Maine Owl

See the Maine Owl calendar for this date

Here is another entry in my calendar series. I haven't really been keeping up with writing a piece for 3/4ths of the entries. I guess it'll end up more like 1/4th. Oh well, it is a very busy semester.

Anyway, the item for today concerns events in Finland during the time of WWI. These had rather strong repercussions for my own forebears. From late January to May of 1918, Finland was beset by a bloody conflict born of worker dislocations after 19th century industrialization, the tumult of the Russian revolutionary period of 1917-18, and of course the general insanity of World War I. In addition to the above link (my favorite of the pieces I read today), also go HERE for more, and to the Wikipedia entry HERE.

My father grew up on the Iron Range of northeastern Minnesota. Already by 1918, my grandparents had experienced a devastating bankruptcy I believe related to the 1916 Mesabi iron miners strike. (More on this will be published in June on the 93rd anniversary of the strike.) This was a great blow to my father as a seven-year-old child. My grandfather went from being a very-well-off merchant to a struggling municipal employee. My dad as a result had a sort of scrappy approach to making a living that I seem to have inherited.

While he was alive, he never spoke much about the splits that occurred in the Finnish community and within our own family during these times. (My grandparents as merchants were quite conservative, as I understand it.) Except once.

In November 1990, just after Paul Wellstone had first been elected senator from Minnesota, I asked my dad to talk on tape about how the Finns might view Wellstone. He explained about the "Reds" and the "Whites"--the terms used for the belligerent sides in the 1918 civil war. This clip is only 45 seconds and he does not even mention the conflict at all, rather suggesting that the politics of those old days had been patched up so that the progeny of the Reds (losers in 1918), the Communist Party of Finland, were legitimate in politics after the mid forties. Mostly I like this because he uses the Finnish names for the "Reds" and the "Whites." Play the clip below:

Excommunicated January 3, 1521

Growing up Lutheran cannot help but instill some pride in your church because it was founded on the teachings of the intellectual leader of the Protestant Reformation. Luther represents freedom and intellectual inspiration to discover new knowledge and new ways of seeing the world. I graduated from a Lutheran college that instilled these values in an academic sense. I'm grateful to have had that experience.

Luther was a German monk, a scholar and an ordained priest. By 1520 he had a achieved a high academic position. He saw corruption in the Church and had the guts to say so. This caused him problems, to say the least. But apart from some months in hiding after the Diet of Worms (April 1521) brought down a harsh edict from the Holy Roman Emperor, he never lost his position at Wittenburg. Others, however, were not so fortunate as in some parts of Europe during the 1520s, following the teachings of Luther could result in burning at the stake.

Luther's 95 Theses drew sharp theological lines against the Roman Church and amply illustrated its corruption. I won't get into them here, except to say they made the point that the blessings of God are not for sale. The Church at the time was extremely corrupt in its dealings, often extracting onerous taxes from poor peasants which it converted into lavishly appointed facilities. Some of the mega-churches we see today that really are big business empires ought to have that kind of light shined on them.

Luther actually was a conservative and had no desire for rebellion against feudal oppression that marked his time. He was as opposed to Anabaptist radicals as he was to the Roman hierarchy.

I began an intensive one-month course on Luther in college exactly thirty years ago this week. It hardly seems possible... Well, to get a flavor of Luther, one of the best texts is On the Freedom of a Christian (1520). This is one that really stirred 'em up.

After an introductory letter challenging Pope Leo X on the "monstrous evils of this age with which I have now for three years been waging war," Luther fairly quickly lays out his case that "justification" (roughly, redemption in the eyes of God) is not a matter for human authorities to adjudicate, then a conceited occupation of Church authorities--often for a price.

And, to cast everything aside, even speculation, meditations, and whatever things can be performed by the exertions of the soul itself, are of no profit. One thing, and one alone, is necessary for life, justification, and Christian liberty; and that is the most holy word of God, the Gospel of Christ, as He says, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me shall not die eternally" (John xi. 25), and also, "If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John viii. 36), and, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matt. iv. 4).

Nowadays as a lapsed Lutheran I take it much further--My faith is that whatever God there may be is not at all interested in the process of human justification or redemption. The way the universe works is both your human life and soul simply are erased when you die. There is no division of "soul" and "flesh." It is what you leave behind for others that matters. Even though Luther himself probably would consider me to be a heretic, on that last account, Luther was a giant.

Maine Owl 2009 Calendar series

This is the beginning of a series of posts on items listed in the Maine Owl 2009 Calendar. Some of these will be more ambitious than others. Often I will point to Wikipedia articles and give only brief personal reflections. Other times I will include much more about why the event listed for the date is meaningful to me. I will try to post on at least 3/4 of the events listed.

Labor struggles and worker safety are represented for quite a few of the dates on the Calendar. On this date in 2006, a tragic underground coal mine explosion in Sago, West Virginia caused the deaths of 12 men by asphyxiation during their long entrapment with toxic gases (one survived the ordeal). A thirteenth man died in the initial explosion.

These miners might have been spared by proper safety equipment and procedures. A New York Times editorial on January 5, 2006 explained,

The mine, with more than 270 safety citations in the last two years, is the latest example of how workers' risks are balanced against company profits in an industry with pervasive political clout and patronage inroads in government regulatory agencies. Many of the Sago citations were serious enough to potentially set off accidental explosions and shaft collapses, and more than a dozen involved violations that mine operators knew about but failed to correct, according to government records.

This is an example of Republican Katrina-esque governance at it's worst. Lives are sacrificed because corporate bosses can make more money if no one effectively regulates what they do.

There is a blog by/about the sole survivor, Randy McCloy, updated only into April 2006. But this post with a news item containing Mr. McCloy's story told in his own words really struck me.

After the blast, the miners returned to their shuttle car in hopes of escaping along the track, but had to abandon their efforts because of bad air. They then retreated, hung a curtain to keep out the poisonous gases, and tried to signal their location by beating on the mine bolts and plates.

"We found a sledgehammer, and for a long time, we took turns pounding away," McCloy wrote. "We had to take off the rescuers in order to hammer as hard as we could. This effort caused us to breathe much harder. We never heard a responsive blast or shot from the surface."

Martin "Junior" Toler, 51, and Tom Anderson, 39, made another, last-ditch attempt to find a way out but were quickly turned back by heavy smoke and fumes, McCloy said.

"We were worried and afraid, but we began to accept our fate," he wrote. "Junior Toler led us all in the Sinners Prayer."

McCloy said the air behind the curtain grew worse, and he lay as low as possible and tried to take shallow breaths, but became lightheaded.

"Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing I could do to help him," McCloy wrote. "The last person I remember speaking to was Jackie Weaver, who reassured me that if it was our time to go, then God's will would be fulfilled."

Our country owes a lot to miners. I had many relatives who worked iron mines in northern Minnesota. It's rough, dangerous work. We owe it to all mine workers to insist on the highest safety standards. We still have a long way to go.