Labor Leaders: Prophets Ahead Of Their Times?

Labor advocates were eyed with suspicion where I grew up.

The so-called "robber barons" of the steel, coal, railroad and other industries in the 18th and early 19th centuries were known for their ruthless business practices and for their harsh treatment of workers, especially those who sought better pay and safer working conditions. 

Yet most of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Morgans and Carnegies of the day were regular church goers and esteemed  members of their congregations. The major Protestant denominations, by their silence if not their outright support, typically favored the interests of large corporations over that of ordinary workers, as expressed in statements such as those of the 1833 New York Journal of Commerce:

"But according to our notions of the obligations of society, all combinations to compel others to give a higher price or take a lower one are not only inexpedient but at war with the order of things which the Creator has established for the general good, and therefore wicked. ..."

I grew in rural community with a distinct bias against labor organizations, sometimes for the legitimate reason that some of their tactics were violent and coercive in nature. But there was little awareness of how violent the opposition was to workers who dared advocate for better treatment.

On this Labor Day weekend, I've done some reading about people like Eugene Debs, who may have deserved more recognition as a modern day prophet than he typically got from the religious establishment. In the First World War, he was jailed under the Seditions Act for opposing US participation, as were some Mennonites and other peace-promoting people, saying "I have no country to fight for; my country is the earth; I am a citizen of the world."

Whether we agree with outspoken people like Debs or not, we should at least ask whether their words may often be more congruent with the teachings of Jesus and the prophets than those of the New York Journal of Commerce (above) or of today's Wall Street Journal.

Here's link to more about his life https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/eugene-v-debs-6702.php