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Category Archives: Working Class

Bread and Roses: The Lawrence Textile Strike

27 Jan

6:17m

The Lawrence Textile Strike was a strike of immigrant workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1912 led by the Industrial Workers of the World. Prompted by one mill owner’s decision to lower wages when a new law shortening the workweek went into effect in January, the strike spread rapidly through the town, growing to more than twenty thousand workers at nearly every mill within a week. The strike, which lasted more than two months and which defied the assumptions of conservative trade unions within the American Federation of Labor that immigrant, largely female and ethnically divided workers could not be organized, was successful; within a year, however, the union had largely collapsed and most of the gains achieved by the workers were lost.

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Immigrants/Immigration, Labor History, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

Century of Women

27 Jan

on garment workers, 1909 strike, Triangle, 15 minutes

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Labor History, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

Northern Light (2013)

27 Jan

105 min  –  Documentary | Drama | Family  –  1 March 2013 (USA)
Directors:  Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff
Writers:  Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff

Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience.

NORTHERN LIGHT interweaves the lives of three families in the northwoods of Michigan. Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience. As racers and their families pin their hopes to a 500 mile-long test of endurance, small triumphs and giant sacrifices are made along the way. From a frozen corner of the country emerge three American families.

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Class, Drama, Unemployment-Wages, Women, Working Class

 

The Song of the Shirt (1979)

27 Jan

song-of-the-shirt

16mm, 135 min, black & white
Directors Sue Clayton
Jonathan Curling
Production Company Film & History Project
BFI Production Board
Script Sue Clayton
Jonathan Curling
Music Lindsay Cooper

Cast: Martha Gibson, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anna McNiff, Liz Myers, Jill Greenhalgh, Sally Cranfield, Alfred Molina

Show full cast and credits

An investigation into the position of working women in the 1840s, the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy’ and the resistance to it. Explores the plight of a group of women working in the new ‘sweated’ clothes trade in London.

Show full synopsis
Originally intended as a history of the welfare state, as well as a contribution to debates on feminist history, issues of free trade against philanthropy and capitalist expansion against protectionism, The Song of the Shirt became a subject of debate in itself, not least thanks to its four-year gestation.Many different groups, including Women’s Aid and the Feminist History Project, were involved during this long production period, and as a result the final film had a broader agenda (and therefore audience) than was originally planned. While it still addresses ideas of feminist history and Marxist theory, it can also be read as a rather more ambitious project that fuses the history of fashion, literacy and sexuality.

It is constructed as a documentary, although the use of multiple-screen effects, monitors displaying text and projected backdrops constantly disrupts the flow of information. Few dates are revealed in the film, forcing us to address the arguments rather than the chronology. It moves back and forth between locations and eras, juxtaposed in such a way as to highlight the contradictions in the labour market. Close-ups of women and characters in the dramatised scenes are avoided, and in the tribunal sequence the figure-of-eight camera movements suggest aimlessness.

The women’s readings, both singly and in groups, are based on a story that appeared in the magazine Notes to the People. ‘A Page for the Ladies’ argues that all classes of women are oppressed. Women of different classes read the text in different ways, with other voices of workers and political writers given equal footing with the text.

The Song of the Shirt‘s combination of relentless political content and a dislocated and disruptive presentation makes it stand out from its contemporaries in its ambition to present a genuinely feminist independent film. Co-director Sue Clayton, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, has continued to explore these themes through her work with the Independent Filmmakers’ Association and Screen magazine.

Emma Hedditch
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/496441/

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Documentary, Experimental, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

Still the Enemy Within (AKA “The Enemy Within”)

26 Jan

2014 * Documentary * England * 112 minutes
Director/writer: Owen Gower
Sinead Kirwan, Producer: sinead.kirwan@bad-bonobo.com
Tel: 00447914412037 or 004915902169012
Skype: sineadrk
Follow us on Twitter @enemywithin1984
http://www.facebook.com/stilltheenemywithin

This riveting documentary revisits the front lines of one of the most bitterly fought strikes of the late 20th century—the 1984-1985 British Miners’ Strike. Told from the perspectives of the miners, their families and supporters, it incorporates rarely used archival footage with interviews, providing fresh insights to a dramatic, brutal, and heartbreaking yet inspiring struggle. Thirty years after the strike to prevent mine closures and the decimation of miners’ communities, Still the Enemy Within is a compelling reminder of everyday people’s power through organization and collective action—and the limitations when confronted by the force of the Thatcher administration and the British government.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJF67Ma9VRs

 
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Posted by on January 26, 2015 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Genre, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Legal System, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Politics, Safety & Health, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

 

The Women Workers’ War

24 Jan

2013
Documentary
Italy
Director: Massimo Ferrari
54 Minutes

The story of longest factory sit-in by women–500 days–led by Rosa Giancola of Latina, and a factory that churns out sweets and thoughts, led by Margherita Dogliani of Carrara. The documentary recounts the story of two women who are very special and react in profound and non-conventional ways to the economic and moral crisis that grips Italy. The documentary won an award at the Workers Unite! Film Festival of New York.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Farm & Food, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

 

Small Homeland

24 Jan

2013
Drama
Italy
Director: Alessandro Rossetto
Writers: Caterina Serra, Alessandro Rossetto, Maurizio Braucci
111 Minutes

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Class, Drama, Immigrants/Immigration, Migrant workers, Themes, Working Class

 

I Can Quit Whenever I Want

24 Jan

2014
Comedy
Italy
Director: Sydney Sibilia
Writers: Valerio Attanasio, Andrea Garello, Sydney Sibilia
100 Minutes

A university researcher is fired because of the cuts to the university. To earn a living, he decides to produce drugs recruiting his former colleagues, who despite their skills are living at the margins of society.
–IMDb

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Class, Comedy, Consumerism, Education, Occupation/Type of Work, Self-Employed/Freelance, Themes, White Collar, Working Class

 

Tony Benn: Will and Testament

24 Jan

2014
Documentary
England
Director: Skip Kite
Writer: Skip Kite
90 Minutes

In this unique autobiographical feature, Tony Benn – one of the UK’s most influential and charismatic political figures – presents his personal reflections on life, work, love and loss through intimate, confessional interviews, wonderfully illustrated by his personal photographic and film archives. Criss-crossing the UK, he bears witness to major social and political upheavals and events that influenced him during his life and political career.
–Written by Tony Kite

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Biography, Class, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Education, Labor History, Philosophy, Politics, Themes, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

Fly to Transcend

24 Jan

Documentary
China
Director: Tu Qiao
90 Minutes

This is a story about Tian Yu, one of the survivors of the shocking “13 jump” suicides at Foxconn, the primary manufacturer of Apple products. The documentary reflects on the background and deeper causes of the tragedy from the perspectives of international relations, globalization, Chinese local government, and internal enterprise management, and with academic experts as well as media. After three years of silence Tian Yu finally spoke up to tell us the truth. Tian Yu today is an outstanding woman who is passionate about life, independent, and eager to help others. She has not only found love, but also hopes to be able to raise her kids like any normal person.

 

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Class, Communications, Documentary, Global Economy, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Migrant workers, Occupation/Type of Work, Technology, Women, Working Class

 
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