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| John Brown, c1856 |
May 9, 1800 – John Brown, anti-slavery freedom fighter, was born, Torrington, Connecticut. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1892 – A coal mine exploded at Roslyn, Washington, killing 45 mine workers. (From the Daily Bleed)
1900 – Striking tram workers blew up a tramcar during riots in St. Louis. (From the Daily Bleed)
1918 – Bolshevik troops opened fire on workers protesting food shortages in the town of Kolpino. (From the Daily Bleed)
1934 –Longshoremen
began a strike for a union hiring hall and union recognition,
ultimately leading to the San Francisco general strike. After World War
One, West Coast long shore workers were poorly organized or represented
by company unions. The IWW had tried to organize them and had some
successes, like in San Pedro, in 1922, but they were ultimately crushed
by injunctions, imprisonment, deportation and vigilante violence. While
longshoremen lacked a well-organized union, they retained a syndicalist
sentiment and militancy. Many Wobblies were still working the docks. On
May 9, 1934, longshoremen walked off the job at ports up and down the
West Coast, soon to be followed by sailors. Strikers were shot by the
bosses’ goons in San Pedro. There was also violence in Oakland and San
Francisco. Street battles between the cops and strikers continued in San
Francisco, heating up on July 3, and culminating in Bloody Thursday, on
July 5, when 3 workers were shot by police (two of them died). The
attack led to a four-day general strike that effectively shut down
commerce in San Francisco, despite police violence and attempts to
weaken it by national unions. (From the Daily Bleed, Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)
May 9, 1970
– Labor leader Walter Reuther and his wife May died suspiciously in an
airplane crash. Repeated attempts had been made on Reuther’s live going
back to 1938. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1972
– A general strike began in Quebec in protest of the jailing of three
labor leaders, Louis Laberge, Marcel Pepin, Yvon Charbonneau. (From the Daily Bleed)
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| John Brown, c1856 |
May 9, 1800 – John Brown, anti-slavery freedom fighter, was born, Torrington, Connecticut. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1892 – A coal mine exploded at Roslyn, Washington, killing 45 mine workers. (From the Daily Bleed)
1900 – Striking tram workers blew up a tramcar during riots in St. Louis. (From the Daily Bleed)
1918 – Bolshevik troops opened fire on workers protesting food shortages in the town of Kolpino. (From the Daily Bleed)
1934 –Longshoremen
began a strike for a union hiring hall and union recognition,
ultimately leading to the San Francisco general strike. After World War
One, West Coast long shore workers were poorly organized or represented
by company unions. The IWW had tried to organize them and had some
successes, like in San Pedro, in 1922, but they were ultimately crushed
by injunctions, imprisonment, deportation and vigilante violence. While
longshoremen lacked a well-organized union, they retained a syndicalist
sentiment and militancy. Many Wobblies were still working the docks. On
May 9, 1934, longshoremen walked off the job at ports up and down the
West Coast, soon to be followed by sailors. Strikers were shot by the
bosses’ goons in San Pedro. There was also violence in Oakland and San
Francisco. Street battles between the cops and strikers continued in San
Francisco, heating up on July 3, and culminating in Bloody Thursday, on
July 5, when 3 workers were shot by police (two of them died). The
attack led to a four-day general strike that effectively shut down
commerce in San Francisco, despite police violence and attempts to
weaken it by national unions. (From the Daily Bleed, Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)
May 9, 1970
– Labor leader Walter Reuther and his wife May died suspiciously in an
airplane crash. Repeated attempts had been made on Reuther’s live going
back to 1938. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1972
– A general strike began in Quebec in protest of the jailing of three
labor leaders, Louis Laberge, Marcel Pepin, Yvon Charbonneau. (From the Daily Bleed)
July 5, 1888 – Three women were fired from the Bryant & May factory in East London for exposing the appalling working conditions there. The other 672 women laborers come out in solidarity leading to the “Match Girls' Strike” which was unsuccessful as a strike, but highly effective at generating solidarity and galvanizing the working class movement. (From the Daily Bleed)
July 5, 1894 –Federal government and troops interfered with a peaceful labor strike, led by Eugene Debs, against the Pullman Palace Car Company, which had cut wages. Federal troops killed 34 American Railway Union members in the Chicago area. Debs and others were imprisoned for violating injunctions. (From the Daily Bleed)
July 5, 1934 - Two strikers were shot and killed and more than 100 were injured by San Francisco police in what came to be known as "Bloody Thursday," leading to one of the last General Strikes in U.S. The governor called in the National Guard to suppress the strike. Police and Guard violence led to 43 injuries due to clubbing and gas, and 30 more for bullet wounds. Two chemical companies used the unrest as an opportunity to test and sell their wares. According to the Daily Bleed, Joseph Roush, from Federal Laboratories, shot a long-range tear gas shell at the strikers. He then told his company, "I might mention that during one of the riots, I shot a long-range projectile into a group, a shell hitting one man and causing a fracture of the skull, from which he has since died. As he was a Communist, I have had no feeling in the matter and I am sorry that I did not get more." (From the Daily Bleed and Workday Minnesota)
July 5, 1998 – Rebel Longshoreman, writer and Wobbly Gilbert Mers (1908-1998) died. Mers wrote the book Working the Waterfront: The Ups & Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman in which he exposed the Texas Rangers of the 1930s and 40s as legalized strike-breaking bullies. (From the Daily Bleed)
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| John Brown, c1856 |
May 9, 1800 – John Brown, anti-slavery freedom fighter, was born, Torrington, Connecticut. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1892 – A coal mine exploded at Roslyn, Washington, killing 45 mine workers. (From the Daily Bleed)
1900 – Striking tram workers blew up a tramcar during riots in St. Louis. (From the Daily Bleed)
1918 – Bolshevik troops opened fire on workers protesting food shortages in the town of Kolpino. (From the Daily Bleed)
1934 –Longshoremen began a strike for a union hiring hall and union recognition, ultimately leading to the San Francisco general strike. After World War One, West Coast long shore workers were poorly organized or represented by company unions. The IWW had tried to organize them and had some successes, like in San Pedro, in 1922, but they were ultimately crushed by injunctions, imprisonment, deportation and vigilante violence. While longshoremen lacked a well-organized union, they retained a syndicalist sentiment and militancy. Many Wobblies were still working the docks. On May 9, 1934, longshoremen walked off the job at ports up and down the West Coast, soon to be followed by sailors. Strikers were shot by the bosses’ goons in San Pedro. There was also violence in Oakland and San Francisco. Street battles between the cops and strikers continued in San Francisco, heating up on July 3, and culminating in Bloody Thursday, on July 5, when 3 workers were shot by police (two of them died). The attack led to a four-day general strike that effectively shut down commerce in San Francisco, despite police violence and attempts to weaken it by national unions. (From the Daily Bleed, Workday Minnesota and Wikipedia)
May 9, 1970 – Labor leader Walter Reuther and his wife May died suspiciously in an airplane crash. Repeated attempts had been made on Reuther’s live going back to 1938. (From the Daily Bleed)
May 9, 1972 – A general strike began in Quebec in protest of the jailing of three labor leaders, Louis Laberge, Marcel Pepin, Yvon Charbonneau. (From the Daily Bleed)
