Today in Labor History—April 29

Coxey's Army Leaving Camp (Library of Congress)

April 29, 1894 –Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. His Army of the Poor was immediately arrested for trespassing on Capitol grounds.

The Return of Coxey's Army (By Eddie Starr)

When they busted all the unions,
You can't make no living wage.
And this working poor arrangement,
Gonna turn to public rage.
And then get ready . . .
We're gonna bring back Coxey's Army
And take his message to the street.

(From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Marines With Captured Sandinista Flag, 1932

April 29, 1895 –Warships were sent to Nicaragua to "protect" US interests, the first of many military interventions in that small Central American country. President Taft ordered the overthrow of President Zelaya in 1909.The U.S. later invaded in 1910 and occupied the country in 1912, an occupation that was ultimately ended by the resistance of Augusto Sandino and the original Sandinistas in 1933. In 1934, Anastasio Somoza assassinated Sandino. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

 

April 29, 1899 – Failing to achieve their demand that only union men be employed at the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) dynamited the $250,000 mill, completely destroying it. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas, with orders to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built "bullpens." From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupyied the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Idaho. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1915 –The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded at The Hague, which works for world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish the political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all. Its first president was Jane Addams, who founded and directed Hull House in Chicago for newly arrived immigrants. (From Workday Minnesota)

Captured Revolutionary, May 1919 (German Federal Archive)

April 29, 1919 –From April 29 to May 2, government forces in Munich violently crushed the Republic of the Councils of Bavaria. Workers, socialists, anarchists, and sympathizers bravely resisted. Over 700 were summarily executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1937 –The Friends of Durruti Group postered Barcelona with a list of their demands: "All power to the working class. All economic power to the unions." (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1970 –The National Guard killed seven students at Ohio State University. (From the Daily Bleed)