Anti-Revolutionary Wear!

This design has been around for a bit, but I'm just now getting around to it.  Or at least, I'm just getting around to admitting that I (sometimes/maybe/often) have this problem...

I hear you naysayers...soccer shouldn't concern me as an "opiate of the masses"!  You'll bemoan the dozens and dozens of amateur/professional soccer clubs founded by employers looking to keep workers occupied or more pointedly, away from radical thoughts or activities.  Shoot, even I enjoy sharing this tidbit about the foundation of Thames Ironworks F.C. - later to become West Ham United - when I'm talking to people about the club I support.

"Hills, who had been involved in a bitter industrial dispute with his employees that year, thought that the formation of a football club might help improve the mood of his workforce. On 29th June, 1895, Hills announced in his newspaper, the Thames Ironworks Gazette, that he intended to establish a football club. The information appeared under the headline: "The importance of co-operation between workers and management". He referred to the dispute that had just taken place and insisted he wanted to "wipe away the bitterness left by the recent strike". Hills added: "Thank God this midsummer madness is passed and gone; inequities and anomalies have been done away with and now, under the Good Fellowship system and Profit Sharing Scheme, every worker knows that his individual and social rights are absolutely secured.""

Forget about your grievances you shipbuilding mob - kick around a ball and get cozy with Chairman Hills!  After all, he swears your social rights are now "absolutely secured!"  Look at these workers from the first Thames Ironworks club below - do they look fooled?

Our Work, Our Lives, Our Music - IWW Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent

A few of my favorite things collide on this flaming collaboration between Maddie Ruthless, Vic Ruggiero, and Jack Wright.  From the musicians:

"The IWW was, at one point, the world's largest and most radical union. In a time of institutionalized racism, members of the IWW organized side by side in solidarity with workers from many different ethnicities and backgrounds. They developed, and in some cases implemented, ideas of workplace democracy, wage slavery abolition, and the four hour work day. They developed the platform for what today we take for granted as workers' legal rights.
One way the IWW rallied together their wobbly members (a nick name for IWW union members) was to sing songs based on famous tunes of the day. Famous working class poets and authors, such as Joe Hill (who served as a legendary pen name as well as an actual figure), wrote new words inspiring revolutionary direct democracy, solidarity, and satire against the scabs, bulls, and scissorbills. For a small dictionary of IWW lingo visit here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wobbly_lingo.

As Reggae musicians, Vic and Maddie and Jack recognize the songs of the IWW as sisters of reggae music in their use of clever and powerful VERSION. By that we mean there are clear parallels between the wobblies and reggae artists. They both reinterpreted popular songs to make them applicable to the popular class.

We are asking only for a donation if you feel able to give one as we are union-less, and yet working, musicians."

Enjoy, share widely, and support these workers.  Though the IWW is a storied organization with a rich history, the union is very much alive and continues to do all the things mentioned in the bit above.  You don't have to work in a certain job or industry, carry around a contract or card, or be recognized by a state government to be part of a union.  Check out the IWW and learn more about making this world a little bit better place.

Support The Silent Room: A Worker's Musical

A quick shout out to all the cast, crew, and supporters of The Silent Room: A Worker's Musical.  From the production's website:

In this music-laced sendup of corporate exploitation, retail worker Ray's dreams of becoming a playwright are eclipsed by the double-shifts and tyrannical bosses of corporate America… until a ghostly visit from martyred union legend Joe Hill shows him that when workers unite, everything can change. Ray's coworkers begin talking union, and soon find themselves toe-to-toe with corporate unionbusters. As the fight heats up, Ray has to decide which side he is on.

Inspired by the torture of years of labor in corporate retail hellholes and the exhilaration of confronting the bosses in the IWW Starbucks Workers Union, THE SILENT ROOM is an original work of musical theater born of exploitation, struggle, and hope for a better future.

The Silent Room is set for its world premier as part of the renowned Minnesota Fringe festival line-up.  Do yourself a favor and check this show out during its festival run.  If you won't be in the area and/or can't make one of the performances, please consider donating funds towards the cost of production.  The show's themes and experiences - taken from the actual workplaces where people are organizing - deserve more attention in the arts community.  The scenes will surely resonate with most everyone, whatever your job might be.  The Silent Room will challenge you to consider your own employment situation and hopefully inspire you to take that first step.  Get a laugh from the new film Horrible Bosses, but get something lasting, something real from The Silent Room!

N.B. This production continues the long, rich tradition of dramatic arts in the Industrial Workers of the World labor union.  Though, I imagine Edith Koivisto and others from the historical Work People's College might dispute the claim that this is the first IWW musical since the 1913 Paterson Strike Pageant.  Not a musical per se, but take a look at the opening scene from The Majority - a one act play composed by another Minnesota IWW (and noted cartoonist), Ernest Riebe.

Riebe's play appeared in the May, 1921 issue of The Industrial Pioneer.

Our Work, Our Lives, Our Music - Pistolera's Eres Tú

Call it pride of place, but I adore my neighborhood.  It's not really about this particular location though, because this spot has some of the same things you'd see in any post-industrial city (it is special having four large city parks and a beautiful riverfront all within blocks of home to be fair).

For me, it's really a pride of people, as they're what make this place unique - what it was, is, and will be.  As I see it, to live in and be a part of this Northeast Minneapolis neighborhood is to continue building upon a truly global community - a community of myriad peoples, customs, and voices that have mingled over the years to create a rich, vibrant chorus.

I can't help but visualize the people of this neighborhood chorus when I listen to the group Pistolera.  I see my great grandfather Andrzej coming home from a long day at the Pillsbury A Mill many decades ago, taking off his dusty boots and grabbing my great grandmother Aniela, dancing in circles to an oberek in their small home - just a few blocks from where my family is now.  I think of our neighbor Luis, and the constant cumbias emanating from the garage while he wrenches on that old minivan or chases the kids around the backyard.  I envision my daughter, years from now, practicing her trumpet in preparation for that all-important first band concert.  Her parents retreat to the backyard in order to (avoid the din and) watch the setting sun envelop the buildings of the nearby rail yard with a blood-orange glow.

Yeah, I might be overly romantic about my neighborhood.  But I'm certain you share a similar love of your spot and you've got a soundtrack to match.  Maybe we can swap tracks and stories sometime soon.  Until then, enjoy Pistolera's Eres Tú!

Props to K-dog for introducing me to Pistolera and to the one JAS for the inspiration.

Would You Hire a Fascist?

Apparently yes, if you're Swindon Town F.C. in England's League Two.  Sure, I don't have (or desire) the ability to hire and fire people, and I have zero experience in the operations of a professional football club. These facts alone would lead many to rubbish my opinion on Swindon Town's decision to hire Paolo Di Canio as their next manager.  If that's you, you're always free to stop reading here and I bid thee addio!

Now, I've disclosed previously that I'm a supporter of West Ham United - a club where to this day Di Canio receives a hero's welcome.  Speaking strictly of footballing skills, many fans of the Claret and Blue would argue that the Hammers haven't had a player with such ability in and around the box since Di Canio's departure.  Shoot, I still consider his wonder-volley against Wimbledon in March of 2000 as the best goal I've ever seen.  Fantastico!

Taking a look at the entire package though, this parcel has arrived in Wiltshire marked 'EXTREME LIABILITY'.  Maybe this decision makes sense given Swindon Town's consistent financial woes, or considering they've cycled through no less than 10 managers (including caretakers) since 2005 - what's another punt on a retired footballer with no managerial experience?  But let's not also forget that this crate comes stamped with the big black, ugly letters of 'FASCIST'!

Can You Name This Twin Cities Location?

The corner building in the photograph's foreground was the headquarters for one of the largest and most successful organizing drives among itinerant workers in North America.  The Minneapolis locals of the IWW moved into the building in late December of 1913 and had published this description of the hall in an April 1914 issue of Solidarity:

Though the structure has since been torn down (a discouraging and all too common trend in the Mill City), there are several details in the photograph that betray its original location.  Note that the two buildings to the right of the corner building still stand and very much look like they did when the photograph above was taken.  Another hint - the main entrance to the corner hall was not the light-colored brick storefront with large windows, but was in fact around the corner on the long side of the building - where you see the small wooden entryway.

Can you name the location where this important chapter of North American labor history was written?  Maybe a prize is in order for the first person who correctly identifies the intersection or address?

Keep an eye out here for more excerpts from the Twin Cities IWW history tour.

Our Work, Our Lives, Our Music - Guante's Harry Potter (Big Cats! Remix w/ Chantz)

What music keeps you going when you're at work, or when kicking a ball around the alley behind your building?  Musical tastes represent a small thread in the tapestry that is one's self and with that, MCC introduces the Our Work, Our Lives, Our Music posts.

Wherever I am - at the job or at play - it doesn't get much better than Guante.

Aside from the fact that his work is fresh, Guante strives to be an active participant in the movements that he writes and raps about - and I respect that in an artist.  Here in the Twin Cities, he's been quick to share his talents in support of labor organizations like the IWW and One Day in July festival.

Now keep up - Obama's supposedly been in the news a lot lately...Obama's support of the Claret and Blue is a topic of discussion...the Irons are, according to my wife, mentioned in one of the Harry Potter novels...it seems fitting then to open this series with Guante's Harry Potter (Big Cats! Remix w/ Chantz):

http://guanteandbigcats.bandcamp.com/track/harry-potter-big-cats-remix-w-chantz

Please go here to find out more about Guante and how to support his work - it's spectacular stuff.

First of May - International Workers' Day

Most of you who have found your way here are likely familiar with the history of May Day.  I'll post some thoughts on our important holiday a bit later, but wanted to share a few rare photographs of past May Day demonstrations held here in the Flour City.

The Original Vikings Football Team in Minnesota

And no, there was no Norm Van Brocklin to be found coaching this Vikings football team.  And we're not talking about the early-60s and a son of a Pentecostal Methodist minister scrambling his way around opponents.

Let me introduce the Vikings, one of Minneapolis' first association football teams.

Outrage at the Bernabéu (but not of the sort you're hearing about)!

Haven't seen any figures yet on the viewing numbers for yesterday's Champions League match between Real Madrid and Bacelona, but one can assume millions and millions around the world tuned in to what turned out to be an outrageous first leg tie.