Today in Labor History—November 23

Francois-Noel Babeuf (public domain)

November 23, 1760 – French revolutionary Francois-Noel Babeuf was born on this date in St. Quentin, France. Babeuf was a communist leader in the French Revolution and a member of the Conspiracy of Equals (along with Jacque Roux and Jean Varlet) until he was betrayed to the Directory, captured and executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 23, 1831 – The Silk Workers' Revolt in Lyon continued, with workers occupying the Town Hall and an insurrectionary government was formed. (From the Daily Bleed)

Western Federation of Miners Poster (public domain)

 November 23, 1903 – Army troops were sent to Cripple Creek, Colorado to put down a rebellion by striking coal miners. 600 union members were thrown into a military bullpen, and held for weeks without charges. When a lawyer arrived with a writ of habeas corpus, General Bell, who led the repression, responded "Habeas corpus, hell! We'll give 'em post mortems!” (From theDaily Bleed)

November 23, 1935 - Mine Workers President John L. Lewis quit the American Federation of Labor to the lead the new Congress of Industrial Organizations, which was rapidly organizing workers in steel, auto, rubber and other major industries. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—September 4

September 4, 1894 – 12,000 un-unionized tailors launched a successful spontaneous strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Cripple Creek 1900

 September 4, 1903 – Police and deputy sheriffs were relieved of their duties in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and all citizens were required to register their firearms, as mine owners attempted to bust the labor union. Governor Peabody sent in the militia. In 1904 they took over the local newspaper and rounded up strikers into "bullpens." Dozens were arrested without warrants.(From the Daily Bleed)

Captured British tank, Archangel

September 4, 1918 – American troops invaded the U.S.S.R., landing at Archangel, one year after the Russian Revolution. They were soundly defeated. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 4, 1920 – Hundreds of miners assembled at Lens Creek, West Virginia in response to rumors that women and children were being killed in Logan County by the anti-union mine owners and deputy sheriffs who were on their payroll. 5,000 miners had arrived by nightfall. Many of them were armed. (From Jeremy Brecher’s, Strike!, pp135-36 and the Daily Bleed)

Fables of Faubus, Charles Mingus

September 4, 1957 – Nine Negro students tried to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to block them. (From the Daily Bleed)

William Kunstler, 1989, by Joel Seidenstain

 September 4, 1995 – Radical lawyer William Kunstler (1919-1995) died. During his long career, Kunstler defended the Chicago Seven, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, Lenny Bruce, H. Rap Brown, American Indian Movement activists after the siege at Pine Ridge, and Attica prisoners after the siege there. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Today in Labor History—August 20

August 20, 1619 – The first group of 20 Africans slaves landed at Jamestown, Virginia. (From the Daily Bleed)

(Ship Ahoy, the Ojays, 1973)

William Sylvis, 1828-1869

August 20, 1830 – The first Negro convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

August 20, 1866 – The short-lived National Labor Union (U.S.) was formed on this date and called for the 8-hour workday. The union, led by William H. Sylvis, was the first American labor union to unite skilled and unskilled workers (preceding the Industrial Workers of the World by nearly 40 years). At its height, the union had 640,000 members.

Haymarket Martyrs' Memorial

August 20, 1886 – Sentences were handed down on this date against The Haymarket defendants. All were found guilty despite the obvious innocence of most of them. None were even present at the scene of the bombing at Haymarket Square, Chicago, where activists had been organizing for the 8-hour day. Seven of the eight defendants (George Engel, Samuel Fielden, Adolph Fischer, Louis Lingg, Albert Parsons, Michael Schwab and August Spies) were condemned to death. Oscar Neebe was sent to prison for 15 years. The hangings occurred on November 11, 1887.

August 20, 1898 – Fourteen weeks after beginning a walkout, the Amalgamated Woodworkers Union of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ended its strike.

August 20, 1904 – Miners seized the town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and deported officials.

August 20, 1909 – The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) was engaged in a free-speech fight in Fresno, California.

August 20, 1914 – An office for the Parrot Mine in Butte, Montana was dynamited on this date. In March 1912, Amalgamated Copper fired 500 miners, accusing them of being Socialists. In December they imposed a blacklist to exclude workers with affiliations to leftist and labor organizations. Pinkerton and Thiel detective agencies infiltrated the union to mark agitators and provoke violence in order to weaken the union.

Image from the Daily Bleed

 August 20, 1968 – The Soviet Army invaded Prague with tanks and more than 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops ultimately crushing the "Prague Spring."

(All above entries based on citations from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 8

August 8, 1835 – Between 10 and 20 people were killed in a clash between a Citizen's Militia and rioters protesting the collapse of the Bank of Maryland. (From the Daily Bleed)

Zapata's birthplace (Image by Ivan Martinez)

 August 8, 1879 – Méxican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1903 – A miners' strike began in Cripple Creek, Colorado. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1920 – British workers demonstrated against their nation’s planned intervention in Russia. Union leaders threatened a General Strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1995 – 700,000 public workers in Turkey staged a one day sit-in General Strike, demanding greater pay. Union leaders suggested the high salaries earned by government officials were an appropriate benchmark for pay hikes necessary to catch up with inflation. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 12

July 12, 1810 – Members of the shoemakers' union went on trial in New York City for striking to win a raise. They were fined $1 each.

Oscar Neebe

July 12, 1850 – Oscar W. Neebe (1850-1916), founder of the Beer Wagon Drivers Union (later the power Teamsters Union) was born. Neebe was also one of the Haymarket martyrs, executed for his “role” in the Haymarket bombing, despite the fact that he was not in Haymarket Square at the time.

 

July 12, 1878 – A yellow fever epidemic began in New Orleans, leading to the deaths of 4,500 people.

July 12, 1892 – The state militia moved in to break a 12-day strike against Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The guardsmen were there primarily to protect scabs and remained in Homestead until October. Pinkerton detectives killed seven workers. Strikers were protesting wage cuts of 18-26%, suffer seven deaths in attacks on them by Pinkerton ("Pinks") detectives. Alexander Berkman, anarchist friend of Emma Goldman, tried to kill Henry Clay Frick, chairman of the board at Carnegie, on July 23, in an attentat (propaganda by the deed), an action many anarchists of the day believed would inspire the working class to rise up in revolt against the ruling class.

Burning Barges, Homestead

 July 12, 1917 – Today was the final day of the vigilante deportation of striking mine workers at Bisbee, Arizona. On July 11, authorities sealed off the county and seized the local Western Union telegraph office to cut off outside communication, while several thousand armed vigilantes rounded up 1,186 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The workers were herded into manure-laden boxcars and dumped in the New Mexico desert. During the Bisbee mine strike, company-hired vigilantes attempted to kidnap and deport Jim Brew, a miner and IWW member. However, Brew fought back and was shot and killed. Brew was a veteran of the West Virginia Cripple Creek strike of 1903-04.

July 12, 1933 – Congress passed first minimum wage law (40 cents per hour).

(All from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—November 23

Francois-Noel Babeuf (public domain)

November 23, 1760 – French revolutionary Francois-Noel Babeuf was born on this date in St. Quentin, France. Babeuf was a communist leader in the French Revolution and a member of the Conspiracy of Equals (along with Jacque Roux and Jean Varlet) until he was betrayed to the Directory, captured and executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 23, 1831 – The Silk Workers' Revolt in Lyon continued, with workers occupying the Town Hall and an insurrectionary government was formed. (From the Daily Bleed)

Western Federation of Miners Poster (public domain)

 November 23, 1903 – Army troops were sent to Cripple Creek, Colorado to put down a rebellion by striking coal miners. 600 union members were thrown into a military bullpen, and held for weeks without charges. When a lawyer arrived with a writ of habeas corpus, General Bell, who led the repression, responded "Habeas corpus, hell! We'll give 'em post mortems!” (From the Daily Bleed)

November 23, 1935 - Mine Workers President John L. Lewis quit the American Federation of Labor to the lead the new Congress of Industrial Organizations, which was rapidly organizing workers in steel, auto, rubber and other major industries. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—September 4

September 4, 1894 – 12,000 un-unionized tailors launched a successful spontaneous strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Cripple Creek 1900

 September 4, 1903 – Police and deputy sheriffs were relieved of their duties in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and all citizens were required to register their firearms, as mine owners attempted to bust the labor union. Governor Peabody sent in the militia. In 1904 they took over the local newspaper and rounded up strikers into "bullpens." Dozens were arrested without warrants. (From the Daily Bleed)

Captured British tank, Archangel

September 4, 1918 – American troops invaded the U.S.S.R., landing at Archangel, one year after the Russian Revolution. They were soundly defeated. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 4, 1920 – Hundreds of miners assembled at Lens Creek, West Virginia in response to rumors that women and children were being killed in Logan County by the anti-union mine owners and deputy sheriffs who were on their payroll. 5,000 miners had arrived by nightfall. Many of them were armed. (From Jeremy Brecher’s, Strike!, pp135-36 and the Daily Bleed)

Fables of Faubus, Charles Mingus

September 4, 1957 – Nine Negro students tried to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to block them. (From the Daily Bleed)

William Kunstler, 1989, by Joel Seidenstain

 September 4, 1995 – Radical lawyer William Kunstler (1919-1995) died. During his long career, Kunstler defended the Chicago Seven, Angela Davis, Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, Lenny Bruce, H. Rap Brown, American Indian Movement activists after the siege at Pine Ridge, and Attica prisoners after the siege there. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Today in Labor History—August 8

August 8, 1835 – Between 10 and 20 people were killed in a clash between a Citizen's Militia and rioters protesting the collapse of the Bank of Maryland. (From the Daily Bleed)

Zapata's birthplace (Image by Ivan Martinez)

 August 8, 1879 – Méxican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1903 – A miners' strike began in Cripple Creek, Colorado. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1920 – British workers demonstrated against their nation’s planned intervention in Russia. Union leaders threatened a General Strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 8, 1995 – 700,000 public workers in Turkey staged a one day sit-in General Strike, demanding greater pay. Union leaders suggested the high salaries earned by government officials were an appropriate benchmark for pay hikes necessary to catch up with inflation. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 12

July 12, 1810 – Members of the shoemakers' union went on trial in New York City for striking to win a raise. They were fined $1 each.

Oscar Neebe

July 12, 1850 – Oscar W. Neebe (1850-1916), founder of the Beer Wagon Drivers Union (later the power Teamsters Union) was born. Neebe was also one of the Haymarket martyrs, executed for his “role” in the Haymarket bombing, despite the fact that he was not in Haymarket Square at the time.

 

July 12, 1878 – A yellow fever epidemic began in New Orleans, leading to the deaths of 4,500 people.

July 12, 1892 – The state militia moved in to break a 12-day strike against Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The guardsmen were there primarily to protect scabs and remained in Homestead until October. Pinkerton detectives killed seven workers. Strikers were protesting wage cuts of 18-26%, suffer seven deaths in attacks on them by Pinkerton ("Pinks") detectives. Alexander Berkman, anarchist friend of Emma Goldman, tried to kill Henry Clay Frick, chairman of the board at Carnegie, on July 23, in an attentat (propaganda by the deed), an action many anarchists of the day believed would inspire the working class to rise up in revolt against the ruling class.

Burning Barges, Homestead

 July 12, 1917 – Today was the final day of the vigilante deportation of striking mine workers at Bisbee, Arizona. On July 11, authorities sealed off the county and seized the local Western Union telegraph office to cut off outside communication, while several thousand armed vigilantes rounded up 1,186 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The workers were herded into manure-laden boxcars and dumped in the New Mexico desert. During the Bisbee mine strike, company-hired vigilantes attempted to kidnap and deport Jim Brew, a miner and IWW member. However, Brew fought back and was shot and killed. Brew was a veteran of the West Virginia Cripple Creek strike of 1903-04.

July 12, 1933 – Congress passed first minimum wage law (40 cents per hour).

(All from the Daily Bleed)