Today in Labor History—January 13

Louis II of Flanders (1330-1384)

January 13, 1349 – Louis of Flanders took Ghent, ending a workers’ revolt by Flemish weavers. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 13, 1794 – Tobacco workers demonstrated for improved conditions, México City. (From the Daily Bleed)

Protesters Being Driven Out of Tompkins Square Park by Police

January 13, 1874—The original Tompkins Square Riot occurred on this date. Unemployed workers were demonstrating in New York's Tompkins Square Park, when mounted police charged into the crowd, beating men, women and children indiscriminately with clubs, leaving hundreds of casualties in their wake. Police Commissioner Abram Duryee said, "It was the most glorious sight I ever saw." The demonstration occurred during the depression of 1873-1877, the worst depression in the history of the U.S. until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Over 3 million were unemployed. In the winter of 1873, alone, 900 people starved to death, and 3,000 deserted infants on doorsteps. (From the Daily Bleed, Lutins.org, AFGE)

January 13, 1894 – A revolution in Sicily was crushed by government troops.(From the Daily Bleed)

January 13, 1914 – IWW [Industrial Workers of the World] organizer Joe Hill was falsely arrested for murder, Utah. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 13, 1957 -- The death penalty was enacted for Hungarian strikers as government called for order and quiet. (From the Daily Bleed)