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Category Archives: labor
Ivan Doig (1939-2015)–I Miss Your World
Back about 1980, I was introduced to a town I’d never seen, reading a description by a newly acclaimed 40-year-old writer. And it stayed with me–a mid-1940s scene of a very young boy being happily dragged around by his ranch-hand, … Continue reading
Posted in history, labor, love, Montana, nostalgia, social criticism, writing
Tagged Ivan Doig, Montana, Rocky Mountains, sheep ranching, Village Books, Wallace Stegner, White Sulfur Springs
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Up the Inside Passage
July, 1898. 16-year-old Mike Scanlon has let himself be detained, quite willingly, at a new Utopian socialist colony along the upper reaches of Puget Sound, north of Seattle. He is now “back on track” following the original plan of his … Continue reading
Joe Hill–Not Forgotten
The execution of Joe Hill by the State of Utah took place on November 19th, 100 years ago. A fitting time to re-post this entry. On January 10th, 1914, A Salt Lake City grocer (a former policeman) named John G. … Continue reading
Posted in history, labor, social protest
Tagged class warfare, I.W.W., protest movements, song writing, Utah, Woodrow Wilson, World War One
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Happy Birthday Eugene Debs
“Remember, Remember, the fifth of November!” The old school-child chant of course refers to Guy Fawkes, sometimes dubbed as “the only honest man ever to enter the Parliament.” This date–celebrating the foiling of the 17th century plot to … Continue reading
Posted in history, labor, railroading, social protest
Tagged American Federation of Labor, American Railway Union (ARU), Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Charles Pillsbury, Eugene Debs, George Pullman, Governor John Rogers, Great Northern Railway, Great Northern Strike, Grover Cleveland, Guy Fawkes, James Whitcomb Riley, Jim Hill, Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, Pullman Strike, sleeping car. Pullman IL, socialism, Spokesman-Review, strikes of 1877, Terre Haute IN, Theodore Roosevelt, Washington state
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A Visit to the Home of the Future Socialist Leader– Part Two
May, 1894: Social activist Norah O’Hanlon Quinn, now married to former priest Daniel Quinn, accompanies him on the last leg of their trip out to the Midwest. Expecting to visit American Railway Union leader Eugene Debs and his wife … Continue reading
A Visit to the Home of the Future Socialist Leader–Part One
May, 1894: Social activist Norah O’Hanlon Quinn, now married to former priest Daniel Quinn, accompanies him on the last leg of their trip out to the Midwest. Expecting to visit American Railway Union leader Eugene Debs and his wife Kate, … Continue reading
The Homestead Steel Strike–Aftermath
July, 1892: Jimmy Scanlon, in Everett, Washington, has been following the distant events of the Homestead Steel strike. Excerpted from Chapter 21, Beyond the Divide–Available from Village Books, Fairhaven (Wash., U.S.A.); and from Amazon It’s rare for the law to be … Continue reading
The Homestead Steel Strike–Part Two
Gaining fame for ensuring the safety of President Lincoln on his inaugural trip to Washington D.C. back in 1861, by the 1890s The Pinkerton Detective Agency had evolved into a multifaceted organization chiefly known–and despised among the laboring classes–for providing … Continue reading
The Homestead Steel Strike– Part One
July 7th, 1892: From various parts of the country comes the news of festering labor unrest, as workers feel left out of the prosperity issuing from new industrial technologies and rising productivity. Jimmy Scanlon is holed up in Everett, Washington, … Continue reading
Posted in history, labor, writing
Tagged 1892, Amalgamated Association of Iron & Steel Workers, Andrew Carnegie, Bessemer Process, Everett WA, Henry Clay Frick, Homestead PA, Homestead Works, Iron Puddlers, Monongahela River, Open Hearth Process, Pinkerton Agency, Steelmaking, Wrought Iron
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Panic on the Farm- Part Two
Late Summer, 1894: Jimmy Scanlon falls into the routine of working as hired-man on the Davis farm, a few miles east of Everett, Washington. Excerpted from Chapter 26, Beyond the Divide–Available from Village Books, Fairhaven (Wash., U.S.A.); and from Amazon. Curt … Continue reading
Posted in farming, history, labor, writing
Tagged American Protective Association (Know-nothings), election of 1896, Everett Land Co., Everett Wash., fall harvesting, Grover Cleveland, John D. Rockefeller, John W. Frame, Monte Cristo mine, People's Party (Populists), Pullman Strike, Snohomish Sun
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J.P. Kenna 