Memes

It's nice to see the latest upswing in labor actions in the US, but the labor movement isn't what it used to be that's for sure. Even the way the history of labor is taught now is completely whitewashed and decoupled from any notion of class conflict. Take the history of civil right's organizers for instance and the connection with labor, MLK is the big one but also Randolph, the famous "I Have A Dream" speech at the March on Washington ("-for Jobs and Labor" is usually left out of the title nowadays.) Also the Jim Crow order is purely seen as a racist order, which is accurate, but the means by which it was designed to deal with the Populists in the late 19th century because of the threat they were as a political force. It's even in the culture war shit that goes on now, Bud Light for instance, none of that "conversation" ever touched on the fact they were basically forced to first hire queer people because of Teamsters labor pressure and gay bar boycotting their beer.

I think the militant conflicts like Harlan country are pretty well known but again it's like the class notions are removed in today's recollections and how it's taught. It's focused on some individuals who wanted better wages vs the bad guy running the mine, not about the inherent conflicts between these workers and the owners by design of the economic system, and how that still pervades today. It's seen as something from the past.