A century ago on Workers Memorial Day, millions of men, women and children worked long hours at low pay in jobs that threatened their lives and limbs. Many of them were immigrants.

“They don't suffer,” George F. Baer said of coal miners who had come to America from eastern Europe. “Why, hell, half of them don't even speak English."

Rosemary Feurer is producer of the documentary Mother Jones, America’s Most Dangerous Woman (2007) and is an associate professor of history at Northern Illinois University. 

The spirit of Mother Jones came home this month to Cork, Ireland. A festival honoring the Irish-American labor heroine that included the unveiling of a plaque in her honor highlighted her continuing relevance to the global project of social justice. For more on the Cork festival, see http://motherjones175.wordpress.com.

The Theater of the First Amendment will present the world premiere of “Can’t Scare Me: The Story of Mother Jones at Washington, D.C.’s Atlas Performing Arts Center beginning with preview performances Oct. 12 and 13 and running through Oct. 30.

Wow. I’m blown away. The only-known video and audio recording of Mary Harris ”Mother” Jones is in the clip at left. Recorded in 1930, on what possibly was her 100th birthday (historians aren’t sure of her year of birth), it shows even at an advanced age, she hadn’t lost any of the spark that fueled her life-long activism on behalf of improving the lot of workers.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller this afternoon fired the deputy attorney general who tweeted that “live ammunition” and “deadly force” should be used to disperse protesters in Madison, Wis.

The Indiana deputy attorney general who reportedly tweeted that “live ammunition” and “deadly force” should be used to disperse protesters in Madison, Wis., demonstrating against Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) move to eliminate public service workers’ right to bargain for middle-class jobs is under investigation.

If true, this is a really horrifying development. According to Adam Weinstein at Mother Jones, when the magazine’s staffers tweeted a report that riot police might soon sweep workers out of the Wisconsin Capitol building,

one Twitter user sent out a chilling public response: “Use live ammunition.”

Three flat tires couldn’t keep Machinists (IAM) Benny Adair and Hardy Williams from completing their monumental task—and Adair swears, “With all the trouble we had, not a single cussword was said.”