On the nature of corporate power. by Fremdfirma

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

On the nature of corporate power.

POSTED BY: FREMDFIRMA
UPDATED: Tuesday, October 21, 2008 16:35
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Tuesday, October 21, 2008 4:35 PM

A little bit of history for ya, regarding why unions have been so ineffective, and highlighting the point of why they've not worked as a check and balance against corporate abuses.

The Battle of Matewan was a spark factor that lead to a later event which throws the concept into sharp relief.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan

Baldwin-Felts and Pinkertons were notorious for this sort of conduct, and you'll note the prevalence of good ole Rockefeller in the Ludlow incident, after which he came up with the idea of "helping" his workers (peons) to form a "union" to pacify and sabotage them, which is the foundation for many modern unions, especially those affiliated with the UAW or AFL-CIO.

I also note to you that the USDOJ was founded almost entirely on the remnants of Pinkertons strikebreaking hired goons and criminals, few if any of whom were ever prosecuted for that behavior, and instead of punishing it, we simply made it official policy and sanctioned it.

But the two incidents you should fully understand are Ludlow and Blair Mountain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
"Private planes were hired to drop homemade bombs on the miners. On orders from the famous General Billy Mitchell, Army bombers from Maryland were also used to disperse the miners. A combination of gas and explosive bombs left over from the fighting in World War I were dropped in several locations near the towns of Jeffery, Sharples and Blair. At least one did not explode and was recovered by the miners; it was used months later to great effect during treason and murder trials following the battle. It was the first and only example of Air Power being used by the federal government against US citizens."

A Union CAN successfully fight a corporation, and even it's hired goons, to an extent - but what it can NOT do, is fight the corp, it's goons, AND local law officials backed up by the full and entire weight of the US Armed Forces on the corporate side.

And if they could, then what is there to stop them from simply taking over wholesale ?

The UMWA, UMW and IWW were actual unions, and primarily responsible for nearly every concession to the american worker that is to be had today, the AFL-CIO, and particularly the AFL, came along much later when it was physically, legally and politically "safe" and for a time, under that ratbastard Gompers, actually tried to undo those reforms by breaking IWW strikes in the name of "patriotism" since Gompers recieved a cushy cabinet position in exchange for selling out his own - and to this day the AFL-CIO is very much a status quo, don't rock the boat pack of pathetic sympathisers licking the masters hand and begging for scraps while getting a kickback from him under the table for keeping their own "under control".

Folks, that ain't a union, that's just a pretty coat of paint on the same old leash.

It was us nutjobs, wackos, pinkos, anarchists and all those other nasty epithets still thrown at us, that suffered and bled and died so that you get paid overtime, not the ones advising you to make nice and lick managements boots like a good little dog - and never you forget it.

Nor, ever, forget which side the Gov is inevitably on.

Now, were that ever to change, if Gov would remain neutral in such a conflict, it would go far towards balancing the problems of corporate power, as would stripping them of corporate personhood - neither measure should, or could, by itself considered the whole of reform, but it'd be a damned good start.

This message brought to you in part by the IWW.
One World - One Union.

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