Mother Jones Wreath-Laying Launches DC LaborFest
Thursday, May 1, 2014
(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
“Mother Jones always said that ‘The
first thing is to raise hell,” Saul
Schniderman reminded the small crowd gathered
in Silver Spring Thursday to commemorate the
feisty labor icon’s birthday and kick off the
DC LaborFest. “She said ‘That’s always
the first thing to do when you’re faced with
an injustice and you feel powerless.’”
Schniderman, founder of the Labor Heritage
Foundation and president of the Library of
Congress Guild (AFSCME Local 2910), led
spirited renditions -- along with other members
of the DC Labor Chorus -- of “Which Side Are
You On” and “Solidarity Forever” to
celebrate International Workers Day and
officially launch the first-ever DC LaborFest,
a month-long celebration of labor arts through
films, music, poetry, art, literature and
history, expanding the existing DC Labor
FilmFest, which is in its’ 14th year. David
Kameras of the United Mine Workers described
Mother Jones' personal attachment to the
mineworkers, noting that she's buried in a
miner's cemetery in Illinois, and Leslie Tolf
of UnionPlus -- which provided the wreath for
the ceremony -- called herself "a spiritual
daughter" of Jones, showing off her
"ass-kicking" cowboy boots. Dozens of LaborFest
events – many of them free – exploring the
lives and concerns of working people are
planned for May; click
here for the complete schedule. “Mother
Jones also insisted that ‘I'm not a
humanitarian, I'm a hell-raiser,’”
Schniderman added, as he laid a wreath at the
Mother Jones marker on Powdermill
Road.