Today in Labor History--May 15

Today in Labor History--May 15

May 15, 1834 – Cherokee Indians reached Little Rock, Arkansas, during the Trail of Tears forced march and genocide by U.S. government. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1872— Julia Ward Howe declared the first Mother's Day as an anti-war holiday. Howe was an abolitionist and also wrote the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1893 –The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was founded by Big Bill Haywood, who, in 1905, helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1894 – New Jersey became the first state to prohibit employment discrimination against union members. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1897 – The Gay Liberation Society was formed by Max Spohr in Munich. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1902 – Anthracite miners began a U.S. strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1906 – the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Samuel Gompers and other unions on their boycott of the Buck Stove and Range Co. in St. Louis. Workers there were striking for a nine-hour day. Workers were being imprisoned for refusing to obey the judge’s anti-boycott injunction. (From The Unionist)

May 15, 1912 – Andre Rene Valet (1890-1912) and Octave Garnier (1889-1912), members of the illegalist Bonnot Gang, were gunned down in a shootout with the police in France. The two were the last of the gang to be killed (or apprehended). They were attacked by 300 policemen and gendarmes, plus 800 soldiers. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1917 – The Library Employees’ Union was founded in New York City, making it the first union of public library workers in the United States. One of their main goals was to elevate the low status of women library workers and their miserable salaries. (From The Unionist)

Winnipeg General Strike

May 15, 1919 - Workers in Winnipeg, Canada, participated in a huge general strike involving 30,000 workers. The strike lasted until June 26^th, when the Winnipeg Labor Council declared the strike over. During the strike, police tried repeatedly to violently suppress the workers. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1920 – The first labor bank opened in Washington, D.C., launched by officers of the Machinists. The Locomotive Engineers opened a bank in Cleveland later that year. (From The Unionist)

May 15, 1921 – Pat Sullivan released the radical animated Felix the Cat cartoon, "Felix Goes on Strike." (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1935 – The National Labor Relations Act was passed, recognizing workers' right to organize and bargain collectively. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1942 – IWW song writer T-Bone Slim, died in New York City. T-Bone wrote such Wobbly classics as “The Mysteries of a Hobo’s Life,” “The Popular Wobbly,” and “The Lumberjack’s Prayer. (From The Unionist and “Rebel Voices,” edited by Joyce L. Kornbluh). For more, see this bio on the IWW website.

Classic T-Bone Quotes:

• "Wherever you find injustice, the proper form of politeness is attack."
• "Tear Gas: The most effective agent used by employers to persuade their employees that the interests of capital and labour are identical."

May 15, 1969 – The Battle for People's Park was fought by student activists against the University of California and the police in Berkeley, California, over a small strip of land that the students had claimed as community commons. Gov. Ronald Reagan sent in National Guard to reclaim the Park. Police gunfire killed a bystander, James Rector, and wounded 60 others, including Alan Blanchard, who was blinded for life. Street fighting continued for 17 days. Another 150 demonstrators would be shot and wounded. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1973 – Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathon Kwitney uncovered the true face of American labor bosses: AFL-CIO President George Meany, Secretary-Treasurer Lane Kirkland and other union officials were among the 60 leading stockholders in the 15,000 acre Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic, benefitting handsomely when the Dominican president sent troops to forcibly evict impoverished tobacco farmers and fishermen who had lived there for generations. (From The Unionist)

Today in Labor History: April 21

Friedrich Froebel, 1897

April 21, 1782—Friedrich Froebel was born. Froebel was a German pedagogue who coined the term “kindergarten” and produced the first educational toys, known as Froebel Gifts. Froebel was one of the first to recognize of the importance of activity and play in early childhood (Freiarbeit, or free work), as well as the notion that one learns by doing. Thus, kindergarten was not simply a poetic “garden” of children, but a literal garden for them to observe and interact with the natural world. Froebel’s kindergartens were suppressed by the Prussian government for its supposed denigration of religion and politics. He rejected the notion of original sin and promoted and practiced the coeducation of boys and girls. He also felt children should be able to grow and develop without the influence of arbitrary political and social priorities—ideas that would endear him to anarchists like Francisco Ferrer and others in the Modern School movement. (For more on Froebel, click here)

April 21, 1834 – 30,000 marched for the freedom of trade unionists transported to Australia from Tolpuddle, Britain. The Tolpuddle struggle, which began in 1832, for the repeal of the “Combination Laws,” marked the beginning of British trade unionism. (From the Daily Bleed) 

Caricature of the Bonnot Gang

Victor Serge

April, 21, 1913 –Andre Soudy and Raymond Callemin, members of the anarchist Bonnot Gang, were executed. Callemin had started the individualist paper "L'anarchie" with Victor Serge. The Bonnot Gang was a band of French anarchists (plus Serge, who was Russian) who tried to fund their movement through robberies in 1911-1912. The Bonnot Gang was unique, not only for their politics, but for their innovative use of technology, too. They were among the first to use cars and automatic rifles to help them steal, technology that even the French police were not using. While many of the gang members were sentenced to death, Serge got five years and eventually  went on to participate in (and survive) the Barcelona and Soviet uprisings. Later, while living in exile, Serge wrote The Birth of Our Power. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Jules Bonnot, Dead

 April 21, 1921 – Police fired on striking miners in Butte, Montana. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today In Labor History: March 28

March 28, 1871 – Paris Commune, over 200,000 people turn out at the City Hall to see their newly elected officials, whose names are read to great & festive acclaim, making this day a revolutionary festival. The red flag, raised over all public buildings, is emblematic of the Commune.

March 28, 1911: Part of the anarchist Bonnot Gang was caught & killed by cops after months of bank robbing & mayhem.

March 28, 1915: Emma Goldman was arrested for giving a lecture on contraceptives. Goldman believed that knowledge of and access to contraceptives was key to women’s ability to control their own bodies and thus their social and material wellbeing.

March 28, 1918—2,000 Canadians protested against conscription and forced police to retreat.

March 28, 1968—Martin Luther King led a march of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Police attacked the workers with mace and sticks. A 16-year old boy was shot. 280 workers were arrested. He was assassinated a few days later after speaking to the striking workers. The sanitation workers were mostly black. They worked for starvation wages under plantation like conditions, generally under racist white bosses. Workers could be fired for being one minute late or for talking back and they got no breaks. Organizing escalated in the early 1960s and reached its peak in February, 1968, when two workers were crushed to death in the back of a garbage truck.

March 28, 1972—A General Strike was called in Quebec to support workers locked out of La Presse newspaper. The workers went out in early April and again in May, however, some sources also give late March as the beginning of the General Strike. (Also see here and here).

(Sources: AFSCME, Socialist Worker, Daily Bleed, and Workaday Minnesota).

Today in Labor History—December 30

December 30, 1883 - John Swinton's Paper described the abuse of immigrants conned by job sharks lured to the U.S. with tales of high wages and dream jobs, only to get stuck in terrible jobs with rotten wages. (From Workday Minnesota)

Bonnot Gang-First Use of Get Away Car

Victor Serge

 December 30, 1890 – Victor Serge was born on this date in Brussels. Serge was a novelist, poet, historian, & militant activist, most well-known as a member of the Bonnot Gang (see here, here, here and here) and for his novel The Birth of Our Power. (From theDaily Bleed)

 

December 30, 1905 – Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho was assassinated by a bomb during period of bitter labor disputes in the state. Steunenberg, had become governor of Idaho on a Populist Party "defend the working man" ticket, but then called on federal troops to crush the 1899 miners’ strike. Members of the radical WFM were implicated by the actual assassin, Harry Orchard, a union member and paid informant for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners’ Association (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

December 30, 1936 - Auto workers began their historic sit-down strike at the GM Fisher plant in Flint, Michigan. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History--May 15

May 15, 1834 – Cherokee Indians reached Little Rock, Arkansas, during the Trail of Tears forced march and genocide by U.S. government. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1872— Julia Ward Howe declared the first Mother's Day as an anti-war holiday. Howe was an abolitionist and also wrote the lyrics for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1893 –The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was founded by Big Bill Haywood, who, in 1905, helped found the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1894 – New Jersey became the first state to prohibit employment discrimination against union members. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1897 – The Gay Liberation Society was formed by Max Spohr in Munich. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1902 – Anthracite miners began a U.S. strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1906 – the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Samuel Gompers and other unions on their boycott of the Buck Stove and Range Co. in St. Louis. Workers there were striking for a nine-hour day. Workers were being imprisoned for refusing to obey the judge’s anti-boycott injunction. (From The Unionist)

May 15, 1912 – Andre Rene Valet (1890-1912) and Octave Garnier (1889-1912), members of the illegalist Bonnot Gang, were gunned down in a shootout with the police in France. The two were the last of the gang to be killed (or apprehended). They were attacked by 300 policemen and gendarmes, plus 800 soldiers. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1917 – The Library Employees’ Union was founded in New York City, making it the first union of public library workers in the United States. One of their main goals was to elevate the low status of women library workers and their miserable salaries. (From The Unionist)

Winnipeg General Strike

May 15, 1919 - Workers in Winnipeg, Canada, participated in a huge general strike involving 30,000 workers. The strike lasted until June 26^th, when the Winnipeg Labor Council declared the strike over. During the strike, police tried repeatedly to violently suppress the workers. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1920 – The first labor bank opened in Washington, D.C., launched by officers of the Machinists. The Locomotive Engineers opened a bank in Cleveland later that year. (From The Unionist)

May 15, 1921 – Pat Sullivan released the radical animated Felix the Cat cartoon, "Felix Goes on Strike." (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1935 – The National Labor Relations Act was passed, recognizing workers' right to organize and bargain collectively. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15 , 1942 – IWW song writer T-Bone Slim, died in New York City. T-Bone wrote such Wobbly classics as “The Mysteries of a Hobo’s Life,” “The Popular Wobbly,” and “The Lumberjack’s Prayer. (From The Unionist and “Rebel Voices,” edited by Joyce L. Kornbluh). For more, see this bio on the IWW website.

Classic T-Bone Quotes:

• "Wherever you find injustice, the proper form of politeness is attack."
• "Tear Gas: The most effective agent used by employers to persuade their employees that the interests of capital and labour are identical."

May 15, 1969 – The Battle for People's Park was fought by student activists against the University of California and the police in Berkeley, California, over a small strip of land that the students had claimed as community commons. Gov. Ronald Reagan sent in National Guard to reclaim the Park. Police gunfire killed a bystander, James Rector, and wounded 60 others, including Alan Blanchard, who was blinded for life. Street fighting continued for 17 days. Another 150 demonstrators would be shot and wounded. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 15, 1973 – Wall Street Journal reporter Jonathon Kwitney uncovered the true face of American labor bosses: AFL-CIO President George Meany, Secretary-Treasurer Lane Kirkland and other union officials were among the 60 leading stockholders in the 15,000 acre Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic, benefitting handsomely when the Dominican president sent troops to forcibly evict impoverished tobacco farmers and fishermen who had lived there for generations. (From The Unionist)

Today in Labor History: April 21

Friedrich Froebel, 1897

April 21, 1782—Friedrich Froebel was born. Froebel was a German pedagogue who coined the term “kindergarten” and produced the first educational toys, known as Froebel Gifts. Froebel was one of the first to recognize of the importance of activity and play in early childhood (Freiarbeit, or free work), as well as the notion that one learns by doing. Thus, kindergarten was not simply a poetic “garden” of children, but a literal garden for them to observe and interact with the natural world. Froebel’s kindergartens were suppressed by the Prussian government for its supposed denigration of religion and politics. He rejected the notion of original sin and promoted and practiced the coeducation of boys and girls. He also felt children should be able to grow and develop without the influence of arbitrary political and social priorities—ideas that would endear him to anarchists like Francisco Ferrer and others in the Modern School movement.

April 21, 1834 – 30,000 marched for the freedom of trade unionists transported to Australia from Tolpuddle, Britain. The Tolpuddle struggle, which began in 1832, for the repeal of the “Combination Laws,” marked the beginning of British trade unionism. (From the Daily Bleed) 

Caricature of the Bonnot Gang

Victor Serge

April, 21, 1913 –Andre Soudy and Raymond Callemin, members of the anarchist Bonnot Gang, were executed. Callemin had started the individualist paper "L'anarchie" with Victor Serge. The Bonnot Gang was a band of French anarchists (plus Serge, who was Russian) who tried to fund their movement through robberies in 1911-1912. The Bonnot Gang was unique, not only for their politics, but for their innovative use of technology, too. They were among the first to use cars and automatic rifles to help them steal, technology that even the French police were not using. While many of the gang members were sentenced to death, Serge got five years and eventually  went on to participate in (and survive) the Barcelona and Soviet uprisings. Later, while living in exile, Serge wrote The Birth of Our Power. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Jules Bonnot, Dead

 April 21, 1921 – Police fired on striking miners in Butte, Montana. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today In Labor History: March 28

March 28, 1871 – Paris Commune, over 200,000 people turn out at the City Hall to see their newly elected officials, whose names are read to great & festive acclaim, making this day a revolutionary festival. The red flag, raised over all public buildings, is emblematic of the Commune.

March 28, 1911: Part of the anarchist Bonnot Gang was caught & killed by cops after months of bank robbing & mayhem.

March 28, 1915: Emma Goldman was arrested for giving a lecture on contraceptives. Goldman believed that knowledge of and access to contraceptives was key to women’s ability to control their own bodies and thus their social and material wellbeing.

March 28, 1918—2,000 Canadians protested against conscription and forced police to retreat.

March 28, 1968—Martin Luther King led a march of striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Police attacked the workers with mace and sticks. A 16-year old boy was shot. 280 workers were arrested. He was assassinated a few days later after speaking to the striking workers. The sanitation workers were mostly black. They worked for starvation wages under plantation like conditions, generally under racist white bosses. Workers could be fired for being one minute late or for talking back and they got no breaks. Organizing escalated in the early 1960s and reached its peak in February, 1968, when two workers were crushed to death in the back of a garbage truck.

March 28, 1972—A General Strike was called in Quebec to support workers locked out of La Presse newspaper. The workers went out in early April and again in May, however, some sources also give late March as the beginning of the General Strike. (Also see here and here).

(Sources: AFSCME, Socialist Worker, Daily Bleed, and Workaday Minnesota).