Today, it's easy to forget that in the early days of organized labor, organizers were routinely assassinated and striking workers fired upon by hired gunmen. We only remember this at all, perhaps, because of some recent depictions of these events in popular culture, movies like "Matewan" (written and directed by John Sayles) and songs like "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night" (written by Earl Robinson and performed by Joan Baez). You can read about the Matewan massacre (a fairly typical skirmish between workers and hired detectives, except that the workers were ready for the attack) here and about labor organizer Joe Hill (who was framed for murder and executed) here.
But these were only a few examples among many: the Homestead Strike of 1882 and the Bay View Tragedy of 1886 are two others. In some cases, the striking workers were hardly nonviolent themselves (especially at Matewan and the Homestead Strike), but that's beside the point.
The point is this: organized labor did not achieve its goals by politely arguing its points, or by forming bipartisan blue ribbon labor panels headed by James Baker and George Mitchell, or by banding together with employers to fight against the greater evil of gangsta rap. Organized labor achieved its goals because of workers who had the courage to organize and strike, often at great risk to their families and themselves. Anyone who thinks that the United States would be what it is today without the sacrifices of these brave workers and organizers is kidding himself.
And anyone who thinks things have changed that much is kidding himself too. Our media and much of our government are still run by large corporations, many (if not most) of which are hostile to the rights of workers. If you think for one minute that we're going to get guaranteed access to health care for all Americans without fighting tooth and nail with insurance companies, without enduring ugly smears from Murdoch Media, without hearing ridiculous old wives' tales about waits for hip replacement surgery in Canada from the mainstream media, without listening to silly "Michael Moore is fat" commentary from the likes of Tom Tobin, without being called "communists" by the more ignorant members of our extended family...then you're very naive.
There is no happy bipartisan solution to issues like health care or Iraq (or to most other important issues for that matter), any more than there was a simple, easily agreed upon solution to any of the issues that have always divided labor and management. There never will be.
If our great grandfathers could bear the bullets of Pinkerton gunmen as they fought for a better way of life, then we can certainly bear the slings and arrows of outrageous corporate fortunes as we fight for universal health care and to bring our troops home from Iraq.
(from RochesterTurning)