I know a man who is now in his late 70's that remembers his father losing his job in northern Arkansas because of a railroad strike. The big railroad companies just closed down the small lines and put everyone out of work. The family had to move to Houston, Texas to find a job. He was just a very small boy at the time, so it was probably in the 1930s or late 20s. Pat, heather e blair wrote: > Now I'm wondering if the IWW was a presence down in Peirce City. Were > they trying to organize railroad workers? They were a big organization > at one point, but the mainstream labor unions prevailed over them and > now they are a teeny-tiny organization that just prints a song book as > far as I can tell. It includes the classic "Halleluja, I'm a Bum!" > > There was a railroad strike on the Missouri and North Arkansas line in > 1921 in Harrison, Boone Co., Arkansas where bridges were destroyed: > > http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=749 > > - Heather > > http://hblair.uchicago.edu/ > > > > On Tue, 12 Jun 2007 Dwestcw@aol.com wrote: > > >> In the late 1800's and into the early 1900's there was a strong socialist >> movement in the United States. This movement was anti-capitalist and >> antagonistic to the railroads and other large business organizations. Take-over of >> the U.S. Government was also one of their goals. (The IWW or "Wobbleys" were >> part of this movement.) The socialists in the U.S. followed the radical >> theories of Karl Marx and other international socialists. >> >> Although I have no information on the railroad bridge incident at Pierce >> City I suspect that it was aimed at the railroad, but it could have been >> targeting the Army troops, too, because they were a representation of the authority >> of the U.S. government. >> >> With the advent of World War One, the socialist movement largely dissipated. >> However, there are some advocates of a socialist state in this country now, >> mostly pinhead professors in the humanities departments of colleges and >> universities and a few self-serving politicians. There are also some anarchists, >> but they are, fortunately, a very small group. Anarchists are predominantly >> poorly educated and not very bright based on their literature and an >> encounter I had with a couple of them a few years ago. (Anarchists advocate no >> civil authority and are anti-capitalist.) >> >> Dale >> >> >> >> ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MOLAWREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MOLAWREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >