Getting it published will be tricky, but I think I can get some articles based on research in usual journals. This is my idea of actually helping, by empowering people with the INFORMATION. Of course I have to find a way around the anti intellectualism and that one is tricky. Just look around, even here we have a problem with that one and a serious problem indeed.

[Greyhound]

5. And DU is definitely a cut above.

I wrote for years without considering this, but that was technical stuff and my audience was well-known to me. Once I had to write for regular people (on generally the same topics), I literally got to the point where I couldn't dumb it down any more and still retain any instructional value.

Relaying complex ideas and intricate series of events in an interesting, comprehensible style, you've set yourself quite a challenge. Good Luck!
:kick: & R

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I know, and the notes are growing

but we need to try to get this done.

[Greyhound]

11. Indeed. n/t

:kick:

[opihimoimoi]

6. Suppression of Change comes from those wishing Status quo...beware...protect yourself.

they will block/obstruct by any means....

[truedelphi]

7. During the days of the Haymarket affair, and other labor

"Riots" in the 1890's, the Republican Party took out ads showing their full support for the striking workers.

The Republican Party. Now our most recent history indicates that both sides of the aisle have done everything they can to force jobs overseas, and neither party cares about returning manufacturing jobs here.

For most people in Congress and the Senate - the "working class" is just a nostalgic reminder of former times.

[Odin2005]

8. LOL, your ADD is showing, Nadin!

Interesting tidbit on corvee labor!

Down some more coffee! :)

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Well it is the first night of Passover

I found it interesting, and a tidbit that I will have a hell of a time confirming I fear, if I decide to do a damn thing with it.

[anigbrowl]

12. Irony overload

"(...) small businessmen were under attack from large conglomerates who were doing all they could to drive them out of business to concentrate all in as few hands as possible.

So I put my Sony reader down and wanted to cry."

...but probably not as the used/antiquarian bookseller who can't reach the market for e-books. I hope that you at least procured the book in some open document format rather than paying Sony for one locked up by proprietary DRM.

"Now in case you are wondering... well a certain large Corporation is doing the same to small family businesses these days."

You don't say.