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)