30m; U.S.
Director: John Hanson & Rob Nilsson
Synopsis: History of the populist, agrarian Nonpartisan League in North Dakota, 1915-1921. Includes film segments made during that time, plus numerous stills.
Category Archives: Labor History
The Labor Movement: Beginnings and Growth in America (1959)
14m; U.S.
Director: Coronet Films
Synopsis: Developments in labor’s organization in the US from 1873 through the merger of the AFL and CIO. The role played by Samuel Gompers, the Knights of Labor and the AFL-CIO are traced.
Labor in the Mountains (2005)
55m; U.S.
Synopsis: A grandfather recounts the history of labor unions in West Virginia to his granddaughter. His story spans from the civil war era to the current labor movement in the state. Labor Union; West Virginia; Civil War labor movement; Great Uprising; General Strike; United Mine Workers of America; UMW; United Steel Workers.
Contact: Available as VHS or DVD, $5 from Labor in the Mountains Foundation, ILSR/WVU, 719 Knapp Hall, Morgantown WV 26506. Telephone: (304) 293-3323 Toll Free: 1-800-499-0486 Fax: (304) 293-3395
Labor’s Troubadour (2005)
37m; U.S.
Director: Hope Moskowitz
Synopsis: Labor’s Troubadour, a stirring documentary on the legendary labor folk singer and social historian Joe Glazer, premiered at the Smithsonian – National Museum of American History on June 18, 2005. Glazer, a national treasure, has used his guitar and gift for storytelling for over sixty years to inspire and build solidarity in the American labor movement. The film, produced and directed by Hope Moskowitz (UW,1983), weaves together archival footage, concert performances, interviews, music, news clips and photographs from Joe’s life, presenting an invaluable chronicle of the labor movement and the music that was inspired.
Contact: http://www.laborstroubadour.com/
Labor’s Turning Point (1981)
59m; U.S
Director: John DeGraaf
Synopsis: The 1934 Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike was a pivotal struggle for working people of the mid-west. As a result of new tactics developed in the successful strike, it led to the organization of over the road truckers and the growth of the Teamsters nationally into one of the most important and powerful unions in the United States. The film shows how the strike was organized and how the union broke the back of the anti-union Citizen’s Alliance and made Minneapolis a union town. It also includes the ground breaking role of the strikers’ wives in organizing for the strike and the establishment of a daily strike bulletin. These tactics are still relevant today in the struggle of labor to organize and survive.
Contact: http://www.onedayinjuly.org/
Land and Freedom (1995)
109m; U.K.
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Ian Hart, Rosana Pastor and Icíar Bollaín
Synopsis: A young British communist volunteers to fight in Spain with the POUM militia in the civil war. He joins an international set of leftists in the fight, however the POUM eventually becomes a target not only of the fascists, but also of the Stalin-backed Spanish republic. The film is loosely based on George Orwell’s memoir of the Spanish Civil War, Homage to Catalonia.
Canada’s Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks (1985)
114m
Director: Donald Brittain
Synopsis (NFB): Harold Chamberlain Banks, a convicted felon and union strongarm, was recruited in 1949 to break up the communist-controlled unions that were blocking the country’s shipping industry and to replace them with a Canadian chapter of the Seafarers’ International Union (SIU). This gripping docudrama, based on eyewitness accounts and courtroom testimony, recalls thirteen turbulent years of violence and corruption during which the careers of 6 000 seamen were destroyed by the power of one man, Banks. Canada’s Sweetheart recounts the events leading up to 1962, when a small group summoned the courage to stand up to Banks and his organization. This challenge resulted in the government-appointed Norris Commission hearings–a landmark in Canadian labor history.
Wesbite: http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=16132
6 Weeks of Solidarity (1995)
9m
Director: Victor Dobchuk
Synopsis (CLiFF): A look at the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, 75 years later.
A Union Man: The Life and Work of Julius Margolin (2005)
58m
Director: George Mann
Synopsis: Julius Margolin died shortly after his 93rd birthday. He was a legend in the New York City labor movement. He was active since the 1930s in the CIO, the National Maritime Union and Local 52 of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees, which he has represented in the NYC Central Labor Council for 34 years. A tireless fighter for justice, equality, and against war, Julius embarked on a new career in 1999, making music and CDs with George Mann while still hitting picket lines and organizing workers in New York and around the United States.
A Union Man is the story of his life through his eyes as well as those he’s met along the way. Featuring guest appearances by Utah Phillips, Faith Petric and former NMU Vice President Joe Stack, as well as concert performances, it’s an affectionate portrait of a rank-and-file activist still fighting for justice in his tenth decade on this planet.
Website: http://aunionman.com/
Contact: georgemann@att.net 212-923-6372
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 