#laborhistory

Today in Labor History May 2, 1963: Bull Connor jailed 958 children in Birmingham, Alabama. Those not jailed got blasted with fire hoses and attacked by dogs.

#LaborHistory #workingclass #racism #CivilRights #PoliceBrutality #police #acab #bullconnor #birmingham #children #jimcrow

Today in Labor History May 2, 1945: The Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion halted a death march from Dachau to Austria. As a result, the Japanese-American fighting unit saved hundreds of lives. Yet, even while they fought fascists in Europe, many had families in concentration camps within the U.S.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nazis #concentrationcamp #japanese #racism #dachau #japaneseinternment #WorldWarTwo #fascism

Today in Labor History May 2, 1919: Soldiers of the Freikorps murdered Gustav Landauer, anarchist, pacifist, and Education Minister, in the short-lived Bavarian Workers Republic. The Freikorps were right wing veterans of World War I. Many went on to become Nazis. Landauer believed that social change could not be won solely through control of the state or economy, but required a revolution in interpersonal relations. "The community we long for and need, we will find only if we sever ourselves from individuated existence; thus we will at last find, in the innermost core or our hidden being, the most ancient and most universal community: the human race and the cosmos." Landauer’s grandson is the acclaimed film director, Mike Nichols (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Graduate, Catch-22, Carnal Knowledge, Silkwood). British writer Philip Kerr wrote the novel, “Prussian Blue,” in which Hitler is one of the Freikorps militants who murdered Landauer.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #pacifism #soviet #Revolution #gustavlandauer #fascism #nazis #hitler #film #books #novel #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 2, 1933: In one of his first acts after coming to power, Adolf Hitler abolished all labor unions. Storm troopers occupied union offices across Germany. Union leaders were arrested, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, or sent to concentration camps. In the coming months, thousands more communists, anarchists and labor activists were arrested and murdered. Strikes were banned and workers’ pay plummeted, as prices soared with inflation, while the unemployed were conscripted into the military.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #communism #anarchism #nazis #massacre #ConcentrationCamp #hitler #fascism #prison #torture

Today In Labor History May 1, 1946: The three-year Pilbara strike began in Australia. In this strike, indigenous Australian pastoral workers demanded recognition of their human rights. They were also fighting for better wages and working conditions. The bosses often treated indigenous workers like slaves. Many didn’t even pay them in cash. Rather, they paid them in tobacco and food. And if indigenous workers tried to quit or leave, the police forced them back. Sometimes they massacred entire families. The strike was one of the longest in Australian history. And it was a major event in the struggle for indigenous rights.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #australia #indigenous #racism #pilbara #humanrights #wages #massacre #colonialism #indigenousrights

Today in Labor History, Canadian folksinger and composer, Gordon Lightfoot, died. Composed "Ode to Big Blue," about the slaughter of whales; "Protocol," about the futility of war, “Sundown,” his only #1 hit in the U.S.; and "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," about the 1958 shipwreck on Lake Superior. The latter 2 songs he composed and continued to perform after contracting Bell’s Palsy, which left him partially paralyzed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A

#workingclass #LaborHistory #folkmusic #gordonlightfoot #canada #singer #songwriter

Today In Labor History May 1, 1933: The first issue of the Catholic Worker was published. Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, who were anarchist-Catholics, founded The Catholic Worker in New York City. The first run of the paper, they published 2,500 copies. By 1936, circulation was 150,000.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CatholicWorker #DorothyDay #anarchism #catholicism

Today In Labor History May 1, 1886: The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred in Milwaukee and other U.S. cities. In Chicago, police killed four demonstrators and wounded over 200. This led to the mass meeting a Haymarket Square, where an unknown assailant threw a bomb, killing several cops. The authorities responded by rounding up all the city’s leading anarchists, and a kangaroo court which wrongfully convicted 8 of them, including Albert Parsons, husband of Lucy Parsons, who would go on to cofound the IWW, along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, and others. Worldwide protests against the convictions and executions followed. To honor the wrongfully executed anarchists, and their struggle for the 8-hour day, May first has ever since been celebrated as International Workers Day in nearly every country in the world, except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #bombing #policebrutality #police #prison #execution #deathpenalty #GeneralStrike #IWW #lucyparsons #motherjones #EightHourDay #mayday

Today In Labor History May 1, 1884: The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions, forerunner of the AFL, resolved that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work starting May 1, 1886." Ironically, this union, created as a conservative foil against the radical Knights of Labor, helped radicalize workers with its resolution. It was this fight, for the 8-hour day, that led a few years later to the Haymarket affair, the execution of innocent anarchists, and the international celebration of May 1 as International Workers Day.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #EightHourDay #union #KnightsOfLabor #mayday #haymarket #anarchism #prison

Today In Labor History May 1, 1830: Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born. Mother Jones was renowned for her militancy and fiery oration, as well as her many juicy quotes. She once said, “I’m no lady. I’m a hell-raiser.” She also was an internationalist, saying “My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression.” Despite the difficulties of constant travel, poor living and jail, she lived to be 100. She was also a cofounder of the anarchosyndicalist IWW.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #IWW #mining #motherjones #solidarity #prison #mayday

"One of the first-ever uses of aerial-dropped bombs was against the miners' army in West Virginia. The Italians had done it a few years earlier in Ethiopia."

#LettersAndPolitics welcomes #RobertOvetz, author of #WhenWorkersShotBack: #ClassConflict from 1877 to 1921

https://kpfa.org/episode/letters-and-politics-april-30-2025/

#labor #labour #laborHistory #labourHistory #USlaborHistory #UShistory #AmericanHistory #GreatRailroadStrikeOf1877 #WestVirginiaCoalWars #PullmanStrike #books @bookstodon @histodons

Today in Labor History April 30 1945: Eva Braun and Adolph Hitler committed suicide, in Berlin, after being married for less than 40 hours. Many Nazis were tried, convicted and executed. And literally thousands were secreted into the U.S., given false identities, and put to work as spies, intelligence officers, informants, and rocket scientists in the Cold War. Some of them had even been high-ranking Nazi Party officials, secret police chiefs, and heads of concentration camps. In fact, during the first few years after WWII ended, it was easier to get into the U.S. as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish concentration camp survivor. There were policy makers in Washington who said the Jews shouldn’t be let in because they’re “lazy” and “self-entitled.” For more on this sordid history, read “The Nazis Next Door How America Became a Safe Haven for Hitler's Men,” By Eric Lichtblau.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nazis #WorldWarTwo #holocaust #fascism #coldwar #concentrationcamps #hitler #jewish #antisemitism #books #nonfiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in labor history April 30 1886: 50,000 workers in Chicago were on strike. 30,000 more joined in the next day. The strike halted most of Chicago’s manufacturing. On May 3rd, the Chicago cops killed four unionists. Activists organized a mass public meeting and demonstration in Haymarket Square on May 4. During the meeting, somebody threw a bomb at the cops. The explosion and subsequent gunfire killed seven cops and four civilians. Nobody ever identified the bomber. None of the killer cops was charged. However, the authorities started arresting anarchists throughout Chicago.

Ultimately, they tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court. The men were: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Only two of the men were even present when the bomb was thrown. The court convicted seven of murder and sentenced them to death. Neebe was give fifteen years. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap and convict the Molly Maguires. As a result, twenty of them were hanged and the Pennsylvania mining union was crushed. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #lucyparsons #IWW #emmagoldman #strike #union #EightHourDay #PoliceBrutality #killercops #prison #deathpenalty #Pinkertons #police

Today in labor history April 29, 1894: Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. They demanded federal jobs for the poor. The authorities promptly arrested Coxey and many of his followers for trespassing on Capitol grounds.

The Return of Coxey's Army (By Eddie Starr)
When they busted all the unions,
You can't make no living wage.
And this working poor arrangement,
Gonna turn to public rage.
And then get ready . . .
We're gonna bring back Coxey's Army
And take his message to the street.

The financial panic of 1893 caused one of the worst depressions the country had ever seen. The depression lasted five years and caused unemployment to reach 18%. Banks failed and currency supplies dried up after Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Coxey owned a sand quarry and was personally wealthy. But he was outraged at the government’s lack of response to the poverty he saw around him. So, he organized a march on Washington, to demand jobs for the poor.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #poverty #unemployment #depression #wages #march #washington #coxeysarmy #banks

Today in labor history April 29, 1895: The U.S. sent warships to Nicaragua to "protect" US interests. This was the first of many military interventions in that country. President Taft ordered the overthrow of President Zelaya in 1909. The U.S. later invaded in 1910 and occupied the country in 1912. However, the original Sandinistas defeated that occupation in 1933. But Sandino’s victory was short-lived because Anastasio Somoza assassinated him in 1934. Somoza brutally ruled Nicaragua for the next forty years, until the new Sandinistas overthrew him in 1979. And then, again, the U.S. intervened. This time, by funding the right-wing Contras. Later, when Congress blocked aid to the Contras, Reagan secretly funded them with illegal arms shipments to Iran.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nicaragua #imperialism #sandino #reagan #revolution #socialism #sandinista #dictator

Today in labor history April 29, 1899: Members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) seized a train, loaded it with 3,000 pounds of dynamite, and drove it into the Bunker Hill mine in Wardner, Idaho because the mine owners refused to respect their demand to hire only union men. They completely destroyed the $250,000 colliery. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas. He ordered them to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built "bullpens." From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupied most of the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Idaho. The WFM was led by Big Bill Haywood, who would go on to cofound the more radical IWW, in 1905, along with Mother Jones, Lucy Parsons, Eugene Debs, and others.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #union #strike #sabotage #dynamite #prison #racism #IWW #bigbillhaywood #motherjones #lucyparsons #eugenedebs #socialism #anarchism

Today in labor history April 29, 1919: From April 29 to May 2, government forces in Munich violently crushed the Republic of the Councils of Bavaria. Workers, socialists, anarchists, and sympathizers bravely resisted. However, the Freikorps and the White Guards of Capitalism prevailed. They killed hundreds in the fighting and executed over 1,000 anarchists and communists in the aftermath.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #soviet #communism #anarchism #massacre #socialism #capitalism #munich #bavaria

Today in Labor History April 29, 1992: People rioted in Los Angeles and protested in other major cities in response to the Rodney King verdict. Despite video footage of police brutally beating a defenseless King, the jury acquitted all the police officers involved. Over the next three days 64 people died and hundreds of buildings were destroyed. However, the LA riots in also included an anti-Asian pogrom. 2,300 Korean businesses were looted or burned and hundreds of Koreans suffered from PTSD. Those who died included 2 Asians, 28 African Americans, 19 Latinos and 15 whites. In San Francisco, African American youth chased cops down the street with bats. And protesters shattered the façade of Bank of America with a concrete bus bench. I also remember having to duck behind a car to avoid being shot by a scared shop owner near Chinatown, as young men ran out of his store with 12-packs of beer. The violent police assault on King was one of the first to go viral in the digital age. It inspired hundreds of protests and ushered in a new era of citizen journalists documenting police brutality that contributed to the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #policebrutality #police #rRodneyKing #lapd #blm #blacklivesmatter #Riot #racism #antiAsianHate #BlackMastadon

Today in labor history April 28, 1967: Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam. Consequently, he was stripped of his boxing title and threatened with jail. The judge sentenced him, in part, for statements such as this one: “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?”

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/-muhammad-ali-convicted-refusing-vietnam-draft

#workingclass #LaborHistory #boxing #MuhammadAli #vietnam #antiwar #racism #BlackMastadon #civildisobedience

Today in labor history April 28, 1945: Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement, killed Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci. Audisio was a communist and was later elected to parliament.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #antifascist #antifa #mussolini #communism #resistance #WalterAudisio