Harlan County, U.S.A Page #2
- Year:
- 1976
- 755 Views
That thread might have been 15 cents.
A man goes on strike, I said, if they want 30
more cents on an hour They get their 30 cents.
When they go back to work,
they got to raise that price to cover that wage.
The unions is what's doin'it.
The unions is ruinin'
the United States.
I went to work when I was 10 years old
pickin' slate in the coal burner.
Well, at that time
we were workin' 10 hours a day...
And we were gettin'
six-and-a-fraction cents an hour.
Well, we breaker boys...
we'd have our feet in the chute
and we'd be pickin'the slate out...
when the breaker boss
And ifhe'd see a piece of slate
comin'through...
he'd pick up the slate and hit you
in the back with it, and hit you hard.
And he'd said, "Pick that slate up."
Well, they used to abuse us, actually.
Well, finally we got to a stage where we figured
that, well, we was gonna strike.
That was when I learned
my first real political lesson...
About what happens when you
take a position against the coal operators...
Against the capitalists.
Well, the first thing that happened...
The union officials came to us
and told us we'd have to go back to work...
That we were violating the agreement.
We said, "To hell with the agreement.
We're gonna strike until we get our demands."
Well, then the politicians began
visiting us and putting pressure on us.
Then the parish priests.
Well, finally the coal company
did agree to meet with us...
and they agreed
from six-and-a-fraction cents
So we thought
we got big concessions.
Today that wouldn't mean anything.
That's only peanuts.
But it meant a whole lot to us
and our paycheck at that period.
Well, this was my first lesson
that if you stuck to your organization
and stuck together in solidarity...
Besides that, I learned that the politicians
worked with the coal companies.
I found out that the union officials
were working with the coal companies.
I also found out that the Catholic hierarchy
was working with the coal officials.
Here was a combination
of the whole thing, see
that you had to bump up
against the whole combination of them.
When the coal and iron police would find out
who was trying to instigate a union...
well, they'd abuse them.
The miners figured, well,
the only way they could fight back...
was to abuse them,
pay them for what they was doin'.
So they began to use, then, violence...
in retaliation of the violence
that was bein'used against them.
This kind of a struggle
went on to such a degree...
that there was many of the mine foremen
gettin'killed...
there was many of the police
gettin'killed...
and, of course,
there was many miners gettin'killed.
It was regular guerrilla warfare.
And some of the early ideas of guerrilla warfare
developed out of that kind of struggle.
The coal company gets every dollar
which he can chisel out of some coal miner...
through oppressive management tactics.
So why wouldn't the coal operators
be satisfied?
The government is acting
as their muscleman.
Tax money of Kentucky at work...
breakin'the organized labor.
Organized labor.
Organized labor.
Well, hell, I don't think they're in here
for anything except break the strike here.
They are for the company all the way,
for the operators.
I don't have any feelings one way or the other.
Just have a job to do.
- And why are you here?
- To keep the roads open.
Enforce laws, keep the peace,
try to keep people from gettin' hurt.
Move down here, please.
- Don't put your hands on me, hoss.
- All right.
"Bailey." You know, my name's Bailey,
and you're a damn disgrace to the Bailey family.
Boy, this is a damn shame.
A Bailey, y'all, a state cop. Ain't that a shame?
You wanna get a shot of somethin',
get a shot of this baby hangin' off him.
That's what I been lookin' at.
It's the same diameter as this right here.
Once a scab
There ain't no healin'for a scab.
You know?
- Hell, that's some nerve.
- Here they come.
There's the damn guy drawed that gun on me.
Right there. Right there.
You son of a b*tch, you.
Hey.
Get 'em outta here.
- Hey. That's goddamn wrong.
- That's the kind of goddamn law we got.
- Donny.
- They ask, you tell the people.
They'll set a while out back,
your two families.
Hey. Hey.
What in the hell you think you're doin'?
Scabbin' bastards.
- Go on, sucky.
- Hey, scab.
Hey, go on. Hey, go on.
Excuse me. Have some of my hand.
- Goddamn bastards.
- Goddamn scab sons ofbitches.
Hey.
Scabs.
All you guys on this injunction,
all 36 of you, remember this it's a court order.
You can't block the traffic,
and don't call 'em scabs.
- Why not?
- 'Cause if you do, you'll be behind bars.
I don't think
you'll never win a strike...
By havin' six people
on the picket line.
There's no way, I mean, that you can
win a strike with six pickets.
So you gotta violate these injunctions.
Lawyers are made to
get you out of trouble after you get in...
Not to get you out of trouble
before you get in.
I'll put it like this
you do what you wanna do.
Women all over the country
are interested in what their husbands are doin'.
They're interested in the safety laws
that the United Mine Workers have...
And they want their husbands
They don't want their husbands
goin'into these scab mines...
with the rock a-fallin'and runnin'
these here motors with no brakes.
So, they want to participate.
They're ready and willing.
The good thing about our club is that now
we're giving them the chance to participate.
You see?
When their husbands goes in the mines,
they're prayin'that they'll get out.
I think that they feel like maybe their prayers
would have been answered sooner...
If they were workin'
under a U.M.W.A. contract.
Well, I went down there
in support of the miners...
For the miners...
And in support of my own children too
that I'm raisin' up.
Now, sit down real easy.
Sit down. Now, it's runnin' over.
- I can't get my foot
- Angie.
- I couldn't get my foot outta here.
- You're messin'.
- When will we be goin' to jail again?
- If the scab starts to cross the picket lines
We went because we was tryin' to protect
The scab was gonna take your daddy's job.
When they sign the contract,
Daddy's gonna have hot running water...
And a big ol' bathtub.
Let's help the striking miners now.
Come, all you coal miners
Wherever you may be
And listen to a story
That I'll relate to thee
My name is nothin' "extree"
But the truth to you I'll tell
I am a coal miner's wife
I'm sure I wish you well
They take your very lifeblood
They take our children's lives
Take fathers away from children
And husbands away from wives
Oh, miner, won't you organize
Wherever you may be
And make this a land of freedom
For workers like you and me
And we have to fight for our rights.
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"Harlan County, U.S.A" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Jul 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/harlan_county,_u.s.a_9644>.
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