Educational Media Reviews Online

Once upon a time in America is how Martin Sheen, in the persona of Dashiell Hammett, begins a story of American labor history as it happened in Butte, Montana in 1917. Presented as a Motion Picture in Ten Acts the film reveals the circumstances and events surrounding the 1917 Anaconda Mining Strike as witnessed by Hammett and others. A melting pot of early immigrants the Irish and the Finns were the predominant groups seeking the American dream. The story is typical of the early industrial society where the company kept tight control over the goings on within the mines employing spies and undercover agents to monitor any trouble. Hammett evidently was actually a Pinkerton and participated in the some of the more underhanded actions of the agency. Organized labor had some roots among the workers but they were not united and the company was able to squelch any hardcore actions. Then in 1917 the miners, mostly immigrants and some native born Americans participated in a demonstration or draft riot as a result of the Alien Registration Act. Seven hundred protestors were jailed. That was on June sixth. On June 8th a fire broke out in the mines and 164 miners were lost mostly do to company sealed bulkheads that prevented them from escaping. The fire changed everything. Grief turned to anger and workers wanted answers. Union activity escalated and the strike spread. One renowned union activist, Frank Little, came to town to promote the Industrial Workers of the World or Wobblies and was hanged as a warning to other union leaders. The strike lasted six months and organized labor was busted.

This docudrama is full of archival footage, haunting music and interviews of some eyewitnesses and historians. The story told here is certainly a teaser to the whole story of militant unionism. Recommended for high school and college labor studies as an introduction to the story of labor history and the role of the union in Butte, Montana.