Read " Life in the Iron Mills " by Rebecca Harding Davis ( first published 1861 )

I just heard on the local radio station that two prisoners at the Rhode Island ACI were found dead over the weekend - both apparent suicides. The " American Gulag " gives the American government no moral authority for moral crusades for TRUTH , JUSTICE , and the AMERICAN WAY in any troubled countries in the world.

             The classic -often forgotten literature- that documents the horrors of working class oppression had been gathering dust for more than a century.

              I recommend " Life in the Mills " by Rebecca Harding Davis ( with an interpreting essay by Tillie Olsen ) . The long short story first appeared in the April 1861 Atlantic Monthly. It begins :

     " Is this the end ? O life, as futile, then , as frail !

       What hope of answer of redress ? "

               A young white working class male - with an unrecognized gift for sculpture- named Hugh Wolf , rather than rot there for life, commits suicide in prison. The iron mill worker was desperate for a ray of hope in life . He stole money from a " gentleman " type visiting the iron mill . He was sentenced to 19 years but back then a man of his class was not expected to reach age 40.

     " Found him very low; bed all bloody "

           In no way was this white working class ever a PRIVILEGED class in capitalist America. For them life during the Industrial Revolution  was hardly less wretched than black slavery.

          " Reparations "- for blacks and whites - can only come from a socialist revolution- long overdue .