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PatrickforO

(14,516 posts)
9. Yeah, I hear that. The thing about the laws is they are written by the
Thu Apr 30, 2020, 09:40 PM
Apr 2020

people who really call the shots. And, if we people somehow make it inconvenient because we're pushing back, then the powers that be will call it 'class warfare' and simply change the laws so we can no longer do what was working for us.

A classic example is the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. I think it's 1947.

Anyway, what Taft-Hartley did was make it illegal for unions to engage with other unions in general strikes. This was because workers in shipyards during WWII wanted better wages and working conditions and struck numerous times.

So they changed the law.

Another shining example is the Espionage Act of 1917. This act was especially geared to pull the teeth of unions, and in fact was the law under which the American hero Eugene Debs was convicted. Because, like all sensible workers, he was against the war. Silly him - all that money to be made by the Military Industrial Complex, then in its infancy and under the control of - wait for it - Samuel Prescott BUSH. That's right. HW's grandpa!

How about that! Plenty of money to be made but for those pesky Wobblies, who were winning the battle for decent wages, pensions and good working conditions...

So they changed the law.

That's how it works.

Maybe we can have the guts to get ugly about making some real reforms on the flip side of this COVID thing. What is it Eastwood said in the Outlaw Josey Wales? "Now remember, when things look bad, and it looks like you're not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb mad dog mean."

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