Keeping the ‘Punk’ in Steampunk with Labor Unions

While Galvanic Century is set in a largely historically analogous Edwardian Earth, many steampunk stories are set in worlds that are either wholly fantasy or only bearing a tangential resemblance to the real past. Nonetheless, it almost always includes some sort of Industrial Revolution. This is often portrayed as a transformative era, but what is frequently glossed over is the class revolution that technological innovation made possible.

In other cases, while the results of labor movements and progress are shown, the means by which they’ve gotten to the point where the workers’ lots are better is frequently glossed over. I feel that that’s a wasted opportunity; the struggle that puts the ‘punk’ in ‘steampunk’ closely parallels the modern conflict between “job creators” and “the 99%”. The labor rights movement echoes strongly in the collective reader psyche because we’re living it, right now.

One of the driving forces behind the workers’ revolution was the International Workers of the World, the IWW, or the Wobblies. Check out this video that shows the development and struggles of the union through vintage footage and interviews with the men and women who fought those battles:

Regardless of your personal politics, utilizing the workers’ movements of the early 20th century can add powerful conflict to your stories and forge identification with your readers.

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