Imperialism, Greene and the Panama Canal
In the “Spaniards on the Silver Roll: Labor Troubles and Liminality in the Panama Canal Zone, 1904-1914,” article, the author Greene narrates a story regarding the migration of the Spanish to Cuba after the revolution as well as, the assistance from the falsified flyers that depict ways in which working within the canal can be great, had volunteered soon to work within the Panama Canal. Greene moved ahead, specifying that the pay scale of the Panama Canal Zones were classified into gold and silver. At the beginning of the narration, the status enhanced by the skills that are set as well as experience and “remained quite fluid” (Greene pg.81). Nonetheless, “In 1907, the system became more racial in nature, as the government ordered that all “colored employees” be shifted from the gold to the silver rolls” (Greene pg.81). Then usage of silver status was to mean a decrease in the wages, poor conditions of houses, and unappetizing food most often unfavorable for people living within the areas. European laborers, as well as the Spaniards, unlike the United States white citizens, did not have the unions that can help them to gain power. In regards to this, they had to come under attacks of being abused by the foremen as well as gained less help from the government officials for investigating the malicious “accidents” which occurred within the workplace. The Spaniards were ranked to be comprising of lowest men on the totem pole as well as consistently, the government “encouraged diverse groups to compete against one another for higher status (by pitting) workers against one another as a means of labor control, thereby complicating the racial hierarchy” (Greene pg. 89). Rather than joining forces, the government of the United States ended up pitting on each of the races against each other, with the hope of creating a competitive nature that could increase efforts. This resulted in segregation labor strikes, a hostility which ultimately delayed the process of completing the entire project. Successfully, Greene added new scopes of issues plaguing workers by her depiction of experiences of the laborers within Spaniards as well as other European states. Additionally, in the lectures of week four on “Imperialism,” Ackert (the professor) narrated issues regarding the reasons as to why the mapping was known to be an imperialism technology. As part of the lecture, the professor went ahead, talking about ways in which the skills of map-making possessed by James Runnel proved clear geography of Bengal and Hindoostan Atlas.
In “A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama” film, the producer, David McCullough, has the notion of completion as well as the construction of the Panama Canal. In this particular documentary, McCullough gives detailed information regarding the prevailing inequalities of employees working within the canal that played essential roles in the process of construction of the massive feat Panama Canal. After reading the article of Julie Greene, “Spaniards on the Silver Roll: Labor Troubles and Liminality in the Panama Canal Zone,” contributed significantly to the outstanding story through demonstrating the exiting struggles between the races, instead of just focusing the story on the process of overcoming challenging terrain as well as diseases. Thus we can see that class oppression is a necessary condition for labor exploitation. The employing class cannot exploit the working class if they do not have power over them.
Works Cited
Greene, Julie. “Spaniards on the Silver roll: Labor troubles and Liminality in the Panama Canal Zone, 1904–1914.” International Labor and Working-Class History 66 (2004): 78-98.
McCullough, David G. A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama!. American Heritage Publishing Company, Incorporated, 1971.