The things you can find on the Interwebs, like this piece, on The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research:

In collaboration with The Portland Phoenix, The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research is issuing a call for public art: Mural depicting the glorious contributions of the Maine businessperson.

Seeking designs for a 36-foot-long, 8-foot-tall mural to replace a degenerate, “one-sided” mural at the Maine Department of Labor office in Augusta. Please e-mail jpgs to jinglis@phx.com, or if you insist to us.

Submissions are encouraged to honor Maine’s grand business history, from logging to ship building, from the brave executives who put down the 1937 women’s strike to steadfast proponents of child labor, from the paper mill bosses who purified our waters with dioxins to those who intrepidly called in the National Guard to restore order in the face of wrong-thinking mobs and crybabies, and surplus and salvage company CEOs who selflessly offer damaged goods for retail sale before giving it all up for public service.

Labor history as one sided, it's a fascinating concept, since Labor history in general is about, LABOR. It's totally one-sided. But then again so is the history of slavery, so is women's history, and so is the history of mental health care in the US. History about a given topic is about that topic, as was this art work. It was about workers for a building catering to workers, not the businesses that abuse, disregard or even love the workers. It was about the workers and their struggles, not the businesses and their struggles.

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I'm now following a new blog (well, new to me) and I'm pushing it into the blog roll, but I want to draw your attention to how I noticed this site:

In southern Colorado, mine workers had been on strike since September 1913
against the big coal interests of the region, chief among them the Colorado Fuel
and Iron Corporation, owned by John D. Rockefeller. The miners' demands included
the eight-hour day, more honest procedures for weighing the mined coal, the
right to buy and trade in any store they pleased, recognition of the union, and other basic dignities that were already supposedly guaranteed under the law--a common
theme in the labor movement's history.

He goes on to talk about a Woody Guthrie song about the massacre and it's meanings for today:

12 more miners were killed before federal troops arrived to "restore order." The strike was over. Mr. Rockefeller and the great corporations won, because they could go to whatever lengths necessary for victory and rest assured that state and federal government stood ready to assist. The solidarity of working families throughout Colorado was no match for the solidarity of corporations and government throughout the country. When it was all over, none of the company's gunmen were charged with a crime.

Today, most people have not heard of the Ludlow Massacre. You probably did not learn about it in school. I didn't. But our history is full of "Ludlows." Tent colonies and armored machine-gun cars may sound old-fashioned. But a privileged class that benefits materially from slowly crushing working families and is willing to act ruthlessly to maintain its privilege never goes out of style. The systems and philosophies and distractions that made it possible then are still at work today. The story has not fundamentally changed. The difference is that there has been progress, thanks in large part to the awakening of the public by events throughout our history like the Ludlow Massacre. But it's been a slow and grinding progress, and we've seen indications of how easily it can be rolled back.

We would do well to arm ourselves with the knowledge and memory of the Ludlows of our history.

Highly recommend a read of Better Than Machines.

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Young women were toiling away in their factory. The factory was littered with lint, dust and fabric. Fabric hung above them, finished shirts, unfinished, strips of cloth and everywhere, women toiled, trying to feed their families. Within only a day, many of these same women would be dead.

Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, a fire broke out... and this Friday, you can do something to remember these women and all those whose workplaces continue to put them at risk. If you live in New York, join UNITE HERE:

To honor the women who died at the Triangle Fire and our continued fight for workers rights and workplace safety, we would like you to join us at the commemoration of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire -- a definitive event in the history of American labor and in the history of New York City.
Triangle Fire Commemoration
Friday, March 27, 2009 at 12 pm
New York City:
Corner of Washington Place & Greene Street
For more information about the commemoration, please contact
Ed Vargas at 212-265-7000.

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