1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:05,880 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:09,200 Speaker 2: I'm Michael Phillips, an historian and the author of a 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,879 Speaker 2: book about racism in Dallas called White Metropolis, and the 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 2: co author of a recently published book about the eugenics 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:18,800 Speaker 2: movement in Texas called The Purifying Knife. 6 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,840 Speaker 3: And I'm Stephen Monticelli. I'm an investigator reporter in Dallas, 7 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 3: where I contribute to a variety of publications. As well 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 3: as Cool Zone Media. I cover political extremism in Texas 9 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 3: and beyond. Elon Musk has dominated the news since the 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 3: twenty twenty four presidential campaign, and for a lot of reasons. 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:43,080 Speaker 3: There's a billionaire's flirtation with neo Nazi politics. There's his 12 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 3: gutting of the social safety net through Doge. His soap 13 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 3: opera estrangement from President Trump also grabbed much of the spotlight. 14 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 3: In the past two years, Musk has resuscitated in two 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:58,080 Speaker 3: Texas communities, one of the worst ideas from the robber 16 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 3: baron age. In an effort to control roll his workers' 17 00:01:00,800 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 3: lives on and off the clock, Musk is bringing the 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,840 Speaker 3: company town back to life. 19 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 2: On May third of this year, on the South Texas 20 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 2: coast of the Gulf of Mexico, people went to the 21 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 2: voting booth on a peninsula called Boca Chica. They voted to 22 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,200 Speaker 2: turn their one and a half square mile patch of 23 00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:24,040 Speaker 2: unincorporated land into a city called Starbase. Almost all of 24 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:28,880 Speaker 2: the voters were employees of Musk SpaceX Rocket Company. So 25 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,640 Speaker 2: are the candidates elected to govern Texas newest city. But 26 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 2: Musk is clearly the power behind the throne. 27 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 3: Meanwhile, in Bastrop County near Austin in central Texas, Musk 28 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 3: gobbled up local real estate in loosely governed unincorporated lands. 29 00:01:45,480 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 3: That's where, in addition to Starbase, he's working to create 30 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 3: another company town he calls Snailbrook. Many bast Re presidents 31 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 3: say Musk's businesses are poisoning the water, air, and soil 32 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 3: in their community. On this episodis of it could happen here, 33 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 3: we'll discuss the unfortunate history of company towns in the 34 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:10,639 Speaker 3: United States, how company towns have always undermined democracy and workers' rights, 35 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 3: and what these elon Musk company towns may mean for 36 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 3: the future of United States capitalism. Speaking of capitalism will 37 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,240 Speaker 3: be back after a few words from our sponsors. 38 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,520 Speaker 2: Roughly between eighteen eighty and the mid nineteen thirties, an 39 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 2: astounding twenty five hundred company towns dotted the American landscape. 40 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:44,200 Speaker 2: A product of Gilded Age greed. At best, these corporate 41 00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 2: planned communities represented paternalistic experiments of mind control. At their worst, 42 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 2: they became miniature police states. In Steinway Village in New York, 43 00:02:54,040 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 2: where not surprisingly, workers manufactured Steinway pianos, Paulman, Illinois, where 44 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 2: employees made train cars, and Hershey's Pennsylvania, which was, of 45 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:09,160 Speaker 2: course a chocolate manufacturing center. Employers built the houses that 46 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 2: the workers lived in, the stores where they shopped, the 47 00:03:12,480 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 2: saloons where they drank, and the schools where their children learned. 48 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 3: Chad Pearson is an historian of American labor at the 49 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,080 Speaker 3: University of North Texas, and he's the author of a 50 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 3: noted book called Capitalism's Terrorists, Klansmen, Lawmen, and Employers in 51 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 3: the Long nineteenth Century. We talked to him about the 52 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 3: rise and fall of company towns from the mid eighteen 53 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 3: hundreds to the early twentieth century. 54 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 2: Could you explain how company towns got started in the 55 00:03:39,480 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 2: United States and the motives of the businessmen who started them? 56 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 4: Certainly so, really, I think we can identify three periods 57 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 4: three phases. So the first phase would be we might 58 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 4: associate with the so called Lowell Girls in Lowell, Massachusetts, 59 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 4: which began in the eighteen twenties and continued into the 60 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 4: subsequent decades. These were young women, men and girls, and basically, 61 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 4: you know, they lived on the campus the town. The 62 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 4: boss would decide when they would work and when they 63 00:04:08,320 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 4: would eat and that sort of thing. After that, we 64 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 4: have another phase which we could identify with George Pullman 65 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,600 Speaker 4: and the Pullman Company just outside of Chicago in the 66 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 4: late nineteenth century, really in the eighteen eighties. Again, these 67 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 4: were very controlling environments in which you know, the employer 68 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:29,720 Speaker 4: had all to say. Workers would live in company housing. Again, 69 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 4: they'd go to the company church, and you know, we're 70 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 4: really controlled both during and after the workday. 71 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 5: And then we have a whole bunch of. 72 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 4: Them, mostly mining and textile lumber communities. 73 00:04:40,720 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 5: By nineteen thirty nine. 74 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,279 Speaker 4: There were seventy planned industrial settlements built after nineteen hundred. 75 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:47,359 Speaker 5: So quite a few. 76 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,440 Speaker 4: So whatever period we're talking about, these places where infamous 77 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 4: for management's use of surveillance and power. This is designed 78 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,760 Speaker 4: really to fundamentally control folks, which round expression again and 79 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 4: homes workplaces, churches. 80 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 5: You would have to sign contracts. 81 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,159 Speaker 6: So in a place like mining towns in West Virginia, 82 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 6: you'd have to sign a contract that gave the boss 83 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,280 Speaker 6: the authority to evict labor activists or people, you know, 84 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 6: workers who might be involved in trying to improve their 85 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 6: conditions by fighting back, or they would be evicted for 86 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:22,479 Speaker 6: so called undesirable behavior, again that generally involved things like 87 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 6: union organizing. 88 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 3: Pearson described these company towns as many dictatorships in which 89 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 3: fighting for better conditions could result in harsh retaliation, and 90 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:34,720 Speaker 3: in which ministers that were hired by the company and 91 00:05:34,839 --> 00:05:38,680 Speaker 3: a church built by the company bosses fed workers a 92 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 3: steady stream of propaganda. 93 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,600 Speaker 4: This happened in places like New England textile mills to 94 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 4: coal mining areas in Alabama and West Virginia. 95 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 5: Well might happen. 96 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:51,320 Speaker 4: You'll say you're you're active in a union, or you're 97 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 4: resisting your boss. Right, the boss or his underlings might 98 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,280 Speaker 4: send in mind guards and say you and your family 99 00:05:59,360 --> 00:06:02,279 Speaker 4: get out, throw the stuff, their furniture on the street, 100 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 4: and there would be no no accountability. 101 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 5: No way to address that problem. 102 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 4: You'd also have company towns, you'd have a religious you'd 103 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 4: have preachers who would preach the company line as well. Right, 104 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:21,479 Speaker 4: so that kind of pro business, pro capitalist and doctrination 105 00:06:22,240 --> 00:06:25,880 Speaker 4: was expressed both in the workplace and from the pulpit. 106 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 2: A key way that company towns control workers was by 107 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 2: not paying them an actual American dollars, but paper certificates 108 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 2: called script They can only be spent in company owned stores. 109 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:42,880 Speaker 2: This gave the company monopoly power of what their workforce bought. 110 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 4: A twenty five pounds sack of flower costs two fifty 111 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,039 Speaker 4: at the company store, it costs only. 112 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:50,360 Speaker 5: One ninety elsewhere. 113 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 4: Right, So this was a way for companies to sort 114 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,200 Speaker 4: of corner the market. If you will, right, they could 115 00:06:57,279 --> 00:07:01,680 Speaker 4: jack up prices. You're basically a slave to the system. 116 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 3: George Pullman, who established the company that made luxury railroad cars, 117 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 3: created a company town in Illinois in eighteen eighty one. 118 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 3: Pullman presented his experiment to the world as a utopia. 119 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 3: The workers' houses there had natural gas and running water, 120 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 3: which was not the norm at the time. Some even 121 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 3: had indoor plumbing. The town had retail shops and well 122 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:29,360 Speaker 3: supplied markets, and tourists visited it as a supposed ideal 123 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 3: community of the future. 124 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:34,280 Speaker 2: In spite of the apparent shininess of Pullman, Illinois. The 125 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:38,600 Speaker 2: relationship between Pullman and his employees turned violent in eighteen 126 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 2: ninety four. As doctor Pearson explains. 127 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:45,480 Speaker 4: So Pullman, George Pullman, began creating this utopian community in 128 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,679 Speaker 4: eighteen eighty. Okay, that's shortly after this massive nationwide strike 129 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 4: in eighteen seventy seven of railroad workers. So a lot 130 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 4: of bosses in the aftermath of these massive confrontations were like, Okay, 131 00:07:58,120 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 4: we got to do something. We got to do something 132 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 4: to solve what they called the labor problem, the labor question. 133 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 4: And one way they did that was through welfare work, 134 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 4: trying to be more benevolent right parents as opposed to 135 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 4: only stix. And so Pullman was established in eighteen eighty 136 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 4: four just outside of Chicago, had about twelve thousand residents, 137 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,720 Speaker 4: and it was at the time the largest, most famous. 138 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 5: Company town in the nation. 139 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 4: And he did, I mean, let's give credit where credits 140 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 4: to some things that did improve the conditions for employees. 141 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 5: So he had a company doctor. 142 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 4: He oversaw a good school system, funded athletic programs a 143 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 4: company banned, and he modeled this on a company town 144 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 4: outside of Bradford, England, so what we see is, you know, 145 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 4: the company towns do not. 146 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 5: Originate in the United States. 147 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 4: They are sort of a phenomenon that we see across 148 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:49,760 Speaker 4: the industrialized world. 149 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 5: But of course there was also a darker side. 150 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 4: He banned alcohol, he restricted tobacco use, He imposed a curfew. Right, 151 00:08:56,360 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 4: so you want to go out, you know, it's five 152 00:08:58,320 --> 00:08:59,080 Speaker 4: o'clock somewhere. 153 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:02,240 Speaker 5: No, it's not right. And so it was also pretty 154 00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 5: expensive to live there. 155 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 4: Residents had to spend something like thirty percent of their 156 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 4: money on rent, and when they saved enough money an 157 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 4: impossible thing to do. Often when they did save that money, 158 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 4: they would they would get out. 159 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 3: Pullman's experiment in welfare capitalism came crashing down when the 160 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 3: United States sank into an economic depression that lasted from 161 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 3: eighteen ninety three to eighteen ninety seven. At one point 162 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:31,199 Speaker 3: three million people, or about twenty percent of the country's workforce, 163 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:36,000 Speaker 3: could not find jobs. Hunger and suicide became rampant as 164 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 3: hard times dragged on, and Pullman laid off hundreds of 165 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 3: workers and slashed wages by thirty three percent. 166 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,320 Speaker 2: During this time, residents of the company town in Illinois 167 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 2: struggled to pay rent at the Pullman owned housing where 168 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 2: management refused the lower prices. Eugene Debs, who would soon 169 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 2: emerge as the leader of the Socialist Party of America 170 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 2: and would serve five times as that party's presidential nominee, 171 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,600 Speaker 2: led one hundred and fifty thousand member American Railway Union 172 00:10:05,320 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 2: there u stage a strike calling for a rollback in 173 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,400 Speaker 2: pay cuts and a reduction rents at the company housing. 174 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 2: The strike spread nationwide, with railroad workers refusing to handle 175 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 2: trains carrying Pullman cars. 176 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,800 Speaker 3: President Grover Cleveland dispatched twelve thousand troops to crush the 177 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 3: uprising and reopen the rail lines. Federal marshalls shot two 178 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 3: strikers to death in Kensington, Illinois, not far from Chicago, 179 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 3: while authorities arrested Debs and put him in prison for 180 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 3: defying the court order by continuing the strike. In a 181 00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:42,080 Speaker 3: stop to workers, the House and Senate unanimously passed a 182 00:10:42,120 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 3: bill creating what we now know today as Labor Day. 183 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:51,319 Speaker 4: Later on, in jail, using deaths becomes radicalized, reading marks. 184 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 5: Runs for president. 185 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,360 Speaker 4: A few times after that, bottom line workers lost a strike, 186 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 4: but Pullman's experiments soon ended. The Illinois Supreme Court rule 187 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:02,560 Speaker 4: that George Pullman's ownership of the community was in violation 188 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 4: of its charter and dismantled the town in eighteen ninety eight. 189 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 4: So a dramatic period in US history, one of the 190 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 4: most important struggles in US labor history, and really showed 191 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 4: the way in which bosses the state came together to 192 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 4: really fight labor. 193 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 3: By around the end of the eighteen hundreds, about three 194 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 3: percent of the American population lived under the almost complete 195 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:34,400 Speaker 3: control of their corporate masters. Meanwhile, an extensive network of 196 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 3: spies filled company towns. These corporate agents posed as fellow workers, bartenders, mailmen, 197 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,640 Speaker 3: or just another customer at the store. They reported to 198 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 3: management any e mail content who complained about working hours 199 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:52,559 Speaker 3: or wages. Fired workers were often placed on a blacklist 200 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,600 Speaker 3: that was widely distributed among corporations and made landing a 201 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 3: new job even more difficult. 202 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 2: Some mining towns resemble prison camps. Armed guards surrounded the 203 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,720 Speaker 2: towns to keep out union organizers in the corporate overlords 204 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:12,400 Speaker 2: in company towns used violent means to maintain tyrannical control. 205 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:16,720 Speaker 2: We asked doctor Pearson to explain this. Now, Doctor Pearson, 206 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,200 Speaker 2: you titled one of your books Capitalism's Terrorists, and you 207 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 2: were referring basically to the fact that corporations, including the 208 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:28,479 Speaker 2: ones that own company towns, often used private armies, armed militias, 209 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,160 Speaker 2: or they basically hired outside violent groups to control labor. 210 00:12:32,400 --> 00:12:33,880 Speaker 2: Could you go into that a little bit. 211 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:38,720 Speaker 4: More, Let me read you an anecdote from Vandergriff, Pennsylvania. Vandergrift, 212 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 4: Pennsylvania is a company town not far from Pittsburgh. It's 213 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 4: a steel town. And in July nineteen oh nine, during 214 00:12:44,679 --> 00:12:48,480 Speaker 4: a strike against the American Sheet and Tinplay Company, the 215 00:12:48,559 --> 00:12:52,480 Speaker 4: company's superintendent was a guy named Oscar Lindquist. He led 216 00:12:52,520 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 4: a mob of hundreds to a hotel in the nearby 217 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,440 Speaker 4: town of Apollo, where the union organizers were staying. So 218 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:03,079 Speaker 4: there's an effort to build union membership in this company town. 219 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 4: And Linquist was so pissed about their presence, so he 220 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 4: informed the organizers that they had an hour to leave 221 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 4: town and that he would burn the building down if 222 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,280 Speaker 4: they refused to comply. When they protested, insisting that they 223 00:13:16,320 --> 00:13:19,560 Speaker 4: had free speech and assembly rights, Linquists claimed that quote 224 00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 4: his word was the law. A local town official, reinforcing 225 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 4: linquist demand, gave the men until. 226 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 5: The next morning to leave. 227 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:30,440 Speaker 4: So we have threats of like burning places down, killing 228 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,320 Speaker 4: people right, and ultimately no accountability. 229 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 5: I think it's fair to call these people terrorists. 230 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:44,319 Speaker 3: The harshness of company towns inspired worker resistance, including what 231 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 3: came to be known as the Colorado Coalfield War. We'll 232 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 3: hear more about that, and a tragedy that came to 233 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 3: be known as the Ludlow Massacre. After this break sponsored 234 00:13:55,960 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 3: by some companies, one of the bloodiest confrontations between a 235 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:14,840 Speaker 3: company militia and striking workers in American history took place 236 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 3: in Ludlow, Colorado, in the early twentieth century. The Colorado 237 00:14:19,600 --> 00:14:22,480 Speaker 3: Fuel and Iron Company controlled several coal mines, and it 238 00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:25,880 Speaker 3: was owned by the world's richest man, John D. Rockefeller, 239 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:30,000 Speaker 3: who also owned the Standard Oil Company. The coal workers 240 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 3: were unhappy with several things. 241 00:14:32,800 --> 00:14:35,440 Speaker 2: They were working twelve hour days, six days a week, 242 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 2: sometimes seven. Through their union, the United Mine Workers, they 243 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,080 Speaker 2: asked for a rays and for their workday to be 244 00:14:42,160 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 2: no more than eight hours. They also demanded the right 245 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 2: to live in housing that wasn't part of the company 246 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 2: town controlled by Rockefeller, and to spend their hard earned 247 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 2: money in stores that he didn't control. 248 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 3: The relationship between the United mineworkers and Rockefeller broke down 249 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:01,840 Speaker 3: when he refused to negotiate with them. Between September nineteen 250 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 3: thirteen and December nineteen fourteen, the coal miners and Ludlow 251 00:15:05,520 --> 00:15:09,400 Speaker 3: stage strikes against the richest man on the planet at 252 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 3: the time. 253 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 2: Instead of negotiating, Rockefeller assembled a private army of local 254 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 2: sheriff's deputies and private detectives. The militia armed itself with 255 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 2: a motorized gatling gun that Rockefeller's goons named De Death Special. 256 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 2: The nation recoiled in horror when on April twentieth, nineteen fourteen, 257 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:33,560 Speaker 2: militia troops attacked a company miner's tent colony. They were 258 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 2: living in the tent colony because that had been kicked 259 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:40,840 Speaker 2: out of company housing. During the armed assault, Rockefeller's troops 260 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 2: killed sixty six men, women, and children. They doused the 261 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,160 Speaker 2: tents with kerosene, incinerating eleven hiding in a pit, including 262 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 2: a pregnant woman. 263 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 3: The folk singer Woody Guthrie immortalized the horrific scene at 264 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:56,840 Speaker 3: Ludlow in his ballad The Ludlow Massacre. 265 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 7: You struck a man, Jim the blaze it started. You 266 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 7: pulled the triggers of your gathering guns. I made her 267 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 7: round for the children, for the farwell stuff. The thirteen 268 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 7: children died from your guns. 269 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 3: About two hundred people and all died in what came 270 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 3: to be called the Colorado Coalfield War. So we asked 271 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 3: doctor Pearson about the long term impact of the Ludlow 272 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 3: massacre and what happened to company towns in the subsequent years. 273 00:16:29,880 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 4: So basically, on the morning of April twenty ath nineteen fourteen, 274 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 4: National guards and men who were aligned with the Colorado 275 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,360 Speaker 4: Fuel and Iron Company, which is owned. 276 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 5: By John D. 277 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 4: Rockefeller, attacked this camp of strikers, mineworkers, strikers, ultimately killing 278 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 4: twenty one people, including eleven children. This brutality, this brutality 279 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 4: lasted for fourteen hours. The guards torched the colony. And 280 00:16:53,720 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 4: this came in the midst of a strike that had 281 00:16:55,960 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 4: been going on for months, which started in September nineteenth thirteen. 282 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:05,239 Speaker 4: And so this was a real struggle. It was a 283 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:10,000 Speaker 4: terrible public relations disaster. From the vantage point of a 284 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 4: Rockefeller in the company, the pressure to do. 285 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:14,320 Speaker 5: Something was great. 286 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 4: And so what we see as we see government officials 287 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 4: meeting and discussing this event, they are these various gatherings 288 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 4: of business people and labor unions trying to resolve it. 289 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 5: And in the aftermath of this. 290 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:32,160 Speaker 4: Rockefeller worked closely with what we might call industrial relations specialists, 291 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 4: and he became a champion of welfare capitalism. Welfare capitalism, 292 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 4: like company unions, these sort of top down initiatives designed 293 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:46,320 Speaker 4: to win, as I pointed out, factory solidarity instead of 294 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,000 Speaker 4: class solidarity, and so how successful that was. 295 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:50,760 Speaker 5: Probably not. 296 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 4: These bosses continued to exploit, but they did so with 297 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:55,520 Speaker 4: smiley faces. 298 00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:58,080 Speaker 3: As we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, company 299 00:17:58,080 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 3: towns never completely died, and they're making a bit of 300 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 3: a disturbing comeback via Rockefeller's successor as the world's richest man. 301 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 3: South African native and Texas transplant Elon Musk. Texas Governor 302 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 3: Greg Abbott has been a big ally of Musk, at 303 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 3: least until his nasti split with Trump over the president's 304 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 3: tax and spending policies. But nonetheless, Musk is still popular 305 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 3: in Texas and the state and local governments, for instance, 306 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,160 Speaker 3: have given Musk sixty four million dollars worth of tax 307 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:31,520 Speaker 3: breaks to establish his Tesla factory called Giga Texas in 308 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 3: Travis County, not far from the state capitol. 309 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 2: COVID nineteen restrictions in California during the pandemic and rage Musk, 310 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 2: who for a time defied state law. He derided California 311 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 2: as defined by quote overregulation, over litigation, and over taxation, 312 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 2: poop on the sidewalk, and scorn. In contrast, Texas stood 313 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 2: out for its lax environmental and labor standards. As Abbot 314 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,200 Speaker 2: bragged to the Fox Business Channel. 315 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 8: A need that Elon had was speed. He does everything fast, 316 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 8: and this would have taken five, maybe ten years to 317 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 8: accomplish in California. I told him that Texas moves at 318 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 8: the speed of business. He was able to complete a 319 00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,720 Speaker 8: mal long gigafactory in a year and a half that 320 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 8: is unheard of, probably not replicable in any other state. 321 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 3: Whether Bastard residents liked Musk or not, it soon became 322 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:30,160 Speaker 3: clear that he was making a very large local footprint. 323 00:19:30,840 --> 00:19:35,120 Speaker 3: Bastrip County has always been famous for its beauty. This 324 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 3: is how bast sold itself to tourists, businesses, and potential 325 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:40,280 Speaker 3: residents in the early two thousands. 326 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,160 Speaker 1: Next time you're on the way between Houston and Austin 327 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 1: or points in between, you want to stop here in Bastro. 328 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 1: We've got a pretty little place here along the Colorado River, 329 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: the place with charm and great natural beauty. We're the 330 00:19:55,359 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: home of the lost times. So crossed the bridge into 331 00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: the old town and have a look. We've been growing 332 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,440 Speaker 1: here since eighteen thirty two and growing in a good way, 333 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:09,959 Speaker 1: a way that looks to the future and that preserves 334 00:20:10,040 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 1: the landmarks of the past. Bastrop has more than one 335 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,159 Speaker 1: hundred and twenty homes and other commercial and public buildings 336 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: on the National Register of Historic Places. Some people come 337 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,200 Speaker 1: here just to drive around town and see the pretty houses. 338 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 2: There's a heavy price for moving at Greg Abbott's speed 339 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 2: of business. However, Chap Ambrose, a landowner in Bastrop County, 340 00:20:38,800 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 2: thirty three miles southeast of Austin, said that he admired 341 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 2: Musk for being a high tech titan. He was excited 342 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 2: when the billionaire announced he was going to move part 343 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,560 Speaker 2: of his business empire to the small, mostly agricultural county. 344 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:56,160 Speaker 2: Ambrose describes his feelings about musk arrival in his YouTube 345 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:58,520 Speaker 2: series Keep Bastrop Boring. 346 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,720 Speaker 9: The weird part here is I'm actually an Elon Musk fan. 347 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 9: I have my Tesla Cybertruck reservation here from November of 348 00:21:14,040 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 9: twenty nineteen, and SpaceX's Starlink, their satellite service I've also 349 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 9: signed up for last year. 350 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 2: All of Bashtrop's natural and architectural splendor, however, is in danger. 351 00:21:27,040 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 2: Since Musk came to town in Texas, counties have even 352 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,679 Speaker 2: less ability to protect the environment than do cities, and 353 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 2: Musk strategically places operation on land, we'll face lax local oversight. 354 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,760 Speaker 2: He used his fortune to buy about thirty five thousand 355 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 2: acres of what was once farmland in Bastrop County, which 356 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 2: is now headquarters for the Boring Company. The Boring Company 357 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 2: plans to build tunnels. Musk Hope's one Day will provide 358 00:21:56,320 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 2: high speed underground alternatives to our current web of inner States. 359 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,200 Speaker 2: Musk has secured permits to dig six test tunnels in 360 00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 2: Bachtrap County, which is now also officially the headquarters of 361 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 2: his social media platform X formerly known as Twitter. The 362 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 2: Musk Industrial complex also includes a five hundred thousand square 363 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 2: foot warehouse where the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation more commonly 364 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:25,199 Speaker 2: known as SpaceX, builds terminals for another Musk business venture, 365 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:30,280 Speaker 2: the satellite company Starlink Neuralink, which manufactures computer chips that 366 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:33,960 Speaker 2: have been experimentally implanted in test subjects brains and resulted 367 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 2: in the deaths of many chimpanzees. Is also nearby. 368 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 3: The Tesla Gigafactory, which produces electronic cars, is just thirteen 369 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,400 Speaker 3: miles west on an unincorporated land neighboring Travis County. I've 370 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 3: seen it driving down the highway. It's an abomination. 371 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:54,480 Speaker 2: Construction has also begun on a company town Musk has 372 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,479 Speaker 2: named Snailbrook. Plans for Snailbrook eventually include one hundred and 373 00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:04,080 Speaker 2: ten single family rental homes actually owned by Musk. So far, 374 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 2: fewer than twenty modular homes have been completed. According to 375 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:12,000 Speaker 2: teen Vogue, plans are that rent for these houses will 376 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,360 Speaker 2: start at about eight hundred a month for a two 377 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 2: or three bedroom dwelling, which is well below the nineteen 378 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:21,120 Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five dollars median rent in Bashtrop County. 379 00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 2: A Montessori school called ad Astra, which from the Latin 380 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:28,919 Speaker 2: which means too the Stars, is open, along with the 381 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:36,800 Speaker 2: boring bodega, which the Austin American Statesman notes offers snacks, soda, coffee, beer, wine, 382 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,639 Speaker 2: a children's playground, lounge space complete with video games and 383 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,159 Speaker 2: beanbag toss, a pickleball court that can be rented for 384 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 2: a dollar an hour, and of course, a variety of 385 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,639 Speaker 2: Boring Company merchandise, such as a T shirt that says 386 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:51,760 Speaker 2: Tunnel Mars. 387 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,240 Speaker 3: This purported worker utopia already has a Gilded Age style catch. 388 00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 3: If workers get fired by Musk long Amos for his 389 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 3: volatility and mass layoffs at his companies, they will only 390 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 3: have a month to vacate their homes. And as with 391 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 3: the Gilded Age, much under the Snailbrook glitter is not gold. 392 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,680 Speaker 3: The town's playground, for instance, lack shade from the broiling 393 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 3: summertime Central Texas heat, and much of the equipment is 394 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:22,359 Speaker 3: broken and made of inferior materials. The Monastery school initially 395 00:24:22,359 --> 00:24:25,280 Speaker 3: admitted fifty students, but the campus wasn't big enough. Only 396 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:29,160 Speaker 3: sixteen actually attended when classes first opened because the facilities 397 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:30,440 Speaker 3: were too small. 398 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:35,040 Speaker 2: Musk once marketed himself as an environmental savior. His electric 399 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,919 Speaker 2: cars would supposedly save the planet from climate change. However, 400 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 2: in Bashtrop County, he's a major polluter. The Boring company 401 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,639 Speaker 2: petitioned Texas for the right to pour one hundred and 402 00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 2: forty three thousand gallons of treated wastewater into the Colorado 403 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,720 Speaker 2: River every single day. Meanwhile, the Texas Commission on Environmental 404 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:58,520 Speaker 2: Quality to date has cited SpaceX and the boring company 405 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 2: thirteen times because the unauthorized discharge of water used to 406 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,120 Speaker 2: clean concrete trucks. The company also failed to meet state 407 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:11,400 Speaker 2: standards regarding erosion control and the release of toxic chemicals 408 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,560 Speaker 2: in the soil, As Team Vague reported. However, the resulting 409 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,679 Speaker 2: fines represent mere pocket chaine for a man who earns 410 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,479 Speaker 2: an estimated one thousand dollars a second. 411 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 3: The self professed musk fan Chap Ambrose, who he heard 412 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 3: from earlier, study's disappointed about all this. 413 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 9: There's a culture of secrecy, and it seems they're actively 414 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 9: trying to obscure the truth, not just from neighbors, but 415 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 9: also are county officials. If you're going to prototype the 416 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 9: world's fastest tunneling machine in minderborhood, then I expect the 417 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 9: most innovative and transparent safety systems to go alongside it. 418 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 9: Why do they refuse to give direct answers and why 419 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:52,880 Speaker 9: won't they put their promises in writing? 420 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:54,360 Speaker 5: Why do they refuse to. 421 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:57,760 Speaker 9: Follow the very minimal restrictions we have in Texas for 422 00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,840 Speaker 9: development and why do I have to go to Commissioner 423 00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 9: Court so that they put in a legal septic system. 424 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 9: It seems to me that they only follow the rules 425 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 9: and behave when they're being watched. 426 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:14,119 Speaker 2: Transparency may have disappeared forever for residents amost other company town, 427 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:19,680 Speaker 2: one Amos's most lucrative companies, SpaceX, launches its rockets about 428 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 2: twenty miles outside of Brownsville on the Texas Gulf Coast 429 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,639 Speaker 2: near the Mexican border. Most of the residents near the 430 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:30,960 Speaker 2: launch site, known as Bokachica Village or Tejanos, and many 431 00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 2: struggle economically. The wetlands and beaches are considered sacred by 432 00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:40,400 Speaker 2: members of the Carazo Komikrudo tribe of Texas. The area 433 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 2: residents were clearly invisible to mus during a twenty eighteen 434 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:46,640 Speaker 2: press conference when he spoke of how test flights such 435 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,680 Speaker 2: as those as the plant at the Bukachica site were 436 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 2: a necessary first step for exploration in the Moon and Mars. 437 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 2: The subsequent controversy was reported by a local TV station KRGV. 438 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:00,840 Speaker 10: When asked how soon fly would be going to the 439 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:04,159 Speaker 10: Moon or Mars, must talked about the necessary test flights 440 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:05,920 Speaker 10: that would need to take place first. 441 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 9: Most likely he's going to coach it having enter browns 442 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,800 Speaker 9: Feel location, because I've got a lot of land with 443 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,000 Speaker 9: nobody around, and so if it was up. 444 00:27:13,960 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 5: It's cool. 445 00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,800 Speaker 2: People at Brownsville didn't agree that if for rocket ship 446 00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,679 Speaker 2: blew up in their neighborhood it would be quote cool. 447 00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:24,160 Speaker 10: His comment is not sitting well with Gail McConaughey. 448 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:26,880 Speaker 11: He's been out here before. He damn sure. I ought 449 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 11: to know that he's seen the village. You gotta know 450 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:30,920 Speaker 11: that it's not a ghost town. 451 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:33,720 Speaker 10: McConaughey and his wife have been living a book at 452 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 10: Chica Village every winter for the past eleven years. He 453 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 10: says he's offended that he and the other residents are 454 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 10: considered nobody. It also raises questions, he adds, about how 455 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 10: safe the launches will be in a. 456 00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:49,239 Speaker 11: Rocket that size or any size that would go up, 457 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 11: and who knows what might happen. It might start tipping 458 00:27:51,840 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 11: the wrong direction. Who knows if something happened to the 459 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:58,560 Speaker 11: engines and explodes. That's cool when you're talking about there's 460 00:27:58,640 --> 00:27:59,960 Speaker 11: lives here that's a mile and a half. 461 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 3: Kane's words were prophetic in subsequent years. Musks rockets did 462 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 3: blow up, such as in April twenty twenty three, when 463 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 3: a SpaceX special obliterated the concrete launch pad, leaving behind 464 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 3: a massive crater. As Scientific American reported, quote, particulate debris, 465 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 3: as well as concrete and steel shrapnel from the botched 466 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 3: launch scattered far and wide across the surrounding landscape, igniting 467 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:29,720 Speaker 3: fires and slamming into protected habitats and public beaches. Ash 468 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,359 Speaker 3: dust and sand grains hurled aloft by this first Starship 469 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 3: test rained down as far as Port Isabelle, about five 470 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 3: miles from the launch site end quote. Another Musk rocket launch, 471 00:28:41,560 --> 00:28:45,120 Speaker 3: this time from Bocachica, exploded again this past June nineteenth, 472 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 3: as reported by WTHR. 473 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 12: Whoa in the skies over South Texas overnight a massive 474 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 12: fireball after a SpaceX rocket exploded during a static rocket test, 475 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 12: a ground test for an upcoming launch. 476 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,480 Speaker 5: Tenty six ers Blue Up Ship thirty six is Blue. 477 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 13: Up SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, said the Starship rocket 478 00:29:06,080 --> 00:29:10,120 Speaker 13: experienced a major anomaly while preparing for its tenth flight test, 479 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,080 Speaker 13: adding that all personnel are safe and there are no 480 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 13: hazards to residents in surrounding communities. The explosion rattled nearby 481 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 13: residents who posted videos on social media, one telling my 482 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,080 Speaker 13: San Antonio News quote, our whole neighborhood felt it. 483 00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 5: It shook all of our houses. 484 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,880 Speaker 2: In spite of this record at Mayhem, on Saturday, May third, 485 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,720 Speaker 2: Bokachika Village held an election on whether to incorporate as 486 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,920 Speaker 2: the city of Starbase. The proposal to create the state's 487 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:42,640 Speaker 2: newest city carried by a vote of two hundred and 488 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 2: twelve to six. Nearly two thirds of the electorate lived 489 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,400 Speaker 2: near SpaceX's launch site. Overwhelmingly the voters were Musk employees. 490 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 2: All three candidates elected to Starbas's new City Commission ran unopposed, 491 00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 2: and one without putting up a single campaign sign or 492 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:04,520 Speaker 2: hosting a single candidate forum. All three were employees of 493 00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 2: Musk and SpaceX. 494 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:10,000 Speaker 3: As The Texas Tribune has reported, the new city government 495 00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 3: increased control over the nearby public beach, revered by local 496 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:16,640 Speaker 3: Indigenous people. Some local residents feel the creation of the 497 00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 3: company town gives them even less power to protect what's 498 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 3: seen as a local treasure. 499 00:30:21,600 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 14: Starbase is only about one and a half square miles. It's, 500 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,640 Speaker 14: of course, the home of SpaceX, and the main goal 501 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 14: is sending humans to Mars. According to the FAA, Starbas 502 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 14: is aiming for twenty five rocket launches a year. But 503 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,480 Speaker 14: this is all coming with a bit of controversy, especially 504 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:42,320 Speaker 14: over access to the popular Boca Chica Beach. Any SpaceX 505 00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 14: rocket launcher engine test requires closing a local highway to 506 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 14: the beach, and some say starbas is giving Musk too 507 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:53,400 Speaker 14: much control. People gathered at the beach Saturday night to protest. 508 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:54,960 Speaker 3: They're just tearing it up. 509 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,480 Speaker 9: And doing whatever they want because they want to gentrify. 510 00:30:57,520 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 9: They want to be a city by themselves. When you 511 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,880 Speaker 9: gentify the land to gentrifying the soul of the people. 512 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,800 Speaker 2: One Mussius, the protester you just heard is the chair 513 00:31:06,840 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 2: of the Carazou, called me crudo tribe of Texas. He 514 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,680 Speaker 2: told the Texas Tribune, quote, these hills are sacred to us. 515 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 2: They don't know the history of the land, and they're 516 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 2: trying to erase that. Of course, Musk has a history 517 00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:24,800 Speaker 2: as well, and is one characterized by labor abuses. 518 00:31:25,040 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 3: Like the robber barons who ruled as emperors over their 519 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,000 Speaker 3: Gilded Age company towns. Musk has been accused of firing 520 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 3: union organizers at his Austin gigafactory workers claim Musk either 521 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 3: didn't pay them for overtime or short change them. Those 522 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:43,160 Speaker 3: same workers charged that records were faked to document their 523 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:47,120 Speaker 3: safety training, and according to the Texas Observer of publication 524 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 3: I'm glad to contribute to, one worker said he was 525 00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 3: forced to work in a flooded part of the factory 526 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 3: and had to work on a metal roof at night 527 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 3: without lights. These are clear BOSHA violations. 528 00:32:00,120 --> 00:32:03,120 Speaker 2: Is highly unlikely that the state of Texas will require Musk 529 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:07,880 Speaker 2: to provide any transparency about his business practices. Governor Abbott 530 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,920 Speaker 2: recently refused the request of a media outlet, the Texas 531 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:14,720 Speaker 2: and Newsroom, to release emails between him and Musk, claiming 532 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 2: the extensive communication between the pair was quote intimate and 533 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 2: potentially quote embarrassing and therefore not a public interest. With 534 00:32:23,560 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 2: so much a Musk enterprise in the state, operating in 535 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,040 Speaker 2: company towns he politically controls on county land with little oversight, 536 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,960 Speaker 2: Musk has become the lone star state's modern, unchecked robber 537 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 2: baron extraordinaire, and with the aid of his on again 538 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 2: off again allied Donald Trump, he has blazed a trail 539 00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:43,440 Speaker 2: for other tech billionaires. 540 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 3: When Trump ran for president last year, he floated a 541 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:50,120 Speaker 3: proposal to build what he called quote freedom cities across 542 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,719 Speaker 3: the country, pushed by oligarchs like Peter Thiel, Mark Andresen 543 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 3: and Sam Altman, who ironically now has a bit of 544 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,280 Speaker 3: a fit in a fight with Elon Musk. They hate 545 00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 3: each other, and it's really funny. These proposed fiefdoms would 546 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:09,680 Speaker 3: function as libertarian oasis. Coal miners were once paid in script, 547 00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:13,360 Speaker 3: and the federal government banned script in nineteen thirty eight. 548 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 3: But nevertheless, Jeff Bezos already uses something he calls quote 549 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 3: swag bucks that are redeemable at Amazon to reward those 550 00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 3: in the company he deems his most productive workers. Workers 551 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 3: in the freedom cities under discussion would not earn US 552 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:33,440 Speaker 3: legal tender, but would get cryptocurrency instead, the historically stable 553 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 3: store of value that has never ripped off thousands, maybe 554 00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 3: hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people any municipal 555 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 3: monstrosities imagined in the scheme. Workers would be paid not 556 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:47,959 Speaker 3: in US currency, but, as I just said, this insane, 557 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 3: highly volatile cryptocurrency. These corporate havens would operate with the 558 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:56,760 Speaker 3: barest nods to workplace safety, environmental protections, and job security, 559 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 3: and god forbid, might even scam their workers by trading 560 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 3: in that same highly voutal cryptocurrency that they're paying them in. 561 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,399 Speaker 2: Back in bash Stop. Chap Ambrose thinks we can still 562 00:34:09,440 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 2: embrace the future with that surrendering a more old fashioned 563 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 2: concept of community. He hopes that must one day sees 564 00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:17,919 Speaker 2: the light. 565 00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 9: I truly hope the boring company succeeds in its efforts. 566 00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,360 Speaker 9: I think tunneling makes sense, and if they can improve 567 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:28,840 Speaker 9: traffic into Austin and around it, that'd be great. 568 00:34:29,680 --> 00:34:31,480 Speaker 5: But you have to be better neighbors. 569 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:36,520 Speaker 9: Texas has strong landowner rights and you can do pretty 570 00:34:36,560 --> 00:34:39,279 Speaker 9: much what you want on your land. However, Texas law 571 00:34:39,320 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 9: also says that we share the air and you share 572 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:44,439 Speaker 9: the groundwater with me and my one year old son. 573 00:34:44,840 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 9: So if you're going to come to my neighborhood and 574 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:51,239 Speaker 9: build the fastest and most efficient tunneling operation, then I 575 00:34:51,320 --> 00:34:55,799 Speaker 9: expect the most innovative and transparent safety systems to go 576 00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 9: alongside it. 577 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:00,680 Speaker 2: The struggle against the absolute power wielded by the rulers 578 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:04,560 Speaker 2: of the Gilded Ages company towns led to actual battles 579 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:09,439 Speaker 2: with literal casualties on American soil. Doctor Pearson reminded us 580 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:12,479 Speaker 2: that the hard life and the Gilded Era, the era 581 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 2: of company towns, represented an American norm rather than an exception. 582 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,440 Speaker 2: And because of musk Heeal and other modern robber barons, 583 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 2: the battles fought in Pullman, Illinois and Ludlow, Colorado might 584 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:27,200 Speaker 2: have to be fought once again. 585 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,240 Speaker 4: Some of you folks may be aware of Jefferson Cowie 586 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:33,200 Speaker 4: and Nick Salvatory's book, which he calls the Great Exception, 587 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,760 Speaker 4: and they argue that, you know, most of American histories 588 00:35:36,960 --> 00:35:38,839 Speaker 4: like the Gilded Age. Yeah, we had a forty fifty 589 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 4: year period from don't know, the thirties to the seventies when 590 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:44,920 Speaker 4: things were kind of better, right, you know what Blue 591 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 4: magas and red magas alike like to celebrate. But the 592 00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:50,960 Speaker 4: fact is, you know, things were pretty exploitated then as well. 593 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 4: And so what kind of lessons can we learn from 594 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 4: resistance to capitalism in its various forms? And I think 595 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:00,520 Speaker 4: the key one is to trust one another. There's no 596 00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:03,799 Speaker 4: substitute for working class solidarity. Stop having illusions in the 597 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:06,360 Speaker 4: Democratic Party. They're not going to save you. And so 598 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:10,799 Speaker 4: to see, you know, where where there are victories when 599 00:36:11,239 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 4: when workers are are United, and we see a little 600 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:17,399 Speaker 4: bit of that, you know, kicking ice agents out of towns, right. 601 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,200 Speaker 4: I mean, that's politicians aren't helping us there. That's you know, 602 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 4: collective action of working class people. It's off formal unions, 603 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:25,720 Speaker 4: but it's something, you know, I see hope. 604 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:26,839 Speaker 5: I see hope. 605 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:31,560 Speaker 4: In the mass mobilization of working class people irrespective of race, gender, class, 606 00:36:31,560 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 4: and any other identity. 607 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:36,360 Speaker 2: I'm Michael Phillips, so you can find me on substack 608 00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,200 Speaker 2: at doctor m Phillips two thousand and one, on Blue 609 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:45,280 Speaker 2: Sky and Facebook, Google my name and quote White Metropolis. 610 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,440 Speaker 3: And I'm Stephen Wanaceelli. You can find me on Blue skuy, 611 00:36:47,480 --> 00:36:50,240 Speaker 3: and I've got a Patreon and all those other things. 612 00:36:50,520 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 3: Thank you for listening, and we hope that you found 613 00:36:53,520 --> 00:36:58,399 Speaker 3: this delightful topic about Elon Musk's desire to bring back 614 00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:05,480 Speaker 3: company towns informative. Thanks for listening. It Could Happen Here 615 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 3: is a production of cool Zone Media. 616 00:37:07,320 --> 00:37:10,400 Speaker 4: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 617 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:14,040 Speaker 4: coolzonmedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 618 00:37:14,120 --> 00:37:17,680 Speaker 4: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can 619 00:37:17,719 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 4: now find sources for It Could happen here, listed directly 620 00:37:20,080 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 4: in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening,