Capital and Communities

In the 1960s, when I was a writer and organizer for the International Union of Electrical Workers, one of my jobs was to travel to communities where plants were closing (sometimes in the aftermath of a strike or other militant union action) and to explain to the community leaders that the union was not to blame for the loss of jobs. The union was always on the defensive. The contract gains, which had built the well-being of the community, were now blamed by the corporation, and believed by the citizens, to be the cause of the shutdown. The corporation almost always escaped the community’s wrath.

I saw the impact of plant closings first-hand — the loss of a worker’s status and skills, as well as material security. I took pictures of the four-lane highways that led to empty factory buildings—buildings and highways often built by community bond issues for companies that demanded this sacrifice for locating there and providing jobs.

I went to Paducah, Kentu...