The War at Home (Part One): Rebellion (2020)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The War at Home (Part One) Rebellion is a documentary film which premiered in 2020.

 

The topic is the untold history of class war in the United States.

 

Part One covers the time from 1886 to 1937.

 

Here is some basic information about this film:

 

** Writer and director: Scott Noble

** Narrator: Mikela Jay

** Available on Films for Action

** Available on YouTube

** Subtitles: sadly, not available

** Run time: 104 minutes

 

Several persons are interviewed in the film. Here are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):

 

** Andrew Cornell – author of Unruly Equality: US Anarchism in the 20th Century (2016)

 

** Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – a historian

 

** Julie Green – a labor historian

 

** Graeme MacQueen – co-founder of Center for Peace Studies

 

** Peter Rachleff – a labor historian

 

** Lance Selfa – author of The Democrats: A Critical History (2008)

 

** Christopher Simpson – author of The Science of Coercion (2015)

 

Archive footage (clips, photos, and drawings) is used between the talking heads. Archive footage is used to support and supplement the statements made by the talking heads. Archive footage is used while the narrator is talking.

 

Several cases are presented and discussed in this film, including the following:

 

** The Haymarket Affair

(4 May 1886)

 

** The Pullman Railroad Strike

(11 May – 20 July 1894)

 

** The Lattimer Massacre

(10 September 1897)

 

** The Lawrence Textile Strike

(1 January – 12 March 1912)

 

** The Ludlow Massacre

(20 April 1914)

(An on-screen-message says this was in 1912) (The narrator says this was in 1914, which is correct)

 

** The San Franscisco Preparedness Day Bombing

(22 July 1916)

 

** United States Anarchist Bombings

(April – June 1919)

 

** The Battle of Blair Mountain

(25 August – 2 September 1921)

 

** The Crash of the Stock Market

(1929)

 

** Massive strikes

(1934)

 

** The Sit-Down Strike in Flint, Michigan

(30 December 1936 – 11 February 1937)

 

Several organizations are presented in the film, including the following

 

** The Knights of Labor

Founded in 1869

 

** The American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Founded in 1886

 

** The Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.)

(Members of this organization were known as the Wobblies)

Founded in 1905

 

** Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

Founded in 1935

 

Several labor organizers and political activists are presented in the film, including the anarchist Emma Goldman.

 

While her tombstone is shown, the narrator explains that Emma Goldman died in 1940, which is correct.

 

Unfortunately, the dates written on the tombstone are wrong:

 

The date of birth – on the stone = 29 June 1869

** The correct date is 27 June 1869

The date of death – on the stone = 14 May 1939

** The correct date is 14 May 1940

 

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When we watch this film, we can understand why there is no workers movement in America; no socialism; no socialist party; not even a social democratic party.

 

When the question is asked, the standard explanation is that no Americans like socialism. But when we watch this film, we can see that the standard explanation is not true.

 

Back in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, some Americans wanted some kind of socialism. In fact, many ordinary Americans believed that some kind of socialism would offer them a better life than the one they had under capitalism.

 

They acted on their belief. They tried to build trade unions; they tried to build a socialist party, but they did not get very far before they were stopped.

 

The corporations were not happy about trade unions. But after a while they learned how to live with them and how to deal with them.

 

Most trade unions were for white men and for skilled workers only. People of colour were not welcome. Unskilled workers were not welcome.

 

Women were not welcome.

 

Women of colour were absolutely not welcome.

 

The corporations were prepared to accept that members of one trade union (white men and skilled workers) got what they demanded, as long as all the others did not get anything.

 

The corporations learned how to set one group against another group. Men against women; white men against people of colour; skilled workers against unskilled workers.

 

This tactic is old. It was invented by the Romans in antiquity. It is called Divide and Rule.

 

In Latin:

 

Divide et impera!

 

This tactic did not work against Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.), which was the most radical union in the history of the US.

 

What was so radical about this union?

 

It was open for all workers. White people and people of colour. Men and women. Skilled workers and unskilled workers.

 

The leaders of the I.W.W. wanted to build one big union. They believed this was the only way to build a union which was able to stand up against the private corporations and the government.

 

In this film, we see how the corporations and the government waged war against the workers. How they made sure that trade unions were unable to protect their members and defend their interests.

 

Since the corporations and the government were unable to stop the development of a workers movement with peaceful and legal methods, they decided to use violence and illegal methods.

 

The methods used against the Wooblies were especially harsh. Perhaps because this union was regarded as a serious threat to the establishment.

 

In this film, we see how the beginnings of a socialist movement in the US were crushed by the corporations and the government.

 

Being a socialist worker was dangerous; being a member of a trade union was dangerous. The corporations spied on the workers. Members were identified and fired. Trade union organizers were identified and attacked.

 

The corporations and the government had two goals:

 

** The primary goal was to scare the people who were involved in a socialist movement.

** The secondary goal was to scare others from becoming involved when they saw how bad things happened to those who were involved.

 

For the corporations and the government, the campaign against trade unions and their socialist ideas was a war; a constant war. This film shows us how this war managed to create an America in which there is no socialism, “because no Americans like socialism.”

 

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What do reviewers say about this film?

 

It is listed on IMDb, but there is no rating and there are no customer reviews.

 

Top Documentary Films has a rating of 76 percent, which corresponds to a rating of 3.8 stars on Amazon.

 

Mickey Duff posted a long and detailed review of the film on the Project Censored website (17 March 2021).

 

This review, which is very positive, is also posted on CounterPunch (22 March 2021).

 

What do I think about it? I think it is a powerful document about an important topic. The stories which are covered in this film are not well-known by the public. They deserve to be told, and in this film, it is done very well.

 

I want to go all the way to the top with this product. I think it deserves a rating of five stars (100 percent).

 

PS # 1. The War at Home (Part Two) Blacklist premiered in 2021. Run time = 119 minutes.

 

PS # 2. Scott Noble is the director of several documentary films, including Plutocracy, which was released in five installments over a period of five years (2015-2019).

 

REFERENCES

 

# 1. The Haymarket Affair (1886)

** The Haymarket Tragedy by Paul Avrich (1984)

** Death in the Haymarket by James R. Green (2006)

 

# 2. The Pullman Strike (1894)

** The Edge of Anarchy: Railroad Barons, The Gilded Age, and the Greatest Labor Uprising in America by Jack Kelly (2019)

 

# 3. The Lattimer Massacre (1897)

** The Guns of Lattimer by Michael Novak (1996) (2018)

** The Lattimer Massacre Trial by Pasco L. Schiavo (2015)

 

# 4. The Lawrence Strike (1912)

** Lawrence and the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike by Robert Forrant and Susan Grabski (2013)

 

# 5. The Ludlow Massacre (1914)

** Legacy of the Ludlow Massacre: A Chapter in American Industrial Relations by H. Gitelman (1988)

** The Ludlow Massacre: Labor Struggle and Historical Memory in Southern Colorado by M. Walker (1999)

 

# 6. The San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing (1916)

** Frame-Up! The Incredible Case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings by Curt Gentry (1967)

** The Mooney Case by Richard H. Frost (1968)

 

# 7. The History of Class War in the US

** A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (1980) (2003) (2009)

 ** Revolts, Protests, Demonstrations, and Rebellions in American History: An Encyclopedia edited by Steven L. Danver (2010) (1,138 pages) (three volumes)

** A History of America in Ten Strikes by Eric Loomis (2018)

 

*****