Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the ... by Paul M. Buhle

What else was happening in the country or around the world that may have influenced how both the systems of power/oppression and the social movement responded? The group discussed how the US push to further Settler Colonial expansion was taking place, the construction of the railroads, immigration policy, specifically towards the Chinese and how US imperialist expansion in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines impacted working class people.What are the systems of power and oppression that existed during the period of history being discussed, and more importantly, what were the systems of power and oppression that the social movement was confronting, challenging or seeking to dismantle? People clearly identified the system of Capitalism as being the primarily system of oppression against workers, but they also talked about human rights and made clear that many of the unions excluded Black people from joining unions, which was a reflection of how deeply embedded White Supremacy was in the US Labor movement.

Like we have done in pervious posts, we used our 8 framing questions for discussion during the 3rd class. The rest of the chapter primarily addresses what organized labor was doing to confront the Robber Barons and the evolving system of Capitalism in the US. One example, was the legal system’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment to give corporations personhood, even though it was originally written to provide equal protection under the law for Black people after chattel slavery was abolished.

Zinn discusses how the Capitalist Class amassed wealth, through fraud, through exploitation of workers and by collaborating with politicians to pass laws that would benefit their interests. The chapter begins by framing the massive wealth gap that existed in the US, particularly after the Civil War. In the 3rd week of the class on US social movements, we looked at the 19th Century US Labor Movement, by reading chapter chapter 11 from Zinn’s book, entitled, Robber Barons and Rebels.

These posts will include a summary of the discussion, the questions we presented to frame each social movement that is discussed, a timeline and additional books that are relevant to each movement. Over the next 8 weeks, we will be posting a summary of the class we are facilitating on US Social Movements.

Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the ... by Paul M. Buhle