I always feel a bit sorry for myself on Labor Day weekend, as it's back-to-school time and usually I am engaged in a mad dash to get my course syllabi done. Of course this is ridiculous, as I have the cushiest job ever and most of the summer I've been free to do as I liked. It's good to remind myself what…
This post, "Factory Girls and Boys," documents child labor in the early years of the 20th century. The photos make me extremely angry. Not long ago, I wrote a post titled, "Austerity, The New Slavery." More and more, I become convinced that modern capitalism depends for its existence on the exploitation of cheap labor. "Business ethics" really is an oxymoron. In America alone, we had widespread slavery and child labor, out in the open, in broad daylight! And not in the distant past. American industry has always supported immigration for a steady supply of cheap, expendable labor. The White House and the Capitol were built by slaves, the railroads were built by immigrants, and the industrial sweatshops were operated by women and children. After slavery and child labor were abolished, unions gained a toehold. Minimum wage laws and occupational safety laws were enacted over the objections of business. Not surprising that in the second half of the 20th century, industrialists began to move American factories to any faraway land where labor is cheap, plentiful, and unregulated. Thanks to historian and blogger Donna Seger and photographer Lewis Wickes Hine for opening my eyes.
-- John Hayden
Related articles
- How Many Kids Made Your Clothes? A New App Will Tell You Before You Buy (fastcoexist.com)
- Samsung to audit 250 of its suppliers in China amid allegations of child labor violations (cbsnews.com)
- Fab Flash: Gap and New Child Labor Claims (fabsugar.com)
- Child Slaves in the 21st Century (sonofjames.wordpress.com)
- Four Reasons Everyone Should Thank Unions On Labor Day (thinkprogress.org)
- Child labor in the beginning of the last century (flickr.net)
- Child labor still issue on Ivory Coast cocoa farms (thehimalayantimes.com)
