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Hi: I beg to differ. Unions sometimes did create their own goon squads. See Class Struggle in Hollywood by Horne, and Hollywood's Other Blacklist by Neilsen and Mailes. The IATSE, a sweetheart union, used goons to combat the democratically organized unions that rose up to compete with them.... Best A ________________________________________ From: H-Net Labor History Discussion List [H-LABOR@H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Seth Wigderson [wigderso@CC.UMANITOBA.CA] Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 10:10 AM To: H-LABOR@H-NET.MSU.EDU Subject: Goon Squads From: Stephanie Hedgecoke <kawiosta@yahoo.com>m> Greetings, Your question was passed on to me by Allison Hedge Coke. I am a labor activist of over 30 years. For starters, those goon squads were all hired by management. Pinkertons were some of the most well-known. They are still in business along with others. Huffmasters are another today. But how you would compare them to individuals who subscribe to right-wing agendas disrupting meetings on health care reform might be difficult. They surely seem gooney but probably not in the sense of having been hired en masse?? The movie by John Sayles called "Matewan" depicts the use of hired thugs by coal bosses in the Appalachians during an early mine worker strike. And, NO, unions did not create their own "good squads." But of course when you are on strike, and you are physically attacked, there are times when one must defend oneself. Anti-war demonstrations typically have volunteers on security to eject anyone who becomes violent toward the participants, such as someone acting as a provocateur. In the Depression era Flint, Michigan, strike of the nascent United Auto Workers, when the police gassed the occupying strikers in the plants, the women of those striking families took big poles and broke out the windows to save the men and the strike. There is actual FOOTAGE which is really amazing in the movie "Of Babies and Banners." One good source of information would be the book on the 1933 Minneapolis general strike leading to the formation of the Teamsters union. Farrell Dobbs was a participant and wrote two books on the history. There were three general strikes in the U.S. in 1933, the other two were in San Francisco (formation of International Longshore and Warehouse Union--still today the back bone of Labor on the West Coast) and Toledo (Autolite factory). I recommend you contact the labor archives held at San Francisco State University (attached to the university library). We faced Huffmasters hired by William Randolph Hearst III during the 1994 San Francisco Newspaper Strike (that being San Francisco in the 1990s, we heckled them 24/7 to drive them to literal tears--but that is unfortunately a RARE situation). Good luck in your research, Stephanie Hedgecoke Chapel Chairperson, Bowne Chapel New York Typographical Union Local 6 (CWA 14156) August 12, 2009 ====================================
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