Labor Strife, Labor Disputes Quotes
This letter was signed by a local white Priest and two other leading planters. This quotation gives us a marvelous feeling for what occurred when parts of the South was occupied by the Union Army shortly after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. Minor and his fellows just did not “get it.” The concept of freedom of the slaves was intellectually so foreign to them, that they wanted the Union Army to “compel” the freed slaves to work. They were horrified that slaves went wherever they wanted, and they were most outraged when former slaves who had enlisted in the Army, would “visit” their old plantation setting such a terrible example. The letter gives us a perspective on how difficult it was to change the mental set of Southern Whites and why Reconstruction was so difficult. The year of the letter is somewhat uncertain as the original letter appears to be dated 1862 but the writing is not clear and that date does not comport with the history of the era and we believe 1863 was the correct year. The photograph is of the first official colored troops mustered into the Union Army. They were called the Louisiana Native Guards and contained the ex slaves who went over to the Union side just before the time this slave owner complained. These ex slaves, in uniform, and with arms would sometimes visit the plantations where they and been enslaved, thrilling the remaining slaves and infuriating owners like Minor.
According to Palmer, all labor strikes were a part of the international communist movement to take over America. This quotation is an excellent example of the conflation and the strange logic of the extreme anti-communists of the red scare. It started with a railroad strike. Because some of the strike leaders were socialists and some communists, the strike was communist. And if it was communist, the strike is but one step in capturing the political and economic power of the nation, and the purpose of that was to overthrow the government and substitute the governmental structure of Russia. With such thinking no labor action could be seen as American and patriotic if there were any socialists or communists participating in the strike. Later in the McCarthy era, a strike would be a menace if any participant even had been a communist or was related to one or had friends who were communists or even if not but the Communists morally supported the strikers, then the strike was dangerous. The same thing for civil rights. The Communists loudly opposed racial segregation. Therefore any effort to end segregation was a danger to America and furthers the communist conspiracy. This “logic” can be seen well into the 1960’s by the Southern segregationist leaders.
She saw strikes as wasteful where the workers and the companies, the public and the government lost. She favored arbitration which was generally opposed by labor and management and still is today in most cases.
Northern abolitionists were pushing to abolish the Fugitive Slave Act and prohibit slavery in any of the new territories. Southerners were calling for secession and civil war if necessary if the Fugitive Slave Act was not enforced and they could continue to exploit slaves. Webster, to the distress of most of the abolitionists, was working for a compromise. But that had been tried before. It was either slavery or not.
This is a fascinating historical quotation. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848 in England and in less than 40 years, American politicians were already in fear of the doctrine. Communism had one of the fastest spreads of any ideology. By 1886 we already see the beginnings of a Red Scare. At the time, most laws were designed to protect the wealthy and the middle class, and many discriminated against workers and the poverty stricken.
While Ray was very sympathetic towards the strike, his father’s attitude was typical of that of business men across the nation. A picket line or demonstration was a “mob” and mobs should be broken up before they do physical damage to people or property. “Grape” and “canister” were types of ammunition for cannon that was used against personnel in war. One shell could kill 20-30 men in a crowd.
