Peace, Class Struggle Peace, Class Struggle & Capitalism& Capitalism

By

John Michael Kelley

Famous Advocates of Non-Violent Resistance

Gandhi Jesus Martin Luther King Henry David Thoreau

Who Are These People?

Bartoleme de las Casas Daniel Shay Catherine Beacher Emma Willard Bill Haywood Kate Richards O’Hare Elizabeth Gurley Flynn

Who Are These People? Bartoleme de las Casas- Anti imperialist priest and

Columbus documentor Daniel Shay - Led Shay’s Rebellion of

Revolutionary War Vets against land foreclosures Catherine Beecher- Labor organizer Emma Willard- Founded the first female seminary Bill Haywood- President of IWW Kate Richards O’Hare- sentenced to 5 years for

protesting the draft in WWI Elizabeth Gurley Flynn- IWW organizer, Rebel Girl

Did You Know Jim Hogg- Elected by the Peoples Party as Governor of

Texas Helen Keller- Committed Socialist Writer Jack London- Socialist wrote People of the Abyss and

The Iron Heel Eugene Debs- Head of the Knights of Labor committed

Socialist sent to prison for speaking against WWI Emma Goldman- Anarchist went to prison for speaking

against WWI Joe Hill- IWW organizer executed after being framed for

murder Mother Jones- United Mine Worker organizer W.E.B. Dubois - Socialist black leader

There can be no peace without justice. - Gandhi

Peace is not a goal Peace is an Outcome of Economic and

Social Equity Capitalism is opposed to both

Our World View is Determined by a Combination of Education &

Experience

Formal education in history & government Personal experience Popular mythology

Our View of America Established by Our View of History

American History is presented as the steady advance of civilization, human rights and technological progress.

The reality is that it is the history of a continual class struggle to achieve the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Tenets of Capitalist Worldview

Capitalism views competition and inequity as inevitable circumstances

Capitalism views wealth as reward for morality and intelligence with equal opportunity for success

Capitalism has one goal, profit Capitalism values property above people

Does History Support That View?

The Untold Story of America Most history focuses on the elite Minimizes or omitted from text books

class struggle Violent class, ethnic, or racial repression

justified as necessary or minimal Events distorted or revised by political

power

A Peoples History of the U.S.Howard Zinn

The Discovery of America The Myth of the Grateful Immigrant The Myths of Slavery The Myths of the Happy Homesteader The Myths of the Happy Workman The Myths of the Patriotism

They do not bear arms and do not know them , When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone,…They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want…. Christopher Columbus -

On Columbus’ 2nd voyage he took 1500 slaves. Arawaks began mass suicide and infanticide to

prevent capture & slavery by the Spaniards In Two years 125,000 Arawaks on Haiti were

dead from murder and suicide “…from 1494-1508, over three million people

had perished from war, slavery and the mines. Who in future generations will believe this? I myself writing it as a knowledgeable eyewitness can hardly believe it... Fr. Bartolome de las Casas

Native America In 1492 there were hundreds of cultures

and over 2,000 different languages Native American population estimated at

75 million – 10 million north of Mexico– 15 million in Mexico– 50 million in South America– By 1890 the U.S. & Canada population of

Native Americans was 250,000 with Central & S.Am. suffering similar losses.

From 1612 to 1829, when Irish slavery was banned, over ½ million Irish were shipped as slaves to the West Indies, South America, New England and Australia. Sometimes as many as half died in passage. From 1600-1699 more Irish were shipped as slaves to the colonies then Africans.

Irish Slavery

African Slaves Captured in the interior 2 in 5 died in “death marches” of up to

1,000 miles to the coast There they were branded after purchase with the rejects killed Chained in slave ships on decks less then 24 inches high, 1 in 3

died in passage Those trying to starve themselves to death were force fed, women

and children raped By 1800 10-15 million survived to America, less then half of those

who started Allowable treatment of slaves in the colonies included whipping,

branding, disfigurement, dismemberment, and execution including drawing and quartering.

Immigration From England Enclosure of the English Commons for

wool production forced people into the cities as vagrants

People were punished, imprisoned in workhouses or exiled on crowded “coffin ships” to the Colonies as indentured servants

Servants were beaten, whipped and raped

Servant America Over half of white colonists came as

servants Only the free, white male property owners

had any rights Servant families were broken up, children

were indentured to, all could be sold at will 80% of indentured servants died before the

indenture was up, returned to Europe when it was done or became tenant farmers

Colonial History Rebellions Bacon’s Rebellion 1670’s- Frontier famers, servants and farmers rebelled against

financial exploitation- 23 leaderswere hanged King Phillips war 1676- Led by Metacom a Wampanog chief to protest land

seizures, 3,000 natives were killed by Puritans In the late 1600’s there were over 250 slave rebellions of 10 or more slaves 1689 Farmers Revolt- led by Jacob Leisler protesting rents 1766 Rensselaerwyck Rebellion by tenant farmers in New York Earth Allen and the Green Mt. Rebels founded Vermont as a result of a land

rebellion 1766-71 Regulators Revolt - Farmer rebellion involving 6-7,000 farmers, Militia

overcame them, 6 leaders were hung Anti-government and Anti-landlord riots in 1730 in Boston, 1740s & 1750s in New

Jersey, Between 1670 -1760 there were 18 uprisings against colonial governments and 6

major slave rebellions.

Causes of Revolutionary War

Growing Grievances of Colonial Elite against England over trade and tax issues

Unrest of lower classes Shutting off from land west of the

Appalachians

We the People

In 1770 Boston 1% of population owned 44% of all wealth. We the people did not include:

Non-property owners Women Native Americans Slaves & Indentured Servants

Rebels & Rabble

The Boston Massacre was a protest against British soldiers taking rope making jobs from workers

The soldiers who shot the protestors were defended by John Adams who referred to the protesters as “motley rabble”

Stamp Act resistors were organized by the rich but disavowed when they took action

Reluctant Volunteers

Three large scale mutinies for lack of pay Numerous riots against war profiteers Privates received $6.66/ month in

continental money, Colonels $75 in hard currency

Tenants promised to be freeholders were held to mortgages for the land they received

Rebellion Continues Shays Rebellion 1787 - farmers, many whom

were veterans holding certificates of redemption in lieu of pay threatened with foreclosure down the rebellion and fought courts and sheriffs

Army paid by Boston merchants put down the rebellion and hung several of the leaders

Whiskey Rebellion 1794 - Revolt in western Pennsylvania against the whiskey tax that hurt grain farmers

The Lessor Sex

The Textile mills employed primarily women and children working 12-16 hour days

Women were considered chattel or property and had few rights

Lucy Stone a feminist and abolitionist, kept her maiden name in marriage and refused to pay taxes because she said she wasn’t represented, government officials took all of her household goods including her baby’s cradle

The Mexican American War Driven by the idea of Manifest Destiny Precipitated by sending troops into Mexican territory, an army

of the poor 3 regiments rebelled and 9,000 troops deserted A group of Irish immigrant soldiers, the San Patricios, deserted

and joined the Mexican army, 50 were hung after the war Two thirds of some units died because of poor provision and

disease Upon discharge, they were given land warrants instead of pay,

most desperate for money sold them to speculators for what they could get

Civil Disobedience Thoreau refused to pay a poll tax to

support the war and spent the night in jail, two years later he wrote Civil Disobedience a classic pacifist tract

Emerson visiting Thoreau in jail asked, “What are you doing in there?”

Thoreau is said to reply “What are you doing out there?”

Rebellion Continues 1834 & 36 Wide spread strikes in textile mills by women

protesting 13.5 hour days and wages paid in script 1835 There were 140 strikes in the U.S. 1837 1/3 of the work force out of work because of a crash

riots for flour 1839-60 - Anti Renter Movement in New York to stop

evictions by landlords, involved 25,000 farmers 1841- Dorr’s Rebellion in Rhode Island landholders

losing their right to vote set up an alternative government crushed by the military and courts

1849- mob stormed Astor Place Opera House threatening to burn it down, 200 were killed and wounded by the militia

1859- 20,000 shoemakers went on strike protesting 16 hour days for $3/week

Slaves & Semi-Slaves Slavery spawned rebellion by John Brown, Nat Turner and

left Kansas bloody The northern and southern working classes were little better

off then slaves Most farmers were sharecroppers, tenant farmers or

freeholders dependent on credit to survive Factory workers, miners, loggers lived in company towns,

were paid in script all usually owed more at the end of the year then they made

Kept repressed by fresh supply of immigrants from the Irish Potato famine and wars in Europe

During the 1857 crash, boats going back to Liverpool were half full of returning immigrants, 15,000 marched on Wall Street demanding work

Civil War Prices increased were 60-100% on

necessities Huge war contracts were given to political

cronies The rich could buy out of the draft by

hiring a replacement The draft riots and food riots had to be put

down by federal troops 600,000 dead equivalent to 5 million of

today’s population, over 200,000 deserted

Free At Last? 200,000 Blacks served, 38,000 killed while paid 1/3

less then whites Most went from slaves to tenancy or sharecroppers

financially controlled by their former masters 40 thousand freedmen given 40 acres by General

Sherman to have it returned to the Confederate owners by President Johnson

KKK organized by rich whites From 1867-71 there were over 116 acts of violence

against blacks in Kentucky alone

Free for a Little While Blacks voted, held land, elected congressmen,

formed cooperatives and executed their rights, by 1900 all southern states had disenfranchised and segregated blacks

The push for railroad expansion needed development of southern coal and iron

1873 a depression hit, workers and farmers, many vets, were rebelling. The Northern and Southern elite needed reconciliation, Hayes agreed to end Reconstruction in the south to win the election, allowing states to deprive blacks of their rights through Jim Crow laws for the next 100 years.

Corporate Growth The civil war spurred corporate growth and

power Railroads were given 100 million acres and over

$50 million in bonds Contract labor laws allowed companies to import

immigrants and pay no wages for a year for passage

Immigration policy provided cheap labor and strike breakers, pitting new desperate immigrants and blacks against those who organized

Corporate Legal Expansion 1877 Corporations were deemed persons under the

constitution through an act of judicial sabotage Contract law was upheld to the disadvantage of

workers Judges were from the upper class The 14th amendment was passed to protect Negro

rights, but between 1890-1910 only 19 cases concerning Negro rights were brought before the Supreme Court while 288 cases concerned corporate rights

1886 Wabash vs Ill. The Supreme Court did away with 230 state laws regulating corporations

The Revolution Continues 1872- 100,000 workers struck for 3 months to

gain an 8 hour day 1874- 19 labor organizers the Molly Maguires

were hung for leading a coal mine strike 1877- A railroad strike began in WV spread

thorugh mills and factoris in PA, NJ, NY, Ohio, Ill, Mo. Over 100,000 strikers. National guard and federal troops brought in over 100 dead and 1,000 jailed

1880- Black sugar workers on strike in Thibodeax, La were attacked killing thirty and wounding over one hundred

The Revolution Continues 1886 1,400 strikes took place involving 500,000 workers 1887- 350,000 workers on strike. A meeting was held in

Haymarket Square in Chicago, a bomb was thrown at police wounding 66, 7 died, hundreds of strikers were shot, four anarchist leaders who weren’t even there were convicted and hung for incitement of murder.

In the south, convict labor was contracted out to depress wages and used as strikebreakers

1891-92- Striking miners in Tennessee set convicts free, and burned their stockades

The Revolution Continues 1892- The Homestead Steel plant managers built

a three mile fence topped with barbed wire and with rifle peepholes around the plant. When the workers refused a 25% cut in pay they were laid off. The surrounded the plant, had a shoot out with Pinkerton strikebreakers and eventually were dislodged by state militia using machine guns

1897- Lattimer Massacre- strikebreakers who organized themselves to fight bad conditions were ambushed and shot down by deputies, 19 killed

The Populist Rising

In Texas the Farmers Alliance between poor black and white farmers gained momentum growing to 400,000 members across the south by 1889

In 1890 the People’s Party elected 38 congressmen and Governors in Texas (Jim Hogg) and Georgia

White tenants were evicted and replaced with blacks to fuel division

In 1896 the Democrats were able to split the Populists by nominating William Jennings Bryan who lost to Wm McKinley

What Free Markets Mean Between 1798-1895 103 military

interventions had been made in other countries to “protect American interests”

Lack of regulation caused financial panics and depressions in 1837, 1857, 1873, 1893, 1907, 1919, and 1929

The Spanish American War was promoted by business and the press to open new markets to American industry

Spanish American War

Anti war protests were not allowed Supposedly to help Cuban rebels, the rebels were

excluded from the new government American business was given control of Cuban markets

and resources US paid 30 million dollars for Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam

& the Philippines Annexed Hawaii for good measure The Philippines rebelled, it took 70,000 troops and three

years of brutality to win

Revolt Against Work Conditions

In 1900 Corporate monopolies controlled most of the wealth in the country

284,000 children between 10-15 worked in mines, mills and factories

1903- 75,000 textile workers went on strike in Kensington, Pennsylvania, 10,000 children protesting a 60 hr week. Mother Jones led a Children’s March on Washington D.C. there cry was “We want to go to school, 55 hours, no more”

Muckraking writers influenced public opinion- Mark Twain, Upton Sinclair, Theodore Drieser, Jack London

Revolt Against Work Conditions

1909- 20,000 sweatshop workers in NY went on strike protesting 70-80 hour weeks

1911- 146 workers, mostly women burn to death, are crushed or jump to their death because they are locked in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory when it catches on fire

1914- 35,000 killed in industrial accidents, 700,000 injured without compensation

The IWW Founded in 1905 as One Big Union, welcomed

all workers regardless of sex, race or trade Recommended “Direct Action” by workers.

Workers decided when to strike, what to negotiate, when to return to work

National organizers, organized, trained and led when asked

Socialist and Communist in its political goals

The Growth of the IWW and the Socialist Movement

1905-When Missoula, Montana officials passed laws to prevent them from talking, they took turns talking and getting arrested until they clogged the jails and free speech was restored

1909- Spokane, Washington- organized a free speech protest, 600 were arrested, several died in jail

1911- Fresno, California- Free speech protest thousands arrested, ban lifted when thousands more were said to be coming

The Growth of the IWW and the Socialist Movement

1912- 50,000 woolen mill workers went on strike (36 of every 100 died by the age of 25 from the conditions), children were sent out of town to supporters to be able to continue the strike.

The state passed a law saying that was child neglect and police beat parents and children while trying to board the children on trains to leave town

1915- Joe Hill, IWW organizer and song writer, executed for what most felt was a frame up in Utah mining camp

1916- 22 companies of militia and two troops of cavalry killed seven IWW members and imprisoned others in Everett, Washington

The Growth of the IWW and the Socialist Movement

1913- Colorado Coal Strike, 11,000 miners on strike were evicted from their company houses. Rockefeller paid the wages of the governor commissioned National Guard. Strike breakers were brought in. The largest tent village of over 1,000 was attacked with torches and machine guns, 66 died most women and children. Wilson sent in federal troops to finish breaking the strike

Progressive Gains The rising tide of socialism and union activism concerned

government and business enough to pass some reforms to try and mollify labor

1911 73 Socialist Mayors were elected and 1200 other officials in cities and towns

Business anti-trust legislation was passed, the 16th Amendment allowing a graduated income tax, the 17th Amendment allowing direct election of Senators was passed

Theodore Roosevelt, the reformer stated, “I intend to be most conservative, but in the interests of the corporations themselves and above all in the interests of the country.”

The Anti-Draft Movement Both the socialists, the IWW and most labor opposed the

draft and the war. Kate Richards O’Hare, IWW organizer was sentenced to

five years in prison for protesting the draft Eugene Debs, Knights of Labor was arrested for violating

the Espionage Act for speaking against the draft and served three years in prison

65,000 declared themselves conscientious objectors and asked for noncombatant status

2,000 people were prosecuted for violating the Espionage Act, mostly for speaking against the war.

The Green Corn Rebellion planned a national anti-draft March on Washington DC, 450 leaders were arrested before it could be executed

The Use of Espionage Act to Break the IWW

In 1917 Dept of Justice raided 48 IWW Meeting Halls and gathered literature

165 Leaders were arrested, all were found guilty for hinderning the draft

15 including Big Bill Hayward were sentenced to 20 years in prison, 33 to ten years and the rest to lesser terms

Its leadership jailed, fined $2.5 million dollars, the IWW was shattered

The Fight Goes On 1919- 350,000 steel workers strike. Federal troops

were brought in to protect strikebreakers, strikers were beaten, and arrested, aliens were deported

1920 The Palmer Raids- 4,000 persons suspected of being socialists, communists and union organizers are picked up and held without charge, aliens had secret hearings and were deported

1920 Women win the right to vote Sec Treasury, Andrew Mellon proposes and wins a 50%

tax cut for the rich and a 1% tax cut for workers

The Great Depression

1929 Crash 5,000 banks closed 1/3 of the workforce out of work, the rest have wages reduced

Food and Clothing were abundant but people had no money to buy

Massive food and work demonstrations 1932 The Bonus Army of WWI vets marched on

Washington demanding there promised bonus’s be paid, Hoover sent federal troops against them killing three and injuring 1,000

Renewal of the Labor Wars

1934 1.5 million longshoreman, teamsters and other strike on the west coast, the strike was broken by federal troops

425,000 textile workers in the south strike, National Guard kills 13, massive arrests and beatings

1937 police kill 10 strikers at the Republic Steel strike

The Sit Down Strike

Started in the 1930’s it gave more control because the work site was occupied keeping strikebreakers out and halting production

1936 Goodyear workers have successful sit down strike 1936-37 Strike at Fisher Body #1 Workers hold the

plant for 40 days inspite of 13 being wounded by police gunfire. Police attacks are beat back with fire hoses

1936 there were 48 sit down strikes , in 1937 477 1938

The New Deal

Continued unrest, and depression, the threat of Communism and growing labor movement government instituted changes

Worker’s compensation was passed by many states, child labor abolished, and other labor reforms were made such as the National Labor Relations Board

Social Security, and unemployment insurance were passed

Farm workers and domestics, most blacks were excluded

WWII WWII brought about internal unity, high employment and

high wages Post war conditions, veteran unity, high growth in the

economy and need for workers brought about union growth but under conditions of relative labor peace

The civil rights movement fulfilling the promise to minorities

The Anti-War movement The women’s movement were largely driven by those

groups and the class conscious, educated children of the new middle class

Post Viet Nam The relative prosperity and assumption of

economic security led to lower union militancy and participation and the growth of single issue politics

Globalization has quietly brought back worker and class exploitation on a world wide basis

The Free Market Economy means, worker exploitation, an economic draft, loss of security and benefits

Corporate Control is the Issue Corporations live forever Have more rights then people Pass on costs of employees and bycosts to citizens Pay less then their fair share of taxes Change law to legalize the illegal and exploit workers (immigration,

overtime) Own politicians Control media content Avoid criminal responsibility for actions Receive massive subsidies, tax breaks and other forms of corporate

welfare Raiding the common wealth Loading the public with debt Extracting capital from the U.S. economy Returning to exploitative banking and credit practices

What to do?

Understand what is going on and who is the enemy

Conflict is the result of class inequity As Joe Hill said in his last letter to Big Bill

Haywood, “don’t mourn, organize!”