Tom Paine, union organizer?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Yup, some of the most remembered words in American history were written by an immigrant worker who got fired for trying to organize his workplace.

That would be Tom Paine, who penned the words,

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Man, he could write.

Today, in honor of the Fourth of July, Al Hart at the ue news update brings us a fascinating biography of Paine. From it we learn:

Nearly all the leaders of the American Revolution - known ever since as "the Founding Fathers" - were members of the upper classes: rich merchants, investors, landowners, planters, judges and lawyers. But Thomas Paine - the man whose writings won over the country to the idea of independence and helped rally the army and the people to defeat the powerful British Empire - was the exception.

Paine was the son of a Quaker corsetmaker and his wife, a member of the Church of England. He followed his father into the corsetmaking business but couldn't make a living at it. So he became a public worker, an excise officer, collecting taxes on imports, exports and manufactured products. Here's what happened next:

...excise officers were poorly paid and frequently had to move to other parts of the country, at their own expense. In 1772 excise officers began organizing to petition Parliament for better pay and working conditions, and on behalf of his co-workers Paine wrote and published a pamphlet, The Case of the Officers of Excise. For helping to organize, in effect, a public employee union, Paine was fired, and soon found himself in a desperate financial condition. But in 1774, he was introduced in London to Benjamin Franklin, the prominent American leader from Philadelphia, who urged him to emigrate.

Who knew?

Paine got a job as editor of Pennsylvania Magazine, where he anonymously published a pamphlet arguing for independence from Britain. Called Common Sense, it sold more than 100,000 copies in three months. He wrote The American Crisis (the one about men's souls being tried) to raise the Continental Army's morale. It worked. George Washington read it to his troops on Christmas Day, and they crossed the Delaware and won the Battle of Trenton.

He returned to England, where he wrote The Rights of Man, a best-selling pamphlet defending the French Revolution. Paine was forced to flee to France, where he was elected to the National Convention though he didn't speak French. He was imprisoned for opposing the execution of Louis XVI and barely escaped the guillotine.

Hart concludes,

He died in 1809 at age 72 in Greenwich Village, New York, in relative obscurity. Only six mourners attended his funeral, two of whom were African American.

But with the beginnings of a labor movement in the U.S. in the 1820s and '30s, there also came a Paine revival. Labor activists held annual dinners on Paine's birthday (January 29), toasting the memory and ideas of the great revolutionary. Thomas Paine's writings have much to offer us today - most of all his faith in the ability of people, acting together, to overcome injustice. As he told us in Common Sense, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

Read the whole thing here.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Yup, some of the most remembered words in American history were written by an immigrant worker who got fired for trying to organize his workplace.

That would be Tom Paine, who penned the words,

These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.

Man, he could write.

Today, in honor of the Fourth of July, Al Hart at the ue news update brings us a fascinating biography of Paine. From it we learn:

Nearly all the leaders of the American Revolution - known ever since as "the Founding Fathers" - were members of the upper classes: rich merchants, investors, landowners, planters, judges and lawyers. But Thomas Paine - the man whose writings won over the country to the idea of independence and helped rally the army and the people to defeat the powerful British Empire - was the exception.

Paine was the son of a Quaker corsetmaker and his wife, a member of the Church of England. He followed his father into the corsetmaking business but couldn't make a living at it. So he became a public worker, an excise officer, collecting taxes on imports, exports and manufactured products. Here's what happened next:

...excise officers were poorly paid and frequently had to move to other parts of the country, at their own expense. In 1772 excise officers began organizing to petition Parliament for better pay and working conditions, and on behalf of his co-workers Paine wrote and published a pamphlet, The Case of the Officers of Excise. For helping to organize, in effect, a public employee union, Paine was fired, and soon found himself in a desperate financial condition. But in 1774, he was introduced in London to Benjamin Franklin, the prominent American leader from Philadelphia, who urged him to emigrate.

Who knew?

Paine got a job as editor of Pennsylvania Magazine, where he anonymously published a pamphlet arguing for independence from Britain. Called Common Sense, it sold more than 100,000 copies in three months. He wrote The American Crisis (the one about men's souls being tried) to raise the Continental Army's morale. It worked. George Washington read it to his troops on Christmas Day, and they crossed the Delaware and won the Battle of Trenton.

He returned to England, where he wrote The Rights of Man, a best-selling pamphlet defending the French Revolution. Paine was forced to flee to France, where he was elected to the National Convention though he didn't speak French. He was imprisoned for opposing the execution of Louis XVI and barely escaped the guillotine.

Hart concludes,

He died in 1809 at age 72 in Greenwich Village, New York, in relative obscurity. Only six mourners attended his funeral, two of whom were African American.

But with the beginnings of a labor movement in the U.S. in the 1820s and '30s, there also came a Paine revival. Labor activists held annual dinners on Paine's birthday (January 29), toasting the memory and ideas of the great revolutionary. Thomas Paine's writings have much to offer us today - most of all his faith in the ability of people, acting together, to overcome injustice. As he told us in Common Sense, "We have it in our power to begin the world over again."

Read the whole thing here.

Unions are a lazy mans way to protect his job. If you have never worked in a union environment let me tell you how it works.

The first thing you do is elect the most un educated laziest loud mouth dishonest malcontent to be the union president. Then you set about instructing the work force how to do everything it can to stick it to the company at every turn, and let your rally cry be " It ain't my job". Make sure that you require 2 people to do every job and any thing hard or extra make sure the company contracts it out. Once all this is done file make sure you spend lots and lots of times in arbitration and meetings to defend the job of every drug addict and lazy scum the company has ever hired. The lazier and more egregious the offense, the more time and money you spend to protect them.

Now once your average high school drop out is making 75K + a year, also make sure that you never give an inch when the company starts encounters hard times and demand unsustainable pensions and full ride health insurance, even for laid off employees.

Now. When your company has to move jobs overseas because it can no longer sustain this combined with supporting all the new federal laws designed to hurt business, hold huge rallies and blame your job loss on greedy corporate America. .

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Unions are a lazy mans way to protect his job. If you have never worked in a union environment let me tell you how it works.

The first thing you do is elect the most un educated laziest loud mouth dishonest malcontent to be the union president. Then you set about instructing the work force how to do everything it can to stick it to the company at every turn, and let your rally cry be " It ain't my job". Make sure that you require 2 people to do every job and any thing hard or extra make sure the company contracts it out. Once all this is done file make sure you spend lots and lots of times in arbitration and meetings to defend the job of every drug addict and lazy scum the company has ever hired. The lazier and more egregious the offense, the more time and money you spend to protect them.

Now once your average high school drop out is making 75K + a year, also make sure that you never give an inch when the company starts encounters hard times and demand unsustainable pensions and full ride health insurance, even for laid off employees.

Now. When your company has to move jobs overseas because it can no longer sustain this combined with supporting all the new federal laws designed to hurt business, hold huge rallies and blame your job loss on greedy corporate America. .

Nothing in your post but bullsh!t generalizations. I've worked under a few different unions - UFCW, Teamsters and the Cartoonist Union. But hey, if you're in to stereotyping, why stop there? Tell us what think about other groups of people?

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Nothing in your post but bullsh!t generalizations. I've worked under a few different unions - UFCW, Teamsters and the Cartoonist Union. But hey, if you're in to stereotyping, why stop there? Tell us what think about other groups of people?

Nothing in my post but truths. I was a supervisor in a union plant for 15 years. What other groups of people? I never cared much for Florida Gators, I detest USC and OSU, and brain dead Liberals, other than that most all others are cool with me.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Nothing in my post but truths. I was a supervisor in a union plant for 15 years. What other groups of people? I never cared much for Florida Gators, I detest USC and OSU, and brain dead Liberals, other than that most all others are cool with me.

No, nothing but BS generalizations. There are unscrupulous businesses just at there are good ones but I doubt you'd make the same generalizations about businesses. There is nothing inherently flawed with the concept of collective bargaining and it's roots are planted firmly in this country's history. When you enjoy your 4th of July off, your weekends, vacations and sick days, overtime, retirement, you be sure thank a union, because all of those things that many workers have today were because unions had to fight hard for them.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

1341451975[/url]' post='5504089']

No, nothing but BS generalizations. There are unscrupulous businesses just at there are good ones but I doubt you'd make the same generalizations about businesses. There is nothing inherently flawed with the concept of collective bargaining and it's roots are planted firmly in this country's history. When you enjoy your 4th of July off, your weekends, vacations and sick days, overtime, retirement, you be sure thank a union, because all of those things that many workers have today were because unions had to fight hard for them.

So because there are bad businesses it makes it okay for unions to be bad I never understand liberal logic where two wrongs make a right

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I was a supervisor in a union plant for 15 years.

Based on your written communication skills and the claims you made, you should have been elected Union President. What happened? Was there someone even more egregious to take the spot? That's hard to believe.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Based on your written communication skills and the claims you made, you should have been elected Union President. What happened? Was there someone even more egregious to take the spot? That's hard to believe.

I would have been a terrible Union prez. I hate slackers, , dopers and all other leeches on society.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I would have been a terrible Union prez. I hate slackers, , dopers and all other leeches on society.

Based on how little you appear to have learned about written communication you must have been slacking somewhere.

[slim 1,525]

T Paine was someone who, today, would have a blog on the internet and all of us "crazy tinfoil hatters" would read it, repost it, applaud it.

... but nobody else would. Hence, dying in obscurity with only six mourners.

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

T Paine

This is crying out for an amazing Photoshop image. Alas, I do not have Photoshop at work. Also, I am at work.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Based on how little you appear to have learned about written communication you must have been slacking somewhere.

LOL do you have to Google a lot to come up with your clever retorts..

[slim 1,525]

This is crying out for an amazing Photoshop image. Alas, I do not have Photoshop at work. Also, I am at work.

Nobody in my "tinfoil hatters" circle gets my "urban" references in relation to old school history. I'm also ticked off at my shooting buddies - who shoot boxes and boxes of "Lake City" ammo - because they never break it down with me when I make it rain and chant "Lake City. Lake, lake, city b!tch. Lake City. Lake, lake city b!tch."

Someday, someone will get it.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

LOL do you have to Google a lot to come up with your clever retorts..

I don't require assistance to make observations. Do you?