I understand forces against the funding of PBS TV.
March 21, 1998, upon seeing a series on the contribution of the Irish to America on the PBS TV network I was motivated to create this page. A page for the inclusion of materials I could find on the World Wide web and elsewhere on the contributions that my people made to the labor movement. A movement that we all benefitted from, in one way or another. I wondered how far along we'd be without actions taken by some of the courageous people. Some contributors are noted within, while information regarding others are found by linking to pages that you may reference below.
One will learn of the steps people took to bring to light the labor abuses and safety issues that cried out for attention. In some cases, extreme actions (like those of a Michael Collins, of a later era) had to be taken to right abuses heaped on honorable working men and women. Distortions are and were then out and about souls who's sacrifice made life easy for all of us. An understanding of games played on worker bees is beneficial, whether it be yesterday or today, would you not say?
During the mid 1950s while in the employ of Cunard White Star lines
as a seamen on R.M.S. ships our mates went on an unofficial strike
seeking a few extra pennies of an increase on our measly pay. I happened
to avoid being on the picket lines by having sailed on a two weeks cruise
before gaining wind of the planned walkout. The Queen and other instruments of the state
came out and branded the action as communist inspired. We were obliged to
return after a short while and settle for a token weekly pay increase
but the per hourly overtime pay rate was reduced, the effect being,
we achieved nothing. The Seaman's union we paid dues to was a sham,
merely a company union. The leadership was naturally ticked off by
the action of our comrades.
During the next few years, "Mother" Jones became increasingly active in the union movement. Her life is in some ways a history of the labour movement in the United States. A brief sampling of her activities reports her involved in the rail strike of 1877, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere; organizing the coal fields of Pennsylvania in 1899; at the founding convention of the IWW in 1905; visiting rebel Mexico in 1911; being arrested at Homestead in 1919; and working with dressmakers in Chicago in 1924.
Mother Jones has a notable place in American history. Her work as a union organizer and orator and her influence on the making of history have had more lasting significance than her writing. However, The Autobiography of Mother Jones which she partly wrote and partly dictated, clearly illustrates the power of both her voice and her convictions. Written in a natural, colloquial style, it paints a forceful picture of the working conditions and people of the mining camps, railroad towns, and textile industry that she worked with. A sense of her voice can also be obtained from a short article which she wrote in 1901. A tributeby Eugene V. Debs gives a view of her life as seen by one of her contemporaries.
Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!
- Mother Jones labor leader and social reformer.
Her Quotes ...
Who was She?
A book entitled "Liberty's Women" features a biographical sketch on this great American lady.
A book entitled "Liberty's Women" carries this great American.
