English Podcast

This podcast episode explores the themes of immigration, labor rights, and social justice through the personal narrative of Lou Kalvik's father, Milihov Kalvik. Milihov's journey from Serbia to the United States highlights the struggles and triumphs of immigrants seeking a better life. The episode also discusses factory strikes and the harsh working conditions faced by factory workers in the early 1900s. The importance of archival work in preserving history and inspiring future generations is emphasized, as well as the need for further research on labor issues. This podcast episode, authored by Merritt Wilson and kindly taken from the Southern Oral History Program interview, is a thought-provoking exploration of the interconnected themes of immigration, labor rights, and social justice. It draws inspiration from a personal narrative shared by Lou Kalvik, dating back to the 1970s. The podcast and research weaves together historical context and archival research to illustrate the multifaceted experiences of individuals like Milihov Kalvik, whose journey from Serbia to the United States shows the struggles and triumphs of countless immigrants seeking a better life. So in order to get the podcast started for today, I'm going to be introducing a personal story from the early 1970s that illustrates the hardships of abuse in childhood, immigration and the correlation to one's career, and the factory strikes that changed the trajectory of treatment towards these factory workers. So this story details the personal narrative of Lou Kalvik's background, and it focuses on his father, Milihov Kalvik, and his story of growing up as an immigrant and later obtaining a job as a factory worker. Lou tells us that his father was born into an environment where his mother was an abusive alcoholic that left him when he was two years old, and his father left him when he was only four years old. I'm not that familiar with any of your background. Tell me something about your parents. Well, my father was born to very poor parents. His father left him when he was two years old, and his mother left him when he was four. In Yugoslavia? Yeah, and at that time it was part of Austria. And so his mother was an alcoholic, and she left him something with a cut with a knuckle, and she remarried. The previous clip shows the interview of Gary Ross Mormino questioning Lou Kalvik and the history of his family. So Lou's father, Milihov, and his family were originally from Serbia, but his mother fled to Yugoslavia and remarried. The father fled somewhere that was unknown. Lou's father was left under split custody with his two uncles. One uncle was described as being rich, and the other poor. His poor uncle suggested that he migrate to St. Louis, Missouri in the United States, because the rich uncle was not treating him well. The poor uncle had a buddy over in Cleveland, Ohio, and claimed that he could send him some money for his travels. So this next clip from the interview is going to help illustrate how the time in Milihov's life, which would be now the mid-1900s, how it shows his thoughts on opinions on certain matters, such as racism. And in this clip, you can see that he claimed to be scared of colored people, and this makes it a reservation in his process to be able to migrate to the States. On the table after everybody else ate dinner. So anyway, he got to be 17 years old, and he went in the army. And the poor uncle felt sorry for my father. So he got out of the army and couldn't find a job, so he was forced to go back to this parent, this uncle of his. So his poor uncle said to him, why do you stand this? Why don't you go to the United States? My father said, you've got to be crazy to go to the United States. I don't talk the language. I don't even know where it is, or how to even get there, or the money to get there with. Interestingly, he was always afraid of colored people. The clear social categories that apply to Lou's father would be that he is of Serbian, which is clearly foreign descent. He had no money, and he was a male immigrant. The relationship between the labor and social category of Milihov may be important because of the effects of the Gilded Age in America, which caused the rapid growth of the manufacturing industry. This grew the need for a large amount of unskilled workers. Immigrants were usually willing to accept lower wages, often given their circumstances, with Lou Kalvik's father being a perfect example of this. Oftentimes, factory workers during the early 1900s were only paid around $10-20 a week and were working around 10-12 hour work days. The condition of the factories they worked in were also very unsafe. Throughout the mid-1900s, many different and significant strikes occurred, demanding for change. According to Robbins in 2012, thousands of impoverished Lawrence textile mill workers at the American Woolen Company walked off their jobs when they discovered that their employer had reduced their wages. This led to the news of work stoppage, which filled popular periodicals from Los Angeles to Italy. Laborers in Vermont, New York, and Poland cheered for the workers and also offered their support. Additionally, according to Milkman in 2013, in the 1935-1975 period, NLRA-based collective bargaining, along with the New Deal labor and employment regulations and other social policies, had bolstered union power and narrowed inequalities between the rich and the poor. Between these two key points, we can see the difference from the early 1900s and mid-1900s regarding the social awareness and stigma around the cruel working conditions factory workers had to endure. So, after all, it is my podcast, so I will give my opinion and I believe more archival work should be done for numerous reasons that validate this overarching question. Archival work, especially centering around labor and including subcategories such as racism, family abandonment and abuse, immigration, etc., like specifically within this story, for example, helps to hold accountability to the past and inspires future generations as well as it preserves history. There is that cliché saying of those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it, and personally, I believe by not preserving the past and holding a record of it, such as this archive, this cliché saying will become a reality. Archives such as these, including testimonies claiming a labor worker in history was scared of colored people, shows the progression of human nature and holds accountability to the history of those who spoke and thought like this. Archives surrounding labor also help us to look at the social and economic progression of labor practices and technology and could help with future progression and challenges we may face. More archival work should be done regarding labor through social media, photography, and websites, blog posts, etc. The more we record about history and labor and what works and helps us to improve, as well as what doesn't work and sets us back, allows us as humans to only improve in the future and not repeat our past mistakes. Thank you so much for listening to this week's podcast episode. I'll see you next time.