The East Side Freedom Library invites you to join our monthly Labor History Film discussion

Plutocracy IV: Gangsters for Capitalism

Register here to join this event on Zoom.

For the past several months, we have been working our way through Scott Nobles’ series of documentary films, produced by Metanoia Films and made available for free on Vimeo. Here is a link to watch Plutocracy IV: Gangsters for Capitalism.  We suggest you watch the film at a time convenient for you, but then join us for a conversation via zoom on Friday evening, August 13. You can also find links to Plutocracy I, II, and III, if you have missed them.

Filmmaker Scott Nobles writes about Plutocracy IV, which was released in 2018:

More than any other entry in the series so far, this film is directly relevant to current events. With some notable exceptions, most of the strikes I covered in parts 1-3 merely set the stage for the next phase of labor struggle — they didn’t usually result in triumphant victories. Oftentimes it was more a case of one step forward, two steps back. Here, I cover a number of militant, highly organized and often ingenious labor actions that collectively compelled great changes at the state level. We can thank these activists for the very existence of the American middle class. I should also stress that Gangsters includes some truly remarkable and harrowing footage of labor strikes and battles between workers and police (especially during the pivotal year of 1934), much of which was only made available in the last few years.

Free and open to all

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