Today in Labor History—March 23

March 23, 1871 – Communes were proclaimed in Lyon and Marseilles. The Paris Commune began the day before. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1918 – 101 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World, IWW) went on trial in Chicago for opposing World War I. They were tried for violating the Espionage Act. In September, 1917, 165 IWW leaders were arrested for conspiring to subvert the draft, and encourage desertion. Their trial lasted five months, the longest criminal trial in American history up to that time. The jury found them all guilty. The judge sentenced Big Bill Haywood and 14 others to 20 years in prison. 33 others were given 10 years each. They were also fined a total of $2,500,000. The trial virtually destroyed the IWW. Haywood jumped bail and fled to the USSR, where he remained until his death 10 years later. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1932—The Norris-La Guardia Act  proclaimed that yellow-dog contracts requiring workers to promise not to join a union were unenforceable. The law also limited the courts' ability to issue injunctions against strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1970 - President Richard Nixon declared a national emergency and ordered 30,000 troops to New York City to break the first nationwide postal strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—March 21

March 21, 1927 –Shanghai workers launched an uprising, leading to the Shanghai Commune. The Commune lasted until April 12, when it was crushed by Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist troops with the help of Soviet arms, advisers and money. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 21, 1965 – 3,200 people began the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest racial violence. Earlier efforts to hold the march had failed when police attacked demonstrators and a while minister was fatally beaten by a group of Selma whites. The five-day walk ended March 26, when 20,000 people joined the marchers in front of the Alabama state Capitol in Montgomery. Soon after, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (From Workday Minnesota)

March 21, 1970 – Day 2 of the national wildcat postal strike. In New York, an effigy of Gus Johnson, president of the letter carriers' union local, was hung at a meeting and the national union leaders were called "rats" & "creeps." Despite the anti-strike clause in the postal workers contract and federal injunctions against striking, postal workers walked out in over 200 cities. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 18

(Image from the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1871 – The Paris Commune began on this date, beginning as resistance to occupying German troops and the power of the bourgeoisie. The uprising was suppressed two months later. (From the Daily Bleed)

(Image from the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1918 – Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón was arrested under the Espionage Act, charged with hindering the American war effort, and imprisoned at Leavenworth, where he died under highly suspicious circumstances. The authorities claimed he died of a "heart attack," but Chicano inmates rioted after his death and killed the prison guard they believed killed Magon. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1937 – Police evicted striking retail clerks occupying a New York Woolworth's for the 40-hour week. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1937 – A natural gas explosion in New London, Texas killed over 300 students, teachers and parents in the worst public school disaster in American history. The event led to worldwide sympathy. Even Hitler sent a telegram of condolences. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1968 – The staff of San Francisco's "progressive" rock station KMPX-FM walked out on strike citing a lack of control over programming & "hassles over the whole long-hair riff." Performers like the Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead request the station not play their music as long as the station is run by strikebreakers. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1970 - The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the U.S. Postal Service began on this date in New York City. The walkout was illegal, giving President Richard Nixon the excuse to send in federal troops to sort the mail. But the strike succeeded in forcing Congress to raise wages and reorganize the postal system and marked a new militancy among postal employees. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—January 21

January 21, 1967 – Workers and peasants clashed with Red Guards in Kiangsi, Chins. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 21, 1974 – A four-day postal strike began at Jersey City, N.J. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 21, 1999 – Striking miners used stones and clubs to force their way through riot police in Bucharest Romania. (From the Daily Bleed)

Labor History Timeline--The 1960s and 70s

1962    Federal Workers Granted Right to Unionize. (Sources:UHWO)

1964    Civil Rights Act Bans Workplace Discrimination. (Sources:UHWO)

1965    Delano Grape Strike: The predominantly Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee launched the strike, but it was soon joined by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta’s Mexican-American National Farmworkers Association. The two groups eventually united to form the United Farmworkers (UFW). The union also initiated a nationwide grape boycott that lasted five years and ended with the first union contract for U.S. farm workers outside of Hawaii. (Sources: UHWO, Workday Minnesota)

1968    78 Miners Killed at Consolidated Coal Mines, West Virginia. (Sources: UHWO)

1968    Martin Luther King Assassinated while supporting the AFSCME Sanitation Strike, Memphis. (Sources: UHWO,Wikipedia)

1970    Postal Strike:  The first mass postal strike in U.S. history began when carriers in Manhattan and Brooklyn walked off the job, but quickly spread to 210,000 of the nation’s 750,000 mail carriers. (Sources: UHWO, AFGE)

Trailer for “Harlan County, USA”

1972    Bloody Coal Strike (Again) in Harlan County: Miners struck the Duke Power Company in Harlan County, Kentucky, the sight of numerous bloody strikes in the past (including the Battle of Evarts, 1931). (Sources: UHWO, Wikipedia, The Atlantic)

1974    Karen Silkwood Killed: Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union activist Karen Silkwood was assassinated during her investigation of a Kerr-McGee nuclear plant in Oklahoma. Her car was run off the road while she attempted to deliver documents to a New York Times reporter. (Sources: UHWO,Workday Minnesota)

1975    Jimmy Hoffa Disappears: (Sources: UHWO)        

Today in Labor History—March 23

March 23, 1871 – Communes were proclaimed in Lyon and Marseilles. The Paris Commune began the day before. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1918 – 101 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World, IWW) went on trial in Chicago for opposing World War I. They were tried for violating the Espionage Act. In September, 1917, 165 IWW leaders were arrested for conspiring to subvert the draft, and encourage desertion. Their trial lasted five months, the longest criminal trial in American history up to that time. The jury found them all guilty. The judge sentenced Big Bill Haywood and 14 others to 20 years in prison. 33 others were given 10 years each. They were also fined a total of $2,500,000. The trial virtually destroyed the IWW. Haywood jumped bail and fled to the USSR, where he remained until his death 10 years later. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1932—The Norris-La Guardia Act  proclaimed that yellow-dog contracts requiring workers to promise not to join a union were unenforceable. The law also limited the courts' ability to issue injunctions against strikes. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 23, 1970 - President Richard Nixon declared a national emergency and ordered 30,000 troops to New York City to break the first nationwide postal strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—March 21

March 21, 1927 –Shanghai workers launched an uprising, leading to the Shanghai Commune. The Commune lasted until April 12, when it was crushed by Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist troops with the help of Soviet arms, advisers and money. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 21, 1965 – 3,200 people began the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest racial violence. Earlier efforts to hold the march had failed when police attacked demonstrators and a while minister was fatally beaten by a group of Selma whites. The five-day walk ended March 26, when 20,000 people joined the marchers in front of the Alabama state Capitol in Montgomery. Soon after, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (From Workday Minnesota)

March 21, 1970 – Day 2 of the national wildcat postal strike. In New York, an effigy of Gus Johnson, president of the letter carriers' union local, was hung at a meeting and the national union leaders were called "rats" & "creeps." Despite the anti-strike clause in the postal workers contract and federal injunctions against striking, postal workers walked out in over 200 cities. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 18

(Image from the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1871 – The Paris Commune began on this date, beginning as resistance to occupying German troops and the power of the bourgeoisie. The uprising was suppressed two months later. (From the Daily Bleed)

(Image from the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1918 – Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón was arrested under the Espionage Act, charged with hindering the American war effort, and imprisoned at Leavenworth, where he died under highly suspicious circumstances. The authorities claimed he died of a "heart attack," but Chicano inmates rioted after his death and killed the prison guard they believed killed Magon. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1937 – Police evicted striking retail clerks occupying a New York Woolworth's for the 40-hour week. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1937 – A natural gas explosion in New London, Texas killed over 300 students, teachers and parents in the worst public school disaster in American history. The event led to worldwide sympathy. Even Hitler sent a telegram of condolences. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1968 – The staff of San Francisco's "progressive" rock station KMPX-FM walked out on strike citing a lack of control over programming & "hassles over the whole long-hair riff." Performers like the Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead request the station not play their music as long as the station is run by strikebreakers. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 18, 1970 - The first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the U.S. Postal Service began on this date in New York City. The walkout was illegal, giving President Richard Nixon the excuse to send in federal troops to sort the mail. But the strike succeeded in forcing Congress to raise wages and reorganize the postal system and marked a new militancy among postal employees. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—January 21

January 21, 1967 – Workers and peasants clashed with Red Guards in Kiangsi, Chins. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 21, 1974 – A four-day postal strike began at Jersey City, N.J. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 21, 1999 – Striking miners used stones and clubs to force their way through riot police in Bucharest Romania. (From the Daily Bleed)