Today in Labor History—June 16

Chartist riot, 1838

June 16, 1836 – The London Working Men's Association was formed, launching the Chartist movement.The Chartists took their name from the People's Charter, which demanded universal suffrage for men, regardless of social class. (From the Daily Bleed)

Berlin Revolutionaries

June 16, 1848 – The Berlin arsenal was captured by rebellious citizens. The "German Revolutions" of 1848 swept across 50 European states, mostly affiliated with the German Confederation and Austria. While the middle classes were fighting for a unified German state and increased civil liberties, the working class had more revolutionary aspirations. Participants in the revolution included communist and anarchist revolutionaries like Marx, Engels and Mikhail Bakunin, as well as the composer Wagner. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1869 – In the small mining town of Ricamarie, France, troops were called in to suppress a workers' strike, opening fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of 40 workers, killing 14 (including a 17-month-old girl in her mother’s arms) and wounding 60 others (including 10 children). (From the Daily Bleed)

Susan Anthony

 June 16, 1873 – Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting. (From the Daily Bleed)

Eugene V. Debs delivering his Canton, Ohio speech.

June 16, 1918 –Eugene Debs delivered his famous Canton, Ohio anti-war Speech. America was at war with Germany, at the time, and radicals were being routinely rounded up and jailed, often illegally, when Debs gave this speech. The new Espionage Act was being used to prosecute people for their opposition to the war and Deb’s speech was used to make the case that he had violated the Act. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1920 – The U.S. Marines began fighting in Haiti to defend U.S. “interests” there. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1933 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which recognized the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively through unions. The legislation was later found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. However, it helped inspire a wave of union organizing and pave the way for the National Labor Relations Act, which was passed in 1935. (From Workday Minnesota)

International Brigadiers at the Battle of Belchite

 June 16, 1937 – The Trotskyist POUM, a significant constituent of the Spanish Republican forces (and the group with which George Orwell fought) was outlawed and its militants persecuted by the counter-revolutionary Stalinists and the Republic's police, thus making the Republic and the Stalinists more vulnerable to the fascists. (From the Daily Bleed). For a good fictionalization of the Spanish war against the fascists, and the POUM's and anarchist's betrayal by the Stalinists, see Ken Loach's Tierra y Libertad.

June 16, 1953 – Jack Hall of the ILWU and six others (the "Hawai‘i Seven") were convicted under the Smith Act for being communists. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1976 – 10,000 students demonstrated in Soweto South Africa, protesting against the requirement that they learn the Afrikaans language in their schools. The uprising spread to seven other black townships. In the end, 128 were killed and 1,112 injured. By the end of the year, thousands had died in demonstrations throughout the country including 700 black children. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1986 – Despite arrests, millions stayed home in a black trade union strike commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1987 – Paper workers struck near Portland, Maine. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1991 – A General Strike began in Madagascar. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1992 – Millions of workers struck in India to protest government reforms. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 16, 1993 – 400 nude prostitutes protest police abuse, Matamoros, Mexico. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 15

June 15, 1381 – Rebel leader Wat Tyler (1350-1381) was executed, Smithfields, London. (From the Daily Bleed)

Aftermath of the first Battle of Bud Dajo

June 15, 1913 – U.S. troops finally ended the Moro Uprising (1899-1913) in the Philippines, with the extermination of 500 men, women and children. The Moros had refused to submit to American colonization and rose up against the colonialists. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 15, 1947 – The CIO expelled the Fur and Leather Workers and the American Communications Association for "communist" activities. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 15, 1950 – As part of their Cold War hysteria, the Senate opened an investigation of 3,500 alleged "sex perverts" (homosexuals) in the federal government, somehow overlooking their cross dressing darling, J. Edgar Hoover. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 15, 1950 – A General Strike against apartheid began in South Africa. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 14

June 14, 1381 – Wat’s Rebellion continues, with peasant rebels capturing London Bridge and the Tower of London and killing the English Chancellor and Treasurer. (From the Daily Bleed)

Antonio Maceo

June 14, 1848 –Cuban revolutionary and guerrilla leader Antonio Maceo was born (1848-1896). Known as the "Titan of Bronze," Maceo helped defeat the Spanish and win Cuban independence. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 14, 1877 – The First American Flag Day was declared by US government (on this 100th anniversary of the flag’s creation). Howard Zinn said, "There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people." (From the Daily Bleed)

June 14, 1905 – A mutiny broke out on the Russian battleship Potemkin after sailors were shot for complaining about being served maggot-ridden meat. Civilians soon joined the mutineers in revolutionary actions that included the burning of granaries, quays and ships in harbor. The insurrection was part of the 1905 Russian Revolution in which the soviet (councilist) form first appeared. The mutiny was the basis for the seminal film by Sergei Eisenstein, with music scored by Dmitri Shostakovich. (From the Daily Bleed)

Battleship Panteleimon (formerly Potemkin)

 June 14, 1914 – An Italian General Strike was broken through the treason of the Socialists and their trade union, bringing an end to "The Red Week of Ancône." (From the Daily Bleed)

Sheriffs positioning themselves to attack miners during the Battle of Blair Mountain

June 14, 1921 – In West Virginia, which was under martial law due to ongoing violence between miners and thugs hired by the mining companies, state police and vigilantes raided the Lick Creek tent colony. 47 strikers were arrested. Within a few months, much of Southwester West Virginia would be engaged in the largest civil uprising in U.S. history, as 10,000-15,000 coal miners battled cops and scabs. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 14, 1924 – The IWW labor hall was raided in San Pedro, California. Children were scalded in the process and the hall was demolished. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 14, 1928 – Ernesto "Che" Guevara, was born (1928-1967).

June 14, 1964 - Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in South Africa on this date. (From Workday Minnesota)

Dr. Benjamin Spock (MDC Archives)

 June 14, 1968 – Radical pediatrician and child-care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock was convicted of conspiring to counsel draft evasion. Spock, who was the target of political attacks and repression by the Nixon administration, refused to support the liberal McGovern and instead ran as the candidate of the People's Party. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 14, 2006 – State police attacked 50,000 striking teachers occupying streets Zocalo of Oaxaca. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 13

Wat Tyler's Death

June 13, 1381 – Continuation of Wat’s Rebellion: Thousands of peasants marched into London to demand an end to serfdom and higher wages. At first King Richard II acceded to their demands, but then had peasant leader Wat Tyler killed and reneged on his promises. Hundreds of peasants were executed. (From Workday Minnesota)

Amadeo Bordia

 June 13, 1889 – Amadeo Bordiga, Italian Marxist and proponent of Council Communism was born (d1970). Bordiga once called Stalin "the gravedigger of the revolution." (From the Daily Bleed)

Qing Armies fighting the Japanese and British

June 13, 1900 – China's Boxer Rebellion against foreigners and Christians continues. The rebellion began in response to the beating of two young Boxers by Baron von Ketteler, German colonial ambassador. The uprising began with riots and arson, with Ketteler himself ultimately being ambushed and killed. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 13, 1914 – A riot erupted out at the Miner's Union Day parade in Butte Montana. Acting mayor Frank Curran was pushed out of second-story window. Frustration and mistrust had been growing for decades. In 1914, miners were being paid $3.50 a day, the same as in 1878, despite the fact that the price of copper had more than doubled in that same time period.  (From the Butte America website and the Daily Bleed)

June 13, 1925 – During continuing strike actions, angry miners burned three company stores in Nova Scotia to the ground. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 12

June 12, 1402 – The Duke of Burgundy massacred 3500 people in Paris. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1868 – U.S. troops invade Japan "to protect US interests" during their civil war. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1904 - 50,000 members of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen walked off their jobs across the U.S. They were demanding an equalization of wages and conditions throughout U.S. plants. (From Workday Minnesota)

Francisco Ferrer

June 12, 1907 – Francisco Ferrer y Guàrdia, Spanish anarchist and creator of the original Modern School, was released from prison today for lack of evidence. He had been arrested on June 4, 1906, for complicity in an assassination attempt against King Alfonso, and held in the Carcelo Modelo in Madrid. The bombing had been committed by another young anarchist named Morral, who hid his bomb in a bunch of flowers and tossed it into the royal wedding party, killing 15 and wounding more than 70. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1910 – The Francisco Ferrer Association in the U.S. was founded, forming a colony in New Jersey and the first U.S. Modern School in New York. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1912— Massachusetts became the first state to adopt a minimum wage law. Other states passed similar laws later that year. (From Shmoop Labor History)

June 12, 1957 – Hundreds of students continued to fight cops and attack Communist Party headquarters in Hang Yang, China. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1963 – NAACP leader Medgar Evers fatally shot, Jackson, Mississippi. His murderer is not convicted until 1994. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1964 – Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment for "sabotaging" the South African government. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1967 – The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously voted to end laws banning interracial marriages, which was still illegal in 16 states. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 12, 1967 – Riots occurred in African Americans communities in Tampa, Florida, with more following in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio two days later. (From the Daily Bleed)

  

June 12, 1985 – 1,756 people were arrested in 150 cities across the U.S. protesting against illegal American arming and financing of Nicaraguan Contras. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 11

Richard II meets the rebels (from Froissart's Chronicles)

June 11, 1381 – A Peasant revolt broke out in England, calling for property to be held in common and equality for all. Also known as Wat Tyler's rebellion and marked the beginning of the end of serfdom. (From the Daily Bleed)

Wat Tyler's execution by Walworth, while Richard II watches

June 11, 1848 – The wave of European revolutions continued with the uprising in Prague. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1872 - Labor unions were legalized in Canada, following a Toronto printers' strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Blockade of engines in W. Virginia (from Harpers)

 June 11, 1877 –The Great U.S. Railroad Strike began. (From the Daily Bleed)

Maryland national guard battling striking rail workers

 June 11, 1913 – Cops shot Black & White IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) members and AFL maritime workers who were striking against United Fruit company in New Orleans, killing one and wounding two. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1925 – During a mine workers strike against the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) in Cape Breton, drunken company police attacked on horseback, beating all in their way. They then rode through the school yards, knocking down innocent children, cracking jokes that the miners were at home hiding under their beds. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1926 – The first 40-hour work week in the U.S. was won by New York fur workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1929 – Student strikers occupied buildings at the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1957 – Chinese students fought that cops and attacked the Communist Party HQ in Hang Yang. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1968 –May Days continued into June in France with ongoing strikes and protests. In the factories of Peugeot-Sochaux, two workers were killed by the hated CRS. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1973 – General Strike against General Franco was launched in Pamplona, Spain. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1974 – A labor dispute at the Chrysler Truck Facility erupted into a spontaneous wildcat strike lasting from June 11 through June 14. Two Dodge Truck strikers wrote, "[we wanted] to free ourselves from the tyranny of the workplace; stop being forced to sell our labor to others; stop others from having control over our lives." (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 1981 – The first baseball player's strike in major-league history began midseason. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 11, 2002 – Earth First! and IWW activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney won $4.4 million in a false-arrest lawsuit against Oakland police and the FBI. They had been arrested for blowing up their own car while they were in it. The jury unanimously found that six of the seven FBI and OPD defendants had deliberately framed Bari and Cherney in an effort to crush Earth First! and chill participation in Redwood Summer.

Today in Labor History—June 10

Burning of the frigate Philadelphia in Tripoli Harbor, by Edward Moran

June 10, 1801 – Tripoli declared war on the U.S., for refusing to pay tribute to their pirates, and the U.S. attacked, in the “First Libyan War.” U.S. forces attacked by land and sea, forcing Tripoli to accept peace in June, 1805. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1892 – A massive strike by miners occurred in Coeur d'Alenes, Idaho. In order to prevent scabs from working the mines while they were on strike, workers destroyed & seized mines. The strike was broken after the state declared martial law. (From the Daily Bleed)

King Alexander and Queen Dragia

 June 10, 1903 – King Alexander I and Queen Dragia of Serbia were assassinated. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1904 – 79 striking Colorado miners were "deported" to Kansas, following a battle between the Colorado Militia and striking miners at Dunnville. The battle ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Dozens were arrested without warrants and held without formal charges. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1917 –A massive citywide textile strike for better wages and working conditions began in Sao Paulo, lasting over a month. Workers tried to appeal to the sympathies of police and soldiers, but when this failed openly confronted them. By July they were joined by striking cab drivers, utility workers and craft workers, totaling over 20,000 on strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1928 – Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are, was born, Brooklyn, New York. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1940 – African liberationist Marcus Garvey died in London. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1960 – Thousands of council workers and revolutionary students surrounded the entourage of U.S. Presidential Press Secretary Hagerty at Haneda airport in Tokyo. Hagerty had to be rescued by a US marine helicopter, while the pro-imperialist government of Japan collapsed in embarrassment. President Eisenhower, fearing for his life, cancelled his July visit. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 10, 1963 - The Equal Pay Act was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy. The law prohibits employers from paying men and women different wages for the same job. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 10, 1971 – Police and death squads killed 43 student protesters in México City. (again). In 1968, the government massacred hundreds of students and bystanders in the Tlatelolco massacre (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 9

Women's Trade Union League Float, New York Labor Day Parade, 1908

June 9, 1865 - Labor activist Helen Marot was born. Marot was a librarian from a wealthy family in Philadelphia, who investigated working conditions among children and women. During her life she participated in numerous labor organizations, particularly those dedicated to the interests of women, such as the Women's Trade Union League and the Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants Union in New York. She also organized and led the 1909-1910 Shirtwaist Strike in New York and was part of a commission that investigated the Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire in 1912. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 9, 1902 – The US past anti-anarchist legislation designed to quell the rising power of anarchists in the labor movement. (From the Daily Bleed)

Crowd outside City Wall, Winnipeg, 1919, during General Strike

June 9, 1919 – The Winnipeg city council dismissed the police force during the General Strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 9, 1989 – Leaders of the student protests at Tiananmen Square were tried. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 8

June 8, 1852 –The first documented labor strike in San Francisco occurred when Chinese laborers demanded a raise while working on the Parrott granite building. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 8, 1904 – A battle between the Colorado Militia and striking mine workers at Dunnville ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. (See Colorado Labor Wars, Today in Labor History—June 7) 79 of the strikers were deported to Kansas thanks to Rockefeller, who effectively owned the state government and militia. (From the Daily Bleed)

USS Liberty

June 8, 1967 – Israeli aircraft and boats attacked the USS Liberty during Israel's "Six Day War." The unprovoked assault killed 34 U.S. sailors and wounded 170. The U.S. government “investigated” the attack and issued a whitewashed report calling it an unfortunate mistake. However, witnesses and critics dispute this claim, calling it a deliberate attack by Israel to silence U.S. criticism of Israel’s war tactics. According to George Ball, undersecretary of state at the time, the attack set the stage for future Israeli policy by sending the message to Israel's leaders “that nothing they might do would offend the Americans to the point of reprisal. If America’s leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of American citizens, it seemed clear that their American friends would let them get away with almost anything." (From the Daily Bleed, Democracy Now and Wikipedia)

Record Profits and Declining Living Standards, Again

For the second year in a row (and despite the continuation of high unemployment rates), American corporations posted record profits ($1.97 trillion for the 3^rd quarter of 2011, according to the Huffington Post). At the same time, pay, benefits and living standards for the majority of Americans declined.

The connection should be obvious. As bosses downsize their businesses, throwing more and more workers into the unemployment lines or compelling them to accept lower wages in exchange for protection from unemployment, those lucky enough to have jobs are being forced to worker harder, faster and longer (productivity increased by 3.2% during the 3^rd quarter of 2011). As a result, companies are spending less on labor and getting higher productivity as a result. (At least they were until this most recent quarter, when productivity actually declined by nearly 1%, probably because they have people working so hard and long they are burning out or deliberately slowing down out of exhaustion or frustration).

The AFL-CIO Executive Paywatch list found that average compensation for S&P 500 CEOs was $12.9 million in 2011, a 13.9% increase over 2010, which itself saw a 22.8% increase over 2009. Real wages for workers fell by 2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average CEO took home 380 times more than the average wage of their employees. 30 years ago they only took home 42 times as much as their employees. (See www.news-record.com)