Community in Conflict MSU Press Catalog Listing

More proof that we've been working; the MSU book catalog page for Community in Conflict. Please right click on the image to enlarge and read. Special thanks to Erik Nordberg for the incredible quote in support of the book.

We're Back

After a long hiatus from blogging, we're back. The last three months have been busy ones, filled with finishing the book, writing articles on information from the book, presenting, and preparing for a summer of "touring" to get the word out about our work.

In April, Aaron and I ventured to East Lansing and Michigan State University to give a talk at the Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives "Brown Bag" series. We were invited by John Beck, who was also gracious enough to give us a tour through the MSU Museum's exhibit on labor history and work.

John Beck explaining a museum exhibit to Aaron before our talk at the Our Daily Work, Our Daily Lives "Brown Bag" presentation at Michigan State University

The talk went well as we spoke to over 50 people about our research and some of the new information we have found regarding the strike and the Italian Hall tragedy. It was a great trip. We got to meet new folks, talked with staff at MSU Press, answered some questions regarding the strike and labor history, and had some great food.

Aaron speaking to a packed room in the Michigan State University Library. We received some great questions and used this presentation to gear up for our packed summer of presentations.

It was also an historic trip from the perspective of weather. I picked Aaron up at O'Hare in Chicago, which was in the middle of flooding...same was true for East Lansing.

So, all in all the trip was a pretty incredible one that we soon won't forget.

Presentation to Global City

Had a great chance to speak at a Global City gathering at Michigan Tech. There were about 40 people at the talk, and I got peppered with a couple of really good, thoughtful questions.  The details of the talk:

Dear all - please join us this TUESDAY, JANUARY 29, for an exciting presentation on the history of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike. 

In honor of the centennial anniversary of the strike we have asked Gary Kaunonen to be our guest this week.Gary is currently the Associate Director of Michigan Tech's Writing Program, a Graduate Teaching Instructor, and a PhD student at Michigan Tech in the Rhetoric and Technical Communication program. He has researched and written extensively on immigration, labor, and the industrial heritage of the local area.Fisher 138 from 6:00-7:00! Pizza and drinks will be provided. Please bring your own cup if you can!

Link to Global City's web page: http://global.students.mtu.edu/

Michigan Sate University Press Overview for Community in Conflict

A mirror of the great changes that were occurring on the national labor right scene, the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike was a time of unprecedented social upheaval in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. With organized labor taking an aggressive stance against the excesses of unfettered capital, the stage was set for a major struggle between workers and management. The Michigan Copper Strike received national attention and garnered the support of luminaries in organized labor like Mother Jones, John Mitchell, and Charles Moyer. The hope of victory was overshadowed, however, by violent incidents like the shooting of striking workers and their family members; and the bitterness of a community divided. No other event came to symbolize or memorialize the Strike more than the Italian Hall tragedy, in which dozens of workers and working-class children died. In Community in Conflict, the efforts of working people to gain a voice on the job and in their community through their union, and the efforts of employers to crush those unions, take center stage. Previously untapped historic sources shine new light on this epic, and ultimately tragic, period in American labor history.

About the Community in Conflict Cover

We are very proud to share the cover to the upcoming book, Community in Conflict: A Working-class History of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike and the Italian Hall Tragedy. The book itself is the culmination of research going back almost 10 years. I (Gary) had been working with sources from the Copper Country's Finnish immigrant population, which was instrumental in bringing about the strike and also during the strike while working on a Master's at Michigan Tech and some of these sources were inevitably used in Community as well.

Aaron and I started working together on the book in 2011. His expertise in the national labor scene at that time gives Community in Conflict something that other book length histories of the strike do not provide: a national context. Workers in the Copper Country did not live in a vacuum, and national events in the labor movement and business and management relations had great impacts on local workers and their surroundings in the Copper Country. That is the "community" in Community in Conflict--we strive to paint a whole picture of the Copper Country's labor movement and not just what happened in the mines and streets of the Copper Country during the dates of the strike.

Thus, the book is a look at not only striking workers, but their families, the copper bosses, and the social and political environment in which the Copper Country's working-class lived. The back story provided in the book leads up to the great clash between labor and management that was the 1913-14 strike, and the truly tragic events at Italian Hall--mostly with regard to and using the perspective of the Copper Country's working class members.

The cover itself is a symbol of our attempt to include the personal stories of members of the Copper Country's working class. The artwork on the cover is an engaging political cartoon drawn by Konstu Sallinen, a Finnish immigrant working at the Tyomies Publishing Company in Hancock, Michigan, during the strike. Salllinen drew the cartoon in the early days of the actual strike and captured the "conflict" that was consuming the Copper Country at that time. His artwork is an artistic first person perspective on conditions from a working-class perspective.

You'll note in the Sallinen's cartoon the haggered, but determined look look on many of the strikers' faces. One striking worker is carrying a sign that reads a familiar slogan shouted during strike parades by workers. In the background the artillery of the Michigan National Guard sits ready for use, while Michigan National Guardsmen themselves stand watching strikers with guns outfitted with bayonets next to military issue tents.

We felt the image was a powerful representation of the tension and conflict simmering in the Copper Country. While we selected the image, Michigan State University Press, our publisher, employed an incredible graphic artist to select the color scheme, font, and organize the cover's layout. We feel the graphic artist did a great job and when we first received the cover to look over from the Press, Aaron had copies made and distributed them throughout St. Martin's University where he teaches.

Upcoming Strike-related Historical Events

The centennial year of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike is here, and events with strike-related history are already happening and about to happen. Hoping to keep people updated, I'm posting some events from the Historical Society of Michigan's Upper Peninsula events calendar. For those interested, a link to that site: http://www.hsmichigan.org/calendar/upper-michigan/.

Seeberville 1913: Everyday Life in Violent Times

When: Tue January 15

Where: Calumet

The Calumet Public-School Library presents “Seeberville 1913: Everyday Life in Violent Times.” Join Kim Hoagland as she talks about Seeberville and its role in the copper strike. This program is part of the traveling exhibit “Tumult and Tragedy: Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike.” The program begins at 6:30 p.m. at Calumet High School. For more information about the program, visit www.1913strike.mtu.edu.

Mine Safety Issues in the 1913 Strike Era

When: Sat February 9

Where: Houghton

The Carnegie Museum presents “Mine Safety Issues in the 1913 Strike Era.” Join Larry Lankton as he speaks about the conditions of the mines and the dangers miners faced. This program is part of the traveling exhibit “Tumult and Tragedy: Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike.” The program begins at 1 p.m. at the Carnegie Museum. For more information, call (906) 482-7140 or visit www.cityofhoughton.com/rec-carnegie.php.

Pulp and Propaganda: Newspapers in the Strike Era

When: Sun March 17

Where: L’Anse

The L’Anse Area School Public Library presents “Pulp and Propaganda: Newspapers in the Strike Era.” Join Jane Nordberg as she speaks about newspapers and their role in the copper strike. This program is part of the traveling exhibit “Tumult and Tragedy: Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike.” The program begins at 1 p.m. at the L’Anse Highschool. For more information, visit www.1913strike.mtu.edu.

Company Houses Along the Picket Line

When: Wed April 10

Where: Painesdale

The Sarah Sargent Paine Historical Research Center presents “Company Houses Along the Picket Line.” Join Erik Nordberg as he talks about the mining company and their impact on the Painesdale area. This program is part of the traveling exhibit “Tumult and Tragedy: Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike.” The program begins at 7 p.m. at the Jeffers High School Library. For more information, visit www.1913strike.mtu.edu.

Interpreting the 1913 Michigan Copper Strike

When: Thu May 23

Where: Calumet

The Keweenaw National Historical Park presents “Interpreting the 1913 Michigan Copper Strike.” Join Gary Kaunonen as he discusses the copper strike and its impact on the Upper Peninsula. This program is part of the traveling exhibit “Tumult and Tragedy: Michigan’s 1913-1914 Copper Strike.” The program begins at 7 p.m. at the Calumet Visitor Center in the Keweenaw National Historical Park. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/kewe/index.htm.

The Italian Hall Tragedy and Long Memory

This day, Christmas Eve 2012, marks the 99th anniversary of the sad and tragic events at Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan. The events of Italian Hall turned the Copper Country on its head, and a bitter 5-month strike dividing workers and companies, friends and neighbors, and in some instances family member from family member became even more acrimonious. People associated with the Western Federation of Miners union blamed a vigilante group, the Citizens' Alliance for orchestrating the events.

Työmies, a Finnish-language socialist-unionist newspaper published in the strike zone at Hancock, Michigan, printed a rare English-language article in a special impromptu edition published on Christmas Day. The beginning of the article read:

The most appalling disaster in the history of Michigan occurred last evening at the Italian Hall in Calumet where hundreds of men, women and children had gathered to witness Christmas exercises for the strikers[’] children. The program which was quite lengthy had just begun when a strange man ascended the stairway, yelled “fire” and quickly made his escape to the street. Several persons who stood near the entrance where this man appeared, state that he had his cap pulled down over his eyes, and that pinned to the lapel of his coat was a Citizen’s [sic] Alliance button. At the cry of fire the great crowd arose as one and made a mad rush for the exit in the front of the building. In the rush down the stairway many fell and being unable to regain their feet were trampled to death, their bodies acting as stumbling blocks for others who followed, until the hallway was entirely blocked by the dead and dying. The fire alarm was soon sounded and those responding were forced to gain entrance to the hall by ladders at the front windows. Firemen entered the building in this manner and stopped the panic stricken crowd from further crowding into the hallway upon the dead bodies of their friends in a frantic effort to escape. The bodies in the hallway were so tightly packed that they could not be released from below, and firemen were compelled to remove the dead from the top of the stairway carrying the dead and dying back up into the hall before the stairs could be cleared. At the time the cry of fire was sounded in the hall Mrs. Annie Clemenc was making a talk to the little ones present who naturally were crowded as near the stage as possible, their little faces beaming with happiness, their hearts bounding with Christmas cheer. In less than three minutes afterward fifty of their frail little bodies were jammed and crushed in the hallway being used as a roadway over which their companions were vainly endeavoring to escape. The scene was a horrible one, and will never be effaced from the minds of those who witnessed the terrible tragedy.

The bodies of the dead were taken to a temporary morgue established in the town hall as soon as they were removed from the building. As soon as identifications were made, the bodies were removed to their homes. In some homes the mother and all the children lie cold in death, the husband and father crazed with grief. In others the mother being the only one spared has been plunged into despair and sorrow that yet dazes her, the full truth not yet dawning upon her terrified brain.

An estimated 73-79 people died in this horrific event. Close to 60 of these deaths were children.

A terrible and tragic event, Italian Hall should be remembered for several reasons. Primarily because we should always honor the memory of those who died in the hall. Mostly children, the lives of those who passed at Italian Hall were filled with so much potential. Additionally, these were working class folks who died at Italian Hall, and often "history" at the very least forgets, or in worst cases, is negligent of the struggles and tribulations of those in the working class. Most traditional histories champion the memories of the presidents and industrialists who supposedly gave so much, while overlooking the people who did the actual work in building America--the WORKing class. Remembering those who died at Italian Hall gives their lives as working class members involved in a hotly contested labor strike the due diligence that most textbook histories dismiss. 

Finally, as the great folk singer Utah Phillips notes, one of the most important gifts to America's working class is "the Long Memory." Referring to "Long Memory" as the most radical idea in America, Phillips opines in his spoken-word song "The Long Memory," that those of us coming up today battling many of the same injustices in the wage-slave system, can only begin to understand OUR exploitation and attempt to control the conditions of OUR labor by understanding OUR collective past as a united working class. 

So, where does this knowledge come from? According to Phillips, it is OUR elders. Those elders who sat-in, spoke-up, and sometimes tuned-out, have a wealth of knowledge that can never be learned from a text book. 

Those working class elders who marched in strike parades, nearly froze to death in picket lines, and sacrificed their lives for something as simple as a Christmas Eve party in Italian Hall have demonstrated to all of us how important, essential, and vital something as simple as collective action can be. That lesson is not inherent, it is learned and earned from each battle on the picket line, each fight for free speech, and every tragic loss to senseless labor violence directed at workers trying to assert their rights to organize in a collective body. The "Long Memory" allows us today to carry the lessons of the past into the future and gain the wisdom of those who have fought the good fight before us. 

Simply, the "Long Memory" allows us to never forget the past, while always moving forward.   

A link to Utah and Ani DiFranco's song "The Long Memory":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTtuKarY7U

Our thoughts go out to those who died at Italian Hall this holiday season--Aaron and Gary