At some time during your life you've probably read a book or heard a story by Mark Twain.
But did you know that this renowned American author was also a strong supporter of labor?
In 1835 he was born Samuel Clemens in town of Hannibal, Missouri.
His father died of pneumonia when Samuel was only 11. The next year he became a printer’s apprentice, working for four years for little pay often under horrible conditions.
As a young man he tried his hand as a river boat pilot on the Mississippi River and as a miner in Nevada and California.
He took inspiration from the people and stories he encountered on his travels, writing under the pen name Mark Twain.
Twain was a life-long member of the International Typographical Union. On this day in Labor History the year was 1886, Mark Twain delivered a powerful speech to the “Monday Evening Club,” in Hartford, Connecticut.
In it, he imagined the power of a united labor movement: “When all the bricklayers, and all the machinists, and all the miners, and blacksmiths, and printers, and hod-carriers, and stevedores, and house painters, and brakemen, and engineers, and factory hands, and all the shop-girls, and all the sewing machine women, and all the telegraph operators, in a word, all the myriads of toilers in whom is slumbering the reality of that thing which you call Power, ...when these rise, call the vast spectacle by any deluding name that will please your ear, but the fact remains that a Nation has risen.”
In his speech, Twain painted a vivid picture of workers, and of the Nation rising together as one. As attacks against unions and working people mount today, now more than ever we need such a vision of solidarity.
Labor History in 2:00 brought to you by the Illinois Labor History Society and The Rick Smith Show