Today in Labor History—January 31

Guy_Fawkes_by_Cruikshank

January 31, 1606 – Guy Fawkes jumped to his death moments before his execution for treason. Guy Fawkes belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Fawkes, who had converted to Catholicism, also fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers. He later travelled to Spain to seek support for a Catholic rebellion in England but was unsuccessful. In 1604 Fawkes became involved with a small group of English Catholics, led by Robert Catesby, who planned to assassinate the Protestant King James and replace him with his daughter, third in the line of succession, Princess Elizabeth (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

January 31, 1912 – A General Strike began in Brisbane, Australia that lasted until March 6. It came in response to the suspension of tramway workers for wearing union badges. (From the Daily Bleed)

Tanks and soldiers billeted in the Saltmarket area of Glasgow in the weeks following the 1919 Battle of George Square

 January 31, 1919 – Bloody Friday occurred in Glasgow when 60,000 demonstrators gathered in George Square in support of a strike and police launched a vicious and unprovoked attack on the demonstrators, felling unarmed men and women with their batons. The demonstrators retaliated with fists, iron railings and broken bottles and forced the police into a retreat. An estimated 10,000 English troops were sent to Glasgow in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of George Square. Monday February 10th the strike is called off. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 31, 1940 - Ida M. Fuller became the first person to receive an old-age monthly benefit check under the new Social Security law, receiving a check for a whopping $22.54. She paid in $24.75 between 1937 and 1939 on an income of $2,484. (From Workday Minnesota)

January 31, 1972 – The IRA called a general strike, the day after Bloody Sunday. (From the Daily Bleed)