St. Martins University Professor Aaron Goings and Michigan Technological University Professor Gary Kaunonen deliver a talk at the Michigan State University Main Library entitled, "Wage-Slaves and Radicals: Writing a People's History of the 1913-14 Michigan Copper Strike". The speakers describe the active union environment which existed in Michigan's Upper Peninsula long before the 1913 strike and say that the local labor movement was in direct conflict with the mining companies' desire to completely control the community. They also describe efforts by the companies to break the strike with increasing violence directed at union members and how that escalating violence finally led to the tragic fire at the Italian Hall on Christmas Eve. Part of the MSU Libraries' Colloquia Series and the "Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives" Brown Bag series sponsored by the MSU School of Human Resources and Labor Relations.
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