There are three major motion pictures that every working stiff should watch… and recommend to others. The first such film ( and of course there are so many more) this writer recommends is Martin Ritt’s 1970 The Molly Maguires. Inside the disgrace of the feudal element of coal mining we have coal miners working for the corporation ( weren’t they all?) and living in shacks owned by the company. Most of their wages goes to pay the rent and the foodstuffs sold to them by.. you got it, the company store. The big event for those men is the rugby matches sponsored by the owners against workers from other mines, also owned by the Super Rich masters of industry. The Irish and Scots caught in this web turned to secret, radical movements to give hope to a hopeless cause.
The next film, and equally as disheartening , is John Sayles’ 1987 Matewan, based on the 1920 Matewan Coalminer’s Strike that turned into what historians called ‘ Te Matewan Massacre’. The mine owners had the Baldwin Felts Detective Agency AKA Armed Thugs come in to intercede on the strike. The miners were outgunned, as usual was the case when Capital paid to subjugate Labor. The similarity between all three films is how the workers had to pay too high rents and too high foodstuff prices to the owners of the mines. One does not have to look hard to realize why alcoholism became paramount in the lives of these working stiffs. Working at least 10 to 12 hours down a mine and breathing in that ‘Black Dust’ gave little hope to the men… and their women. So, before falling into bed many men would first go to the saloon nearby (owned by the boss) and drink it up.
Claude Berri’s 1993 film classic Germinal captured the failures of coal miners in striking against the mine owner in late 1880s France. Once again we see the miners having to live in shacks owned by the ‘Lord of the Manor’ and paying top dollar for it. And, as with ALL the feudal aspects of such a system, the miners paid top dollar for their foodstuffs and merchandise from the company store. Down the hatch each morning and returning filled with ‘Black Lung’ each evening was just a fact of life for these poor souls. One scene from the film that has always stuck in my craw was when the miners formed a committee to go and negotiate with the boss. They arrived at his manor house, not too far from their own despicable accommodations, and were ushered into his drawing room. The Lord of the Manor sat at his desk as the small group entered. Then, each of the men took his cap off to offer indulgence to this feudal king. It turned this writer’s stomach!
Do you think that things have changed much in 21st Century Feudal Amerika? The country, as with most capitalist nations, is inculcated with millions of rental housing owned by absentee landlords. Many are major real estate corporations. Others are private equity landlords who hide behind their own serfs, the Management class, who will sell their soul for another few shekels. Or, we have the individual so called entrepreneurs who always wanted to make money off of the urgent needs of another’s shelter. The old days that this baby boomer was raised under seem to fade from memory. In that era a couple bought a two family home and rented out the other apartment to help pay their mortgage. It made sense and devoid of any radical ideology. We need to go back to that world and outlaw absentee landlords. Let the community own the property and rent it out a fair rates…with the caveat of allowing the tenant a chance to save and buy that unit eventually.
The guy in NYC is but attempting to chip away at that iceberg of feudalism. Let’s hope he sets the example that so many super rich are doing their utmost to sabotage.
PA Farruggio
September 2025