THE RIVER RAN RED

produced and directed

by Steffi Domike and Nicole Fauteux

1993, one hour color film,

Pittsburgh, PA

The famous moment occurred on July 6, 1892, on the banks of the Monongahela River in Homestead, Pennsylvania . . . Invading Pinkerton agents, aroused townspeople and workers, a bloody confrontation, the burning of the barges, a gauntlet of women and children. Seven workers dead, three dead Pinkertons. Later, still in July, came the military occupation of the town and a failed assassination attempt on the company's chairman. In the fall, and in succeeding months, the strike leaders were charged with murder, and though they were acquitted, their union was broken and suppressed.

After the events in Homestead 1892, unions were effectively outlawed in American steel towns; free speech and association disappeared until the mid-1930s in the communities as well as the workplace. In the 1880s and 1890s, Homestead workers demanded the right to participate in decisions about workplace change. A key issue, as it is for workers today, was the pace and impact of new technology. Workers in Europe in the 1990s increasingly have a legal right to be consulted in decisions as their jobs are impacted by technology. Such participation existed in the Homestead plant from 1889-1892 - during the union's last contract before the lockout. After the battle, workers at Homestead, and in American industry generally, lost the right to consult on technical change. Homestead 1892 crystallizes a range of issues still relevant at the start of the 21st Century.

(shot on 16 mm color film, edited in analog video onto 1" tape)

Sponsored by Mon Valley Media and available from Social Studies School Services.

For a quicktime clip from THE RIVER RAN RED (5:00)–click here