Larry Duncan*

WARRIOR FOR THE WORKING CLASS (tho the working class doesn't want any warriors) 

Larry Duncan died.  He was 72 years old.  He was complicated, always focused on the task at hand.  Great integrity.  We worked together at Labor Beat for more than 20 years.  I can't say I ever got to know him as a friend.  His last words to me were cutting and personal, as all lefties do when they meet disagreement.  I let it go because I'm more familiar with the bigger man.

There used to be a labor movement in this country.  I got involved with video production inspired by Moore's "Roger and Me", the Rodney King beating and my own local's rank and file 1992 insurgency and paper ballot election clean sweep of officers.  The power of hand held video cameras, our own show slot and television studio and the backdrop of the Austin, MN meatpackers, the Peoria UAW Caterpillar, the Detroit Newspaper strike, and the Staley workers of Scabtown, IL (all sold out by their Internationals) made for compelling TV viewing, at least I thought so.  We covered them all, many in depth with the voices of those directly involved.  Chicago also had its Teamster dramas, Hotel workers shenanigans, and its SEIU company unionism to report on.  Plenty of material to work with.

In the late 90's, Wm. Jenkins and I were on a panel at some conference or another.  The labor officials present, some from Washington DC, were fawning over us wanting to know, "How do you guys do it?".  The fact is the phony SOB's never wanted to do it, and the only time labor officials are on television is in handcuffs from the courthouse to the car.  Labor Beat would get an annual donation from the local NABET Executive Board - National Assoc. of Broadcast Electrical Technicians - but they never made labor television unless it was their own picket line.  Labor Beat did a lot gratuitous work for these organizations and got very little support.  IBEW 1220 did have some technical classes for us and acted as our beard for appearances purposes.

At that same conference there were South Korean videographers that end up in jail for doing what Labor Beat was doing.  The video tape of the Korean General Strike of 1997 they smuggled out is still the most inspirational example of well organized labor resistance, rolling over their collaborative labor leadership, in recent times.  We were proud to broadcast it in Chicago.

We bridged the analog/digital tidal wave of change.  My fondest memories of editing with Larry was working on "Trainwreck of Ideologies", the 1996 government seal of approval of the Haymarket Anarchist's monument in Waldheim Cemetery.  We were in the editing suite under the stairs at CAN TV trying to mix the sound with knobs and needles as people were plodding up and down.  Larry, the perfectionist, would get so angry.  Later, CAN would give us the computer equipment  and software to edit in our own offices, but the old days taught us how to put a story together.

Orwell wrote about burning the books, Huxley about having so many books around nobody would read them.  Such is the case of Labor Beat and internet technology.  We couldn't wait for the day streaming video would come.  We were making You Tube videos before You Tube existed and were ready to pounce.  When the time arrived, we were swamped in a sea of cutesy cat videos.  Topical stories of the workplace went unwatched except by a few comrades (and the police).  Nobody watches Cable Access when they got Netflix.   Technologies, ex. Facebook, continues to be the new rope we hang ourselves with. 

Larry Duncan walked the walk as far as anti-war was concerned, and is still quite an inspiration to me to this day.  One day discussing the VA and Veterans benefits he said (as I remember), "What about my benefits?  I'm the one that did the right thing."  Larry was a Conscientious Objector in the Viet Nam war and suffered because of a correct moral decision.  In this military infused population mindset, it takes quite a bit of personal bravery and it's something I don't see at all in this country today. 

We were outraged when the Clinton Administration/NATO bombed a BelgradeTV station in the Kosovo war.  

Larry and Labor Beat's best work, in my opinion, was helping to organize and document the first  convention of US Labor Against the War at the Teamster 705 hall in 2001.  The work surrounding the Iraqi military aggression and continuing occupation was  the best on-the-ground reporting in the nation at that time.  The AFL-CIO convention of 2005 USLAW forced an antiwar resolution (watered down, of course, but nonetheless) and Labor Beat was there to record the brave delegates  state their  stance at the microphone.  It passed, the first of its kind in 100 years, and the AFL CIO quietly slipped into the shadows and has never been heard of since.  Organized Labor has not stopped one bullet from being manufactured, nor one missile shipped nor formed any alternative to the 'economic draft'.  The government war effort didn't miss a beat.  I'm proud of all Labor Beat's antiwar videos and the contributors and producers involved, all under Larry's leadership.

So now we have an American culture that needs constant entertainment, has no love of history or storytellers, and continues to blame everyone and everything for their own personal bad behavior.  Fixated on their genitals and confused as to why they don't match their feelings (it is all about them, after all). Holding Women's marches (for Solidarity, perhaps?) and then not being responsible for the 51% of lies told today. Slaves to their phones, slaves to the credit card company, slaves on the Corporate Plantation.The only acts of independent workplace action is to pack an AK47 with your lunch or melt down into a puddle tears and suffer from PTSD for the rest of your life through. The only unionism left, it seems, is the Chicago "Where's mine?" style.

Larry Duncan believed that change began in the workplace.  He fought very hard to empower working people.  But they weren't listening, and certainly not listening today.  His life's body of work will be housed in a dark closet in some university, as You Tube quietly deletes one video at a time with no one noticing, like Orwell's books one at at time on the bonfire.  The working class was hardly aware of Larry Duncan's contribution,  and they didn't support it when it was being done.  The institutions of labor and their quislings fought it.  A few of us are grateful and see quite a man behind it all.  He taught me a lot.  1) Struggle brings unhappiness  2) Learn to open your heart and love those closest to you.  It's the only thing that matters.