Today in Labor History--April 15

April 15, 1834 –"Bloody Week" ended in Lyon, France, with a blood bath against insurgent silk workers. Several hundred were killed. (From The Daily Bleed)

A. Philip Randolph, 1963

April 15, 1889 – Birth of A. Philip Randolph, organizer and president of the African-American Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. According to Randolph "The labor movement traditionally has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, and the poor." Randolph believed in permanent social change, but not without the direct participation of those affected, including mass demonstrations.  Initially, no African-American newspapers supported his fight to unionize the Pullman porters. (From Workday Minnesota and The Daily Bleed)

April 15, 1915 – The IWW union Agricultural Workers Organization formed in Kansas City, Mo. (From the Unionist)

April 15, 1916  – The American Federation of Teachers was created in Chicago. (From the Unionist)

April 15, 1919 –  The first women-led union, the Telephone Operators Department of IBEW began what would ultimately become a successful six-day strike across New England. (From the Unionist)

April 15, 1920 – Two men rob and kill Frederick Parmenter & Alessandro Berardelli, employees of the Slater & Morrill Shoe Company, in South Braintree, Massachusetts, making off with the $15,776.51 payroll they were carrying. The anarchists Sacco & Vanzetti ultimately were blamed for the robbery, convicted by a kangaroo court and executed. (From The Daily Bleed)

Sacco and Vanzetti, 1927

April 15, 1934 – Transport Workers Union was founded. (From the Unionist)

April 15, 1951 – The first strike wave against fascist Spain began in the Basque country and spread to Catalonia. Over 100,000 workers from a number of different industries & cities defied the government's order to return to work and risked prison or death. (From The Daily Bleed)