The current protests in Madison, Wisconsin echo another mass demonstration in Springfield, Illinois held almost eighty years ago.

On January 26, 1933, 10,000 members of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Progressive Miners of America assembled at the Illinois state capitol to protest the wanton violence in the coal fields and to demand the restoration of civil liberties.

In the March 1, 1933 edition of The Nation, Women’s Auxiliary President, Agnes Burns Wieck recounted:

“We…have come to the seat of government in our State to seek redress from the oppressive and intolerable conditions in the coal fields of Illinois. Thousands of working-class housewives have marched to the State Capitol…It is well for the State that we have come while we still have faith in government, for that faith has been terrifically shaken during the past year.

When it was no longer possible for our men to have a voice in determining the condition under which they have worked, because of the usurping of this right by the officials of the old union, they broke away from that organization, to which they had given long years of service and devotion, and established a new union that is responsive to the wishes of the rank and file. A reign of terror resulted…in which officials of the old union, the coal corporation, county and municipal authorities, and even the State joined–clubbing, tear-gassing, shooting, killing our people, bombing our homes, making it impossible for us to assemble or to enjoy any of the rights to which the Constitution of this nation entitled its citizens…

Therefore, in the face of these intolerable conditions, we respectfully petition you, the Governor, and members of the Legislature of the State of Illinois: first for immediate and full restoration of civil liberties in the coal fields of Christian and Franklin counties…Not only is our welfare at stake, but our faith in the ability and willingness of government to protect and serve us is menaced. Dare you fail us now?”

Here’s a photo from that remarkable day.

Women’s Auxiliary of the Progressive Miners of America protest the assault
on civil liberties in the coal fields – Springfield, IL – January, 1933.

For Illinois Governor Horner’s part, he largely ignored their demands and only cautioned them to continue to support the government:

“Faith in our government has been badly shattered. I am not a prayerful man, but I am praying that you will keep that faith. For without that faith in government the government cannot endure. When government goes all is lost.” (Progressive Miner – February 3, 1933)

Faith in government?  To me, a lack of faith in government seemed pretty reasonable.  The state militia had forcibly broken picket lines and were probably responsible for several murders.  Local sheriffs in Christian County and Franklin County routinely brutalized strikers and their families.

Public workers protest assault on collective bargaining
in Madison, Wisconsin – February, 2011. (Artemis47)

Over the last two weeks, workers staged mass demonstrations in Madison, Wisconsin to turn back Governor Walker’s assault on labor rights.

While there are some parallels between the two periods (mobilization of the national guard and exemplary grass-roots organizing to name two), one big difference is that in 1933, the labor movement hadn’t yet fully conjoined with the Democratic Party.  That was still a few years off.

Today a number of Democratic leaders are seizing this opportunity to grandstand before throngs of workers while doing little else.   I wish those crowds would confront these opportunists and ask why the Employee Free Choice Act was deliberately ignored when Democrats could have passed the bill.  (Prior to the Tea Party ascension to power,  the Democrats held the Congress and the White House.)  Or ask them to explain the onerous budget proposals of Cuomo in New York or Brown in California; both Democratic governors.  Is the Democratic Party’s plan of a death by a thousand cuts really preferable to the full-on reactionary assault by Walker in Wisconsin?  Are those the only two choices?

Both demonstrations were and are largely symbolic but the 1933 action was part of a larger strategy to halt production in the coal fields.  And that is an important point.  At the outset, the Progressive Miners understood that in order to prevail, they needed to stop production.  No business as usual.

To that end, I think it’s promising that the South Central Labor Council voted to “immediately begin educating affiliates and members on the organization and function of a general strike.”  (The wording is important since sympathy strikes are illegal under U.S. labor law.  Great to live in a free country.)

Time will tell in Wisconsin but I doubt that a purely symbolic gesture will be adequate for workers to win the day.

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