Today in Labor History—October 13

Roosevelt Portrayed As Hard On Boss--But He Threatened Troops Against The Workers

October 13, 1902 – Teddy Roosevelt threatened to send in federal troops as strikebreakers to crush a coal strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Ferrer's Execution, Portrayed in Stained Glass by Flavio Costantini (from the Stelton Modern School Website)

 October 13, 1909 -- Francisco Ferrer, founder of the "Modern School" movement, was executed in Spain by the Catholic Monarchists. Ferrer was an anarchist educator who opposed the Church’s monopoly over education in Spain and created that state’s first secular, co-educational schools that taught poor and affluent children side by side. On July 28, martial law was declared throughout Spain, accompanied by brutal military repression. In September, Ferrer was captured and thrown in the fortress of Montjuich in Barcelona. During a kangaroo court he was convicted of fomenting the insurrection and was executed by firing squad on October 13, 1909. His execution led to worldwide condemnation and protests. George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as anarchists and radicals like Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman protested the execution. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 13, 1909 – Demonstrations were held throughout Europe in protest of the execution of Francisco Ferrer. Violent confrontations between protesters and police occurred in Paris, where over 500,000 people turned out. 20,000 demonstrated in Argentina and led to a General Strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 13, 1934 – In what was either its first and only principled stand or just one of its first of many expressions of economic nationalism, the AFL voted to boycott all German-made products in protest of Nazi antagonism to organized labor within Germany. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 13, 1947 – A Chilean mine-worker strike occurred during this month. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 13, 1985 - Over 1,100 mostly female and minority office workers went on strike against Columbia University in New York City, ultimately winning union recognition and raises. (From Workday Minnesota)

October 13, 1999 – Workers at a Del Monte subsidiary in Izabel, Guatemala, were forced to quit their jobs at gunpoint, as bosses attempted to prevent a strike. (From the Daily Bleed)