The early struggles of the working class are examined in Plutocracy III: Class War, the latest chapter in a well-crafted series that explores the origins of America’s growing economic division.
There is no doubt that the conflict between workers’ rights and corporate interests is prominent in today’s political and economic landscape, but it is by no means a modern phenomenon. These imbalances and the resulting wealth inequalities have existed for generations. The filmmakers paint a haunting portrait of the courageous workers who fought for true democracy in the early 20th century.
The film opens with Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, a titan of the labor movement at the time. An inspiring figure, Jones spent her life fomenting a working-class revolution, rallying a coalition of miners in Ludlow, Colorado, in 1914. The miners worked in harsh conditions and for meager wages at a coal plant owned by John D. Rockefeller Jr. As the company evicted striking miners and their families from their homes, they bravely pitched their tents and continued their fight for justice.
Their confrontation ended in tragedy. The National Guard deployed and opened fire throughout the colony, slaughtering men, women, and children senselessly. The appalling incident sparked outrage and public protests across the United States.
Much of the film explores the impact of World War I on the labor movement, a conflict that resulted in the massacre and disfigurement of an entire generation. The war provided further evidence of class division and would promote worker representation of all genders and races.
All of this culminated in the rise of the Socialist Party and the militant Workers of the World International and the events of 1919, a year in which 22.5% of the workforce was in strike mode.
Plutocracy III: Class Warfare offers valuable historical insights from a team of historians and labor lawyers. Her deeply human narrative is supported by a rapidly edited trove of archival footage, archival footage, and other provocative imagery.
The other parts:
Directed by: Scott Noble
