Hahahaha, Suck It Andrew Carnegie

[Recursion]

https://splinternews.com/hahahaha-suck-it-andrew-carnegie-1837268365

Yesterday, hundreds of employees of the Carnegie Library system in Pittsburgh voted to unionize with the United Steelworkers. HOW YOU LIKE THAT, ANDREW CARNEGIE, YOU OLD DEAD GHOST?

Andrew Carnegie, fabulously wealthy steel magnate of the 19th century and living symbol of the grotesque inequalities of the Gilded Age, hated unions. In 1892, amid huge profits for his company, Carnegie tried to force wage cuts on employees at his Homestead steel plants in Pennsylvania, and refused to negotiate. He wanted to smash the union entirely. There was a huge strike. Carnegie empowered his hardline deputy Henry Frick to break the strike, and Frick hired a private army of thugs. There was a gun battle, and the National Guard was called in, and the company won, virtually destroying the union, causing the wages of steelworkers to plummet even as profits rose for Carnegie. (During the strike, an anarchist shot and wounded Frick for being such an asshole.)

Instead of paying his workers a decent wage, Carnegie preferred to practice ostentatious philanthropy with his fortune. “Trifling sums given to each worker every week or month,” Carnegie said in defense of this choice, “would be frittered away…upon richer food and drink, better clothing, more extravagant living, which are beneficial neither to rich nor poor.”

So instead, Carnegie funded a bunch of libraries. And now, in 2019, in Carnegie’s adopted hometown of Pittsburgh, those libraries are unionized.

Rest in pieces Andrew Carnegie, you dusty old bitch!

[BSdetect]

1. That poisonous mindset persists to this day. Imagine people having a living wage? Shocking.

[3catwoman3]

27. Or decent food? Or better clothes?

How presumptuous!

[Kid Berwyn]

2. John Kenneth Galbraith

“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”

[pangaia]

3. THAT I never heard before. THAT is very, very good.

[appalachiablue]

14. That's a beauty; glad I saw Galbraith lecture as a kid.

While growing up, our studies were enriched by the local public library that Carnegie built. Ha!

[c-rational]

16. Good Glabraith quote - Thanks.

[Historic NY]

20. this

[paleotn]

33. Perfect!

[pecosbob]

4. The Men Who Made America was a series aired on Discovery in 2013

I don't recommend it. Seeing these people lionized made me want to hurl. It was what finally made me cut the cable for good.

[Wounded Bear]

5. They've been re-airing it lately...

Yeah, if you ignore reality, it works. But history sometimes has a way of whitewashing the bad shit out.

[ArcticFox]

22. Discovery Channel and History Channel both

Both turned into RWNJ channels. History even gave old Ollie North his own show 🤮

[SharonClark]

24. I thought the History channel was all about Aliens from space

[jmowreader]

30. It was

But when one of them landed and got appointed president, they realized they had too much competition.

[softydog88]

31. I learned a lot watching it, but...

certainly the worst part about it was the commentary by trump.

[IronLionZion]

6. Plenty of rich assholes enjoy "richer food and drink, better clothing, more extravagant living"

which are not beneficial to anyone else, just themselves.

[2naSalit]

7. Good to hear.

Out here in the West, most of the libraries in the smaller cities (more like county seats) are Carnegie libraries, it's all there is for these areas. We're thankful to have them and they do rather well in their host communities BUT knowing the history behind them is kind of a strange straddling of the line between celebrating the philanthropy of this kind of sociopath asshole and not wanting to give positive energy to his overall impact on our present-day lives.

[Johnyawl]

10. Even a 'sociopath asshole ' can do something good and beneficial for society

Carnegie was the worse kind of robber baron, but those libraries he scattered across the country have been a blessing to a lot of people. I grew up poor in 1950s tucson and I well remember our weekly trips to the Carnegie library downtown. That's where I discovered L. Frank Baum and Robert Lewis Stevenson and so many other wonderful authors that transported me from the dreary poverty of Arizona to magical and exciting worlds.

But I have to say, there's a delicious and quite satisfying irony of Carnegie librarians joining the Steelworkers union.

[drmeow]

15. My brother-in-law

is the "David H. Koch Scientist in Charge ..." - he HATES it but a job doing what he loves is worth it.

[radical noodle]

21. I lived in a tiny town in Indiana

that had both a Carnegie library and a Carnegie pipe organ in one of the churches. While the wages he paid from his business were meager (as were most in those days), how much work did the construction of all those libraries give to workers in small towns who needed jobs and how many people were given access to knowledge that they'd not have had otherwise?

There were two sides to Andrew Carnegie, the bad businessman, and the good philanthropist. Still, I'm happy to hear about the union and it is very fitting that it happened.

[harumph]

8. Carnegie was an asshole - and he did some shitty

strike breaking - the most notable of which was Homestead.
That said, although misguided and ruthless, he was concerned about society's well-being which makes him different than many of the
recent crop of rich who don't believe there is even such a thing. Hate isn't the opposite of love - apathy is.


I also want to add that Carnegie probably wouldn't give one shit about this - or your grave dancing. He wanted to help educate - he was just self centered and elitist like most tycoons of the gilded age. I'd rather mock the living than the dead - YMMV.

[usaf-vet]

18. The bust the unions mentality still exist. In Wisconsin ACT 10 was a union busting move.

Led by Scott Walker and WMC (https://www.wmc.org) funded by Koch money.

ACT 10 broke the state teacher's unions. Taking away their ability to negotiate for fair wages and benefits statewide.

IMO Wisconsin used to be a leader in public school education. Not anymore. But hopefully, that will change with a new Democratic Governor. However, he is being hampered by the GOP run state legislators.

[defacto7]

9. He's dead and I find it rather useless to shout at dust, but

the virus is alive and well. Unionization is a pretty good vaccine when distributed evenly and regularly. Eradication would be nice.

[malthaussen]

11. Karma sometimes takes awhile.

Mr Carnegie has been dead too long to feel the sting of irony.

That said, librarians unionizing with steel workers seems an odd alliance.

-- Mal

[Harker]

13. I like the thought that maybe

the freshly dead have some capacity to sense irony.

[uponit7771]

32. 👍🏼

[Mc Mike]

12. Rock on, Pgh. Librarians and Steel Workers.

Rust in peace, Carnegie, frick, mellon.

[AnnieBW]

38. My Alma Mater, Chatham University

Was located on the private road where a lot of the millionaires built their homes. Our student center was in Andrew Mellon's old house. We even had a cute song about him. One day, my friend (who shall remain nameless) taped a tampon (clean, not used) to the picture of Andrew Mellon in the lobby.

[Mc Mike]

43. I saw Angela Davis guest speak, there.

Good school.

There is an actual wood block road on that campus, somewhere.

[Marthe48]

17. I read that while he created the libraries

he left them their own financially, and many were always strapped for cash. If true, not much philanthropy there.

Also, libraries encourage learning. Learning leads to smarter employees. Current CEOs want dumbheads. Looks like A.C> was short-sighted in so many ways.

[SharonClark]

26. He built and equiped the libraries. It was up the cities to maintain them.

That's how it should be.

[Tennessee Hillbilly]

19. Carnegie competed in a cut-throat business environment

Carnegie competed in a cut-throat business environment. But eventually he came to realize that he had done some truly bad things, and decided to try to use some of the ill-gotten money for good purposes.

[Mc Mike]

23. Frick, to Carnegie: I'll see you in Hell. Nt.

[SharonClark]

25. Glad the workers unionized - that is all good

and glad Carnegie gave away 90% of his wealth to the public good.

For those who don't know how Carnegie made his fortune - through hard work, a brilliant mind, and good connections - I suggest learning more about him.

It was not just 3000 libraries.

In 1901, Carnegie also established large pension funds for his former employees at Homestead and, in 1905, for American college professors. The latter fund evolved into TIAA-CREF. One critical requirement was that church-related schools had to sever their religious connections to get his money.

His interest in music led him to fund construction of 7,000 church organs. He built and owned Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Carnegie was a large benefactor of the Tuskegee Institute for African-American education under Booker T. Washington. He helped Washington create the National Negro Business League.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. I was the beneficiary of a Carnegie Library in my youth.

In fact, one of the ways you can tell the older generation didn't necessarily have library access was how they ALWAYS called it The Carnegie Library.

Before him, most libraries in this country were simply collections of books that someone had gathered together over time and donated to some organization. The free library with a wide selection of books that we all expect these days is very much thanks to Andrew Carnegie.

[Laffy Kat]

29. YAY!

When the Democrats when back the Presidency and Senate, unions are going to come back strong.

[warmfeet]

34. K & R

[wolfie001]

35. The middle Of PA is as dumb and rednecked as Alabama....

...per capita of course. I know full well there are good dems there but they are outnumbered and gerrymandered. Pisses me off!

[Hestia]

36. PBS American Experience has a great segment on Andrew Carnegie

[AnnieBW]

37. People in Pittsburgh Idolized Carnegie

Back when I was growing up in Pittsburgh in the 70's and 80's, Carnegie was well thought of. Frick was an asshole, but at least he left his house to the city for an art gallery.

[Mc Mike]

44. I hated him from the '70's, onward thru today.

Few people I knew ever said anything good about him. Might just be luck of the draw, re who you heard talking about him.

[DBoon]

39. The legacy of slavery infected inducstrial relations

You think you are better because you are white?

Hell no, we just tell you that so you keep quiet.

What gilded age plutocrats did to industrial workers would not have been possible without centuries of slavery.

[Tender hopper]

40. 100 years after his death and gajillions of dollars in foundation money couldn't hide the murders of

100 years after his death and gajillions of dollars in foundation money couldn't hide the murders of the brave union brothers. Never forget the sacrafices of the early labor movement. We must regain what we've lost.

[sindri]

41. It is great when rich people are philanthropists...

But it is even better when all people pull together, form a government that pools resources to build things like libraries, bridges, buildings, etc. AND pay folks a decent wage. Then these things are about community and not about the rich person (who committed wage theft to get wealthy) who 'donated' the money. These libraries should be named not in his honor, but in honor of those who he exploited.

[moonseller66]

42. In a small town 15 miles NE of Pgh...

the head librarian of a a subsidiary of Carnegie's "Liberry" in 2007 was making $89,000 annually. The school district is comprised of 70% seniors and retired people on fixed wages with a enrollment that has declined from 2800 students in 2007 to 1150 today. But the school budget rose from 34 million per year in 2007 to 48 million today even though less than half the students are there but with an increase of 40% in teachers.

The vastly overpaid Head Librarian of this small library in a small, below minimum wage area is upset over the unionization because they will have to lay off (volunteer) workers even though she is guaranteed a nice wage (nearly 4 times the average wage for the area) and fantastic benefits.

Just a head's up of just another thing wrong with this country.