http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m8ozbbqxd91rnmfrmo1_500.jpg



Today in labor history: August 13, 1892: Grundy County, TN, miners tear down the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railway Company’s stockade — which housed the company’s convict workers — at Tracy City. In response to similar actions over the next few days, the governor dispatched 583 militiamen; hundreds of miners were arrested. The state began the practice of leasing its convicts (75% of whom were African-American) to companies willing to pay for the inmates’ housing in exchange for their labor in 1866.

http://todayinlaborhistory.tumblr.com/post/29331950104/today-in-labor-history-august-13-1892-grundy

The more things change.....

On this day in1935 FDR signed the first Social Security Act into law. In the aftermath of the Great Depression during which poverty encompassed 60 percent of the senior population, Social Security was a major plank of Roosevelt's "New Deal." The law was passed after an intense period of struggle in which the trade unions, the left generally and the Communist Party played a significant role. In addition part of the campaign for Social Security was the establishment of Townsend Clubs, named after Dr. Francis E. Townsend a senior citizen activist who campaigned for such a program. Over 5 million seniors joined the clubs. Roosevelt called for the legislation in his State of the Union address in January 1935. Today Republicans want to privatize the program.

http://www.thebellforum.com/showthread.php?t=79274

Yes indeed, and the President has helpfully put that program on the table.

Whose side is he on?

Whose side is he on?

He is on the side that he and all Democrats have always been on - and it ain't ours...

Today in Labor History—August 15

August 15, 1906 – W.E.B. DuBois demanded equal citizenship rights for African-Americans during the second meeting of the Niagara Movement, saying, "We will not be satisfied to take one jot or little less than our full manhood." (From the Daily Bleed)


August 15, 1913 – A General Strike began in Dublin. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 15, 1918 --The American 27th Infantry landed in Vladivostok to join a Japanese-initiated attack against Bolshevist forces. (From the Daily Bleed)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KHceeMTcvBk/TkSmDJVEJ6I/AAAAAAAAAwE/eVmwJY4p2jk/s400/800px-American_troops_in_Vladivostok_1918_HD-SN-99-02013.JPEG
U.S. troops parading in Vladivostock

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-y35PtfDnutE/TkSmDzRRMkI/AAAAAAAAAwI/pBBN40zQs3w/s400/Bolshveki_killed_at_Vladavostak.jpg
Bolsheviks killed at Vladivostock by Czechoslovak legions

August 15, 1963 – 170 women staged a sit-in to protest employment discrimination by bank, E. St. Louis, Illinois. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-15.html

Today in Labor History—August 17, 1985

August 17, 1861 – Coal miners in Australia refused to accept a 20% wage cut and walk out. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tSlh4Ha5qf8/TknXG8JJuAI/AAAAAAAAAwg/ny4TVj6ayc8/s1600/Ladies_tailors_strikers+new+york+shirt+waist+strike+1909.jpg
August- 17, 1910 – Women strikers broke through police lines and demolished a New York garment factory that tried to open in defiance of a strike. Garment workers were toiling as much as 15 hours per day for as little as 50 cents. They tossed sewing machines out the windows and smashed furniture. The industry-wide strike had begun in June and quickly spread, with 60,000 striking up and down the east coast. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eHzbDA8Yh2o/TknWmn174TI/AAAAAAAAAwc/mtfmZK2rJsA/s1600/IWW_anti-conscription_poster_1916.jpg
August 17, 1918 – 95 Wobblies (members of the IWW—Industrial Workers of the World) were sent to prison for up to 20 years for resisting the war. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 17, 1985 – Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Austin, Minnesota, went on strike against Hormel, makers of SPAM. They ignored the advice of their national union and struck anyway. Workers continued to strike even after the company tried to reopen the plant with replacement workers, including some union members who crossed the picket lines. After ten months the strike ended, with no gains for union members. (From Shmoop Labor History)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2011/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-17-1985.html

Today in Labor History—August 20

August 20, 1619 – The first group of 20 Africans slaves landed at Jamestown, Virginia. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 20, 1830 – The first Negro convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

August 20, 1866 – The short-lived National Labor Union (U.S.) was formed on this date and called for the 8-hour workday. The union, led by William H. Sylvis, was the first American labor union to unite skilled and unskilled workers (preceding the Industrial Workers of the World by nearly 40 years). At its height, the union had 640,000 members.

August 20, 1886 – Sentences were handed down on this date against The Haymarket defendants. All were found guilty despite the obvious innocence of most of them. None were even present at the scene of the bombing at Haymarket Square, Chicago, where activists had been organizing for the 8-hour day. Seven of the eight defendants (George Engel, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab and August Spies) were condemned to death. Oscar Neebe was sent to prison for 15 years. The hangings occurred on November 11, 1887.

August 20, 1898 – Fourteen weeks after beginning a walkout, the Amalgamated Woodworkers Union of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ended its strike.


August 20, 1904 – Miners seized the town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and deported officials.

August 20, 1909 – The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was engaged in a free-speech fight in Fresno, California.

August 20, 1914 – An office for the Parrot Mine in Butte, Montana was dynamited on this date. In March 1912, Amalgamated Copper fired 500 miners, accusing them of being Socialists. In December they imposed a blacklist to exclude workers with affiliations to leftist and labor organizations. Pinkerton and Thiel detective agencies infiltrated the union to mark agitators and provoke violence in order to weaken the union.

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-20.html

August 21, 1752 – French radical priest Jacques Roux (1752-1794) was born in Charente, France. He participated in the French Revolution and fought for a classless society and the abolition of private property, and helped to radicalize the Parisian working class. He became a leader of the far left faction Enrages and was elected to the Paris Commune in 1791. He demanded that food be available for everyone and argued that the wealthy should be executed if they hoarded it. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

August 21, 1831 - Nat Turner launched a slave revolt in Virginia that lasted two days and resulted in the deaths of 60 whites dead. In response, scores of African-Americans were lynched, including many who did not participate in the revolt. (From Workday Minnesota)

August 21, 1893 – Emma Goldman led a march of a 1,000 people to Union Square, where, told the crowd that workers have a right to take bread if they are hungry and to demonstrate "before the palaces of the rich." She was arrested the following week because her speech was “incendiary.” (From the Daily Bleed)

August 21, 1920 – Ongoing violence by coal operators and their paid goons in the southern coalfields of West Virginia led to a three hour gun battle between striking miners and guards that left six dead. 500 Federal troops were sent in not only to quell the fighting, but to ensure that scabs were able to get to and from the mines. A General Strike was threatened if the troops did not cease their strikebreaking activities. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 21, 1952 – A strike began against International Harvester by the United Electrical Workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-21.html

Pretty good day in labor history

I love this thread.

I love this thread.

The source I've been using, Modern Education, has more than most providing this service. The source they often use, 'The Bleed', appears to be an anarchist site is, shall we say, ecletic.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IBAfXX1Xs10/TlGQNUHE8mI/AAAAAAAAAxE/8EWV3a4q1Mo/s1600/360px-G%25C3%25A9n%25C3%25A9ral_Toussaint_Louverture.jpg

August 22, 1791 -- Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, 100,000 Haitian slaves revolted, led by Toussaint Louverture. They first attacked the French, and then went after Spanish and English troops, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black country in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865 as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders.

August 22, 1893 – Sam Gompers and other trade unionists met with New York mayor Gilroy pressings for a municipal public works program to relieve unemployment.

August 22, 1917 – Italian police opened fire on protesters against the war hunger, most of whom were women. The next day, a General Strike was declared. On the 24th, a state of siege was declared, but the strike continued until the 26th. Police violence during the strike resulted in the deaths of 60 people. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1947 – A two-month strike by United Packing Workers began in Canada. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 22, 1978 -- Sandinistas captured the Nicaraguan National Palace launching the Sandinista revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-22.html

i had no idea august was such a fertile month.

Today in Labor History—August 23


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_2lGkEU4Xs&feature=player_embedded
August 23, 1900 – Folk and protest singer Malvina Reynolds was born in San Francisco, California.
Reynolds was denied a diploma by the city’s elite Lowell High School because her parents were opposed to US participation in World War I. She was perhaps best know for her satire of suburbia, "Little Boxes" which was most likely inspired by the tacky sprawl of house in Daly City, just outside of San Francisco.

August 23, 1909 – IWW strikers boarded a streetcar in McKees Rock, Pennsylvania looking for scabs. A deputy sheriff shot at them and was killed in the return fire. A gun battle ensued that killed 11 people.

August 23, 1917 - Black soldiers in Houston who were fed up with Jim Crow laws and ongoing harassment from whites decided to fight back. The gun battle left 17 dead and result in 64 soldiers being tried for murder and mutiny. 13 got death and 40 got life imprisonment. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TLj51HpdfzI/TlGVXBob3lI/AAAAAAAAAxM/_q3BkOIRAu0/s1600/Sacco_e_Vanzetti.PNG

August 23, 1927 - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed on this date in Massachusetts, despite their innocence and the outpouring of international support for their release. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Sz2TFjSFJA/TlGVWdrCffI/AAAAAAAAAxI/e-2qs08qAn8/s1600/800px-Save_Sacco_and_Vanzetti.jpg


August 23, 1933 – Vigilantes assaulted 200 migrant workers in Yakima, Washington. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-23.html

Today in Labor History—August 24

August 24, 1827-- The Mechanics Gazette, America's first labor newspaper, was published in Philadelphia. (From Workday Minnesota)

August 24, 1930 – Two were killed in Indochina in riots commemorating the third anniversary of the Sacco and Vanzetti execution. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 24, 1970 – The UFW (United Farm Workers) lettuce strike began. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 24, 1979 – A strike began in the Port of Rotterdam, Netherlands, which lasted for three weeks. 13,000 men participated despite the fact that their official trade unions did not. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 24, 1980 – The Solidarnosc trade union movement was founded in Gdansk, Poland. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-24.html

August 24, 1980 – The Solidarnosc trade union movement was founded in Gdansk, Poland. (From the Daily Bleed)

Well, I guess you did say eclectic.

Well, I guess you did say eclectic.

Yeah, was gonna ignore it but figured ya gotta report the bad with the good.

Today in Labor History—August 25

August 25, 1775 – Two thousand Liverpool seamen ignored the reading of the Riot Act to free nine of their fellow workers who had been imprisoned for wrecking a ship after being paid short wages. Workers de-rigged all ships in port, making them unable to sail and levied money from local merchants. Aften several demonstrators were killed at the Liverpool Exchange, they raided warehouses and gunsmiths for arms and seized two cannons from a whaling vessel. (From the Daily bleed)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RNz0zkTeCfg/TlG6gagiHXI/AAAAAAAAAxU/74eI62f_dfA/s400/Allan_Pinkerton-retouch.jpg
August 25, 1819 – Allen Pinkerton was born, founder of the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') gave us the word 'fink' as they slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles. (From the Daily bleed)


August 25, 1921 – West Virginia Governor Morgan asked President Warren Harding for Federal troops and military aircraft to suppress the United Mine Workers’ militant actions. (From the Daily bleed)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tRI5wjhUIQk/TlG66NNJD9I/AAAAAAAAAxY/8_JCKYrDBI4/s1600/A.-Phillip-Randolph.png
August 25, 1925 -- African American labor organizer A. Phillip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1937 – The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters signed its first contract with Pullman. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1950 –President Harry Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a General Strike. The railroads were kept under federal control for two years. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1968 – The Battle of Lincoln Park occurred during the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Roughly 10,000 demonstrators battled approximately 11,000 riot police, 6,000 National Guard, 7,500 US army troops and 1,000 FBI, CIA & army/navy intelligence services agents. (From the Daily bleed)
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSu8NfwD2Zq1ZOPAOwP_E-YxdcIuPzv2r_IIm6jpq3zpEkJARRe

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-25.html

(Chicago photo added)

Sunday, August 26, 2012Today in Labor History—August 26
August 26, 1919 – United Mine Worker (UMW) organizer Fannie Sellins was gunned down by company bought sheriffs during a Pennsylvania coal strike along with Joseph Starzeleski. Sellins had helped organize the garment workers before moving on to help the coal miners. (From the Daily Bleed)


August 26, 1935 – The United Auto Workers was founded, with Francis Dillon appointed as president. (From the Daily Bleed)


http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-26.html

Today in Labor History—August 27

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bQHzJhJ7cyw/UDFxom7frBI/AAAAAAAACHo/w54ROA7K7bM/s1600/1917Australian+general+strike+from+Red+Wombat.jpg
August 27, 1917 -- The IWW was made illegal in Australia and their membership rolls were made available to employers, leading to widespread repression. Despite all this, the IWW helped lead the General Strike of 1917 (Click here for footage of the strike). (From the Daily Bleed)

August 27, 1934 – Filipino lettuce cutters and mainly white packing shed workers struck the powerful Salinas Valley growers and shippers, demanding union recognition & improved conditions. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 27, 1950-- President Truman ordered the U.S. army to seize all the railroads to prevent a General Strike. They were held by the military for the next two years. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-27.html

Today in Labor History—August 28

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UxRCvHojIug/Tlmq7zcMk1I/AAAAAAAAAxs/8X_9hvEOYU8/s1600/Bill_haywood_headshot_side.jpg
August 28, 1918 – Big Bill Haywood and 14 other members of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) were sentenced to 20 years prison for draft obstruction. (From the Daily Bleed)


August 28, 1920 – West Virginia Governor Cornwell requested federal troops to guard the mines and protect scab labor during a strike by miners, resulting in rioting. (From the Daily Bleed)


August 28, 1933 – A Filipino Labor Union led a strike of 6,000 California lettuce workers demanding 40-45 cents an hour, union recognition and better working conditions. Striking white farm workers split from the Filipinos and accepted arbitration. The growers accused the Filipinos of being communists, while the highway patrol and armed vigilantes drove striking farmworkers off the farms. In September, vigilantes burned a camp of striking workers down to the ground. Police then raided their union headquarters in Salinas, arresting scores of strikers and their leaders. Despite the violence and police abuse, the strikers held out, eventually winning union recognition and 40 cents an hour wages. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1955 – Teenager Emmett Till was brutally murdered on this day in Money, Mississippi, for speaking "inappropriately" to a white woman. The brutality of the murder and the lack of justice for his family helped to mobilize opposition to segregation in America. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 28, 1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his "I have a dream . . ." speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. March organizers included Bayard Rustin of the AFL-CIO and UAW President Walter Reuther. (From Workday Minnesota) 250,000-500,000 people converge on the Lincoln Memorial

August 28, 1970 -- The UAW Local 1714 had its first wildcat strike lasting one day.
(From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-28.html

Today in Labor History—August 29

August 29, 1968 – Chicago police brutally assaulted demonstrators, reporters and bystanders at the Democratic national convention. (From the Daily Bleed)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=epxmX_58tOo

August 29, 1970 – LAPD brutally attacked 10,000 Chicano antiwar demonstrators, killing three, including journalist Ruben Salazar. The attacked led to a week of rioting. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-29.html

Thursday, August 30, 2012 Today in Labor History—August 30

August 30, 1834 - Union delegates from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other East Coast cities met to form the National Trades Union, which united craft unions to oppose the wealth of a tiny minority. Although they were active for just a few years, the NTU paved the way for more than 60 new unions. (From Workday Minnesota

August 30, 1971 – Ten empty school buses were blown up in Pontiac, Michigan to prevent the daily bussing of 8,700 children to achieve racial balance in the city's schools. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 31

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9VGdRH5G_Zc/UDFuCHW1y9I/AAAAAAAACHI/lqdHYTtV9_M/s320/Johnreed1--Wiki.jpg
August 31, 1919 – The Communist Labor Party of America was formed in Chicago by John Reed and others. The party evolved into the American Communist Party. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1929 – The Trade Union Unity League was founded by 690 delegates from 18 states fleeing the conservative American Federation of Labor. The League, a wing of the Communist Party, pushed for organizing workers along industrial lines, rather than by craft, like the AFL, with all workers in a given industry together in one big union. At its peak, the League had 125,000 members and, in 1930, led a protest of nearly a million jobless workers in a dozen cities to demand relief and unemployment insurance. The league fell apart in the late 1930s due to competition from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which had launched a wave of successful organizing drives. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1933 – Italian American labor organizer, Giovanni Pippan was murdered during his campaign to organize the Italian bread wagon drivers of Chicago. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1939 – Nearly all 430 workers at the California Sanitary Canning Company participated in a massive walkout. The majority of the workers were Mexican-American women. They were demand union recognition for their affiliation with the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, & Allied Workers of America (UCAPAWA). They eventually won a union contract and wage increase. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1968 -- Canadian elementary school students near Montreal occupied their school, demanding reforms. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1991 – The second Solidarity Day demonstration occurred in Washington, D.C., with over 350,000 union members demanding workplace fairness and health care reform. The first Solidarity Day took place 10 years earlier in the wake of the PATCO firings. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/08/today-in-labor-historyaugust-31.html

Today in Labor History—September 1

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sC-4XpbbeWo/TlpeX3pdRXI/AAAAAAAAAxw/kKinZO9M670/s1600/800px-OneidaCommunityHomeBld.JPG
September 1, 1880 – The utopian communistic Oneida Community ended after 32 years. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 1, 1934 -- A strike began in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, as part of a national movement to obtain a minimum wage for textile workers. The strike lasted until September 23, and involved more than 420,000 workers, with three of them being killed in the actions. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 1, 1987 – During a nonviolent protest at Concord Naval Weapons Station, formerly Port Chicago (see Port Chicago Mutiny), a Navy munitions train ran over anti-war protester Brian Willson. Willson lost both legs in the incident, but continued to be an active leader in the anti-military movement. The following day, activists dismantled the train tracks in protest. Wilson was later sued by civilian members of the train crew for the "humiliation, embarrassment & emotional distress" the incident caused them. (From theDaily Bleed)


September 1, 1907 - Walter Reuther was born. Reuther was president of the United Auto Workers from 1946 until his death in 1970 under suspicious circumstances. He was also president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) prior to its merger with the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Reuther was a supporter of political action and said that “There’s a direct relationship between the breadbox and the ballot box, and what the union fights for and wins at the bargaining table can be taken away in the legislative halls.” (From Workday Minnesota)
[img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gTIAKkDjzs/Tlpe2V6DO8I/AAAAAAAAAx0/DzLNTS6Wt-Y/s1600/Reuther+2nd+from+right+1963+march+on+washington+from+national+archives+and+records+administration.jpg[/img

]September 1, 1903 – 30,000 working women from 26 trades marched in Chicago’s Labor Day parade. (From the Daily Bleed)


http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-1.html

Happy "Labor Day". This from Wiki:

Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.[2] Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with Reyes[clarification needed], leader of the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[4] The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day.[5] All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.

Can there be anything more indicitive of the state of class conciousness in this country than this bogus holiday and the relegation of May Day in the American imagination to tanks in Red Square(though there's certainly place for that in proper context)? I doubt that most surviving union members know the history of Haymarket, much less the general public.

Work, work, work.

Happy "Labor Day". This from Wiki:

Oregon was the first state to make it a holiday in 1887. By the time it became a federal holiday in 1894, thirty states officially celebrated Labor Day.[2] Following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Cleveland reconciled with Reyes[clarification needed], leader of the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, the United States Congress unanimously voted to approve rush legislation that made Labor Day a national holiday; Cleveland signed it into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[4] The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Day because Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would be associated with the nascent Communist, Syndicalist and Anarchist movements that, though distinct from one another, had rallied to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in International Workers' Day.[5] All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.

Can there be anything more indicitive of the state of class conciousness in this country than this bogus holiday and the relegation of May Day in the American imagination to tanks in Red Square(though there's certainly place for that in proper context)? I doubt that most surviving union members know the history of Haymarket, much less the general public.

Work, work, work.

Not only that, but one of the only other states holding the first Monday in September as "Labor Day" was Apartheid South Africa...makes you warm all over, don't it?

Today in Labor History—September 5

September 5, 1793 – The revolutionary government began the Terror. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1794 – Radical democrat Jacques Roux was arrested in France. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1863 – Bread riots occurred in Mobile, Alabama. (From theDaily Bleed)

September 5, 1882 – The first American Labor Day was observed, with 30,000 workers marching in New York City. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1887 – Labor Day was first observed as a legal holiday (to distract workers from celebrating the much more oppositional International Workers Day on May 1 and the historical of violence against the working class epitomized by the Haymarket affair). (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1911 – Students abandoned their classrooms in London and marched in the streets after a boy was punished for encouraging his friends to strike against corporal punishment. Schools in over 60 major towns and cities come out in solidarity. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1917 –Federal agents attacked Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) halls and offices in 48 cities across the nation as part of the Palmer raids against the left.

September 5, 1964 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died in Moscow. Flynn was an anarchist, labor militant and founding member of the IWW before converting and joining the American Communist Party. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-5.html

Thursday, September 6, 2012Today in Labor History—September 6


September 6, 1860 – The founder of Hull House, Jane Addams, was born on this date in 1860. Addams, an activist for peace and women’s rights, was a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in 1931. Her “settlement houses” served immigrant families working in Chicago’s packinghouses. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 6, 1869 - The Avondale mine disaster occurred on this date in 1869, killing 110 workers and leading to the first mine safety law in Pennsylvania. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 6, 1901 – President William McKinley was shot by professed anarchist Leon Czolgosz, supposedly in the name of workers. Czolgosz, however, had been repudiated by numerous anarchist groups. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 6, 1912 - Duluth streetcar drivers went on strike. (From Workday Minnesota)


September 6, 1963 – Four young black girls were killed in Birmingham, Alabama, in a racist, church bombing. The defendants finally went to trial in May, 2000. (From the Daily Bleed)


September 6, 1966 – Margaret Sanger died on this date in 1966. Sanger was a sex reformer, birth-control advocate, anti-authoritian, socialist, and eugenicist. She was active in the Socialist party, but was friends with communists, like John Reed, and anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. She is said to have coined the phrase "birth control" in her magazine, "Woman Rebel," in 1914. The magazine bore the slogan "No Gods; No Masters!" on its masthead. Sanger participated in the Patterson Textile Strike of 1913, and was a contributor to Hippolyte Havel's "Revolt,"Emma Goldman's "Mother Earth," Alexander Berkman's "The Blast," & "The Modern School" magazine. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—September 7

September 7, 1977 – Workers in Ghaziabad, India, burned a factory and lynched two finks, with 40,000 going on strike in solidarity with insurgents. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 7, 1992 – Troops opened fire on thousands of nonviolent African National Congress demonstrators, in the Ciskei "homeland" South Africa, murdering 28. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-7.html

Today in Labor History—September 8

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L4zhB8hOqXk/TmVrHoJ-yTI/AAAAAAAAAzo/akjDNn2MPZ0/s1600/Escuela_Moderna.jpg

September 8, 1901 – Francisco Ferrer, Spanish anarchist educator, opened the libertarian Escuela Moderna in Barcelona, Spain. Modern schools eventually popped up all over Spain and other countries, including several in the U.S. (See History of the Modern School)--(From the Daily Bleed)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jsCqGDb6uk0/TmVrkT3bYII/AAAAAAAAAzs/IPJeEUpi76A/s1600/Bread+Line+at+McKees+Rock+strike+from+Hist+Soc+of+PA.jpg
September 8, 1909 – The bosses bent to the demands of striking Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World, IWW) in McKees Rock, Pa. They agreed to improved working conditions, a raise of 15%, and an end to the “pool system” that gave foremen control over each worker’s pay. It was the Wobbly’s biggest victory to date. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 8, 1911 – The founding congress of the Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (C.N.T.) occurred on this date in Barcelona. Nearly 100 delegates created the framework for this anarcho-syndicalist organization. (From theDaily Bleed)


September 8, 1965 - Cesar Chavez led farm workers in California on their first grape boycott. The nationwide protest lasted five years and ended with the first union contract for U.S. farm workers outside of Hawaii. In 1966, Chavez’s organization officially became the United Farm Workers. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-8.html

Today in Labor History—September 10

September 10, 1859 – Minneapolis’ oldest union, the Minneapolis and St. Anthony Typographical Union No. 42, was chartered on this date (From Workday Minnesota).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NqhmTRGO3Dw/UEJqpO71SzI/AAAAAAAACLU/jZ1SF2-6aeo/s400/Lattimer_massacre.jpg
Lattimer massacre, 1897

September 10, 1897 - A sheriff and deputies killed 19 striking miners and wounded 40 others in Lattimer, Pennsylvania during a peaceful mining protest. Many of those killed were originally brought in as strikebreakers and who later organized and joined the strike. (From the Daily Bleed andTWorkday Minnesota).

September 10, 1941—Trade union leaders were shot by German firing squads in retaliation for striking. (From the Daily Bleed).

September 10, 1962—The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that James Meredith could be admitted to the University of Mississippi. (From the Daily Bleed).

September 10, 1963—The 20 black children were integrated into Birmingham schools in spite of opposition by the city. (From the Daily Bleed).

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-10.html

Today in Labor History—September 11

September 11, 1916 – The trial of labor activist Warren Billings began in San Francisco on trumped up charges stemming from the Preparedness Day parade bombing. (From the Daily Bleed)


September 11, 1925 – Thee IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) marine strike began. (From the Daily Bleed)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HDMcuCSBvvw

September 11, 1973 – The CIA overthrew the democratically elected government of Allende, ending nearly 150 years of democratic rule. Also killed in the coup were folk singer Victor Jara, and American IWW journalist Frank Teruggi. Jara courageously continued singing Venceremos (We Shall Win) while he lay on the ground, hands broken by his torturers, as they slaughtered hundreds in the national stadium. 16 years of military terror followed underPinochet. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 11, 2001 - The World Trade Center was attacked in New York City, killing hundreds of workers and setting into motion a decade of U.S. initiated terror on civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and domestic repression within the U.S.

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-11.html

Today in Labor History—September 12

September 12, 1866 – Somewhere on or around this date in 1866, the first African-American trade union, the Colored Caulkers' Trade Union Society of Baltimore, was founded, with Isaac Myers as the union's first president. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 12, 1932 – Unemployed people marched on grocery stores and seized food from shops in Toledo, Ohio. Many unemployed workers were near starvation after county authorities cut off relief. Across the country starving people were taking direct action instead of waiting for government help. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 12, 1934 – National Guards troops were deployed throughout New England (except Vermont and New Hampshire) to quell textile labor strikes. 1,500 strikers fought state troopers in Connecticut, with other conflicts occurring in Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell and Lewiston. In Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 500 protestors attacked the police with bricks. National Guards fired into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 12, 1998 - Union Square in New York City was named a national historic landmark, with a plaque commemorating it as the site of the first Labor Day in 1882. Samuel Gompers spoke there in 1886 on May Day and the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) demonstrated frequently during the economic depression of 1914-15. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-12.html

Today in Labor History—September 14

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6xJR91xJAfs/Tmwp69PUzrI/AAAAAAAAA0U/kZC06ScuAHA/s400/230px-EugeneDebs.gif
September 14, 1918 - Labor leader and Socialist Eugene V. Debs was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for opposing World War I. During his sentencing he said “. . . while there is a lower class I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free . . .” While in prison, Debs became the first person to run for U.S. president while behind bars, winning nearly 1 million votes. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 14, 1930 – More than 100 Mexican and Filipino farmworkers were arrested for union activities in the Imperial Valley, California. (From theDaily Bleed)

September 14, 1959 - Congress passed the Landrum-Griffin Act, which strengthened the union-busting Taft-Hartley Act and further restricted union activity. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-14.html

edit:

On this day in 1929, during the Loray Mill strike in Gastonia, North Carolina, National Textile Workers Union members were ambushed by a group of armed men.
The group - consisting of local vigilantes and a sheriff's deputy - attacked the workers on their way back home from a meeting. They proceeded to force mill striker and songwriter Ella Mae Wiggins' pickup truck off the road, and shot the 29 year-old mother of nine in the chest, killing her.
Though there were around 50 witnesses during the assault, five of the attackers were arrested - but all acquitted of her murder.
After her death, the AFL-CIO expanded Wiggins' grave marker in 1979, to include the phrase, "She died carrying the torch of social justice."

http://www.thebellforum.com/showthread.php?t=81217

Today in Labor History—September 15

September 15, 1919 – President Coolidge busted the Boston police labor strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 15, 1931 -- Sailors at Invergordon, Scotland, mutinied over pay cuts. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 15, 1963 - Four young African-American girls—Denise McNair, 11, and Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, all 14—were killed at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, in Birmingham, Alabama, helping to mobilize support for the civil rights movement. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 15, 1970 - Over 350,000 members of the United Auto Workers went on strike against General Motors. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-15.html

Today in Labor History—September 17

September 17, 1862 – The Battle of Antietam in western Maryland was bloodiest single day in the American Civil War, resulting in over 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 17, 1862 – The Allegheny Arsenal exploded, killing seventy-five workers, including 43 girls—the worst industrial accident associated with the Civil War.

September 17, 1871 – The International Workingman’s Association (IWA) held their conference in London, from September 17-23. It was the first Communist International. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 17, 1900 – 100,000 Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners went on strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 17, 1901 – Twenty-five anarchists and their families were terrorized and driven out of town by patriotic citizens in Guffey Hollow, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

September 17, 1934 – Southern employers met in Greenville, North Carolina, to plan a counter-offensive to bust the textile labor strikes along the Eastern seaboard. An army of 10,000 National Guardsmen and 15,000 armed deputies was subsequently mobilized in Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama and Mississippi. The show of force failed, however, as 421,000 struck the following day. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 17, 1989 – The year-long Pittston Coal strike began on this date, as 98 miners and a minister occupied the Pittston Coal Company's Moss 3 preparation plant in Carbo, Virginia. The strike began after Pittston terminated health benefits for retirees, widows and disabled miners. State troopers were called in to arrest strikers after violent conflicts occurred, yet the struggle barely made the news the U.S. The United Mineworkers (UMWA) ultimately won, and the Pittston strike became one of the few labor victories of the 1980s. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-17.html

Today in Labor History—September 18

September 18, 1934 -- Textile workers went on a General Strike on the east coast, with 325,000 striking in the south and 421,000 striking nationwide. 1.5 million struck in various industries in 1934. There was also a growing anti-war movement, with 25,000 students striking against the war in 1934, while 500,000 students participated in anti-war demonstrations in 1936. (From theDaily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-18.html

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9r5vixIwU1qf826yo1_500.jpg

http://delphi.tcl.sc.edu/library/mirc/posters/MVTN_23-156.jpg

http://media.independentmail.com/media/img/photos/2009/09/04/0907ChiquolaMillFile1_t607.jpg

Today in Labor History—September 19

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UcRt4PiHeJc/TnVAnvmC1YI/AAAAAAAAA0o/tpntjgODyts/s1600/455px-Alexander_Berkman_1.png
September 19, 1892 – Alexander Berkman was convicted for attempting to assassinate Henry Frick and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Berkman tried to kill Frick in retaliation for Frick’s role in suppressing the Homestead strike and massacring workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 19, 1981 - Over 400,000 union members marched in the first Solidarity Day demonstration in Washington, D.C., to protest Reagan’s firing of striking PATCO air traffic controllers. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-19.html

Today in Labor History—September 21

September 21, 1896 - The militia was sent to Leadville, Colorado, to bust a miners’ strike. Leadville was a leading mining community during the latter half of the 19th century due to its rich silver deposits. The amazing mineral wealth of Colorado turned it into the nation’s main mining region, and contributed to wealth of families like the Guggenheims. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y3c6LLg3y3s/TnVG-tmyV1I/AAAAAAAAA0w/pRVywRbqF80/s1600/406px-Mother_Jones_1902-11-04.jpg
September 21, 1913 – Mother Jones led a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston. Between 1912 and 1913, there were frequent violent conflicts during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia. (Fromthe Daily Bleed)


September 21, 1945 – 200,000 coalminers struck to win collective bargaining rights for supervisory employees. (From the Daily Bleed)
(Well that didn't last long, in a couple years Taft-Hartley would render this win moot. bp)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-21.html

Today in Labor History—September 22

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OTM2Vn83OPY/TnZwNWR4TpI/AAAAAAAAA00/nK6-qIfA8rI/s400/Coming_out_of_the_smoke.jpg

September 22, 1919 - Almost 400,000 steelworkers in 50 cities struck to protest intolerable working conditions. Union leaders believed that if they could organizer the steel workers, it would lead to a massive wave of unionization across the country. Thus began the Great Steel Strike of 1919. The bosses called upon the federal troops and crushed the strike after 3½ months, killing twenty-two people in the process. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qrhsqyaxYLM/TnZwzfPAmfI/AAAAAAAAA04/eV84WxBg7-U/s400/Miners_assemble.jpg
Miners arriving to join in the Battle of Blair Mountain

September 22, 1922 – Martial law was ended in Mingo County, West Virginia, after overwhelming force by mine owners’ goons, police and U.S. troops suppressed the mining strike there. (Also see the Battle of Blair Mountain) (From the Daily Bleed)

September 22, 1934 – The United Textile Workers (UTW) strike committee ordered strikers back to work, bring to an end "the greatest single industrial conflict in the history of American organized labor." However, the Southern employers continued to try to bust the textile unions and their ongoing agitation occurring along the Eastern seaboard. 10,000 National Guardsmen were mobilized in Georgia and the Carolinas, Alabama, & Mississippi, with an additional army of 15,000 armed deputies. Despite the overwhelming show of force, it is estimated that 421,000 textile workers had joined the strike, an increase of 20,000 new strikers in just one week. In response, martial law was declared in Georgia and the National Guardsmen started to arrest and jail large numbers of strikers without charge, holding them in World War I concentration camps. 13 strikers were killed and 34 strike leaders were held incommunicado. (From the Daily Bleed and Jeremy Brecher, Strike! p176)

September 22, 1935 – 400,000 coal workers went on strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 22, 1946 – 4,000 workers marched in Valleyfield, Quebec to protest the arrest of Medeliene Parent, a leader of the dominion textile strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-22.html

Today in Labor History—September 24

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0qFTdlRq4NU/TnaDN-k_t2I/AAAAAAAAA1A/ws43_RUyWec/s1600/464px-IWW_charter+Vancouver+1906.jpg
Canada's First IWW Charter, Vancouver, 1906

September 24, 1918 – The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) were declared illegal in Canada. The ban was lifted in 1919. By 1923, the IWW had several branches in Canada, including th e Lumberworkers IU 120 and Marine Transport Workers IU 510 in Vancouver, and an LWIU branch in Cranbrook BC for a total of 5,600 members. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yITLiOvnG8E/TnaCpHMsRtI/AAAAAAAAA08/VEJglZenzPE/s1600/353px-Manifestaci%25C3%25B3_27_d%2527agost.jpg
Student Demonstration, August 27, Mexico City

September 24, 1968 – Soldiers battled students at the National University in México City, killing 17 and arresting at least 1,000. On September 23, students held off the army from the Polytechnic campus for more than 12 hours. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 24, 1969 – The Chicago 8 Conspiracy Trial began on this date in 1969. David Dellinger, Rennie Davis, Thomas Hayden, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, John Froines, Lee Weiner, Bobby Seale went on trial before Judge Julius Hoffman for inciting a riot. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-24.html

Today in Labor History—September 25

September 25, 1789 - The first Congress of the United States adopted the amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights, including the first amendment, which “guarantees” freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble, the legal basis for most workplace rights. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 25, 1894 - Playwright John Howard Lawson was born on this date in New York City. Lawson wrote several plays about the working class, includingThe International (1928), which depicts a world revolution by the proletariat, andMarching Song (1937), about a sit-down strike. In the late 1940s, Lawson was blacklisted as a member of the “Hollywood Ten” for his refusal to tell the House Committee on Un-American Activities about his political allegiances. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-25.html

Today in Labor History—September 26

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fppV6Jd-jqo/Tn5xkkKvHKI/AAAAAAAAA1c/FqrJgHHJuRc/s400/800px-Daniel_Shays_and_Job_Shattuck.jpg
Daniel Shays and Job Shattuck, the Two Rebel Leaders

September 26, 1786 – Former Continental Army captain Daniel Shays led a group of farmers in an armed uprising against taxes imposed by the state of Massachusetts, known as Shays' Rebellion. Many farmers were destitute as a result of the depression that following the Revolutionary War. The rebels shut down the courts to block judges from foreclosing their farmland. The rebellion was quickly suppressed by the government, but the rebels did not give up. Instead, the next year they switched to electoral politics. (From Workday Minnesota)

********************************************************************************

On September 26, 1908, the first production Ford Model T left the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Mich. It was the first car ever manufactured on an assembly line.
The problems of speedup and other dangerous assembly line practices were skewered in Charlie Chaplin's classic film "Modern Times." The film's exaggerated depiction of assembly line work wasn't far from the truth.
As Art Perlo wrote for the People's World in 2006:
"Henry Ford outlawed talking, restricted bathroom breaks, denied pay for setup time, and sped up the production line. Turnover was high, with workers leaving injured, exhausted or fired. Ford employed a private army of thugs, recruited from jails and prisons, to spy on, intimidate and crush any efforts by his workers to organize.
"Ford was reputed to be the richest man in the world. He cultivated an image as a kindly inventor who upheld old-fashioned values. But when the Depression struck in the 1930s, he cut wages and sped up production even more. When thousands of unemployed workers marched to his plant to ask for the relief Ford had promised, they were met with machine-gun fire from company police. Five workers were killed."
Ford boasted that he would never accept a union and for over 20 years he kept the union out of his huge River Rouge factory with guns, goons, blacklists and frame-ups.
The biography of "Brother Bill McKie" by journalist Phil Bonosky is an inspiring story about auto's rank and file, how they fought a long and bloody struggle and how, together, they won with the establishment of the United Auto Workers union. The paperback edition is available from International Publishers.

http://peoplesworld.org/assets/Uploads/Fordassemblyline515x300.jpg

http://peoplesworld.org/today-in-labor-history-the-first-model-t-leaves-the-assembly-line/

Today in Labor History—September 27

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tQlFoEC_jlw/Tn50HFfBblI/AAAAAAAAA1g/oBheZ_sKyEA/s1600/Lowell+textile+Girls+c1870.jpg
Lowell MA Textile Girls, c1870 (public domain)

September 27, 1875 - Textile workers struck in Fall River, Massachusetts, demanding bread for their starving children. Approximately one in six children between the ages of 10 and 15 was working during the second half of the 19thcentury, primarily in textile mills, print shops, coal mines and factories. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

September 27, 1940 – FDR met with A. Philip Randolph, president of Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Walter White, executive secretary NAACP, and T. Arnold Hill, acting secretary of the National Urban League, to demand the desegregation of the armed forces. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 27, 1950 – President Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize the nation's railroads to prevent a General Strike. The railroads were held by the military for two years. (From the Daily Bleed)


September 27, 1954 - A U.S. Senate Committee censured Joe McCarthy, bringing to an end the witch hunts (not). (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-27.html

Today in Labor History—September 28

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nQYbNP6JaVM/Tn53s_7iWDI/AAAAAAAAA1k/MzaIH_PjUAg/s400/548px-Karl_Marx.jpg

September 28, 1864 – The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), the first Communist International, was founded on this date in London.

September 28, 1917 - Federal agents arrested 165 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World) for their resistance to World War I. Over 300 IWW leaders were arrested in September and their offices raided throughout the country. Of course their real crime was continuing to engage in labor strikes and slowdowns, despite the war propaganda. (From Workday Minnesota)

September 28, 1920 -- Throughout September there were widespread occupations of Italian factories by workers. The actions originated in the auto factories, steel mills and machine tool plants, but spread to many other industries, including cotton mills, hosiery firms, lignite mines, tire factories, breweries & distilleries, steamships and warehouses in the port towns. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 28, 1971 – After years of corporate plunder, the Chilean government expropriated Anaconda and Kennecott copper mines, pissing off American capitalists and setting the stage for the CIA supported coup of 1973, which lead to the brutal Pinochet dictatorship and 17 years of repression and violence. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/09/today-in-labor-historyseptember-28.html

Today in Labor History—October 1

October 1, 1838 – The Cherokees began the “The Trail of Tears” forced march in which hundreds died of sickness, dehydration, and exposure. (FromWorkday Minnesota)


October 1, 1851 – 10,000 New Yorkers busted up a police station in Syracuse to free a recaptured escaped slave. William "Jerry" Henry, a runaway slave and craftsman in Syracuse, NY, was arrested by a US Marshall and was set to be returned to slavery. Citizens of the city stormed the sheriff's office, freed Henry and helped him escape to Canada via the Underground Railroad. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 1, 1894 – Greek workers employed by the Suez Canal Company went on strike in Egypt. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 1, 1910 – Twenty-one people were killed when the Los Angeles Times building was dynamited during a labor strike. Anarchists were immediately blamed. The McNamara brothers were kidnapped and taken to the private home of a Chicago police sergeant, where many labor leaders believe they were tortured. They were convicted based on the testimony of a third individual who was also presumably tortured (From the Daily Bleed)

October 1, 1918 -- Street fighting between workers and the authorities occurred in Berlin throughout October and November. By November, the country was in a full-scale revolution, with councils of workers, soldiers, intellectuals and artists replacing the government. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 1, 1949 – 500,000 U.S. steel workers went on strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/today-in-labor-historyoctober-1.html

Today in Labor History—October 2

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IyQ_QTmE3v4/Tn94Ep9EC9I/AAAAAAAAA20/xnurT8tVIK8/s400/200px-Nat_Turner_woodcut.jpg
October 2 1800 -- Slave rebellion leader Nat Turner was born on this date in 1800. Turner led the only effective, sustained slave revolt in August, 1831, in U.S. history. His actions set off a new wave of oppressive legislation by whites prohibiting the education, movement and assembly of slaves. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 2, 1935 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed a crowd in right wing San Diego asserting the right of all workers to join unions. "It is now beyond partisan controversy that it is a fundamental individual right of a worker to associate himself with other workers and to bargain collectively with his employer." (From Workday Minnesota)

October 2, 1968 – The Tlatelolco Massacre occurred in Mexico City. 15,000 students were demonstrating at the Plaza of Three Cultures against the army’s occupation of the University. The army ambushed the students, opened fire, and killed nearly 300. They also arrested thousands. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aJc_5rA9bMs/Tn941kEjguI/AAAAAAAAA28/gpV4FuV3Jnk/s400/iww+starbucks.jpg
October 2, 2007 – The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Starbucks Workers Union won their grievances against the Starbucks in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Starbucks chose to settle after the NLRB busted them for anti-labor violations. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/today-in-labor-historyoctober-2.html

Today in Labor History—October 8

October 8, 1889 - The Printing & Graphic Communications Union was created. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ML0HpMABF_M/ToeSQ7iM1JI/AAAAAAAAA4M/JVhDHGasD9I/s1600/Mooney-tom-1910.jpg
Tom Mooney

October 8, 1919 –A General Strike was called to demand the release of Tom Mooney and amnesty for all political prisoners. Mooney was a labor organizer who was falsely convicted of the fatal Preparedness Day bombing. He was not released until 1939. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 8, 1965 – The Indonesian military began massacring thousands of "suspected" Communists. The U.S. embassy provided death squads with the names of 5,000 “communists.” Overall, the reign of terror led to 500,000 civilian deaths. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 8, 1967 - Ernesto “Che” Guevara was executed in Bolivia. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

October 8, 1969 – SDS Weathermen launched their "Days of Rage" in Chicago, during which they blew up a statue commemorating the police involved in the 1886 Haymarket tragedy bombing which resulted in the execution of innocent anarchists. The statue was replaced and blown up again in 1970. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 8, 1969 -- Disguised as a funeral procession, the Uruguayan Tupamaro urban guerrilla organization occupied the town of Pando, robbing three banks of over 40 million pesos. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/today-in-labor-historyoctober-8.html

Today in Labor History—October 9

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RrYya79xTV8/UGhwGWRQ4hI/AAAAAAAACPs/mPT1dmUFvxU/s320/Vorse-mary-heaton-1915.jpg
Mary Heaton Vorse, passport phot0, 1915 (from Wikipedia)

October 9, 1874 - Mary Heaton Vorse was born on this date in New York. Vorse was a labor journalist who wrote eyewitness accounts of many of the significant labor battles of her day. She also wrote the novel, "Strike!" which was made into a film in 2007.(From Workday Minnesota)

October 9, 1936—A lettuce strike occurred in Salinas, California. Fearing the communists, authorities removed the red flags that had appeared throughout town, only to find out later that they are part of a traffic check being done by the state highway division. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 9, 1969—Ernesto “Che” Guevara was captured and summarily executed on this date, at the age of 39. (From the Daily Bleed)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/today-in-labor-historyoctober-9.html

Today in Labor History—October 10

October 10, 1912 – The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) struck in Little Falls, New York. (From the Daily Bleed)


October 10, 1933 - 18,000 cotton workers struck in Pixley, California. Four were killed in the struggle, which ultimately won them a raise.. (From Workday Minnesota)

http://modeducation.blogspot.com/2012/10/today-in-labor-historyoctober-10.html