Anti Labor Union Harsh Rhetoric and Bashing - Historical

This absurdly pro-business film tells the story of a young man who learns a lesson about capitalism and how his town is dependent upon its factories for their way of life. Young Jerry happens upon a labor uprising outside one of the factories in his town and is seduced by the crowd and the fiery speaker. He is about to join in the mob violence when he is plucked from the melee by a policeman who knows his grandfather. The cop takes him home and his grandfather, who remembers the town back when it was “a vacant lot,” tells Jerry the story of how the Manson company “built” their town. He talks about how he witnessed the construction of the factory, then the town itself, which clustered around the factory. He tells Jerry about how every man, woman, and child born in the town has a stake in the factory, because of how it supplies jobs and taxes to the town’s economy. The film is a product of a nation terrified by communism, World War II, and economic hardship. The harshly anti-union and pro-American overtones in the film are nothing short of astonishing.