Don Palabraz

{Mill Workers Remembering One of Their Own}

The Death of Anna LoPizzo

Back in the day on January 29th, 1912, Anna LoPizzo, an immigrant mill worker, was shot and killed in a picket line of the Lawrence Textile Strike. The American Woolen Company in Massachusetts had pilfered out wage decreases to its mostly female workforce at its four mills. Workers, like LoPizzo, took action, as salaries before the cut were already meager. Also popularly known as the “Bread and Roses” strike, the work stoppage was organized by the Industrial Workers of the World. In a major turning point, witnesses said that police office Oscar Benoit was the trigger man that fired the fatal shot that killed LoPizzo. Authorities then used her death to try and deal a blow to the strike by arresting labor organizers Joseph Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti. Though both men were not at the scene of the shooting, they were charged with inciting and procuring the murder. Undeterred, the woman of the bread and roses strike continued in LoPizzo’s memory and won wage increases the very next month.

The following Novemeber, Ettor and Giovannitti were acquitted of all charges and once more the people of Lawrence gathered in celebration.

{The Waters of the Coquille River}

The Nasomah Village Massacre

Back in the day on January 28th, 1854, the Nasomah Village Massacre took place in Southern Oregon. Tensions between Native peoples and whites had been mounting in the area as incursions and settlements inflamed temperaments. Two years prior to the bloodshed, gold had been discovered at the mouth of the Coquille River leading to a rush of miners along its banks where many natives made their home. After isolated skirmishes, whites issued an ultimatum to the Chief of the Coquille people who then returned one in kind. Shortly thereafter, a vigilante group of forty miners known as the Randolph Minute Men surrounded the village of Nasomah. In the siege, homes were burned down to the ground as sixteen natives were killed. A Superintendent of Indian Affairs described the scene as “a massacre too inhuman to be readily believed.”

In the wake of the killings, the native peoples were removed from their villages along the Coquille River to the Siletz Reservation.

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying today’s subversive day in history is dedicated to the late Howard Zinn who we remember as a man who taught us to never forget.

{Graphic Novel Depiction of the People’s Historian}

I was fortunate enough to interview the late Howard Zinn twice in my youthful forays into journalism. I first produced a provocative segment with the people’s historian in 2006 after the Los Angeles Times published an article that suggested that famous anarchist martyrs Sacco and Vanzetti may have been guilty of murder and not executed by the state unjustly. The accusation was based on a find by a man in Orange County of a letter written by Upton Sinclair saying that the one of the accused radicals had admitted their guilt to one of their attorneys.

We questioned the validity of the letter and wrestled with its potential meanings without irresponsibly issuing blanket condemnations like right wing columnist Jonah Goldberg had done. After Uprising and Zinn casted a shadow of doubt over the story, Reuters picked up on it and obtained access to the entire letter. As it turned out, the Los Angeles Times had once again smeared the reputation of Upton Sinclair by improperly contextualizing excerpts of it. I shared this news emphatically with Zinn over email exchanges. Unfortunately, many people misinterpreted our interview with the radical historian and the follow up news story was not as sensationalized. By the time the documentary “Sacco and Vanzetti” premiered, people were continuing to espouse opinions misattributed to Zinn about the case.

http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/4588

{Even if you disagreed with Zinn, you could not deny his humanity}

The next opportunity I had to interview the Zinn Master was in the summer of 2007 when Seven Stories Press had put out a version of his seminal work “A People’s History of the United States” aimed directly at younger readers. The progressive history textbooks were divided into two volumes and masterfully reorientated for their target audience by Rebecca Steffoff. Zinn, in his gracious accessibility, granted me an interview so that I could publish it in Zmagazine. I called his home phone number of a Friday afternoon and tried to reach him repeated times so that we could have our discussion. Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up at first, but I left a message with my cell phone on his answering machine.

As it were, I was planning a “Buena Park” style backyard party to kick off the summer that very same day and had a keg to pick up at Albertson’s. As soon as I got into my truck to drive off to go to the grocery store my cell phone rang. It was Howard Zinn! He apologized for not being by the phone at our agreed upon time – he had just returned from traveling – but I was not going to hold it against him one iota, no way! I rushed back into the house and spoke with him at length for thirty minutes about the release of the volumes and how history in general is taught to young people. It was a great conversation that was occasionally interrupted by a friend who came over to my pad too early! I wrapped up the interview, went to Albertson’s, wheeled the keg of beer into my backyard, and proceeded to party my ass off! (Hey, I was only 25!) After the hangover, I transcribed my interview with Zinn, spoke with Steffoff and got it published in Zmagazine – I shared the news with the people’s historian over email again where he once more graciously expressed his gratitude.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag/viewArticle/15636

{Zinn’s autograph after I waited in line following a speech he gave at Chapman University}

I will always cherish these personal experiences and all the times I’ve been able to connect with the late radical historian in the course of my work in print and radio. I know others have had much more substantive encounters, but I am content with getting to know Zinn just a little through the course of the last years of his life.

Paterson Silk Strike

Back in the day on January 27th, 1913, eight hundred broad silk weavers walked out of the Henry Doherty Mill in Paterson, New Jersey. The workers took action in response to the introduction of the “four-loom” system that would have them operating four automatic loom machines at a time instead of two. Seeing the potential for increased work and decreased wages, the weavers opted instead to instigate what would become known to history as the Paterson Silk Strike. Local representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World called upon their national headquarters as Big Bill Haywood, Rebel Girl Elizabeth Gurley Flynn and others responded to organize the strike. The I.W.W. saw solidarity as the key and by the following month ribbon weavers and dye house workers joined in. The Paterson Silk Strike was in full effect closing down 300 mills and binding together 24,000 men, women and children industry wide. Workers demanded the abolition of the four-loom system, higher wages and an eight-hour day.

A pageant play was even organized and staged at Madison Square Garden to raise money for the strike. However, the mill owners waited to starve out solidarity and by July of that year picket lines were broken and individual shop-by-shop settlements were endorsed.

Words can not express the deep sorrow upon hearing the news that people’s historian Howard Zinn passed away from a heart attack today at the age of 87. His presence was continuous as just today I returned to his seminal work, “A People’s History of the United States,” to research the Bread and Roses Strike for my “Subversive Historian” series loosely modeled on his life’s work. And as KPFK’s fund drive is rapidly approaching, I also spent today trying to negotiate a deal to feature his “The People Speak” documentary that recently aired on The History Channel. The Zinn Master’s legacy is not soon then to be forgotten. We will spend the days, weeks, and years to come remembering the man who taught us to never forget.

Rest in Peace Howard Zinn!