Maine Owl

The annual labor celebration is at the Solidarity Center. Slaid Cleaves!

One of my goals with the Maine Owl Calendar project was to note events in labor history that I find particularly meaningful. This week marks the 93rd anniversary of such an event: the Great Mesabi Mine Workers Strike of 1916. At the time, my father was a young boy born to a Finnish immigrant family on the Mesabi Iron Range in northern Minnesota.

Here is how the late Philip S. Foner described the beginning of the strike in Vol. 4 of the 10-volume "History of the Labor Movement in the United States":

On June 2, 1916, an Italian miner, Joe Gruni, employed underground at the St. James mine near Aurora, opened his pay envelope and saw that his check was for a sum much less than he had understood his contract called for.

"To hell with such wages," he cried; he threw down his pick, and decided to quit.

To his surprise, the entire shift in the underground mine went along with him. Gruni and his coworkers went from stope to stope it Aurora, crying: "We've been robbed long enough. It's time to strike."

By June 4 every mine in Aurora was shut down, and every miner was a striker. The strikers appointed a committee and sent an appeal to the mine owners to meet for the purpose of adjusting the miners? grievances. The request went unanswered.

Thus began the great strike of 1916. The word "strike" began to reverberate out of Aurora as a group of Finnish and other Socialists spread the news throughout the Range. Parades were organized, and the striking Aurora miners marched over 75 miles of mountain road from town to town, passing the word "strike" from place to place. The procession, sometimes augmented by children and wives wheeling baby carriages, picked up recruits for the strike. Within a week, many of the mines throughout the Range were closed.

Philip S. (Philip Sheldon) Foner, "History of the labor movement in the United States, Vol. 4: The Industrial Workers of the World 1905-1917", International Publishers Co, 1972, ISBN 0717803961

This strike apparently had serious consequences for my grandparents, who were merchants in Gilbert, Minnesota. I have little specific information. But what I believe happened at this time is that too many miners not working during the summer of 1916 and who owed money to my grandfather could not pay their bills for work clothing. He also was stuck with a shop full of inventory on which he owed money but which could not be sold, a double whammy. Nobody was going to bail him out. My grandparents were bankrupt and forced to liquidate all of their property. They had no love lost for strike leaders, Finnish radicals, or organizers from the Industrial Workers of the World like Elizabeth Gurley Flynn.

The main issue in the strike was pay. Striking miners wanted $2.75 to $3.50 per day versus less than $2 per day net under the harsh contracts in force at the time. They also wanted to be paid twice per month instead of once, to be paid full wages owed immediately upon quitting, and to have an eight-hour work day. They did not even demand recognition of a union!

The rest of the story is one of anti-striker newspaper attacks, brutal physical repression, even killings. After three months, the strike basically was lost as miners slowly returned, working under the same terms they had before the strike. However, Foner explains that most of the companies involved had increased wages 20-30% within a few months. The strike did have some effect.

Biggest anti-war protest in world history (repost)


Clips from ultra-frigid, 500-person anti-war march & rally in Bangor, Maine, February 15, 2003 (Video courtesy Bill Phillips)


Almost ten total minutes of coverage from Ch. 5 and Ch. 2, Bangor, 11 pm reports on February 15, 2003; Be sure to watch through to the end for Ch. 2's "gas mask" story!

This all speaks for itself. Channel 5's reporter had it right: "The message of the Mainers, 'Stop the rush to war, join the 80% of the world's population that disagree with the president's war policy, and disarm Iraq through peaceful, multilateral policies.'"

GO TO THE LINK below for a page of stunning photos showing what a representative sample of that "80%" of the world's population looked like on that day:

11 million march against war

This was no failure by any means. Everything we said then about the prevarication of Colin Powell and the rest, and the consequences of the regime going ahead and ignoring us as they did do, sadly, has come true. But Bush did not get his "second resolution," Turkey could not allow the "northern attack." There is no taste today for attacking Iran. ... The American empire, while by no means crippled, took a necessary blow that day that resonates over the six years since. It is a cornerstone day of history.

This calendar entry was covered extensively last year


The bloodthirsty amongst our fellow Americans hung their helmets on Secretary of State Colin Powell's phony graphics, February 5, 2003.

I concluded the five-year anniversary post last year, "Nothing described in Powell's presentation ever was found."

Added note: Vastleft again commemorates this sad and awful display of war propaganda (please see HERE and HERE) by showing how the filters at pbs a few months ago wouldn't let News Hour correspondent Gwen Ifill touch the notion that, "The media all-but-unanimously pronounced Colin Powell's fact-challenged Feb. 2003 UN presentation 'compelling.'"

Link update: The official State Department archive for the February 5, 2003 Powell presentation is HERE.

See the Maine Owl calendar for this date

Here is another entry in my calendar series. I haven't really been keeping up with writing a piece for 3/4ths of the entries. I guess it'll end up more like 1/4th. Oh well, it is a very busy semester.

Anyway, the item for today concerns events in Finland during the time of WWI. These had rather strong repercussions for my own forebears. From late January to May of 1918, Finland was beset by a bloody conflict born of worker dislocations after 19th century industrialization, the tumult of the Russian revolutionary period of 1917-18, and of course the general insanity of World War I. In addition to the above link (my favorite of the pieces I read today), also go HERE for more, and to the Wikipedia entry HERE.

My father grew up on the Iron Range of northeastern Minnesota. Already by 1918, my grandparents had experienced a devastating bankruptcy I believe related to the 1916 Mesabi iron miners strike. (More on this will be published in June on the 93rd anniversary of the strike.) This was a great blow to my father as a seven-year-old child. My grandfather went from being a very-well-off merchant to a struggling municipal employee. My dad as a result had a sort of scrappy approach to making a living that I seem to have inherited.

While he was alive, he never spoke much about the splits that occurred in the Finnish community and within our own family during these times. (My grandparents as merchants were quite conservative, as I understand it.) Except once.

In November 1990, just after Paul Wellstone had first been elected senator from Minnesota, I asked my dad to talk on tape about how the Finns might view Wellstone. He explained about the "Reds" and the "Whites"--the terms used for the belligerent sides in the 1918 civil war. This clip is only 45 seconds and he does not even mention the conflict at all, rather suggesting that the politics of those old days had been patched up so that the progeny of the Reds (losers in 1918), the Communist Party of Finland, were legitimate in politics after the mid forties. Mostly I like this because he uses the Finnish names for the "Reds" and the "Whites." Play the clip below:

Excommunicated January 3, 1521

Growing up Lutheran cannot help but instill some pride in your church because it was founded on the teachings of the intellectual leader of the Protestant Reformation. Luther represents freedom and intellectual inspiration to discover new knowledge and new ways of seeing the world. I graduated from a Lutheran college that instilled these values in an academic sense. I'm grateful to have had that experience.

Luther was a German monk, a scholar and an ordained priest. By 1520 he had a achieved a high academic position. He saw corruption in the Church and had the guts to say so. This caused him problems, to say the least. But apart from some months in hiding after the Diet of Worms (April 1521) brought down a harsh edict from the Holy Roman Emperor, he never lost his position at Wittenburg. Others, however, were not so fortunate as in some parts of Europe during the 1520s, following the teachings of Luther could result in burning at the stake.

Luther's 95 Theses drew sharp theological lines against the Roman Church and amply illustrated its corruption. I won't get into them here, except to say they made the point that the blessings of God are not for sale. The Church at the time was extremely corrupt in its dealings, often extracting onerous taxes from poor peasants which it converted into lavishly appointed facilities. Some of the mega-churches we see today that really are big business empires ought to have that kind of light shined on them.

Luther actually was a conservative and had no desire for rebellion against feudal oppression that marked his time. He was as opposed to Anabaptist radicals as he was to the Roman hierarchy.

I began an intensive one-month course on Luther in college exactly thirty years ago this week. It hardly seems possible... Well, to get a flavor of Luther, one of the best texts is On the Freedom of a Christian (1520). This is one that really stirred 'em up.

After an introductory letter challenging Pope Leo X on the "monstrous evils of this age with which I have now for three years been waging war," Luther fairly quickly lays out his case that "justification" (roughly, redemption in the eyes of God) is not a matter for human authorities to adjudicate, then a conceited occupation of Church authorities--often for a price.

And, to cast everything aside, even speculation, meditations, and whatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself, are of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me shall not die eternally" (John xi. 25), and also, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John viii. 36), and, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. iv. 4).

Nowadays as a lapsed Lutheran I take it much further--My faith is that whatever God there may be is not at all interested in the process of human justification or redemption. The way the universe works is both your human life and soul simply are erased when you die. There is no division of "soul" and "flesh." It is what you leave behind for others that matters. Even though Luther himself probably would consider me to be a heretic, on that last account, Luther was a giant.

Maine Owl 2009 Calendar series

This is the beginning of a series of posts on items listed in the Maine Owl 2009 Calendar. Some of these will be more ambitious than others. Often I will point to Wikipedia articles and give only brief personal reflections. Other times I will include much more about why the event listed for the date is meaningful to me. I will try to post on at least 3/4 of the events listed.

Labor struggles and worker safety are represented for quite a few of the dates on the Calendar. On this date in 2006, a tragic underground coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia caused the deaths of 12 men by asphyxiation during their long entrapment with toxic gases (one survived the ordeal). A thirteenth man died in the initial explosion.

These miners might have been spared by proper safety equipment and procedures. A New York Times editorial on January 5, 2006 explained,

The mine, with more than 270 safety citations in the last two years, is the latest example of how workers' risks are balanced against company profits in an industry with pervasive political clout and patronage inroads in government regulatory agencies. Many of the Sago citations were serious enough to potentially set off accidental explosions and shaft collapses, and more than a dozen involved violations that mine operators knew about but failed to correct, according to government records.

This is an example of Republican Katrina-esque governance at it's worst. Lives are sacrificed because corporate bosses can make more money if no one effectively regulates what they do.

There is a blog by/about the sole survivor, Randy McCloy, updated only into April 2006. But this post with a news item containing Mr. McCloy's story told in his own words really struck me.

After the blast, the miners returned to their shuttle car in hopes of escaping along the track, but had to abandon their efforts because of bad air. They then retreated, hung a curtain to keep out the poisonous gases, and tried to signal their location by beating on the mine bolts and plates.

"We found a sledgehammer, and for a long time, we took turns pounding away," McCloy wrote. "We had to take off the rescuers in order to hammer as hard as we could. This effort caused us to breathe much harder. We never heard a responsive blast or shot from the surface."

Martin "Junior" Toler, 51, and Tom Anderson, 39, made another, last-ditch attempt to find a way out but were quickly turned back by heavy smoke and fumes, McCloy said.

"We were worried and afraid, but we began to accept our fate," he wrote. "Junior Toler led us all in the Sinners Prayer."

McCloy said the air behind the curtain grew worse, and he lay as low as possible and tried to take shallow breaths, but became lightheaded.

"Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing I could do to help him," McCloy wrote. "The last person I remember speaking to was Jackie Weaver, who reassured me that if it was our time to go, then God's will would be fulfilled."

Our country owes a lot to miners. I had many relatives who worked iron mines in northern Minnesota. It's rough, dangerous work. We owe it to all mine workers to insist on the highest safety standards. We still have a long way to go.