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(This is now a working intro I think)
The fields around Jamestown Virginia were full of tobacco fields, as far as the eye could see. These fields were under the careful watch of white labor who came to the Virginia Colony in crowded ships and was sold at the markets. It was an experience that is usually not told but it was the beginning of labor\ management relations that mark the way to the future. It is in these hot and humid fields that the American labor experience began. It is also in these fields where we started our history. Their experience is our experience, and their past created the echoes for the present.
How did the colonies develop? Why were workers brought to work the land, at times not willingly? This is part of American history, but the myth speaks of a place where whites were free men, while Africans were brought into the country as slaves, where they were bought, sold and exploited. The reality is very different and the reality includes a fair amount of white slave labor, for which we chose to use the term indentured servant, not realizing that very early black slavery took the same form. Nor do we know that many of those who came to these lands as indentured servants were picked up in the streets and forced to board ships coming west, to the Colonies. Nor are we aware that much of that labor were also political prisoners sent to our own version of Siberia.
Then there are the early factories in the United States, which were worked by both female and child labor. It was cheaper, it was easier to control, and owners had control of all aspects of their lives. It was not a moral decision. It was simply the cost of labor, and male workers simply demanded more work. Of course there is the story of men attracted from temporary work in the fields to early factories, that though terrible, were a better choice and closer to full employment. There is also the reality that the South did not industrialize as fast because of the now African American peculiar institution.
The struggles by labor first for the ten hour day, and then the eight hour day have mostly disappeared from our books and histories, replaced by a myth that rarely mentions Unions. This struggle, includes a working man's party formed in 1821. This party, which never matured, was the only labor party in US history, but it is a little fact not known.
Then we need to move onto the seminal moment of American Labor history, one completely forgotten by the American Myth. This is May Day, and the Haymarket Affair. No, May day isn't their holiday, but it is our worker's rights celebration. Instead of celebrating this day and remembering the struggle for the eight hour day, we were given Labor Day, and we were cooped.
The war against workers seemed to stop during the Great Depression. The New Deal gave workers a reprieve and for the first time true legal protection. But the counter revolution started in 1948, and it included our war against Socialism, which is older than Marx. Workers and worker rights scare people and the final nail on this war has ended. These days most Americans are truly ignorant of this history. This rich history of labor and labor struggle. This, which is truly the history of us, the working class in this country. It is time to bring back a lot of this history and return it to the American Worker. After all, those who know history will have the tools to once again fight for those rights that were earned with blood, sweat and tears, as well as a song.
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