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appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
Tue Dec 8, 2015, 10:41 PM Dec 2015

PLUTOCRACY: Political Repression in the USA, New Documentary Online & FreeSpeech.org, 9 pm ET

Last edited Wed Dec 9, 2015, 07:42 PM - Edit history (1)



"History is written by the victors" as Walter Benjamin the German philosopher and cultural critic stated.

The new documentary 'Plutocracy' is a comprehensive and powerful study of America's early working class made up of farmers, miners and industrial laborers from Shays' Rebellion in 1786-87, through rapid industrialization and inequality in the post Civil War 19th century era of the Robber Barons to the intense labor struggles of the 1920s.

The story opens with the 1912 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike of coal miners in Kanawha County, WVa and the coal wars that culminated in the Battle of Matewan in 1920, and the Battle of Blair Mountain, 'Bloody Mingo' in southern West Virginia, Aug. 25- Sept. 2, 1921. The Battle of Blair Mountain was the biggest labor uprising in US history and the largest armed uprising since the Civil War, involving 10,000 coal miners.
Scott Noble is the filmmaker for this comprehensive labor history documentary and seeks support for the project.

The film comprises two sections:
Part I. 'DIVIDE ET IMPERA' (Divide and Rule), and Part II. 'SOLIDARITY FOREVER' (late 19th century to the 1920s).
>Free Speech TV is airing the Documentary *tonight at 6 and 9 PM ET. Check their schedule this week and Dish & Direct TV for listings/times. Free Speech TV *WATCH LIVESTREAM, https://www.freespeech.org/

FILM TOPICS: Shays' Rebellion, Articles of Confederation, US Constitution, Federalist Papers, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, Jay, Political Factions, Louisiana Purchase, Mexican-American War, Civil War Draft Riots, New York 1863- Carnegie, JP Morgan, Rockefeller, Frick; Irish Immigration, Frederick Douglass, growth of railroads, Westward Expansion, Indian Genocide, Paris Commune of 1871,

- NEW YORK CITY DRAFT RIOTS, July 13-16, 1863, 'The Gangs of New York', after the Battle of Gettysburg, the Civil War Military Draft Act, March, 1863 and the Emancipation Proclamation, Jan. 1, 1863



TOPICS CON'T: Reconstruction, KKK, Jim Crow, Northern Industrialists & Robber Barons, the rise of corporate capitalism & inequality, boom bust economic crises & depressions; evolution of the police & use of hired private company guards, Pinkerton's, Baldwin-Felts detectives; Great Railroad Uprising of 1877, Chicago Haymarket Affair 1886, Pullman Strike 1894, Homestead Strike 1892, New Orleans General Strike 1892,

Vigilante violence, civil suppression & racial segregation of Mexicans & Native Americans in the southwest US & California; Chinese immigrant labor in the West; beginnings of labor unions & organizations; early 20th century labor struggles; Mother Jones; Matewan, WV Massacre, Sid Hatfield, the Battle of Blair Mountain, Company Towns.
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- Gen. DANIEL SHAYS & Col. JOB SHATTUCK led thousands of struggling, indebted farmers and workers, many who were American Revolutionary War veterans, in an uprising against unfair treatment by courts, banks and powerful interests in western Massachusetts that spread to RI, PA, MD and VA after the War for American Independence.

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appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
1. In July 1903, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones led the March of the Mill Children,
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 12:02 AM
Dec 2015

striking child and adult textile workers from Philadelphia to New York, almost 100 miles to call public attention to the scourge of child labor and the excesses of industrial capitalism.
Irish-born Mother Jones (1837-1930), the Miners' Angel and American labor activist headed the Children's Crusade in order to demand a reduced work week of 55 hours and a ban on night work by women and children.

In the Gilded Age, children were sent to work in coal mines and mills to supplement meager family incomes often suffering maiming injuries and stunted growth as a result. After the March reached New York City, Mother Jones led the children to Sagamore Hill, President Theodore Roosevelt's summer home on Long Island, NY to plead for reforms which pushed for enactment of child labor laws.

Mother Jones the Children's Crusade, July, 1903




Children Workers Demonstrate Against Injustices

appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
3. The people's struggle for progress and justice must continue worldwide.
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 11:26 AM
Dec 2015

As Mother Jones understood, Pray for the Dead and Fight Like Hell for the Living.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
5. There is nothing more democratic than public education.
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 12:42 PM
Dec 2015

It is what build the United States of America into a world power unlike any other before or since.

Thanks to those who care, it is still the beacon of justice for the world.

appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
8. Tom Jefferson is grieving for the nation he helped build. Limit education to elites
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 08:03 PM
Dec 2015

and an upper class, control the media and message, protect corporate interests above all else, eliminate unions and the safety net, establish powerful lobbyists in Washington to influence legislation and more, as business attorney Lewis Powell laid out in The Powell Manifesto of 1971 that has come to pass sorry to say. Much action and movement building are needed to preserve and move forward; the price of progress is dear but worth it and the only course for survival.

appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
7. The privatization of schools must end, education is a right not a commodity.
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 05:00 PM
Dec 2015

Many major actions and ideals are presented in this quality film.

appalachiablue

(41,153 posts)
6. The documentary 'PLUTOCRACY' will be shown again Tonight on Free Speech TV, at 6 and 9 PM ET.
Wed Dec 9, 2015, 01:36 PM
Dec 2015

Check the website @ freespeech.org and FSTV cable providers for Times and Listings this week.



"Plutocracy" is the first documentary to extensively examine early American history through the lens of class.
Part I. 'Divide et Impera' (Divide and Rule) focuses on the ways in which working class people have been divided in America for economic and political gain and exploited for profit by race, ethnicity, gender and skill level.

In order to reduce costs, management fought unions, hired private police forces like the Pinkerton's detectives to intimidate and control employees, introduced new technologies to de-skill workers and hired the least expensive, often foreign born laborers who were unable to communicate with other workers which hindered organizing and uniting.
The film is a tribute to the courage, strength and perseverance of American's workers. A must watch.

*Film Review and Documentary Storyline:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/plutocracy-political-repression-usa/

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