1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Chelsea, this article actually I think is a follow-up to our last intro. 2 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:11,240 So you'll be pleased to know that there's a follow-up already. Starting the year off with a follow-up. 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:17,040 Good. A follow-up and also follow-up on me remembering what the intro was for the last episode. 4 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:22,360 San Francisco decides killer robots are not a great idea, actually. 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:25,480 Right. Okay, so they had them out there. 6 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:30,960 We'll get into the story. This one comes from our always favorite Vice News by journalist Aaron Gordon. 7 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:32,960 Published December 7th, 2022. 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:42,160 In an abrupt reversal amid public outcry, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has temporarily changed its decision to permit the city's police department to kill people with robots. 9 00:00:42,160 --> 00:00:43,760 Various news outlets reported. 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:51,200 There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide, since District Supervisor Dean Preston in a statement. 11 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:57,080 We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people. 12 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,560 That's an astute point. 13 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:13,640 Last week, the board voted 8-3 to approve the slate of policies regarding San Francisco police department's use of military grade equipment, including using bond disposal robots to kill people, like the Dallas police did in 2016 with a cornered shooting suspect. 14 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,160 I don't think that came up in the story. 15 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:21,120 No, I don't think so either. And this one is a little different because this one is with robots, not with people. 16 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:23,040 Police. Robot police. 17 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:31,560 Initially, the board did not want to include language allowing the police to kill people with robots, but the San Francisco Police Department amended the language to explicitly allow it. 18 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:33,560 That's a good guy thing, eh? 19 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:34,800 Yeah. 20 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,720 That's how you get the public on your side. 21 00:01:36,720 --> 00:01:41,000 Is that how you get around the killings? You make the robots do it? 22 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:46,120 I guess. Yeah, the San Francisco Police Department hasn't killed anybody. It's those damned robots. 23 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,560 Yeah. So much to do something about that, Link. Oh, and Will. 24 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:58,920 It is not clear precisely why the board changed its vote over the course of a week, but public outcry on the local, national and international level seems to have played a major part. 25 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:12,640 The board's vote was highly criticized by news outlets from around the world, from local privacy and civil rights groups that had already organized around another board of supervisors vote to commit the San Francisco Police Department to access live video surveillance and private cameras. 26 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:25,080 On Monday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 44 Community Groups signed a letter opposing the policy, which argued there is no basis to believe that robots coding explosives might be an exception to police overuse of deadly force. 27 00:02:25,080 --> 00:02:37,120 Using robots that are designed to disarm bombs to instead deliver them is a perfect example of this pattern of escalation and of the militarization of the police force that concerns so many across this city. 28 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,200 The coalition has also held a protest at City Hall on Monday. 29 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,200 It looks like that protest has worked over the vote reversal is not permanent. 30 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:49,800 According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the issue is being sent back to the Rules Committee, which will debate the topic further. 31 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:55,560 Matthew Guariglia, policy analyst for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement, the fight is not over. 32 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:01,720 Quote, should the Rules Committee revisit the issue, the community must come together to stop the dangerous use of technology. 33 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:14,840 End quote. And that's the end of the article. If anything more comes of it, I think this is one we'll probably keep an eye on, because it really seems like the cops want to murder people with explosive robots and everybody else doesn't want to be murdered by explosives. 34 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:22,200 No, nobody would want to be. Who wouldn't want to use robots to murder people? But I mean, I would fight against it. 35 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:26,080 I feel like if that was a choice on death row, somebody would pick it. 36 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:26,360 Yeah. 37 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:27,760 Exploding death robots. 38 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:36,080 That's such a good point. Maybe you should write to the debate team about that so they can debate that because somebody obviously just wants to use the death robots. 39 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:41,400 Well, I don't think executions are legal in California, so that one would have to probably go to Texas. 40 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:48,240 There's somebody that's trying to sell them. They can just send their door to door salesmen selling killer robots to the next state over. 41 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:50,760 I'm sure there's a warden who would pick it up pretty quick. 42 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:51,320 Yeah. 43 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:52,920 That's smooth talking, warden. 44 00:03:52,920 --> 00:04:02,880 Yeah, and then that gets rid of the who actually killed that person on death row. It was the robot, not any human that has to live with it because they're always so concerned about that. 45 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,720 Actually, you know what? The military companies might be OK with that press. 46 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:07,520 It's good press. 47 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:10,880 Well, I don't know if I say it's good. It is press. 48 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:21,720 But I know that they run into problems because they use a cocktail of toxic pharmaceuticals to kill people on death row right now, which no pharmaceutical company wants their name attached to it at all. 49 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,080 So it's actually very hard to get a supply for it. 50 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:28,040 Yeah, I'm surprised of that because pharmaceutical companies are evil. 51 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,480 Yeah, but there's no money in it because there's so few death row deaths every year. 52 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:41,040 Hopefully we have some higher up listeners in the murderous robots industry because we just problem solve for them. 53 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:45,640 Like I said, if you had like a checklist of like, how do you want to be killed on death row? 54 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,640 Murderous exploding robot probably would be checked off at least a couple of times. 55 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:52,240 I would choose it. But do they get a choice of how they die? 56 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:59,080 I think for a while they did because I distinctly remember somebody choosing firing squad not that long ago because he had been on death row for so long. 57 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:03,040 Wouldn't pick that. I mean, choice of last meal. Yes. How you die. 58 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:10,440 I'm sure. And with that, let's get into this episode. 59 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:19,080 From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe. 60 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:24,520 Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, the first linear choose your own adventure podcast out there. 61 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,920 Some people may say that you always have at least two choices. 62 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,120 I don't like that idea of people turning us off before the episode's over. 63 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:34,240 So you only have the one choice of riding it through the end. 64 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:44,040 We are your choosing host, Taylor and Chelsea, here today talking about strikes that have brought us to where we are in the workplace world. 65 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,760 When it comes to unionization, when it comes to our workers rights, 66 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:53,440 no matter what country you're in, you have some badass ancestors that really had to fight for what happened. 67 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:59,080 And this is a continuation of a previous episode that we have done on this subject where we're going to talk about violent strikes. 68 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,280 Now, Chelsea and I have each looked at a different strike. 69 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:06,200 Chelsea's is a bit more than just one. I believe it's kind of a nationwide one. 70 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:08,640 It went. I don't think so. Did you do the Vancouver one? 71 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,200 Yeah. OK, well, it happens in other studies, too. Just not that much. 72 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:17,240 OK, because I OK, so Chelsea has covered a part of one of the strikes. 73 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:22,360 I'm going to go first just because I think chronologically this one makes more sense. 74 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:24,640 Let's sit and see what happens. 75 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:29,840 I'm going to leave you in suspense as to what happens to the workers at the end of what is called the Thibodeaux massacre. 76 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:33,360 OK, I'm going to sit here and worry about what I didn't do. 77 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:38,600 OK, don't worry, I haven't read that much on them. 78 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:40,520 So before I begin, I just want to talk. 79 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:47,360 I took a lot of what I'm going to cover from Wikipedia, as well as the Smithsonian had a really good article on it 80 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:55,080 that pulled a lot from a book called the Thibodeaux Massacre, Racial Violence in the 1887 Sugarcane Labor Strike by John DeSantis. 81 00:06:55,080 --> 00:07:02,440 And that's where everything I'm going to cover comes from, as well as it's really heavy workers rights, heavy libcom.org had a good article on. 82 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:08,440 This happens just after the Civil War in the US, like within the decades following it. 83 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:16,120 So the Civil War ends 1865, the 13th Amendment is passed and it brought freedom to the slaves. 84 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:24,440 However, it doesn't technically end slavery because it specifically says that slavery is still OK as punishment for a crime. 85 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:26,880 Yeah, slavery is still technically legal in the States. 86 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,600 If you're a prisoner, you can be a slave. They don't have to pay you. 87 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,360 Oh, right. So it's technically still legal. 88 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:33,520 Oh, yeah, it definitely is. 89 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:34,920 I didn't think of it that way. 90 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,000 You would think this brought great rights to African-Americans all throughout the US, 91 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:42,680 while your mileage varies really depending on where you were. 92 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:44,960 And even then, Jim Crow really ruined a lot of stuff. 93 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,560 It might come up a bit, but we're going to continue on with this part of the story. 94 00:07:48,560 --> 00:07:52,000 We're going to talk about sugarcane cutters working in Louisiana. 95 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:59,960 They were living basically what would barely be distinguishable from slavery, at least argued by John DeSantis in his book, The Thibodeaux Massacre. 96 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:05,280 They did not own or rent land. Workers and their families lived in old slave cabins. 97 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:09,760 So they didn't move. They have no money. It's indistinguishable from slavery. 98 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:14,800 The toiling gangs, just like their ancestors had for nearly a century, growers gave workers meals, 99 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:26,520 but paid famine wages, many as little as 42 cents per day, which ends up in 2017 monies to be 91 cents per hour, 12 hour shifts. 100 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:30,720 And this is after the Civil War ended. So this is outside of slavery. 101 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:33,680 Before they weren't getting paid at all, but they were food and board. 102 00:08:33,680 --> 00:08:38,080 In many, if not most cases, workers instead of cash received what is called strip. 103 00:08:38,080 --> 00:08:41,320 So instead of getting 42 cents a day, they got 42 cents in strip. 104 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:46,880 This is like money, except you can only spend it in one place, the company store. 105 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:50,360 It's just like a thing that keeps happening. You talked about that in the last straight. 106 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,000 The company store comes up a lot. Yeah. 107 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:58,280 And even today, technically a lot of people, their bonuses, they get paid out in company gift cards, 108 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,400 which then you can only use at the store that you work at. 109 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:06,280 So I feel like I don't know a whole lot about strikes, but I feel like I know where this is going. 110 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,720 They had to find out. They had to find out this wasn't a good idea. 111 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:11,720 OK, are you going to? We're going to keep going. 112 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:16,880 Yeah, you could only spend these at the plantation stores where the plantation owners could charge whatever they wanted. 113 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,840 Most stores would normally mark up items at least 100 percent. 114 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:28,560 You can see that workers usually wound up being indebted to the planter because they didn't get paid anything and things cost way too much. 115 00:09:28,560 --> 00:09:31,160 So they had to take out a debt to the employer. 116 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:39,320 And Louisiana State Law stated that if a worker owed money to a planter, he could not move off the planter's land until the debt was paid. 117 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,680 So the law essentially reduced the plantation laborers to serfs. 118 00:09:42,680 --> 00:09:45,280 They were just indebted to the Lord and couldn't leave. 119 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:46,480 I don't like this at all. 120 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:51,200 But they did have some advantages to their counterparts in the plantations where cotton was grown. 121 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:59,680 Planters needed intensive labor on the sugar canes and growers living on thin margins failed to attract migrant workers to replace local workers, 122 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:07,480 especially in the crucial rolling season when the sugar cane would be cut down and then pressed for its juices, which is it's a lot more labor intensive than cotton. 123 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:13,360 So you actually need somebody who knows what they're doing and is willing to work those heavy heavy days in the sugar parishes, 124 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:18,200 arcing through the southern parts of the states from Berwick Bay to the Mississippi River. 125 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,680 African-American men also voted at this time. 126 00:10:20,680 --> 00:10:26,200 The Republican Party, which supported black civil rights, was stronger in sugar country than anywhere else in the state. 127 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:35,560 Following the end of the Civil War, African-Americans became legislators or sheriffs and black volunteer militias drilled despite living in working conditions, still bearing the marks of slavery. 128 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:39,280 Just so we're all on the same page here, it's going to sound weird. 129 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,800 But the Republican Party at this time is the Republican Party of Lincoln. 130 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:48,000 Very pro workers rights and very pro racial relations. 131 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:52,360 So it does care about the African-American community, most communities, in fact, of color. 132 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:53,720 Good. Now I'm on the same page. 133 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:57,280 There's a change that happens in the future, but Republican does come up a lot. 134 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:03,160 Kind of funny, actually, there's a hundred year gap after Lincoln for a Republican to kind of come back into power. 135 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:04,240 Interesting. 136 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:05,120 In the South. 137 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:06,920 Does it have to do with the story? 138 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:08,720 It comes up in the story, actually. 139 00:11:08,720 --> 00:11:15,600 In 1874, nine years after slavery ended in the United States, the cane cutters demanded what they called a second emancipation. 140 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:25,280 They wanted living wages or at least the chance to rent on shares, which I think means share in the crop harvest, whatever the profits would be on it. 141 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:27,240 I couldn't find exactly what they meant. 142 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:29,600 It was something in the Smithsonian Web site's article. 143 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:37,840 And the only thing I could find on rent on shares is literally shorting stock, which I don't think was happening at the time for the African-American community. 144 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,720 So I think what they're talking about is being able to participate in the profits of their labor. 145 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:42,680 OK, let's go with that. 146 00:11:42,680 --> 00:11:43,080 Yeah. 147 00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:52,280 Planters wanted to cut wages after there was lean harvest in the 1873 and 1874 harvest seasons, which coincided with an economic recession. 148 00:11:52,280 --> 00:12:00,120 And while Louisiana growers produced 95 percent of the nation's domestic sugar and molasses, they were losing market shares to cheaper foreign sugars. 149 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:08,760 Sensing that they were in a strong bargaining position, workers banded together in several sugar parishes, including St. Mary, Iberia, Terrebonne and La Forche, 150 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:13,720 demanding cash wages of $1.25 a day or a dollar if meals are included. 151 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:17,000 That's pretty it's pretty high compared to what they're getting now. 152 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:19,280 Yeah, they basically say triple our pay. 153 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,000 What is a sugar parish? 154 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,720 So parishes are basically like counties in Louisiana. 155 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,280 Sugar county. Yeah. 156 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,120 OK. I think that's how I was understanding it. 157 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,200 Parishes are kind of a religious thing. 158 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,720 So everything that came up on parishes was about the religious area. 159 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,280 So my mind is just like the county. 160 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:40,440 That's at least how I justified it to myself. 161 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,800 Now we all must. 162 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,040 So they came to them and said, hey, look, you're paying us 40 cents a day. 163 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:52,840 It's in script. Pay us at least a buck twenty five a day or give us meals in a dollar, which I don't think that's all that high. 164 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,280 Still, like, I think that's maybe two dollars an hour today's money. 165 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:58,920 OK, that's where my disconnect was. I wasn't sure. 166 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,600 I thought it was a lot more because again, remember, they're getting about 41 cents for the day, 167 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,520 which turns into about 90 cents an hour. 168 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:08,240 And then we're basically tripling it. 169 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,040 So they're going up to about 250. 170 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:11,720 OK, no, that's course. 171 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:17,120 Growers refused, upset that African-American workers were demanding an end to their paternalistic work regime. 172 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:23,320 So African-American leaders like Kamp Keys, a former Terrebonne parish legislator, called a strike. 173 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:29,120 Keys had a march from Houma to Southdown Plantation in Terrebonne, rallying workers with a fiery speech. 174 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:33,720 The sight of black protesters riled growers and acting with this interest in mind, 175 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:38,680 the parish's African-American sheriff formed a posse of whites to face down strikers. 176 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:41,400 Surprised at the opposition, Keys marches retreated. 177 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,600 Nothing happens with that strike attempt. 178 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,800 And then some things happen in the state capital of New Orleans, which moved to Baton Rouge in 1882. 179 00:13:49,800 --> 00:13:52,200 So technically New Orleans capital at this point. 180 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:56,280 Republican Governor William Pitt Kellogg also backed growers, 181 00:13:56,280 --> 00:14:02,600 but he was under siege from the Louisiana White League, a paramilitary white supremacist group formed in 1874 182 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,760 to intimidate the Republicans and keep African-Americans from voting. 183 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,840 Despite Kellogg's being a pro-growth moderate who favored low taxes, 184 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,960 white leaguers tried to oust him in a violent coup. 185 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:19,120 The Battle of Liberty Place, as it was called, pitted white militia men against federal troops and metropolitan police. 186 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:24,680 And this was the last major event of violence stemming from the disputed 1872 gubernatorial election, 187 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:30,160 after which both the Democrat John McHenry and Republican William Pitt Kellogg claimed victory. 188 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:35,840 Five thousand members of the White League, a paramilitary terrorist organization made up largely Confederate veterans, 189 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,720 fought against the outnumbered New Orleans metropolitan police and state militia. 190 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:44,000 The insurgents held the state house, armory and downtown for three days, 191 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:47,640 retreating before arrival of federal troops that restored the elected government. 192 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,560 No insurgents were charged in any action, and he returned under guard, 193 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,400 but would be Louisiana's last Republican governor for more than 100 years. 194 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:58,960 I just wanted to include that because I did not know that story at all. 195 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:01,200 I thought that was an interesting little side. 196 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:05,080 Didn't come up in the story except for the term the Battle of Liberty Place. 197 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,480 So I wanted to look up what was the Battle of Liberty Place. 198 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:10,280 So they're both against the workers in this situation, 199 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:17,400 but the Republican is at least in theory or media would have purported them to be in favor of the black workers here. 200 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:21,840 So just kind of added fuel to the fire, but he was against it because of all the things that were going on. 201 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:23,600 People hate the workers. 202 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:29,040 Yes. At this time as well, America was retreating from Republican led reconstruction and abandoning civil rights. 203 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:34,440 African Americans in sugar regions kept the right to vote, but their influence in state elections was waiting. 204 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:38,280 As W.E.B. DuBois put in Black Reconstruction in America, 205 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:43,800 the slave went free, stood for a brief moment in the sun and then moved back into slavery. 206 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:47,960 In October of 1877, Duncan F. Kenner, a millionaire planter, 207 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,880 founded the statewide Louisiana Sugar Producers Association, the LSPA, 208 00:15:51,880 --> 00:15:55,920 consisting of 200 of the largest planters in the state and served as president. 209 00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:59,560 The powerful LSPA lobbied the federal government for sugar tariffs, 210 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,000 funding to support levies to protect their lands and research to increase crop yields. 211 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,440 For the next decade, these members also worked to gain control of their labor. 212 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:14,840 They adopted a uniform pay scale and withheld 80% of all wages of workers until the end of the harvest season 213 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,600 in order to keep workers on the plantation through the end of the season. 214 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,880 So they've actually lost rights as these plantations come together. 215 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:27,200 And what's basically called a monopsy, when there's only one buyer, it's a monopsony. 216 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:29,160 When there's only one seller, it's a monopoly. 217 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:35,880 So because they're all agreeing we're not going to pay anything higher, they've locked in all their labor at slave wages. 218 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:41,200 And not only that, you don't even get paid your slave wages until the end of the season. 219 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:44,440 So you're taking on debt the entire time to the company store as well. 220 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,240 See, I did not know that term because there's not a game about it. 221 00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:50,840 That's a good point. Somebody should make a monopsony game. 222 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:56,360 Yeah, and then it would be like more people would understand and know to avoid this probably. 223 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,760 So after that happened, sugar workers attempted another strike in 1880, 224 00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:04,320 and both growers and workers resorted to sporadic violence. 225 00:17:04,320 --> 00:17:07,280 African-Americans were being disarmed and thrown out of office, 226 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:10,560 and some were leased out for hard labor for petty and trumped up crimes. 227 00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:16,240 With few options available, by 1887, tarabon sugar workers reached out to the Knights of Labor. 228 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,520 Now, the Knights of Labor, I think came up in our last strike episode 229 00:17:20,520 --> 00:17:24,840 because they were the biggest union in the US until the late 1880s. 230 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:25,720 I don't remember them. 231 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:27,600 It's been a year, so I can't quite remember. 232 00:17:27,600 --> 00:17:32,920 They came up in one of the train strikes, which I think is actually pretty much all we did outside of that cold strike. 233 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:37,080 The Knights were the biggest and most powerful union in America at the time, 234 00:17:37,080 --> 00:17:41,760 and it began organizing African-American workers in 1883 in separate locals. 235 00:17:41,760 --> 00:17:44,800 Local is a bargaining unit of a broader union. 236 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,600 Despite segregation, the Knights organized women and farm workers, 237 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,760 and it made strides against Jim Crow at the Knights 1886 convention in Richmond, Virginia. 238 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:58,600 Leaders risked violence by insisting that a Black delegate introduce Virginia's segregationist governor, 239 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,640 which I think is a really progressive thing, but probably pissed a lot of people off at the time. 240 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:05,280 It seems a lot of this stuff is. 241 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:07,240 Across the states of the former Confederacy, 242 00:18:07,240 --> 00:18:11,360 whites viewed organized labor as agitation that threatened the emerging Jim Crow order. 243 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:16,960 Even in the North and Midwest, the Knights fought an uphill battle against authorities who sided with railroad miners. 244 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:20,840 Several states called out militias to break strikes during the late 19th century, 245 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,440 but the Knights was at its peak of popularity in the 1880s. 246 00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,240 So naturally, this is the group that the workers were working with. 247 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:32,000 The Knights of Labor helped to bring together many different types of people from all different walks of life. 248 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,040 For example, Catholic and Protestant Irish-born workers. 249 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,240 The Knights of Labor appealed to them because they worked very closely with the Irish Land League. 250 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,800 The Knights had a mixed record on inclusiveness and exclusiveness, however. 251 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:46,600 They accepted women and Blacks and their employers as members, 252 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,880 and advocating the admission of Blacks into local assemblies. 253 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,600 However, the organization tolerated the segregation of the settlers in the South. 254 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,840 Bankers, doctors, lawyers, stockholders, and liquor manufacturers were excluded 255 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:01,080 because they were considered unproductive members of society, and Asians were also excluded. 256 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,720 And in 1885, a branch of the Knights in Tacoma, Washington, 257 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:11,640 violently expelled the city's Chinese workers, who amounted to nearly a tenth of the overall city's population at the time. 258 00:19:11,640 --> 00:19:17,600 The Union Pacific Railroad came into conflict with the Knights when the Knights in Wyoming refused to work more hours in 1885, 259 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:21,800 and the railroad hired Chinese workers as strikebreakers to stir up racial animosities. 260 00:19:21,800 --> 00:19:27,640 The result is the Rock Springs massacre that killed scores of Chinese workers and drove the rest out of Wyoming. 261 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:29,720 I think that's going to be next year's episode. 262 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:35,600 In Louisiana, the Knights organized sugar workers into seven locals of 100 to 150 members each. 263 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:42,560 In August of 1887, the Knights met with St. Mary branch of the Louisiana Sugar Planters Association, asking for improved wages. 264 00:19:42,560 --> 00:19:44,240 And again, the growers refused. 265 00:19:44,240 --> 00:19:49,440 So the Knights raised the stakes in October of 1887, as the rolling season approached. 266 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,560 It's really important that we understand this process. 267 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:55,040 You harvest sugar cane, you have to do it by hand. 268 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,240 It's basically like harvesting a bamboo field. 269 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:58,200 You got to cut it down. 270 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:06,960 You take the stalks into a factory and they need to be pressed and refined to their sugar product fast because they rot really fast. 271 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,920 And that's why they're saying if we can do this at harvest time, we're going to have the most impact. 272 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:12,880 That makes sense. 273 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:16,800 So the Knights raised the stakes in October of 1887, as the rolling season approached. 274 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,360 Junius Bailey, a 29 year old school teacher, served as local president in Terrebonne. 275 00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:31,640 His office sent a communique all over the region, asking for a dollar twenty five a day cash wages and local workers committees followed up, going directly to growers with the same demand. 276 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,240 But instead of bargaining, growers fired union members. 277 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:42,320 Planters like future Supreme Court Chief Justice Edward Douglas White kicked workers off the land, ordering any who stayed arrested, siding with the growers. 278 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:47,000 And Democratic newspapers circulated false reports of black on white violence. 279 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:53,440 Quote, the most vicious and unruly set of Negroes, unquote, were at the Rainsy Plantation near Thibodeau. 280 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:56,400 And the New Orleans Daily, Pekeun, reported. 281 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:57,440 I don't know how to say that. 282 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:03,200 Quote, the leader of them said today that no power on earth could remove them unless they were moved as corpses. 283 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:03,920 Unquote. 284 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,960 On November 1st, workers in St. 285 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:12,400 Mary, Laforge and Terrebonne parishes refused to work and refused to vacate their cabins that were plantation owned. 286 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:15,800 Attempts to evict the tenants by local sheriffs were unsuccessful. 287 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,840 The sugar planters were faced with the possibility of losing their crops to a freeze if the strike persisted. 288 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:27,560 And on the same day the strike began, the Planters Association called on the governor to send them help in the form of the state militia. 289 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:33,400 Democrat McHenry, who was part of that battle earlier on the losing side, but he was elected at that time, 290 00:21:33,400 --> 00:21:42,560 who is also a former planter, obliged calling for the assistance of several all white Louisiana militias under the command of ex Confederate General PGT Beauregard. 291 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:51,560 One group toted a 45 caliber Gatling gun, which is a hand cranked machine gun, around two parishes before parking it in front of the Thibodeau courthouse. 292 00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:53,760 An army cannon was set up in front of the jail. 293 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:54,280 In St. 294 00:21:54,280 --> 00:22:00,240 Mary, the Atacapis Rangers joined a sheriff's posse facing down a group of Black strikers. 295 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:07,680 When one of the workers reached into a pocket, posse members opened fire on the crowd and four men were shot dead where they stood, a newspaper reported. 296 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:09,720 Terror had broke the strike in St. 297 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:10,640 Mary's Parish. 298 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:17,840 In neighboring Terrebonne, some small growers came to the bargaining table, but larger planters hired strikebreakers from Vicksburg, Mississippi, 299 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,880 200 miles to the north, promising high wages and bringing them down on trains. 300 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:26,480 Replacement workers were also African-Americans, but they lacked experience in cane breaks. 301 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,400 As they arrived, militiamen evicted strikers. 302 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,280 And these are some of the headlines that are coming out around this at the time. 303 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,400 Very slanted, a New Orleans newspaper reported that, quote, 304 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:47,760 For three weeks past, the Negro women of the town have been making threats to the effect that if the white men resorted to arms, they would burn the town and end the lives of white women and children with their cane knives. 305 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:48,280 Unquote. 306 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:52,880 Similarly, in the days leading up to the climatic events in Thibodeau, it was reported that, quote, 307 00:22:52,880 --> 00:23:05,080 some of the colored women made open threats against the people in the community, declaring that they would destroy any house in the town and that not a few of the Negroes boasted that in case a fight was made, 308 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:06,640 they were fully prepared for it. 309 00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:07,560 End quote. 310 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:13,600 It's kind of bothering how easily they can talk about this stuff back in the day, but it really was a different time. 311 00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:16,680 Yeah, that's what I was thinking about everything that's going on. 312 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:22,640 This was definitely a way different time for all of this stuff to be happening and paving the way for things. 313 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:31,200 So the militia companies sent to the region worked with local judges and evicting strikers from plantations, provided protection for scabs sent in to replace the strikers. 314 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:37,040 When striking plantation workers were faced with soldiers armed with Springfield rifles, they offered little to no resistance. 315 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:39,200 They heeded the orders to leave the plantations. 316 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,480 Many congregated in the black section of the city of Thibodeau. 317 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:46,680 Problems arose when white scabs were fired upon in Terrebonne Parish. 318 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:53,240 Strikers who were forced off plantations were believed to be involved in the firing into Sugar Mills and La Forche Parish as well. 319 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:54,560 These are all unconfirmed. 320 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:57,120 Again, nobody knows what happened for sure. 321 00:23:57,120 --> 00:24:01,000 And there's a lot of that hearsay evidence going around at this time. 322 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:03,920 Yeah, that's unfortunate that we don't know exactly. 323 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:08,720 During all this, Thibodeau in La Forche Parish was becoming a refuge for displaced workers. 324 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:13,600 Some moved into vacant houses in town while others camped along bayous and roadsides. 325 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,800 Reports circulated of African-American women gossiping about a planned riot. 326 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:26,720 Violence broke out in nearby Lockport on Bayou La Forche when Moses Pugh, a black worker, shot and wounded Richard Foray, a planter and self-defense. 327 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:31,680 A militia unit arrived and mounted a bayonet charge on gathered workers firing a volley into the air. 328 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,520 At this time, the strike began gaining national attention. 329 00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,520 Quote, do the working men of the country understand the significance of this moment? 330 00:24:39,520 --> 00:24:48,640 As Washington, D.C.'s national Republican pointing out that sugar workers were, quote, forced to work starvation wages in the richest spot under the American flag, unquote. 331 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:53,280 If forced back to the fields at gunpoint, no wage worker was safe from employer intimidation. 332 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:58,240 In Thibodeau La Forche, Paris district Judge Taylor Beatty declared martial law. 333 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:03,120 Like many top-ranking white state officials, Beatty was an ex-Confederate and former slaveholder. 334 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:10,640 He was a former member of the Knights of the White Camellia, a terrorist group that had worked to suppress black Republican voting during Reconstruction. 335 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:19,120 He authorized local white vigilantes to barricade the town, identifying strikers and ordered blacks within the city limits to show passes to enter or leave. 336 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:23,680 The people that were enforcing this were white members of the community and neighbouring communities. 337 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:29,520 They were no doubt horrified by the rumours spreading that the blacks in the town intended to burn the city down. 338 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:33,040 On Monday, November 21st, two black men had been shot. 339 00:25:33,040 --> 00:25:36,560 A man named Watson died and the second man, Morris Page, was wounded. 340 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:43,280 Judge Beatty, after this, ordered the paramilitary to close the entrance to the city on the morning of November 22nd in Stangard. 341 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,720 This is where the events really start. 342 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:51,520 On Wednesday, November 23rd, before dawn, there were pistol shots coming from a cornfield and two white guards were shot. 343 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:55,920 The two white guards do survive, but the incident enraged the white population of Timidum. 344 00:25:55,920 --> 00:26:04,800 After these two white guards were shot and wounded, a local volunteer company, the Clay Knoblok Guards, went to the scene and they also claimed to have been fired upon from ambush. 345 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:11,280 They reportedly returned fire and fatally shot six blacks and wounded four others and captured several loaded shotguns. 346 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:21,840 Quote, there were several companies of white men and they went around night and day shooting coloured men who took part in the strikes, said Reverend T. Jefferson Rhodes of the Moses Baptist Church in Timidum. 347 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:30,080 Going from house to house, gunmen ordered Jack Conrad, a Union Civil War veteran, his son Grant and his brother-in-law Marcelin, out of their house. 348 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:34,320 Marcelin processed that he was not a striker but was shot and killed anyways. 349 00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:43,200 As recounted in John DeSantis' book, Clarice Conrad watches her brother Grant got behind a barrel and the white men got behind the house and shot him dead. 350 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:50,560 Jack Conrad was shot several times in the arms and chest. He lived and later identified one of the attackers as his previous employer. 351 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:57,040 One strike leader found in an attic was taken to the town common, told to run and then shot to pieces by a firing squad. 352 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:08,560 An eyewitness told a newspaper that no less than 35, quote, Negroes were killed outright, including old and young men and women. Quote, the Negroes offered no resistance, they could not, as the killing was unexpected, unquote. 353 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:14,720 Survivors took to the woods and swamps, killings continued on plantations and bodies were dumped in a site that became a landfill. 354 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:22,160 Absolutely no idea how many people at the end of the day were massacred. It's anywhere from 30 to 300 black strikers that were killed. 355 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,160 This is not a great story. 356 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,960 No. A New Orleans black newspaper, The Daily Pelican, described the scene as thus, quote, 357 00:27:28,960 --> 00:27:32,400 Six killed and five wounded is what the Daily Papers here say. 358 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:40,000 But from eyewitnesses to the whole transaction, we learned that no less than 35, fully 30 Negroes, have sacrificed their lives in the riots on Wednesday. 359 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:47,280 Negroes were killed outright, lame men and blind women shot, children and hoary headed grandsires ruthlessly swept down. 360 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,360 The Negroes offered no resistance, they could not, as the killings were unexpected. 361 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:55,920 Those of them not killed took the woods and the majority of them finding refuge in the city. 362 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,280 The city being New Orleans. 363 00:27:57,280 --> 00:28:05,760 In the same account, the newspaper claimed that the two pickets who were shot, those two white guards that were shot at the beginning, who started this whole thing, were shot by other white guards. 364 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:13,040 Members of a state militia company from Shreveport, supposedly to create a pretext to initiate the wholesale slaughter of the black strikers. 365 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:21,760 However, this could not be confirmed and the Shreveport state militia company had apparently left the Bideaux a few days earlier, so I'm not sure what actually happened. 366 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:24,160 That story would make sense, but nobody knows. 367 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:25,520 We can't say nobody knows. 368 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:25,760 Yeah. 369 00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:31,840 So after all that, workers returned to the fields on growers terms while whites cheered a Jim Crow victory. 370 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:42,960 The Daily Pican blamed black unionizers for the violence, saying that they provoked white citizens, suggesting the strikers, quote, would burn the town and end the lives of white women and children with their cane knives. 371 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:51,040 Flipping the narrative, the paper argued, quote, it was no longer a question of against labor, but one of law-abiding citizens against assassins, end quote. 372 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,240 The union died with the strikers and the assassins went unpunished. 373 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:59,440 There was no federal inquiry and even the coroner's inquest refused to point a finger at the murderers. 374 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,560 Sugar planter Andrew Price was among the attackers that morning. 375 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:04,400 He won a seat in Congress the next year. 376 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:04,800 Oh. 377 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:09,600 The massacre helped keep unions out of the South at just the moment it was industrializing. 378 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:13,440 Textile manufacturers were moving out of New England, chasing low wages. 379 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:21,280 And after textile factories closed in the 20th century, auto manufacturers and energy companies opened in the Southern states in part for their non-union workforce. 380 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:30,320 Southern black farm workers would not attempt to unionize again until the 1930s when the Southern Tenant Farmers Union attracted both white and African-American members. 381 00:29:30,320 --> 00:29:33,200 But it too was met by a violent racist backlash. 382 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,200 The struggle for Southern unions continued into the civil rights era. 383 00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:43,680 On the night before he was assassinated in Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech supporting striking sanitation workers. 384 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:48,080 He urged his audience to quote, give ourselves to the struggle until the end. 385 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:53,120 You may not be on strike, but either we go up together or we go down together, end quote. 386 00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:55,680 And that's the end of the Thibodeaux massacre. 387 00:29:55,680 --> 00:30:00,800 Basically the reason why unions never took hold in the Southern US. 388 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:02,880 I'm just trying to wrap my head around this. 389 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,160 Obviously there's more workers in general. 390 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:07,760 Yeah, they have the people on their side. 391 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:12,000 Yeah. So I just don't understand like this is all horrible. 392 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:14,480 Why people just go back to work? 393 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:15,760 Well, they don't really have a choice. 394 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:17,280 They had so many people murdered. 395 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:18,720 Oh, because they're slaves. 396 00:30:18,720 --> 00:30:26,880 Well, they're not slaves, but there's the underlying coercion of our system where you need to earn money to be able to survive. 397 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,440 Right. Okay. So technically... 398 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,840 They're wage slaves. To add a word and make it easier. 399 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:32,720 That makes sense. 400 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:39,200 So while there's more of them, the people paying their wages still hold the power because they're paying their wages. 401 00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,160 Exactly. And these are people who had just come out of slavery. 402 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:43,440 They don't have educations. 403 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,800 They can't do anything else other than work the farms. 404 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:49,440 And this is where their families are. It costs money to move. 405 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:52,240 Yeah. Okay. That's what I was just confused about. 406 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,240 And that's why they call it the Thibodeaux massacre. 407 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:55,360 Yeah. It makes sense. 408 00:30:55,360 --> 00:30:56,720 Yeah. That's a heavy story. 409 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,120 I am sorry for putting that all on you, everybody, 410 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:06,640 but I think it's actually an interesting way to kind of learn about the history of why unionization never took hold in the Southern US. 411 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,840 And it continues on for 100 years after that. 412 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:12,800 I would have otherwise been oblivious to all of this. 413 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,520 Even the fact that they couldn't unionize the South. 414 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,200 Well, they have in the Southern States, a lot of them, what's called the right to work, 415 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:24,960 where you can't be compelled to pay union fees just because there's a vote in your workplace to unionize. 416 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,960 So you get all the benefits of an employee who's playing union dues. 417 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:32,160 Without having to pay union dues because you can't be compelled to pay them. 418 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,720 So it really undermines unions. 419 00:31:34,720 --> 00:31:36,400 That's all the power in the unions. 420 00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:40,960 Well, part of the power in the unions comes from being able to collect funds for various reasons, 421 00:31:40,960 --> 00:31:46,240 like paying people to negotiate on your behalf, set up a strike fund in case a strike ever happens, 422 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:47,600 a few other things as well. 423 00:31:47,600 --> 00:31:51,360 And without collecting that money, especially everybody participating, paying that money, 424 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,320 it really hollows out people who want to pay that money. 425 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,480 Anyhow, go ahead with your story. 426 00:31:56,480 --> 00:31:59,040 I think we spent enough on that. It's too sad. 427 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:06,480 Okay. I'll prepare for a fun version of this because I don't know a whole lot about strikes or unions. 428 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:08,160 I've never been a part of a union. 429 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:09,360 I get their importance. 430 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,640 Like I get the general vague idea of why they're important, 431 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:16,800 especially listening to all these strikes about workers being treated unfairly. 432 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,960 I get that. The other stuff I don't get. 433 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:23,680 So be prepared for my relaying of these stories for you. 434 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:27,200 If you have any questions about union terms, just ask, 435 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:31,200 because there's a few that likely will come up that I can explain fairly easily, 436 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:32,800 but not necessarily all of them. 437 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:34,480 Uh, I don't know that they come up. 438 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:35,520 Anyhow. 439 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:37,200 Okay. Well, it's a general strike. 440 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:41,360 So that means it's like the entire city is striking all the workers in the city. 441 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,520 Okay. Yeah. I didn't think that was a term, but okay. 442 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:46,080 Let's go. 443 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,600 August 2nd, 1918, a day we will never forget. 444 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:54,720 Day of the first general strike in Canadian history, 445 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:56,720 which means the whole city strikes. 446 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:57,440 Didn't know that. 447 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:58,480 Why do we care? 448 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,040 Well, assume Taylor will tell us. 449 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,520 No, we're going to tell you right now with the story. 450 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:04,080 Oh, good. 451 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:04,560 It's- 452 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:05,200 I hope. 453 00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,960 As I was saying, the infamous day we have all ingrained in our minds, 454 00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,440 the second day of August, 1918. 455 00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:16,800 There had been talks for a while before this day for hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. 456 00:33:16,800 --> 00:33:19,520 I actually don't know how long the article was super vague 457 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:21,840 and just said there had been talk. 458 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:22,800 It had been five minutes. 459 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,680 It's a perfect storm for the first general strike in Canadian history. 460 00:33:27,680 --> 00:33:32,000 There was federal conscription, which I didn't know that Canada had. 461 00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:33,200 Yeah. And the first world war. 462 00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:34,560 Yeah. I had no idea. 463 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,800 Censorship of socialist publications and demand for higher wages, 464 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:40,480 all of which no one was fond of. 465 00:33:40,480 --> 00:33:42,960 No one likes socialist censorship. 466 00:33:42,960 --> 00:33:44,320 Let's beg him for a strike. 467 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:46,720 If I've listened to our episode before. 468 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:52,080 Wartime inflation reduced real income, which I learned is the income of peoples 469 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:54,160 after adjusting for inflation. 470 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,080 This happened throughout the first world war 471 00:33:56,080 --> 00:34:00,560 and in addition Vancouver shipbuilders experienced labor shortages. 472 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,000 The storm was a Bruin. 473 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:03,840 To add to the storm a Bruin, 474 00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:08,080 numerous government policies had suppressed the work of labor activists, 475 00:34:08,080 --> 00:34:11,760 such as strikes, lockouts, and certain presses being banned. 476 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,760 Workers were inspired by the Bolshevik revolution, of course, 477 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,680 which happened the previous year. 478 00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:19,520 So if we add this all together, 479 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:23,360 it's just like a shit storm tornado heading towards Vancouver, 480 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:25,600 I guess, in the form of a general strike. 481 00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:27,680 It's foreshadowing right there. 482 00:34:27,680 --> 00:34:31,920 Strike was organized as a one day political protest. 483 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,560 I wouldn't say that that is foreshadowing. 484 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,200 Yeah, I just foreshadowed the shit out of that. 485 00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:38,720 By saying what it was. 486 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:40,100 Okay. 487 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:42,320 It was the tornado. 488 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:47,440 Okay, the strike was organized as a one day political protest 489 00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:50,960 after the killing of the draft evader Albert Ginger. 490 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,960 Well, someone died because he dodged the draft in Canada. 491 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,840 Okay, so because of this, I had no idea. 492 00:34:57,840 --> 00:34:59,920 First of all, most people from the States 493 00:34:59,920 --> 00:35:02,720 always talk about going to Canada to avoid the draft. 494 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:04,960 Oh, I was like, whoa, who is this guy? 495 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,680 Turns out he's a pretty important guy in the story. 496 00:35:07,680 --> 00:35:09,200 So I'm really glad I looked into him 497 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:13,120 because the first article I looked like just kind of brushed him off of this guy. 498 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,280 But I was intrigued by Ginger. 499 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,240 It turns out he was a trade unionist, 500 00:35:18,240 --> 00:35:21,360 was a coal miner and advocate for workers' rights 501 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:25,200 and promoted the cause of unions in British Columbia, Canada, 502 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:26,400 where Vancouver is. 503 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:27,200 I'm also there. 504 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,920 Fingered by the working conditions in coal mines, 505 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:34,320 Goodwin sought to increase wages and improve working conditions 506 00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:37,200 and fought companies that disregarded workers' rights. 507 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,080 He participated in and led multiple strikes 508 00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:44,400 and served as a delegate for the British Columbia Federation of Labour 509 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:47,840 as an organizer for the Socialist Party of Canada. 510 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:50,720 In the years following his increased activism 511 00:35:50,720 --> 00:35:52,560 and involvement with labour unions, 512 00:35:52,560 --> 00:35:54,960 Goodwin fell under scrutiny for his opposition 513 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,680 to military conscription during World War I 514 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:00,000 and he was very outspoken about the war. 515 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,960 He was a very outspoken opponent of the war. 516 00:36:02,960 --> 00:36:05,200 He wasn't any better than what I said. 517 00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:08,960 Like many coal miners, Ginger suffered lung problems 518 00:36:08,960 --> 00:36:12,480 and was initially classified as unfit for fighting overseas. 519 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,320 However, following a strike he led for the eight-hour day 520 00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:20,560 at a smelter in Trail, BC, his conscription status 521 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,000 was changed to fit for service in an overseas fighting unit. 522 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,960 They heard him belting out those pro-socialist views 523 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:29,440 and said those lungs are just fine for fighting. 524 00:36:29,440 --> 00:36:33,600 They're fine for fighting and he could do more service, I guess, fighting 525 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,360 and never coming home. 526 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,840 And not rising up the lower class too. 527 00:36:37,840 --> 00:36:39,680 Yeah, we don't want to do that. 528 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:43,280 With the help of townspeople, he traveled to Vancouver Island 529 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:45,840 and went into hiding in a bush near Cumberland 530 00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:50,240 where other war resistors received support from local community members. 531 00:36:50,240 --> 00:36:54,720 The series of still-contested events, Ginger, they keep calling him Goodwin, 532 00:36:54,720 --> 00:36:57,760 but Ginger is what drew me to him in the first place. 533 00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:59,600 Is that a nickname? Is he a redhead? 534 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:00,880 He is. 535 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,680 I was gonna ask you, but I just felt like it was a given. Anyone named Ginger is a redhead. 536 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:10,000 Goodwin was tracked down on July 27, 1918 537 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,560 and shot by a private constable employed by the Dominion Police, 538 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,920 which is the forerunner of the RCMP, the evil RCMP. 539 00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:19,200 Just kidding. No, they are. 540 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:21,920 Those force boys have been up to everything for a long time. 541 00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:27,360 Just four days after an amnesty had been declared for draft evaders. 542 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,280 There is debate on whether Ginger was a victim of murder 543 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,280 or if his death was the result of the officer's self-defense. 544 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,960 I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it wasn't in self-defense. 545 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:39,600 That's my opinion. 546 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,240 In any event, the self-defense wasn't necessary 547 00:37:42,240 --> 00:37:44,880 if they had just known the fucking law at the time 548 00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,120 because he was not evading at the time. 549 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,520 I mean, I guess technically communications didn't travel that fast in 1918 550 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:52,800 when you're hiding in the bush. 551 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:54,640 Really didn't, no, in Canada. 552 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:58,080 So there are those that say that Ginger was hunted down and killed 553 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,120 by the police officer for his union activism. 554 00:38:01,120 --> 00:38:04,000 And Ginger's death sparked a one-day general strike. 555 00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:05,600 Oh no, I'm foreshadowing again. 556 00:38:06,720 --> 00:38:07,360 Okay, I'm just gonna say. 557 00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:08,160 You're so quick. 558 00:38:09,200 --> 00:38:12,800 Ginger's death sparked a one-day general strike in Vancouver 559 00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:17,280 on August 2, 1918, the most infamous day in Canadian history. 560 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:18,640 We all know that date. 561 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:22,240 I'm really glad I decided to look into Ginger after that whole thing 562 00:38:22,240 --> 00:38:25,520 because this essentially started the great... 563 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:28,960 Yeah, honestly, he sounds kind of like a Canadian version of Eugene Debs 564 00:38:28,960 --> 00:38:32,640 that ended up in jail and running for president in the US, 565 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,240 running as president as a socialist and getting a million votes. 566 00:38:36,240 --> 00:38:39,360 Yeah, I'm glad you continued on to say who Eugene Debs was. 567 00:38:40,160 --> 00:38:42,400 Yeah, he spoke out against the First World War 568 00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,120 just being a very high-class affair, 569 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:47,440 and it was all the workers that were going out to be murdered. 570 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,400 And he said, this is the stupidest thing ever and got put to jail for that. 571 00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:53,760 Yeah, it is the stupidest thing ever and they're just speaking their truth. 572 00:38:53,760 --> 00:38:55,680 Sad, just like the story you told. 573 00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,880 Yeah, I didn't personally know Ginger, 574 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,760 but I feel like he would have been satisfied with the results 575 00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:05,120 that his death had triggered based on his hobbies and interests. 576 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:08,560 I guess I didn't finish my sentence with the first mention of Ginger. 577 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,240 So the strike was organized as a one-day political protest 578 00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:17,040 after the killing of the draft evader Albert Ginger Goodwin. 579 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:18,720 Did I just change his first name? 580 00:39:18,720 --> 00:39:19,600 Call him Ginger. 581 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:20,960 Yeah, his name's Albert. 582 00:39:20,960 --> 00:39:23,040 I was just used to calling him Ginger. 583 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:25,120 Oh, after the killing of Ginger, 584 00:39:25,120 --> 00:39:27,280 it previously called for a general strike 585 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:30,560 in case any worker was drafted against their will. 586 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,880 Okay, so the strike is going down now. 587 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,600 What I've so nicely foreshadowed for you. 588 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:36,480 It's happening. 589 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,480 The strike is met with violence. 590 00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:41,680 People who are not in the strike hate the strike, as we know. 591 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,160 People who aren't striking hate the strike. 592 00:39:44,160 --> 00:39:46,560 The violence happening is from return soldiers 593 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:50,640 who had been mobilized and supplied with vehicles to storm the labor temple 594 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:52,560 at 411 Dunsmear Street. 595 00:39:52,560 --> 00:39:54,560 And what the fuck is a labor temple? 596 00:39:54,560 --> 00:39:56,080 What is the term I need help with? 597 00:39:56,080 --> 00:39:57,280 I don't actually know. 598 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,200 I would assume that's just kind of like a lodge 599 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:02,320 where people would hang out and like do their union stuff. 600 00:40:02,320 --> 00:40:05,440 Yeah, it kind of sounds like Scientology's, 601 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:09,200 but I Googled it and I could not find an answer. 602 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:12,800 Huh, there's a Finnish labor temple and a Ukrainian labor temple. 603 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,120 Yeah, you can bring up all the labor temples, 604 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:17,040 but it doesn't tell you what they are. 605 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:17,600 Huh. 606 00:40:17,600 --> 00:40:21,600 So it's very mystical and mysterious, a labor temple. 607 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:24,640 So if anyone's ever been in one, been around one. 608 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:28,960 So the Ukrainian labor temple was a focus for Ukrainian culture 609 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:31,520 and worker and farmer political activism. 610 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:34,720 So I think it was just a place for like the blue collars 611 00:40:34,720 --> 00:40:39,760 to have like cultural events and to push forward their political activism. 612 00:40:39,760 --> 00:40:41,120 That's my guess. 613 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:42,880 I don't really see those anymore. 614 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:43,760 No, you don't at all. 615 00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:45,360 It didn't come up. It didn't come up. 616 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:49,680 But I feel like there's been a big push against labor and along for many decades. 617 00:40:49,680 --> 00:40:52,240 It's true. It's in a different place these days. 618 00:40:52,240 --> 00:40:54,400 Even the episodes that we've done. 619 00:40:54,400 --> 00:40:57,280 Okay, that's labor temporal. 620 00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:58,800 It's still gray. 621 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:04,640 Some opposition claim that the strike was a product of a Bolshevik conspiracy. 622 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:05,280 That's right. 623 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:09,440 Right here in Canada, our home and native land, Bolshevik conspiracy. 624 00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:13,920 300 men ransacked the office of the Vancouver trades and labor council 625 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:19,680 after attempting to throw the secretary, Victor Miggly, mid Miggly out of a window. 626 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:23,760 Soldiers forced the longshoremen to kiss the union jack. 627 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:26,000 They must have failed to throw him out the window. 628 00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:26,880 Okay, here we go. 629 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,400 A woman working in the office was badly bruised when she prevented 630 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:32,240 Miggly from being thrown out the window. 631 00:41:32,240 --> 00:41:35,280 So it seems like if she was just bruised, they didn't try that hard. 632 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,280 Strike leaders could point to the vote from the Vancouver trades and labor council 633 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:42,240 delegates that supported the strike 17 to one. 634 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:46,320 After the strike in response to opposition from the business and middle class, 635 00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:48,000 all the strike leaders resigned. 636 00:41:48,000 --> 00:41:51,120 Nearly all were reelected in the ensuing election, 637 00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:55,680 demonstrating widespread support for the general strike among organized workers. 638 00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,600 Although the strike was province wide, 639 00:41:57,600 --> 00:42:01,520 it was only the city of Vancouver that reached general strike proportions. 640 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:04,560 Numerous other strikes took place in the city that year. 641 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:08,000 The general strike was as much a show of labor strength 642 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:10,880 as it was political protest over Inder's death. 643 00:42:10,880 --> 00:42:13,040 At the time, the strike was controversial. 644 00:42:13,040 --> 00:42:15,280 Some saw Inder as a martyr. 645 00:42:15,280 --> 00:42:16,400 Did you say that? 646 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:17,120 Matier? 647 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:18,080 Yeah, a martyr. 648 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:24,000 Murder for the labor movement while others saw the strike as a betrayal of Canadian ideals. 649 00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:27,600 Yeah, and that's why they made him kiss the union jack would be because that's 650 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:28,960 the Canadian flag at the time. 651 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:32,560 And they would feel that these people were f-dodgers. 652 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:35,680 And therefore they needed to show respect to the flag, basically. 653 00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:37,360 Yeah, that makes sense. 654 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:42,800 Although only one day in duration, the strike was an important maker of the Canadian labor revolt 655 00:42:42,800 --> 00:42:46,320 that piqued the Winnipeg general strike the following year. 656 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,680 1919 Vancouver strike in sympathy with Winnipeg 657 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:52,480 is still the longest general strike in Canadian history. 658 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:57,680 So that's where I end, but that's where I feel Taylor expected me to keep going 659 00:42:57,680 --> 00:42:59,520 in talking about the Winnipeg general strike. 660 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,720 Next year we can do the Winnipeg general strike because that's the big one. 661 00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:05,440 My brain's not working too good these days. 662 00:43:05,440 --> 00:43:06,080 You know what? 663 00:43:06,080 --> 00:43:08,000 I thought I did a really good job on this. 664 00:43:08,000 --> 00:43:08,500 Yeah. 665 00:43:09,680 --> 00:43:13,760 I found what looks like a pretty good article on Vancouver's labor temple. 666 00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:15,840 So I can just do a bit on that right now. 667 00:43:15,840 --> 00:43:16,400 Okay. 668 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:20,720 Designed by architect Thomas Hooper, the building opened in spring of 1913 at a cost 669 00:43:20,720 --> 00:43:25,440 of about $150,000 and it included meeting halls, a large billiard room in the basement, 670 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,160 a lounge for unemployed workers, a print shop, a cooperative store to provide low-cost goods 671 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:34,800 to workers, and offices for Vancouver's trade and labor council, the socialist party and 672 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:35,760 individual unions. 673 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:39,520 It was designed so that a couple more floors could be added in case need arose. 674 00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:43,840 The labor temple was a stop for many prominent and sometimes notorious union leaders passing 675 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:44,560 through town. 676 00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:50,160 Mother Jones, IWW co-founder, Big Bill Heywood and Lucy Parsons, an outspoken widow of Haymarket 677 00:43:50,160 --> 00:43:55,680 riot martyr Albert Parsons are perhaps the most well-known, but it wasn't just radicals 678 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:56,960 who made use of the labor temple. 679 00:43:56,960 --> 00:44:00,800 The conservative Vancouver police union also got its start there when it became one of 680 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,200 the first police unions in the country in 1918. 681 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:03,760 Huh. 682 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:05,200 The rest is about the general strike. 683 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:05,920 Okay. 684 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:07,120 It all connects back. 685 00:44:07,120 --> 00:44:11,600 Ultimately, the temple became a casualty of this militant period in Vancouver's labor 686 00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:12,240 history. 687 00:44:12,240 --> 00:44:17,280 A factional split in the VTLC paralyzed its ability to meet the financial obligations 688 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:18,320 of the labor temple. 689 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:22,000 Provincial government purchased the building and repurposed it as the first home of Van 690 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:23,760 Tech High School in 1921. 691 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,600 The province retained ownership until a few years ago when it sold the temple to the current 692 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:28,320 owners. 693 00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:33,280 Labor's Vancouver temple is now the maritime labor center on Victoria drive and unsightly, 694 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:37,680 but functional headquarters for the Vancouver district labor council that features a fabulous 695 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,920 1940s mural of Fraser Wilson. 696 00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:40,480 Nice. 697 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:41,840 I like that it's fabulous. 698 00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:42,480 Huh. 699 00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:43,440 The more you know. 700 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:44,160 There we go. 701 00:44:44,160 --> 00:44:44,720 Yeah. 702 00:44:44,720 --> 00:44:48,480 It's crazy to know that history of the city you're in though, hey? 703 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:51,680 There were labor movements in there and it got pretty popular. 704 00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:56,000 Yeah, like I said, when I went into what I was talking about, like this is all stuff 705 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:59,280 that is kind of like, I understand what a strike is. 706 00:44:59,280 --> 00:45:00,880 I understand what a union is. 707 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:05,440 I understand their importance, but it's never really come across my desk. 708 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:11,200 Like how, what came to be in the history of it all behind and the fight that people had 709 00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:17,200 to put up to be able to have even today, we're still always trying to get higher wages and 710 00:45:17,200 --> 00:45:20,240 all that stuff that I'm just not wanting to be able to have. 711 00:45:20,240 --> 00:45:24,560 I'm just not well versed in, but it's interesting to see where it all comes from. 712 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:25,920 It's good knowledge to have. 713 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:27,040 Yeah, it really is. 714 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:30,800 And even when it comes to like the idea of the Bolshevik resolution, we learned that 715 00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:34,240 in school, but we never learned that there were movements within North America. 716 00:45:34,240 --> 00:45:35,520 Some of us learned it in school. 717 00:45:35,520 --> 00:45:36,320 That's true. 718 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:37,360 Yeah. 719 00:45:37,360 --> 00:45:42,640 But we never learned about the equivalence that did happen or just about happened in 720 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:44,400 like Western societies around. 721 00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:48,080 No, I don't recall learning about any of that. 722 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,600 And with that knowledge is power and you have reached the end of your mandatory listening 723 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:52,640 for the day listener. 724 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:56,640 Thank you for following our rules and listening right to the end. 725 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:58,720 We have been Journey to the Fringe. 726 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:00,240 I am Taylor here with Chelsea. 727 00:46:00,240 --> 00:46:02,720 Thank you all for listening and we will see you next week. 728 00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:03,200 Bye. 729 00:46:03,200 --> 00:46:04,080 That was a weird bye. 730 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:04,580 Bye. 731 00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,240 Thank you for listening to Journey to the Fringe. 732 00:46:08,240 --> 00:46:14,320 If you have liked what you have listened to, please like, share, subscribe, or follow 733 00:46:14,320 --> 00:46:17,440 depending on what venue you are listening to us through. 734 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:23,600 Also, please, if possible, leave a five star review as that really helps us in the algorithms. 735 00:46:23,600 --> 00:46:28,640 Should you wish to interact with us, please check us out on your social media of choice. 736 00:46:28,640 --> 00:46:30,080 I bet you we are there. 737 00:46:30,080 --> 00:46:34,880 And if you really want to communicate with us and give us ideas for new episodes or tell 738 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:41,680 us that we're wrong and terrible, either way, please send us an email at journeytothefringeatgmail.com. 739 00:46:41,680 --> 00:46:48,880 For now, I'll see you in the next episode.