The Passaic Textile Strike. 1926.

(1/13/00)

[The print of The Passaic Textile Strike was incomplete. It ended abruptly.]

This film is a fascinating historical document. It depicts the struggle of largely immigrant workers to organize and fight back against the mill owners of Passaic and its vicinity. For the most part it is an eloquent presentation of their case. It must have been much more exciting for audiences of other workers at the time who felt that this was a struggle in which they shared.

The film contrasts the living conditions of the mill owners and the workers--luxury vs. squalor. We only see the outside of the owners' houses, but the point is made.

For me, the most exciting parts of the film are those which involve the police and the use of the law to undermine the strikers' efforts. It pushes a button when the police--ostensibly the defenders of everybody--are used as a weapon of the powerful against the not-so-powerful. I loved it especially when a title announces that the police managed to bar the newsreel cameras, but not one of the cameramen who got these shots from a rooftop. The very film we watch seems like a victory.

I wasn't so impressed with the scenes of the labor leaders making speeches. I suppose this was a necessary part of the film, but maybe such images have become such a cliche that they don't impress me. I liked the shots of the workers much better. These were their brethren and peers, with which the audiences could identify. There is one group shot in which a woman belatedly runs in to join the group. This was actually canny filmmaking.

It was interesting to see the relief efforts of other unions and the support shown to the Passaic workers by other other laborers around the country. You really had the feeling that they and not the mill owners were in the majority or more powerful position--a feeling I am sure the film wished to convey.

The film begins with a dramatization of the life and struggles of a typical immigrant family. It is a really good start to the film as it puts the problems behind the strike in simple human terms that most people could understand and sympathize with. The wages are cut so the teenage daughter must go to work. She is fired so the father must work longer hours. He can't handle it and has to take a lesser and less-paying job. He gets sick and is told by the doctor that he should stay home and rest for at least two weeks, but he can't afford to--so he goes back to work the next day. One morning his wife finds him dead in bed. The story is told simply and directly.

One part that I didn't really like that much is when the lecherous boss seduces the teenage daughter and later fires her. This just seems like a cheap shot, although that sort of thing probably did go on. It does engage the viewer's interest, but it just seems that this prologue should concentrate on the simple struggle to make a living. But sex does fascinate the viewer.

I do wonder if the daughter couldn't have gotten herself a job at one of the other mills.

Some of the images that made an impression on me were shots of the workers' weekly pay envelopes and shots of the strikers who had been beaten by the police.

I should say that one of the reasons this film interests me is that I know the locale. Passaic and Garfield are familiar to me which makes this film seem like an ancient history of familiar places.

(1/16/00)

I can't help wondering, though, about what exactly prompted the wage cuts. Why did they happen at that particular time? I would like to know more about the Passaic textile strike from the point of view of the other side.