Today in Labor History—January 24

Victims of the Red Scare Awaiting Deportation at Ellis Island, 1/3/20 (from Wikipedia)

January 24, 1920—Palmer raids (or first Red Scare), which began on January 2, continued throughout January, resulting in the arrest of 3,000 labor activists and suspected anarchists and communists in 30 cities and 20 states. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 24, 1937 -- The United Auto Workers (UAW) organized their first aircraft local. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 24, 1981 – Millions of Polish workers walked off the job in support of Solidarity’s demand for a 5-day work week. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 15

December 15, 1792 - The U.S. Bill of Rights was adopted promising freedom of speech, religion, the press, and "the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (From Workday Minnesota

December 15, 1882 – The women tailors union, first women's trade union in Australia, was formed on this date. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1941 – The AFL labor union pledged not to strike in any defense-related industries for the duration of the war. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1965 – In an attempt to outdo their patriotism during World War II, the AFL-CIO pledged its "unstinting support" for the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1970 – Polish youth and workers torched the Gdansk Communist Party headquarters and quietly watched it burn. Elsewhere in Poland, ZOMO riot police shot miners striking at "Manifest Lipcowy" mine in Jastrzebie, Upper Silesia, wounding four. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1992 -- 300,000 coal miners struck against the Solidarity government in Poland. (from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 14

Daneil DeLeon, 1902 (from Wikipedia, public domain)

December 14, 1852 -- Daniel DeLeon was born on this date in Curacao, West Indies. DeLeon was one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was also a leader of the pro-political action faction within the IWW that hoped to create socialism through the ballot box. Soon after the founding of the IWW, his faction lost out to the pro-Direct Action faction, led by Big Bill Haywood, and eventually broke off to form the short-lived Workers International Industrial Union. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Errico Malatesta (from Wikipedia, public domain)

 December 14, 1853 – Italian anarchist theorist and militant Errico Malatestawas born on this date in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Naples. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1957 – Dave Beck, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was convicted of embezzling from his own union. (From the Daily Bleed )

Polish 1970 protests in Gdynia: body of  Zbyszek Godlewski) carried by the demonstrators.(from Wikipedia, public domain)

 December 14, 1970 – Strikes began in Gdansk, Poland, and spread to Gdynia, Szczecin, other industrial centers, with widespread factory occupations. Rioting toppled the Communist government, only to see it replaced with a new military regime. Labor resistance and protest continued in Gdansk, leading to the formation of Solidarnosc, which toppled the Communist government once and for all in the 1980s. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1992 – 300,000 coal workers struck against Poland’s "Solidarity" government. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1995 – 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ended a 69-day strike at Boeing, winning increases in pay and health benefits and job protections against subcontracting.. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—December 13

December 13, 1924 - American Federation of Labor founder and President Samuel Gompers died at age 74. One of his most famous quotes was "We want more schoolhouses and less jails, more books and less arsenals, more learning and less vice, more constant work and less crime, more leisure and less greed, more justice and less revenge (From Workday Minnesota)

December 13, 1971 --  Workers in Namibia struck against the contract labor system imposed by the South African government, marking the beginning of popular support for southern African liberation struggles. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 13, 1981 – Communist General Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland for the next three years to suppress and destroy the 10-million strong Solidarnosc trade union workers' movement, during which at least 10,000 activists were. This date is now known as "Solidarity Day."

Today in Labor History—December 9

Kropotkin, c1900 (from Wikipedia, public domain)

December 9, 1842 – Prince Peter Kropotkin, geographer and anarchist communist, was born on this date in Moscow. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 9, 1869 – The Knights of Labor was founded on this date in Philadelphia as a secret society open to all members of the producing classes except "parasites" like stockbrokers, gamblers and lawyers. The Knights were one of the most important labor organizations of the late 1800s, reaching a membership of 700,000 by 1886. While other unions were fighting for a 10-hour work day, the Knights were demanding a 8-hour day, as well as an end to child and convict labor. They were also one of the earliest labor organizations to accept blacks and women. Yet they supported the Chinese Exclusion Act and participated in anti-Chinese riots. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

December 9, 1953 – General Electric announced that it would fire all Communist employees.

December 9, 1990 - Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity trade union, was elected president of Poland, demonstrating that even a labor agitator can become a member of the ruling elite, so long as he promotes free market capitalism. (It doesn’t hurt if he is also a rabid anti-communist, anti-abortionist, homophobic nationalist).

Today in Labor History—October 9

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)

October 9, 1982—The Polish anti-communist trade union Solidarnosc was declared illegal. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 31

August 31, 1909—Francisco Ferrer, the Spanish anarchist educator and creator of the first Modern Schools (Escuelas Modernas), was charged as “author in chief” of the uprising known as the “Tragic Week.” He was executed on October 13, 1909, leading to worldwide condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the protests that followed, while supporters created new Modern Schools throughout the world, including dozens in the U.S.

John Reed

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, 1980 – Solidarnosc forced the Polish dictatorship to sign a 21 point bill of rights allowing workers to organize in independent unions. The agreement came after two months of crippling strikes that began at the shipyards of Gdansk. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1983 – Polish police used tear gas and water cannons on 10,000 Solidarity demonstrators. (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)

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)

Today in Labor History—August 14

August 14, 1846 – Henry David Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay his taxes in protest of the Mexican War. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 14, 1850 – Squatters' riots occurred in California. 500 militia men were sent to Sacramento to quell the uprising and martial law was declared. 2 squatters and 3 militiamen were killed, as were 2 bystanders. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

August 14, 1934 - The most successful anti-poverty program in U.S. history was created when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. (From Workday Minnesota)

August 14, 1999 - Former AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland died. Kirkland was a staunch anti-Communist and strong supporter of the Solidarity movement in Poland. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—January 24

Victims of the Red Scare Awaiting Deportation at Ellis Island, 1/3/20 (from Wikipedia)

January 24, 1920—Palmer raids (or first Red Scare), which began on January 2, continued throughout January, resulting in the arrest of 3,000 labor activists and suspected anarchists and communists in 30 cities and 20 states. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 24, 1937 -- The United Auto Workers (UAW) organized their first aircraft local. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 24, 1981 – Millions of Polish workers walked off the job in support of Solidarity’s demand for a 5-day work week. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 15

December 15, 1792 - The U.S. Bill of Rights was adopted promising freedom of speech, religion, the press, and "the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (From Workday Minnesota

December 15, 1882 – The women tailors union, first women's trade union in Australia, was formed on this date. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1941 – The AFL labor union pledged not to strike in any defense-related industries for the duration of the war. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1965 – In an attempt to outdo their patriotism during World War II, the AFL-CIO pledged its "unstinting support" for the U.S. war effort in Vietnam. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1970 – Polish youth and workers torched the Gdansk Communist Party headquarters and quietly watched it burn. Elsewhere in Poland, ZOMO riot police shot miners striking at "Manifest Lipcowy" mine in Jastrzebie, Upper Silesia, wounding four. (from the Daily Bleed)

December 15, 1992 -- 300,000 coal miners struck against the Solidarity government in Poland. (from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 14

Daneil DeLeon, 1902 (from Wikipedia, public domain)

December 14, 1852 -- Daniel DeLeon was born on this date in Curacao, West Indies. DeLeon was one of the founding members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). He was also a leader of the pro-political action faction within the IWW that hoped to create socialism through the ballot box. Soon after the founding of the IWW, his faction lost out to the pro-Direct Action faction, led by Big Bill Haywood, and eventually broke off to form the short-lived Workers International Industrial Union. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Errico Malatesta (from Wikipedia, public domain)

 December 14, 1853 – Italian anarchist theorist and militant Errico Malatesta was born on this date in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Naples. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1957 – Dave Beck, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, was convicted of embezzling from his own union. (From the Daily Bleed )

Polish 1970 protests in Gdynia: body of  Zbyszek Godlewski) carried by the demonstrators.(from Wikipedia, public domain)

 December 14, 1970 – Strikes began in Gdansk, Poland, and spread to Gdynia, Szczecin, other industrial centers, with widespread factory occupations. Rioting toppled the Communist government, only to see it replaced with a new military regime. Labor resistance and protest continued in Gdansk, leading to the formation of Solidarnosc, which toppled the Communist government once and for all in the 1980s. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1992 – 300,000 coal workers struck against Poland’s "Solidarity" government. (From the Daily Bleed )

December 14, 1995 – 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ended a 69-day strike at Boeing, winning increases in pay and health benefits and job protections against subcontracting.. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—December 13

December 13, 1924 - American Federation of Labor founder and President Samuel Gompers died at age 74. One of his most famous quotes was "We want more schoolhouses and less jails, more books and less arsenals, more learning and less vice, more constant work and less crime, more leisure and less greed, more justice and less revenge (From Workday Minnesota)

December 13, 1971 --  Workers in Namibia struck against the contract labor system imposed by the South African government, marking the beginning of popular support for southern African liberation struggles. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 13, 1981 – Communist General Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland for the next three years to suppress and destroy the 10-million strong Solidarnosc trade union workers' movement, during which at least 10,000 activists were. This date is now known as "Solidarity Day."

Today in Labor History—December 9

Kropotkin, c1900 (from Wikipedia, public domain)

December 9, 1842 – Prince Peter Kropotkin, geographer and anarchist communist, was born on this date in Moscow. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 9, 1869 – The Knights of Labor was founded on this date in Philadelphia as a secret society open to all members of the producing classes except "parasites" like stockbrokers, gamblers and lawyers. The Knights were one of the most important labor organizations of the late 1800s, reaching a membership of 700,000 by 1886. While other unions were fighting for a 10-hour work day, the Knights were demanding a 8-hour day, as well as an end to child and convict labor. They were also one of the earliest labor organizations to accept blacks and women. Yet they supported the Chinese Exclusion Act and participated in anti-Chinese riots. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

December 9, 1953 – General Electric announced that it would fire all Communist employees.

December 9, 1990 - Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity trade union, was elected president of Poland, demonstrating that even a labor agitator can become a member of the ruling elite, so long as he promotes free market capitalism. (It doesn’t hurt if he is also a rabid anti-communist, anti-abortionist, homophobic nationalist).

Today in Labor History—August 31

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, 1980 – Solidarnosc forced the Polish dictatorship to sign a 21 point bill of rights allowing workers to organize in independent unions. The agreement came after two months of crippling strikes that began at the shipyards of Gdansk. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 31, 1983 – Polish police used tear gas and water cannons on 10,000 Solidarity demonstrators. (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)