Lu started work in a steel factory in 1977.

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That's what led me to work in the shadow of a shuttered steel plant on the South Side of Chicago when I was a community organizer.

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As the Soviet Union collapsed, he left to work for a steel-trading house in Zurich before setting up his own in Belgium, competing at times with Marc Rich.

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True, there is pain: when Siderar, its largest steel producer, had to stop work for a week in July, it blamed foreign dumping.

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Thousands of Scottish people moved to Corby in the 1930s to work at its steel mills and the supporters' club became a popular destination for football fans.

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And today, for the first time in years, the Big Three automakers are adding jobs and turning a profit and putting steel workers to work.

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Chamberlain is practically sui generis though the idea of his best work (where steel is as malleable as paint) being AbEx in 3-D is a little closer to the truth.

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