Members for Democracy Archive

This came through the iww-bc email list. I thought it was a little interesting...

Excerpts from "A Hard Man To Beat, The Story of Bill White: Labour Leader, Historian, Shipyard Worker, Raconteur" by Howard White. Bill was born in 1905 and this book was written in 1983. Bill became president of the Marine Workers and Boilermakers Union in Vancouver in 1944, on the Communist Party slate. These are his words.

Page 17

I'll tell you another thing about the depression. We hear about how tough it was - about the Okies starving and babies born dead from malnutrition, and all the people out of work and all this kind of thing. We hear about this now, and people say well, that was "The Depression". Things like that could only happen during "The Depression" and there'll never be another "Depression". Well let me tell you, during the depression they never admitted there was a depression on. It was always things are a little slow right now, but we expect an upturn by the next quarter, just the same as we hear now. And as far as unemployment goes, they were still giving out this line that any guy who really wanted to find a job could go out and get one. Right in the blackest depths of the depression! Sure! "These bastards in the hobo jungle, in the relief camps, they're just lazy. If they wanted work they'd find work!" I tell you now, it was heartless!

And don't you think for a minute that people didn't fall for this. People ate this up. You'd see them in these little towns putting up signs, "No Transients", "Clean up Duckburg, Ban the Bums." They herded all the unemployed men off into camps and made them serve at hard labour
for twenty cents a day, and people thought this was just fine.

Page 24

The thing to realize about the establishment is that they can turn anything to their own advantage. When the economy fell on its ass in '29 Herbert Hoover said, well, the solution is for workers to tighten their belts, work hard, and give business everything it likes so it can get back on its feet and save the country. Later on the experts decided that what had caused the Great Crash in the first place was business having too free a hand and not being controlled enough, but that didn't make no difference. When the war come along they said, well, the solution here is for workers to work extra hard, peg wages down, and give business a free hand so it can produce a lot of war goods and save the country. And today that's what they're saying again, telling us to lower our expectations and big business to raise theirs. They call this the new conservatism, but they should call it the New Hooverism. Boom or bust, their answer is always the same: take less for yourself and give us more! And the working stiff, he gets taken in every time by the same damn line.

did the economy fall on its ass in '29? i thought that was the stock market, and the economy tanked a couple years later?

how else do you discern the true believers?

Backgrounder on the Great Depression.

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posted by siggy:

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how else do you discern the true believers

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MFD caps and T-shirts?

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http://www.cafepress.com

ya gotta nice logo

MFD Show us the money mike bumper stickers.
MFD CEO's on a stick.

Geez this could frenzy.

Free markets in action.