A little while back my Dear Friend visited the Little House Bookstore in Mansfield, MO, which is where the Little House books were written. She brought back a couple of the later and less-well-known books for me. I'd loved the series as a child and have re-read bits of them more recently (when I was at Dear Friend's house, as I don't have them anymore).
A couple of things before we start on this one.
While re-reading Little House in the Big Woods (I think, could have been On The Prairie, read them both anyway), I was struck by the portrayal of the "indians". Wilder's account was fairly even handed, which is great, as we see the reaction of Ma and Pa to the people- Ma's reaction is one of unmitigated fear, while Pa wishes he spoke French so he could communicate with them. Laura herself is just fascinated. It's an interesting study and I highly recommend it.
This book, On the Way Home, is Laura's diary of moving from South Dakota to Missouri in the middle of 1894. Her daughter, Rose, provides a simple introduction to what was going on in the country at the time- which was pretty harsh. There had been years of drought and crop failures, and so many people were losing their land when they had to mortgage it to pay taxes, and then failed on the mortgages in the viscious cycle of borrowing and drought. In the seventh year of drought, the banks failed worldwide. Factories were shut down, and business ceased. "This was a Panic." Writes Rose.
Of course, on Page 2 I found something worth further study (which I've not had time to do)- Rose tells:
"All the way from California Coxey's Armies of the Unemployed were siezing the railroad trains, jam-packing the cars and running them full speed, open throttle, hell-for-leather toward Washington [DC]. They came roaring into the towns, yelling "Justice for the Working Man!" and stopped and swarmed out, demanding plenty to eat and three-day's rations to take with them, or they'd burn the town. People gave them everything to get rid of them. In all the cities, Federal troops were guarding the Government's buildings."
In time there were no trains on the tracks, having been dispatched to the farthest East yards to keep them safe from Coxey's Armies. The Armies took to their feet, "robbing and raiding and stealing and begging for food as they went."
Golden Age my ass.
What gave me hope in these passages was that these people did something. As I read more and more about the UAW and the situation at Ford and Delphi, with the Workers' wages being halved (as agreed to BY the UAW) and factories closing, I wonder how long it will be before Coxey's Armies are back among us. Once again, they'll face a railcar shortage, as Amtrack's funds are gutted. This time they might car pool, like the Viet Nam Vetrans for Peace did. I know it is, as someone remarked, only a matter of time before people stop saying "But I have a family to support" as they realise that there's no way they can support their families on what they're offered, and take to the roads, to the streets, to DC.
It's only a matter of time before they realise that voting in more Democrats is not the answer, as budget by budget by Bush is approved by them (even as they claim to not like the budgets, to dissapprove of the Supreme Court Appointees or Cabinet member appointees- "I don't like you, but I guess I'll vote for you, if I must.").
I think it could go two ways, really. Either there will be a call for a Workers' Party, or there will be rioting. There could be both. I'd rather call for the Worker's Party, since I don't run very fast.
I know in some places (including Oregon), laws have been passed making it neigh impossible for an independent candidate to gain ballot access (it's also difficult for a small party to gain access) so much for Petitioning for Redress of Grievences.
The big two (no, they do not deserve capital letters) do all they can to silence dissent. Let's not forget that it was the *democrats* who challenged Nader hardest (not that I want him in the Oval Office, mind you).
Blah blah about "stealing" votes- OUR votes do not "belong" to anyone but ourselves- we give it to whom we see fittest, not to those who feel entitled by dint of *saying* they're the people's party. The People's Party would vote down the tax breaks for the wealthy, the cutting of VA funding (in the middle of a freaken WAR yet!), the slashing of medical coverage for children (and their parents), and on and on and on.
JUSTICE FOR THE WORKING MAN!!
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4 comments:
Very thought-provoking post! Laura Ingalls Wilder was pretty much required reading for this farm girl. My own mother adored them as a child (also a farm girl), although I much preferred the "Harriet the Spy" type stories, inner-city introverts, rebels, nerds, and weird kids. I probably would have been on those trains rather than suffering in the prairie.
I liked all those books. What I am finding in my grown-up readings is that there is a picture of working life before the industrial revolution hit everyone, but that many of the same problems existed then as now.
Obviously, different problems existed, too, but we find things such as disease are making a splendid comeback- hooray for tradition!
Capitalism has never really worked and has been subject to the same cyclical Panics since the word go. It's a manufacture system which depends on the suffering of the workers to perpetuate itself.
You give me the itch to write one of those back-to-basics kinds of posts about the nature of capitalism. Agree, agree.
You write it and I'll read it!
It's funny to me to read the old things like Little House, because we see in them the failure, even then, of the Capitalist system. It's eerie how 100 years ago seems so close sometimes. Though there are precious few Big Woods now, we are still at the whim of such things as weather. This system has never had a good safeguard against famines, floods- hurricanes.
Despite all our advances in technology, we still see the same failings- starvation, displacement. This will continue until the profit system is not the driving force behind decisions about such things as alternative energy, food safety, medical access, and shelter.
It also strikes me that what the pioneers are celebrated for- going out, building a house in the woods and living off the land- will get you arrested now.
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