The under world London, England’s Jack London in 1903 reveals that homelessness was attributed to foreign immigration, especially the migrants of Poland and Russian Jews, who were accused of taking the jobs of domestic workers by accepting lower wages, which lead to a sweatshop system.
In the “People of the Abyss”, which recounts the struggles of London in 1903, the unhoused population was made to keep moving by walking all night if they stopped or stood still, the cops would make them move on. At daybreak, the parks would open and the people were allowed to sleep on the benches or grass. Free breakfast were served at the Salvation Army facility. This was called the “peg,” which meant the place where they could obtained a free meal.
The people, who partook in the meals, referred to the Salvation Army as “soul snatchers,” because the “free food” came at a cost in that they had to listen to the Salvation Army’s sermons.
As was then is now, as cheap wages are incorrectly blamed on immigration, but the true fault of low wages is the competition corporations create when they cut the pay of those hired and not of the people being hired. Today, we see hard working immigrants being penalized for doing the work the rest of us do not want to do.
Wages do not come down where there are unions. Unions check on competition among all workers to ensure no one is being cheated. This is why corporations want to stop new unions from forming or trying to break the existing unions. The heads of corporations want the working class fighting each other for jobs while the owners increase their wealth.
It is the same today as it was in 1903. Today the U.S. has its own abyss as can be seen in the 2024 HUD survey, which showed the homeless rate estimated at 771,480 or 23 per 10,000 people. This is an 18 percent increase since 2023. Is there a correlation between the homeless rate and the nineteen money hoarding billionaires in the U.S.?
Now is the time for all workers to stand together and recognize the manipulation for what it is and stand together against I.C.E.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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