Appalachia is fertile ground to build a new labor movement

Fire up the hot take machine. The haters will bark at this. But only because they know, in the back of their minds, I might just have a point.

Let me indulge you with a fun anecdote that loosely relates to the topic at hand

As a kid, I was a bit of a chub scout. We’ve been over this before, if you have listened to the podcast. Big John and I both used to be fat kids, and it’s how we came up with the name 18 Husky¹ .

I used to absolutely demolish this one meal as a kid that I can almost guarantee that you — yes, you, dear reader² — will probably judge me for eating.

You may even audibly gag in disgust while accusing me of culinary crimes against humanity.

I have updated this image from the original one I used. The original one featured an image of a salivating St. Bernard that turned out to be Ai. Yes, in my haste, I pulled an image off the internet that was Ai, and I hate myself for not immediately noticing.

My mom would make Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper for dinner at least once a week. My sister and I would always take a massive jar of Motts cinnamon applesauce, slop a bunch of it all over our cheeseburger macaroni, and mix it together while saliva dripped down our jowls like an old St. Bernard waiting to be fed³ — creating a delicious bastardization of a core middle-class staple meal.

Why am I telling you this?

Because it may challenge your beliefs on what can be a good idea. It may also challenge your assumption on what is possible.

Okay, it’s ADMITTEDLY a stretch to incorporate this story, but I wanted to tell it, and it’s a good jumping off point.

The U.S. is primed for a new labor movement. Appalachia should channel it’s past to be ground-zero for it.

Before the haters jump on this post and say, “BUT RED STATES!⁴” Relax.

We’re here to challenge some assumptions! Cheeseburger macaroni apple sauce, remember?

Appalachia has a history here

Appalachia, to reference the country squire himself, Tyler Childers, has a long violent history of being the bedrock of this country’s modern day labor movement.⁵

The Battle of Blair Mountain is probably the most well-known and prominent of the Mine Wars, which were a dramatic part of U.S. labor history. Sadly, I never really learned about it in my history classes and I grew up in West Virginia public schools (a damn shame). I won’t go into a deep explanation, but if you don’t know about Blair Mountain, do yourself a favor and check out some links in the footnote (an actual footnote for once!)⁶

Our boy John Russell actually gave a speech at the DNC this year referencing Blair Mountain and why we’re called rednecks that I think provides a good summation of Appalachia and labor worth watching:

Now, sadly, establishment Democrats have failed to embody these ideals. But there are plenty of people who these ideals have so strongly resonated with. It’s why we’ve seen record levels of unionization over the past few years.

Yes, things have changed since the 1920s. But also things haven’t. Which is why this can work.

I’m not ignorant, fam. Things have changed. We’ve got fewer people showing solidarity and more showing a penchant for cozying up to corporations and showing signs of Sandpaper Tongue⁷ in Appalachia.

You truly hate to see it.

But hope is not lost. I believe there are lots of people in Appalachia that still face the same struggles, sadly, that the union brothers and sisters faced back in the days of Blair Mountain. Which is truly an indictment of the lack of progress the last 100 years has brought to the region.

• Appalachia is still one of the poorest places in the country

• Appalachia suffers from a mental health crisis

• Appalachia suffers from a massive “brain drain” due to people leaving the region, believing there is no hope for stable, gainful employment after graduating from high school or college

While these things are true for many places in the country, there is a unique confluence of all these things in our region.

But the region is also rich with people who value the dignity of THEIR work and who don’t want to be exploited for THEIR labor.

We need to invest in LABOR organizing infrastructure here

Broadly speaking: this is my point.

This is happening at a smaller level, but to fully test this theory there needs to be a serious effort at much bigger scale.

People with deeper pockets aren’t going to like this. Progressive activists aren’t going to like this. They’re going to think its a waste of valuable resources rEd sTaTeS.

Building an labor and economic power infrastructure takes time, but it leads to a political power infrastructure.

Labor solidarity means building coalitions along new lines of support

The whole “left versus right” “liberal versus conservative” democrat vs. republican” dynamic is quickly becoming irrelevant. Our economy doesn’t function in terms of politics, it functions in terms of haves versus have-nots.

Those are the lines that are going to be drawn in the future I believe.⁸ To be clear, I’m not a communist, and I’m not advocating for that. I simply think we need to have a political re-alignment along economic class lines instead of the current party lines in order to build power if we ever hope to pass real policy reforms that will help people outside the upper tax brackets.⁹

I’m not advocating that we necessarily upend our entire political system in favor of a new one. Or that we need a new party system, so to speak.

In fact: I don’t have all the answers, people!

One thing is clear, though: Shit. is. not. working!

Change HAS to be radical, not piecemeal, to matter

Why am I framing this in terms of a new labor movement?

• I’m not necessarily advocating for a third party, however if Elissa Slotkin’s Joint Address is an indication of where the Democrats want to go as a party, then they clearly are trying to occupy a more traditional GOP lane.

• Most modern democratic governments with more than two parties have a left/Labor Party. It seems that our country is primed to start having that conversation and testing the viability of a movement in that direction.

• What shape or form that takes? I do not know. But we’d be foolish not to notice what is happening right now with the current economic unrest.

Dialing back to national politics here for a hot second, but something that is driving me crazy already is the discourse around 2028 and how Democrats are floating around the same formula as always: centrist and center-left senators and governors.¹⁰

I want to break down some final thoughts here, and then I’ll shut up and end this

• Call me out all you want. Fair. Look back, and you can probably find plenty of examples where I was supportive of some of those candidates a few years ago.

• I’ve always had very progressive views, but my standpoint on candidates had typically been this: how can we move the ball forward the best? (i.e., incremental change).

  • I’ve felt this way because it’s better to get something than nothing

• I don’t think that approach is inherently flawed, but I think the mood of the country at a NATIONAL level is clearly very raw and bothered

• Lately, and especially since this past election, I admit that I have RADICALLY shifted my opinion on this very approach when it comes to presidential politics.

Okay, that’s enough for today.

---

(I created a Spotify playlist for this Substack where I’ll add weekly listen music each week. Follow it if you use Spotify)

This week, I’m listening to Philip Bowen — who I can personally attest to being one of the nicest and most talented musicians I’ve met. He has mastered the fiddle and brought his talents to the national stage of America’s Got Talent.

Philip Bowen gained notoriety on TikTok during the pandemic with his infectious smile and incredible fiddling skills, including his cover of Country Roads that went viral in 2021.

Phil is from West Virginia, and never misses an opportunity to shout out the state that he loves and is from. That is one that I truly love about him, and is something we are seeing more from artists and creators who are from here, thankfully!

His love for West Virginia is woven into his music — which makes it more special for Appalachians who listen — but his talent and reach means he is bringing Appalachia to a whole new audience that would otherwise not be exposed to it.

I LOVE his song “Old Kanawha” that he performed alongside Charles Wesley Godwin (another god-tier West Virginian musician), and y’all, it is our generation’s Country Roads.

Check him out. He has a debut album out now, and a new song coming out next week.

1. The boy’s pants size we wore for those unaware

2. An entirely irrelevant reference to the incredible “Wizard People” video series by Brad Neely

3. Fine, this part is a bit of an embellishment…for me at least. Can’t say the same for my sister.

4. Veteran readers/listeners will know how I feel about the labels of “blue” and “red” states

5. That song, a beautiful work of art, is multi-layered just to be clear.

6. https://wvminewars.org/what-were-the-mine-wars

https://wvminewars.org/blair100

https://reimagineappalachia.org/the-battle-of-blair-mountain/

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/battle-blair-mountain-largest-labor-uprising-american-history-180978520/

7. Sandpaper Tongue (n) — a severe condition one suffers due to chronic bootlicking that, if left untreated, may be irreversible.

8. To the political theory nerds, take a deep breath: I’m not claiming this as some novel theory. I know how much this sounds like “communist manifesto-y”. I’m not trying to be Karl Marx, and I’m not a communist. Communism requires WAY too much trust in people.

9. Yes, this means aligning yourself with people who may have previously voted for someone you don’t like. I’m sorry, but that’s called solidarity. It doesn’t mean aligning ourselves with racists, sexists, homophobes, etc. We can distinguish between those in a new labor coalition and make it clear that there is no place for those ideologies — many unions in the U.S. have done this very effectively. I know this will actually piss some people off, but there are actually some Trump supporters that ARE NOT racists, sexists, homophobes, etc. And it’s perfectly alright to try to offer an olive branch to those folks who are ALSO struggling, who have also been let down by both parties, and who have also felt that their labor has been exploited that are not those types of people. They may not take it, but true solidarity is showing that their labor shouldn’t be exploited either.

Again, not a “when they go low, we go high” mentality here.

10. Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Gretchen Whitmer to name a few. Look, I actually like some of these people. Pete appears to objectively done a great job as DOT secretary, and lord knows I’d give my left pinky to have him in that role now. Whitmer seems to be a good governor in Michigan, from what I’ve been told by people who live there that I know. But my point is that radical change necessitates a complete upending of what the party has been doing the past *checks notes* 100 years.