Labor History Archives

The Autobiography of Mother Jones

Mother Jones was the real thing. There are few like her. Most talk big talk but can’t walk the walk. Consider the posted history information with this article:

AFL-CIO's 50-Year Organizing Record under Meany, Kirkland and Sweeney     One problem is that the current "reformers" were in charge during labor's decline and want to maintain their "frozen" leadership for the next four years and beyond. Union members cannot afford an ossified leadership. Another problem is that neither Meany, Kirkland or Sweeney have had a warm relationship with the nation's union members. They operated primarily within a circle of top national leaders. Meany avoided contact with workers who were struggling to organize or were on strike. He even boasted he had never been on a picket line. What is urgently needed is a few articulate, dynamic leaders who are respected by union members across the board, and who can involve them in the struggle to regain their former strength.

Our problem goes well beyond our Local, the IO and AFL. Our problem is bound up with society itself.

We can start at the Local level. A small flicker of light can and will turn into a shining sun of truth and liberty. This are Family Values. These are Union Values. We are the Union. So we can change our future.

It is time to start now. We can do this. Who wants to help?

Get Facts   Be Brave   Be Free

Links to articles on Mary Harris Jones

http://www.aflcio.org/aboutus/history/history/jones.cfm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAjonesM.htm

http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/pgs/portraits/Mother_Jones.html

http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_mother_jones.htm

http://shows.airamericaradio.com/motherjones/bio

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear” Harry S Truman

Harry S Truman

Message to Congress,
August 8, 1950

http://quotes.forbiddenlibrary.com/

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