The East Side Freedom Library invites you to our monthly Labor History Film Discussion: Plutocracy V: Subterranean Fire.

Register here to join this event on Zoom.

For the past five months, ESFL community members have been watching and discussing Scott Noble’s powerful series of documentary films, titled “Plutocracy.” In September, we come to the end of the series, the fifth film, subtitled, “Subterranean Fire.” We encourage you to watch the film at a time convenient for you using this link, and then join together on Friday evening, September 10, for a conversation. All four previous films remain available for you to watch on Vimeo.

This documentary traces the establishment of the labor unions in America as a response to the accumulation of wealth by capitalists and the poor treatment of workers. It highlights major labor movement events of the 1920s and 30s and gives insight into the interplay between labor, race, politics and organization. Unions were the vehicle for organized action among exploited workers who shared one ultimate goal: to improve their standard of living and earn a livable wage. It seemed that organized cooperation on as large a scale as possible was the only way to accomplish this. But there was also bitter resistance, including the deliberate fostering of cold-war paranoia and McCarthyism which reached from factories and mines to Congress and the White House and even Hollywood.

Ultimately, the film asks its viewers—us—to consider what our responsibility is in the present. Please join us for this conversation.

Free and open to all

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