And this is sad and shocking

[nadinbrzezinski]

writing a brief outline of the possible book on labor. And I just realized something that I am sure many here don't. Quick, when were Unions finally legalized? No, not when were they formed first? When did they first become legal?

The 1930s kiddies. Until that moment and the formation of the National Labor Relations Board Unions were not really legal. Pressuring workers not to form them, and declaring them illegal was an every day occurrence.

It was... a peaceful revolution and one that "saved capitalism" from itself, and one that the right is now successfully defeating.For all of you going... BAD UNIONS, DAMN NEA... realize what the right wants to do is return the US to the Pre-NLRB days. Pick up a history book, hell Zinn will work, to get a clue of what that was like.

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Just finished Zinn last night, and I agree the Reps would love to go back

in time to pre-union times. Actually, they are close to succeeding. And that is a very scary nightmare. Fighting for a 12 hour day, wages that allow people enough to eat. Tragic.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. What is tragic is the number of folks

who post the anti union crap\ diatribes

Yes unions have issues. I would have to be an idiot not to realize that. But a world without them is infinitely worst than a world that has some bad unions... and yes a few are not the best thing in the world.

Of course they've been defangued to the point that most folks don't know or cannot imagine being a member of one. Less than 7% of the work force is Union these days.

[MadMaddie]

3. I have tried to communicate this to others on the right

and they don't get the fact that they enjoy some of the privileges that Unions fought for on their behalf.

Their attitude is one should be lucky and thank the corporate master for a job because there are a lot of people that don't.:shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. The propaganda has been thick

also mention a GOOD history of labor in the recent past. Yes Zinn did a good job with a general US history... but the last "popular book" on the subject I found was from the 1960s...

Yes, there is material... but most people will not go search the Journal of Economics, or the American Historical Review... or American Labor History or even more specialized crap.

Historians are in an echo chamber, but also I doubt I will have an easy time finding a publisher, to be honest. There are secrets of the temple we should keep away from the little people...

Of course my approach is a little different. I am looking at this also from the history of ideas and economics. That is not the just the facts ma'am...

[Canuckistanian]

5. The Republicans would LOVE to party like it's 1929

It's their "Golden Age".

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. actually 1880s

when they could use the Pinkertons with real impunity...

[Canuckistanian]

9. That's very, very, true

But they discovered the enriching powers of the stock market in the 1920's, thus making the "Pinkerton's man" irrelevant.

Legal stealing from the masses is SO much more fun.

[Enthusiast]

12. Most Americans

don't realize that Pinkerton guards fired on the unarmed wives and children of striking workers. Just another little part of history we don't talk about. Pinkerton = Blackwater.

[rug]

7. Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842, Massachussetts) was the first case to recognize the legality of unions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Yes but the Wagner Act made them quite legal

and it also made the actions of employers to prevent their formation illegal.

This is why you saw Taft Hatley in 1948

By the way when the Wagner Act was passed the American Liberty League railed against it... who were these guys? The Conservadems of their age.

[lib2DaBone]

10. Off topic.. but why do repukes vote against their own best interest?

The Repukes did everything they could to derail job growth.. wages... humane working conditions.

Keep people working in Cold.. Unlit.. Asbestos-filled factories. Why?

Just because the Repukes held stock in those Corporations and they deemed themselves "Investors"... not workers?

Who are these people that consider themselves "INVESTORS".. not workers?

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. That's the last forty years or so

but the right to work crap started early in 1948, and the propaganda has been thick

Realize the war against socialism started before Marx was even a twinkle in his mother's eyes. (Fournier in the 1820s)