Today in Labor History—June 20

Caricature of the 3rd estate carrying the 2nd (clergy) and 1st (nobility) estates on its back

June 20, 1791 – A French mob invaded the Tuileries and King Louis XVI tried (unsuccessfully) to flee the French Revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

Albert Parsons

 June 20, 1848 – Albert Parson, Anarchist labor leader and Haymarket martyr, was born in Montgomery, Alabama. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1893 – Eugene Debs formed the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the earliest unions to organize by industry and regardless of race or ethnicity (see Knights of Labor and IWW) . Within a few months the union was leading an 18-day strike against the Great Northern Railroad, successfully forcing management to reverse three wage cuts, despite the fact that the nation was in the midst of a terrible depression. The victory set the union on a remarkable course in which it averaged 2,000 new members a day.. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1909 – Méxican rebel forces led by the anarchist Flores Magón brothers attacked Casas Grandes, Chih. (From the Daily Bleed)

Voltairine de Cleyre, 1891

 June 20, 1912 – Voltairine de Cleyre, one of the earliest feminist anarchists, died at the age 45, following a long illness. Two thousand supporters attended her funeral at Waldheim cemetery, where she was buried next to the Haymarket Martyrs. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1920 – Police shot 14 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World) during a labor clash in Butte, Montana. In April, company guards at the Anaconda mine fired on striking Wobblies, killing one. Vigilantes or company goons lynched IWW organizer Frank Little in Butte in 1917. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1927 – A newspaper strike halted publication of "The Butte Miner," "Anaconda Standard," & "Butte Daily Post" (until July 4). (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1941 – The first United Auto Workers (UAW) contract ever was signed with Henry Ford, who recognizes the UAW. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1943 – Striking African American auto workers were attacked by the National Workers League, KKK and armed white workers at Detroit's Bell Isle amusement park. 34 people killed and 1,300 arrested in these race riots. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1982 – 2,500 protesters were arrested in two days of anti-nuclear demonstrations and  blockades of Lawrence Livermore labs, California. (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 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—August 21

Execution of the Girondists, woodcut, 1862

August 21, 1752 – French radical priest Jacques Roux (1752-1794) was born in Charente, France. He participated in the French Revolution and fought for a classless society and the abolition of private property, and helped to radicalize the Parisian working class. He became a leader of the far left faction Enrages and was elected to the Paris Commune in 1791. He demanded that food be available for everyone and argued that the wealthy should executed if they horded it. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Nat Turner's capture

August 21, 1831 - Nat Turner launched a slave revolt in Virginia that lasted two days and resulted in the deaths of 60 whites dead. In response, scores of African-Americans were lynched, including many who did not participate in the revolt. (From Workday Minnesota)

August 21, 1893 – Emma Goldman led a march of a 1,000 people to Union Square, where, told the crowd that workers have a right to take bread if they are hungry and to demonstrate "before the palaces of the rich." She was arrested the following week because her speech was “incendiary.” (From the Daily Bleed)

August 21, 1920 – Ongoing violence by coal operators and their paid goons in the southern coalfields of West Virginia led to a three hour gun battle between striking miners and guards that left six dead. 500 Federal troops were sent in not only to quell the fighting, but to ensure that scabs were able to get to and from the mines. A General Strike was threatened if the troops did not cease their strikebreaking activities. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 21, 1952 – A strike began against International Harvester by the United Electrical Workers.       (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 9

Jacques Bertaux - Prise du palais des Tuileries - 1793

August 9, 1792 – The revolutionary Commune is established in Paris leading to the French Revolution and the end of the Bourbon monarchy. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 9, 1920 – British labor organizations appointed a Council of Action to set up a General Strike if Britain declared war on the USSR. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bockscar and crew, which dropped the "Big Man" bomb on Nagasaki

 August 9, 1945 – Americans bombed Nagasaki killing approximately 70,000 civilians instantly. (From the Daily Bleed)

Compound 19, Long Kesh Prison (Image by Patrick McAleer)

 August 9, 1971 – Britain reintroduced internment without trial to Northern Ireland. They began arresting suspected leaders of the IRA. By December, over 1,500 people were imprisoned. During a demonstration in Derry against the arrests, British troops shot 13 civilians. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bogside, Derry (Image by Ardfern)

August 9, 1998 – 73,000 telephone workers at NYC-based Bell Atlantic began a strike. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 28

July 28, 1794 – French Reign of Terror architect Robespierre was guillotined. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 28, 1907 – In Raon-l'Etape, France, police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration by strikers, killing two workers. Barricades were raised and the black flag of anarchism was raised. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 28, 1932 - General Douglas MacArthur, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower and their troops, burned down a shantytown by unemployed veterans near the U.S. Capitol. 20,000 ex-servicemen had been camped out in the capital demanding a veterans’ bonus the government had promised but never given. Cavalry troops and tanks fired tear gas at veterans and their families and then set the buildings on fire. MacArthur and President Herbert Hoover said they had saved the nation from revolution. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—July 27

Robespierre

July 27, 1794 – Robespierre was arrested in the wake of the French Revolution.

July 27, 1869 – William Sylvis (1828-1869), head of the National Labor Union, the first such organization in US history, died on this date in 1869.

July 27, 1918 – United Mine Workers organizer Ginger Goodwin was shot by a hired private cop outside Cumberland, British Columbia sparking Canada's first General Strike.

The Ballad Of Ginger Goodwin

Image from Google images

A song by Richard von Fuchs©Richard von Fuchs 1978 play mp3

Ginger Goodwin is a name you don't often hear or see.
They don't say a word about him in our country's history.
He was a labour leader and he wouldn't go to war.
"While the army breaks our strikes at home, its strikers I'll fight for."

In Trail back in the summer of 1917.
Ginger fought against conscription even though he was class D.
But when he led a miners' strike to spread the eight hour day
Conscription checked him out again and found he was class A.

Ginger hid from cops and soldiers in the hills near Cumberland.
Miners brought him food and sheltered him, they knew he was their friend.
So the bosses hired special cops when their power was at stake.
Dan Campbell murdered Goodwin at the head of Comox Lake.

The whole damn town of Cumberland turned out for the funeral hike.
Vancouver's workers shut her down for a one day general strike.
Soldiers back from foreign wars then attacked the labour hall.
Both the bosses and the workers knew who caused the Czar's downfall.

You can still see Ginger's grave along the road to Cumberland.
He didn't win no medals and no one understands.
Don't tell me that a hero has to die in foreign lands.
We lost heroes here in labour's wars and they all had dirty hands.

July 27, 1919 – Race riots erupted in Chicago when a black youth on a raft crossed an unseen "color line" at the 29th Street Beach. He was drowned by rock-throwing whites. 38 people eventually died. This was just one of at least 26 race riots that broke out across the U.S. in the year after World War I.

July 27, 1932 – The U.S. army attacked an encampment of 20,000 World War I veterans who had come to Washington to ask Congress to speed up bonus payments.

July 27, 1989 – New York state police closed all roads to the U.S. side of the St. Regis Mohawk reservation, to prevent Mohawks from crossing the international border during a dispute of Mohawk land.

(Source: Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 14

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Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel.

July 14, 1789 – Parisians stormed the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a symbol of tyranny, feudal authority and the "divine" rights of kings. The revolution sparked optimism among working people throughout the world. However, only the middle-classes gained control. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 14, 1798 – The Federalist-sponsored Alien and Sedition Acts made it a crime to write, utter or publish "any false, scandalous, & malicious" statements about the government, Congress, or the President. Republicans arrested, including newspaper editors and one member of Congress. Jefferson denounced the laws as a violation of the 1^st Amendment. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

July 14, 1811 -- England: Luddites attacked machines in Sunnon-in-Ashuano. (From the Daily Bleed)

Buenaventura Durruti

July 14, 1896 – Legendary Spanish anarchist and military strategist Buenaventura Durruti was born. Durruti helped organize attacks on the government of dictator Miguel Primo de Riviera in 1923. He was influential in the anarchist federation FAI and the syndicalist union CNT. Durruti is probably best known for leading thousands of anarchist troops (the Durruti Column) against the Franco dictatorship. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Woody Guthrie's Guitar Kills Fascists, Library of Congress

 July 14, 1912 – Folk singer Woody Guthrie was born. (From Workday Minnesota)

July 14, 1921 – The Sacco and Vanzetti case went to the jury. At 7:30 pm the jury returned its verdict: both were both found guilty of murder in the first degree. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 20

Caricature of the 3rd estate carrying the 2nd (clergy) and 1st (nobility) estates on its back

June 20, 1791 – A French mob invaded the Tuileries and King Louis XVI tried (unsuccessfully) to flee the French Revolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

Albert Parsons

 June 20, 1848 – Albert Parson, Anarchist labor leader and Haymarket martyr, was born in Montgomery, Alabama. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1893 – Eugene Debs formed the American Railway Union (ARU), one of the earliest unions to organize by industry and regardless of race or ethnicity (see Knights of Labor and IWW) . Within a few months the union was leading an 18-day strike against the Great Northern Railroad, successfully forcing management to reverse three wage cuts, despite the fact that the nation was in the midst of a terrible depression. The victory set the union on a remarkable course in which it averaged 2,000 new members a day.. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1909 – Méxican rebel forces led by the anarchist Flores Magón brothers attacked Casas Grandes, Chih. (From the Daily Bleed)

Voltairine de Cleyre, 1891

 June 20, 1912 – Voltairine de Cleyre, one of the earliest feminist anarchists, died at the age 45, following a long illness. Two thousand supporters attended her funeral at Waldheim cemetery, where she was buried next to the Haymarket Martyrs. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1920 – Police shot 14 Wobblies (members of the Industrial Workers of the World) during a labor clash in Butte, Montana. In April, company guards at the Anaconda mine fired on striking Wobblies, killing one. Vigilantes or company goons lynched IWW organizer Frank Little in Butte in 1917. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1927 – A newspaper strike halted publication of "The Butte Miner," "Anaconda Standard," & "Butte Daily Post" (until July 4). (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1941 – The first United Auto Workers (UAW) contract ever was signed with Henry Ford, who recognizes the UAW. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1943 – Striking African American auto workers were attacked by the National Workers League, KKK and armed white workers at Detroit's Bell Isle amusement park. 34 people killed and 1,300 arrested in these race riots. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 20, 1982 – 2,500 protesters were arrested in two days of anti-nuclear demonstrations and  blockades of Lawrence Livermore labs, California. (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)