People Have the Power - Forward in Wisconsin on June 5, 2012

Light On the Wisconsin State Capitol Building
photo by Gregg Chadwick

Yesterday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, President Bill Clinton brought his gravitas to the bitter struggle for control of the state's soul. Clinton noted that current Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wants to divide and conquer the state for the benefit of the few while Tom Barrett, the Democratic candidate in June 5th's special election, "wants to work together to solve problems" in a spirit of cooperation not conflict. Clinton continued by saying that everywhere he travels - both nationally and globally - “creative cooperation” between political sides brings prosperity. Walker and his cronies do not want to work across the aisle.

Clinton said,"You need a budget from the next governor that deals with whatever the realities are but where there is shared responsibility and shared sacrifice, not winner take all. If you believe in a state budget that preserves investments in education and jobs and you want somebody that has actually created jobs…the only way it works, show up and vote for Tom Barrett."

Tom Barrett writes,"Scott Walker came into the governor's office promising to create 250,000 jobs, and to bring us together.  Instead, he divided our state like never before and presided over a Wisconsin economy that last year lost more jobs than any state in the country.

He 'dropped the bomb,' as he said, and ended 50 years of labor peace and worker protections -- something he never said he'd do during the 2010 campaign.  I know, because I was there.  As governor, I will fight to restore collective bargaining rights, because it's the right thing to do, and it's necessary to heal Wisconsin.

And Gov. Walker gutted education, cut women's health, and diverted millions of dollars intended for Wisconsin victims of Wall Street foreclosure fraud to patch a hole in his budget.

In response to this unanticipated assault on Wisconsin values, the people united and fought back.  Hundreds of thousands made their voices heard at the Capitol.  The protests turned into a movement last summer, and two GOP state senators who rubberstamped Walker's agenda were recalled.

And nearly 1 million people from all across Wisconsin signed their name to trigger a recall election of Gov. Walker, hold him accountable, and restore our Wisconsin values.

We need to bring our state back.  Wisconsin needs a governor who is focused on jobs, not ideology; a leader committed to bringing our state together and healing political wounds, not pitting people against each other and catering to the special interests.

This is the governor I will be for the people of Wisconsin."

Also yesterday, a group of musicians including Jackson Browne, Tom Morello, and Tim Mcllrath inspired a crowd of thousands at a Get Out the Vote event in Madison, Wisconsin. Jackson Browne's moving renditions of Little Steven's "I Am a Patriot" and Florence Reece's "Which Side Are You On" rallied the people of Wisconsin.


Tom Morello, Jackson Browne, Tim McIIrath, Brother Ali singing Patti Smith's "People Have the Power in Madison, Wisconsin on June 1, 2012 for a "Get Out The Vote" rally.



Jackson Browne Sings Florence Reece's Classic 1931 "Which Side Are You On" in Madison, Wisconsin on June 1, 2012 as part of the "Get Out The Vote" rally.

Jackson Browne Sings Little Steven's "I am a Patriot" in Madison, Wisconsin on June 1, 2012 as part of the "Get Out The Vote" rally.

Tim McIlrath performs Neil Young's OHIO in Madison, Wisconsin on June 1, 2012 as part of the "Get Out The Vote" rally.

Tom Morello breaks the news about Scott Walker becoming an official target of the John Doe investigation to the delight of thousands of Tom Barrett for Governor supporters.

Action by the Overpass Light Brigade

Forward! - Wisconsin State Flag Over the Wisconsin State Capitol Building
photo by Gregg Chadwick

Wisconsin State Senate Candidate Lori Compas writes,"Since November, Scott Fitzgerald has continually underestimated this movement. He said we couldn't collect the signatures, but WE proved him wrong. He said that people from outside the district are running this campaign, but from Lomira to Fort Atkinson, WE have proven him wrong.  Now he claims that he has the support of the people in the 13th, and over the next 4 days WE have a chance to prove him wrong yet again.

Thank you to those who have already signed up to help in this important movement! For those who have not, please sign up for a shift to help get out the vote. We still cannot compete with his large out-of-state donors, but our ground came will take us from striking distance to victorious.

We have knocked on tens of thousands of doors and we have identified thousands of supporters. Now is the time to make sure they vote.

This race will be extremely close and any amount of time you have to give could mean the difference between Senator Scott Fitzgerald and FORMER Senator Scott Fitzgerald.

Thank you again for all of your support and thank you in advance for your help over the next 4 days."

Sign up to GOTV here!

On Wisconsin!

To my Wisconsin Friends and Family: On June 5th Please Vote for Tom Barrett for Governor and Lori Compas for State Senate!

Why I am running for Governor

We need to bring our state back. Wisconsin needs a governor who is focused on jobs, not ideology; a leader committed to bringing our state together and healing political wounds, not pitting people against each other and catering to the special interests. This is the governor I will be for the people of Wisconsin.
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• To the Wisconsinites who watched tonight's debate in Japan: Domo Arigato #widebate 1 day ago

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The Art of Labor

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.“

— Republican President Abraham Lincoln, Message to Congress, December 3, 1861

Labor Day, 1942

by Charles Henry Alston,

 the first African American supervisor for the WPA Federal Art Project

Today, in honor of Labor Day in the United States, Denise Oliver Velez posted a moving tribute to work and workers on the Daily Kos. Inspired by the words, images and music that Velez put together, I have spent much of this Labor Day in deep consideration of the struggle and sacrifice of the brave laborers who worked together to build this country. 

Peter Clothier on his site, Vote Obama 2012, has also been considering the meaning of this holiday. Clothier writes:

"How much thought, I wonder, do most of us who celebrate Labor Day with a trip to the beach, a late summer barbecue in the park, a hike in the mountains--how much thought do we give to the actual reason for the holiday: to celebrate the contribution of the American worker?

Since Ronald Reagan faced down the air traffic controllers in 1981, it has been downhill all the way for unions in this country.  Republican governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin feel free to use their powers to disempower the unions that champion the rights of teachers and other public workers, and the corporate powers-that-be wage a vigorous war against unions with everything in their arsenal, including their formidable army of lobbyists, their purchase of legislators through contributions to campaign funds and their "super pacs."  The result is a weakening of the unions that contributed significantly in the last century to the creation of the great American middle class, and diminishment of the middle class itself."

Peter Clothier goes on to send us a dire warning: 

"With the disempowerment of the unions, the American worker is deprived of the most basic tool to seek that upward mobility of which the country has long been justifiably proud.  Along with continually increasing cuts in state and federal education budgets, this assures the creation of a permanent, and to many inescapable underclass and the further enrichment of those who profit from their plight."

Gold Is Where You Find It

1934Tyrone ComfortBorn: Port Huron, Michigan 1909Died: Los Angeles, California 1939oil on canvas40 1/8 x 50 1/8 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum(Chosen By Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt to hang in the White House)

Builders

lithograph by Harry Sternberg, WPA

I Canti (The Cantos)

Gregg Chadwick

78"x60" oil on linen 2011

There is an incredibly rich trove of American visual art and music that celebrates the power and struggles of the worker. Bruce Springsteen's most recent album, Wrecking Ball, continues that tradition. Throughout the album , Springsteen tries to wake us from our national spiritual catalepsy. We, as a people, are asleep but not dead and need only to rise again to continue the struggles for labor rights, immigrant rights, and civil equality throughout our land.

 In the song, We Are Alive, Springsteen sings :

A voice cried out, I was killed in Maryland in 1877

When the railroad workers made their stand

Sixth Regiment Fighting its way through Baltimore

during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877

"Harper's Weekly, Journal of Civilization," Vol XXL, No. 1076, 

 Saturday, August 11, 1877

The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 referenced by Springsteen in the above lines was arguably the key moment in the birth of the modern labor movement in the United States. The blood of the men and women cut down on city streets and country lanes across America catalyzed labor strikes and actions that woke up a citizenry  yearning for a better life and hope in a depressed economy ruled by corporate giants that had bought the presidency for Rutherford B. Hayes.

The actions of industrialists in this era and the corruption of Hayes and his cronies answer a deeply important political question. What happened to the Republican party of Abraham Lincoln? How did the GOP devolve into a party of privilege not progressiveness? The simple answer: the Republican party was bought off by Thomas Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad and in a perverse election deal sold off Abraham Lincoln's legacy of equality for all Americans by ending Reconstruction in the former Confederate States:

"Many Americans in 1877 believed their new president had reached the White House through fraud. Certainly Rutherford B. Hayes, a Republican, was not the man for whom a majority of voters had cast their ballots the previous year. Democrat Samuel Tilden overcame the Ohio governor in the popular vote but 20 disputed electoral votes from Florida and other states threw the election into theHouse of Representatives.

Thomas Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad reached a deal with Hayes: in exchange for a federal bailout of his troubled investment in the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the millionaire industrialist would deliver Congressional votes to Hayes. As a further inducement, the Republicans promised to end Reconstruction, a blatant betrayal of African Americans. Southern Congressmen deserted Tilden, handing the election to Hayes."*1

Hayes came into office a few years after the bank panic of 1873 which had disintegrated into a nationwide economic depression. "Weekly the layoffs, wage cuts, strikes, evictions, breadlines and hunger increased," wrote Richard Boyer and Herbert Morais in Labor’s Untold Story. 

Upon taking office during this depression, as Hayes had promised to his financial and political supporters,  he withdrew federal soldiers from the South and moved the forces to act as shock troops for the newly empowered corporate barons who were slashing wages across the board. Angry railroad workers took control of switches and blocked the movement of trains. As Harper’s Weekly reported the following month, "Governor Matthews evoked the aid of the national government. President Hayes responded promptly." Federal troops armed with Springfield rifles and Gatling guns arrived." Even in the face of the overwhelming fire power arrayed against them, the railroad workers made their stand. 

When I listen to Springsteen's We Are Alive, Mississippi John Hurt's Spike Driver Blues, or REM's Driver 8,  I am reminded of the laborers who built the tracks and engines, the engineers who drove the trains like my Grandpa Desch *2, and to the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters who in 1925 became the first labor organization led by blacks to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor. 

We as a nation are only as strong as the weakest member. It is my fervent hope that many will pause to reflect today on the contributions of the labor movement to our growingly inclusive society. Now is not the time to destroy unions and their protections for all. Instead now is the time to celebrate and affirm our shared history of civil and labor rights for all. Elizabeth Broun wrote when considering the exhibit Art and the New Deal organized in 2009 by The Smithsonian Institution: 

"What seems clear is that America gains in the long term when it invests in its own heritage and people."

Happy Labor Day!

1. The UE (United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America) site provides invaluable information on the history and struggles of labor in the United States and I highly recommend spending time on their website to gather a clear history of the movement.

2. My grandfather on my mother's side spent his working life as a train engineer on the Jersey Central Line. That itself sounds like a Springsteen lyric and explains part of my great love for songs of the rail.

Tom Morello's New Song "Union Town" Roars in Solidarity With Workers Across the Globe

"Performing in Madison, Wisconsin and seeing 100,000 people in the streets demanding justice inspired me to record an album of union fighting songs. I've been a proud union man for 22 years and my mom was a union public high school teacher, so for me this fight is very personal. Unions are a crucial counterweight to the raw corporate greed that torpedoed our economy, threatens our environment and wants to strip away decades of social progress. From Cairo to Madison, workers are pushing back and tyrants are falling. Here's a soundtrack for our fight."
-Tom Morello


The full length UNION TOWN EP will be released digitally
May 17th with all proceeds going towards pro-union struggles.

On February 21st of this year, Tom Morello performed at the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin in protest to an anti-union bill put forward by Governor Scott Walker. Morello explains in his editorial about the experience, “Frostbite and Freedom: Tom Morello on the Battle of Madison,” at RollingStone.com:

For days I had been following the exciting events in Cairo and across the Middle East. But when I turned on the television and saw 100,000 people marching through the streets of MADISON, WISCONSIN to protest an anti-union bill put forward by some schmuck named Governor Walker it caught my attention. I turned to my wife and said, "Honey, our boys are gonna grow up to be union men." She sighed and replied, "The Nightwatchman is needed. You should go."

And so The Nightwatchman went.

A nice lady at the airport looked at my guitar and politely asked, "Why are you going to Madison, young man?" I replied, "Because they're making history in Madison, ma'am. And I don't want to miss it."

The title track from the Union Town EP (full track listing below) is available now at SaveWorkers.org. On the heels of Union Town, Tom Morello, as The Nightwatchman, will release his third full length solo album, World Wide Rebel Songs, late Summer via New West Records.


Gregg Chadwick
Engine Company
48" x 36" oil on canvas 2011

The America Votes Labor Unity Fund supports the unified efforts of a broad coalition of national labor organizations to defend workers and their unions against state legislation, ballot measures and executive orders that will undermine or destroy their rights. The America Votes Labor Unity Fund accepts donations from labor organizations and individuals who donate on their own behalf. Please visit www.saveworkers.org for more details and to make a donation.

Tom is set to release Union Town via New West Records digitally on May 17th with a physical CD and Vinyl release to follow on July 19th. All profits from Union Town will benefit The America Votes Labor Unity Fund via SaveWorkers.org.

The studio recording consists of 8 pro-union songs featuring three Tom Morello originals, as well as the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land Is Your Land” (including the more radical, often censored verses).




Tom Morello : The Nightwatchman Union Town Track Listing:
1. Union Town
2. Solidarity Forever
3. Which Side Are You On?
4. A Wall Against The Wind
5. 16 Tons
6. This Land Is Your Land
7. I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night
8. Union Song (Live - Capitol Square, Madison, Wisconsin Feb. 21st, 2011)

Democrats find a new voice!

by Gregg Chadwick

For the first time in two years, I had a deeply restful sleep last night. After watching anti-union and anti-education Scott Walker fall to Tony Evers in Wisconsin and viewing Harley Rouda's lead over Russian stooge Dana Rohrabacher in CA  48, I felt hopeful. My painting The Future Is Woke no longer felt aspirational  - we did it! Retaking the House with a Blue Wave is the first step in restoring sanity in our nation.  After last night's powerful rebuke to the blowhard in the White House, it is clear as  Michael Scherer and Josh Dawsey write in the Washington Post that Democrats found "a new voice, with a new generation of leaders emerging and a new playbook for winning." As Barack Obama put it: "Congratulations to everybody who showed up and participated in our democracy in record numbers yesterday. The change we need won’t come from one election alone – but it is a start. Last night, voters across the country started it."

Voters elected the U.S.'s first Muslim congresswomen, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota (left)
Jared Polis in Colorado defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Walker Stapleton to become the first openly gay man elected governor in the U.S.(center)
Sharice Davids of Kansas and Debra Haaland of New Mexico, both Democrats, are the first Native American women elected to Congress. (right)
(photos by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images, Rick T. Wilking/Getty Images, Whitney Curtis AFP via NPR)

NPR reports that "record numbers of Native Americans, Muslim Americans and women, including many women of color, ran for office in 2018. A "rainbow wave" of LGBTQ candidates also sought office. And after the ballots were cast, all those groups notched notable firsts." As the father of a trans daughter, I am heartened that Massachusetts passed a transgender protection law that should inspire other states to do the same. And in Florida, Amendment 4 passed easily, restoring voting rights to 1.4 million ex-felons. 

Beto O'Rourke ran a hard fought campaign and was amazingly positive in defeat. Dare I say presidential? - "We just want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. Everyone who made us feel hopeful, everyone who inspired us. Everyone who became the most amazing campaign we could have ever hoped to belong to. Grateful that we got to do this with you. We love you. Goodnight!"

All political races are important, including local school boards and state legislatures. Yesterday, Democrats flipped "seven state legislative chambers and 333 seats, adding 6 more trifectas (gov+both chambers), per DLCC." As Alex Seitz Wald noted on twitter: "Few ever pay attention to these races, but they’re important for redistributing and waves can be leveraged for major gains."

Tuesday's midterm elections ushered in a new era of diversity. Here’s a look at some of last night’s historic firsts: https://t.co/uZifMhp4kC pic.twitter.com/fbXz2lB5tD

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) November 7, 2018

Adding to the good news, with the Democratic take over of the House, Eddie Bernice Johnson, a congresswoman with a STEM background as a nurse is poised to wrest the House Science committee from climate change deniers. She promises to "Restore the credibility of the Science Committee as a place where science is respected and recognized."

Last night, at least 10 candidates with backgrounds in science won seats, bolstering the House’s new ranks of science advocates. 

There's something special about a country that can welcome and allow a Somali refugee to reach Congress without having to shed her identity. https://t.co/3BBcfau5Vu

— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) November 7, 2018

We Won the House now let's keep going! - - We Need All Hands on Deck in 2019

Over 100 women were elected last night! 👏🏻👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾👏🏿 #RepresenHer https://t.co/KYmWLS6FME

— Miss Representation (@RepresentPledge) November 7, 2018

This is a wave. This is an historic wave. It's a wave that was built methodically by people who stood up their communities for 2 years to build it drop by drop. And I'm fucking proud of that, and I am more hopeful and excited for 2019 than I was for 2017.

— Ezra 🌊 Levin (@ezralevin) November 7, 2018

Polish Trade Union Solidarnosc (Solidarity) Releases Letter in Support of Wisconsin Union Workers

To Public Service Workers in the State of Wisconsin

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

On behalf of the 700,000 members of the Polish Trade Union NSZZ “Solidarnosc” (Solidarity) I wish to express our solidarity and support for your struggle against the recent assault on trade unions and trade union rights unleashed by Governor Scott Walker.
We are witnessing yet another attempt of transferring the costs of the economic crisis and of the failed financial policies to working people and their families. As much as some adjustments are necessary, we can not and must not agree that the austerity measures are synonymous with union-busting practices, the elimination of bargaining rights and the reduction of social benefits and wages.

Dear friends, please rest assured that our thoughts are with you during your protest, as we truly do hope that your just fight for decent working and living conditions, for the workers’ rights will be successful.
Your victory is our victory as well.

In Solidarity,
Piotr Duda President

Bruce Springsteen - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) (Official Video)

Fun new Springsteen cover of a Northern Soul classic by Frank Wilson!

Turn it up! 

Bruce Springsteen’s new studio album, a collection of fifteen soul music greats titled Only The Strong Survive, will be released by Columbia Records on November 11. Featuring lead vocals by Springsteen, Only The Strong Survive celebrates soul music gems from the legendary catalogues of Motown, Gamble and Huff, Stax and many more. This 21st studio album from Bruce Springsteen will also feature guest vocals by Sam Moore, as well as contributions from The E Street Horns, full string arrangements by Rob Mathes, and backing vocals by Soozie Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, Michelle Moore, Curtis King Jr., Dennis Collins and Fonzi Thornton. 

Bruce Springsteen commented: “I wanted to make an album where I just sang. And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies? I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I’ve tried to do justice to them all—and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music. My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”

Pre-order Only The Strong Survive on 2LP, CD, or Digital here.

Only The Strong Survive was tracked at Thrill Hill Recording in New Jersey, produced by Ron Aniello, engineered by Rob Lebret and executive produced by Jon Landau. The release will mark Bruce Springsteen’s first studio album since 2020’s Letter To You, which debuted at #1 in eleven countries. Springsteen will reunite with the legendary E Street Band in February for his 2023 international tour, which to date has sold over 1.6million tickets across the United States and Europe.

Only The Strong Survive Tracklist:

1. Only the Strong Survive
2. Soul Days feat. Sam Moore
3. Nightshift
4. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
5. The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore
6. Turn Back the Hands of Time
7. When She Was My Girl
8. Hey, Western Union Man
9. I Wish It Would Rain
10. Don’t Play That Song
11. Any Other Way
12. I Forgot to Be Your Lover feat. Sam Moore
13. 7 Rooms of Gloom
14. What Becomes of the Brokenhearted
15. Someday We’ll Be Together