Today in Labor History—June 6

A Rake's Progress, by William Hogarth, depicting a man's downfall to debtor's prison

June 6, 1778 – Debtors prisons were abolished in the U.S., though debtors continued to flourish and creditors came up with numerous other ways to punish them. (From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Amphibious transport landing on Omaha Beach

 June 6, 1944 - British, U.S. and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, for the suicidal assault known as D-Day. Over 150,000 men and 5,000 ships took part in the operation, with an estimated 10,000 allied troops dying. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 6, 1961 – A Military junta took over in South Korea. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1978 – Proposition 13 passed in California, allowing commercial property owners to maintain phenomenally low property tax rates and bleed the state of revenues for education and public services. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – Israel invaded Lebanon, remaining until June 6, 1985. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – An antinuclear rally at the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California, drew 85,000 people who heard Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Wonder and Tom Petty. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1988 – 2 million people participated in a 3-day General Strike in South Africa. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1989 – Citizens voted to shut down the Rancho Seco nuclear plant in Sacramento, California. There had been a near melt-down in 1985 that had been covered-up until after the Chernobyl disaster. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 2000 – Brazilian Rancher Jeronimo Alves Amorim was sentenced to 19 years for ordering the murder of union leader Expedito Ribeiro de Souza. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 27

Communards in their Coffins

May 27, 1871 –Today marks the end of the Paris Commune and the Bloody Week that destroyed it. Communards were lined up and shot against the wall, now known as "mur des fédérés," to honor their memory. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1947 –The U.S. Fishermen and Allied Workers union merged with Harry Bridges' ILWU. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1958 – Ernest Green became the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1968 –A grand jury indicted the "L.A. 13" for conspiracy to disturb the peace for their role in the Chicano school walkouts: Sal Castro, Eliezar Risco, Patricio Sanchez, Moctezuma Esparza, David Sánchez, Carlos Montes, Ralph Ramirez, Fred Lopes, Richard Vigil, Gilberto Olmeda, Joe Razo, Henry Gomez, & Carlos Muñoz, Jr. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1968 – University and high school students went on strike in Dakar, Senegal. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1980 – 3,000 unarmed civilians were slaughtered by the South Korean military during the Kwangju Uprising, which lasted from May 18 through May 27. The victims had been protesting military rule and demanding democracy. A similar uprising and massacre occurred in 1950 in Cheju-do. However, the Cheju-do Massacre, which resulted in 60,000 civilian deaths, was backed, and then covered up, by the U.S. government. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 22

January 22, 1849 – Terence Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor was born on this date. (From the Daily Bleed)

Farabundo Marti, 1929

January 22, 1932 – A peasant uprising in El Salvador was met with extreme state violence, resulting in the "Matanza Massacre" of 30,000.  Salvadoran communists, peasants and indigenous had rebelled against the military dictatorship, creating the first soviets in the Western hemisphere. The state violence and repression that followed obliterated what was left of the country’s indigenous population, as well as most of its socialists, communists, anarchists and labor organizers. One of the first to go before Martinez’ firing squads was Farabundo Marti. Martinez once said that America was great because it wiped out its Indians and so, too, must El Salvador. (From Daily Bleed, Eduardo Galeano, Memory of Fire)

January 22, 1997 – 150,000 South Korean workers walked off their jobs to protest recent anti-labor legislation. The recent strike wave had already "cost" South Korean corporations about $3 billion in lost production.

Today in Labor History—January 15

Rosa Luxemburg

January 15, 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnecht, were murdered by German police. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 15, 1929 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on this date. King once said, "We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves unemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages." (FromWorkday Minnesota)

Karl Liebknecht

January 15, 1946 – 260,000 U.S. electrical workers struck against General Electric, Westinghouse and General Motors. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 15, 1978 -- The C.N.T., the Spanish anarchist trade union, held a demonstration drawing 10,000 protesters in Barcelona to oppose the Moncloa pact (which allowed only the communist C.C.O.O and the socialist U.G.T the right to represent workers. (From theDaily Bleed)

January 15, 1997 –A general strike was called by a coalition of South Korean labor unions. The unions claimed that 600,000 workers participated in the strike; the government claimed it was only 100,000. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 9

Kropotkin, 1870

January 9, 1883 – In Lyon, France the trial continued for the 68 anarchists accused of inciting workers’ strikes and the abolition of property. The anarchists included Peter Kropotkin, Emile Gautier, Toussaint Bordat and Joseph Bernard. (From the Daily Bleed)

Karel Capek

January 9, 1890 -- Karel Capek, internationally renowned Czech novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, was born on this date in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now in Czech Republic). Two of his best known works includeR.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which first introduced the word “robot,” and War with the Newts, which ridicules Nazi-Germany and fascism. (From theDaily Bleed)

Louise Michel in Uniform

January 9, 1905 – French anarchiste Louise Michel died on this date. Michel was a leader in the Paris Commune & co-founder of the Women's Battalion. Founder of the journal "Le libertaire" with Sébastien Faure. 100,000 mourners attended her funeral. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bloody Sunday massacre, St Petersburg

January 9, 1905 – Russia’s "Bloody Sunday" occurred on this date, with revolution breaking out in St. Petersburg. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 9, 1939 – The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union led a Missouri Highway sit-in of 1,700 tenant families. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 9, 1997 -- South Korea's primary labor group called the biggest strike in the nation's history to protest a controversial new labor law. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 26

Siege of New Ulm, MN, Sioux Uprising

December 26, 1862 – America’s largest public mass execution occurred in Mankato, Minnesota, not surprisingly, when the U.S. military hanged 38 Native Americans for participating in the "Sioux Outbreak." (From Workday Minnesota)

December 26, 1996 – The largest series of strikes and walkouts in South Korean history were occurring on this date, with hundreds of thousands of workers, to protest new legislation that made it easier for companies to layoff and fire workers and avoid paying overtime. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 6

A Rake's Progress, by William Hogarth, depicting a man's downfall to debtor's prison

June 6, 1778 – Debtors prisons were abolished in the U.S., though debtors continued to flourish and creditors came up with numerous other ways to punish them. (From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Amphibious transport landing on Omaha Beach

 June 6, 1944 - British, U.S. and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, for the suicidal assault known as D-Day. Over 150,000 men and 5,000 ships took part in the operation, with an estimated 10,000 allied troops dying. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 6, 1961 – A Military junta took over in South Korea. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1978 – Proposition 13 passed in California, allowing commercial property owners to maintain phenomenally low property tax rates and bleed the state of revenues for education and public services. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – Israel invaded Lebanon, remaining until June 6, 1985. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – An antinuclear rally at the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California, drew 85,000 people who heard Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Wonder and Tom Petty. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1988 – 2 million people participated in a 3-day General Strike in South Africa. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1989 – Citizens voted to shut down the Rancho Seco nuclear plant in Sacramento, California. There had been a near melt-down in 1985 that had been covered-up until after the Chernobyl disaster. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 2000 – Brazilian Rancher Jeronimo Alves Amorim was sentenced to 19 years for ordering the murder of union leader Expedito Ribeiro de Souza. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 27

Communards in their Coffins

May 27, 1871 –Today marks the end of the Paris Commune and the Bloody Week that destroyed it. Communards were lined up and shot against the wall, now known as "mur des fédérés," to honor their memory. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1947 –The U.S. Fishermen and Allied Workers union merged with Harry Bridges' ILWU. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1958 – Ernest Green became the first African-American to graduate from Little Rock Central High School, Arkansas. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1968 –A grand jury indicted the "L.A. 13" for conspiracy to disturb the peace for their role in the Chicano school walkouts: Sal Castro, Eliezar Risco, Patricio Sanchez, Moctezuma Esparza, David Sánchez, Carlos Montes, Ralph Ramirez, Fred Lopes, Richard Vigil, Gilberto Olmeda, Joe Razo, Henry Gomez, & Carlos Muñoz, Jr. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1968 – University and high school students went on strike in Dakar, Senegal. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 27, 1980 – 3,000 unarmed civilians were slaughtered by the South Korean military during the Kwangju Uprising, which lasted from May 18 through May 27. The victims had been protesting military rule and demanding democracy. A similar uprising and massacre occurred in 1950 in Cheju-do. However, the Cheju-do Massacre, which resulted in 60,000 civilian deaths, was backed, and then covered up, by the U.S. government. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 22

January 22, 1849 – Terence Powderly, leader of the Knights of Labor was born on this date. (From the Daily Bleed)

Farabundo Marti, 1929

January 22, 1932 – A peasant uprising in El Salvador was met with extreme state violence, resulting in the "Matanza Massacre" of 30,000.  Salvadoran communists, peasants and indigenous had rebelled against the military dictatorship, creating the first soviets in the Western hemisphere. The state violence and repression that followed obliterated what was left of the country’s indigenous population, as well as most of its socialists, communists, anarchists and labor organizers. One of the first to go before Martinez’ firing squads was Farabundo Marti. Martinez once said that America was great because it wiped out its Indians and so, too, must El Salvador. (From Daily Bleed, Eduardo Galeano, Memory of Fire)

January 22, 1997 – 150,000 South Korean workers walked off their jobs to protest recent anti-labor legislation. The recent strike wave had already "cost" South Korean corporations about $3 billion in lost production.

Today in Labor History—January 15

Rosa Luxemburg

Karl Liebknecht

January 15, 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebnecht, were murdered by German police.  (From the Daily Bleed)

January 15, 1929 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on this date. King once said, "We look around every day and we see thousands and millions of people making inadequate wages. Not only do they work in our hospitals, they work in our hotels, they work in our laundries, they work in domestic service, they find themselves unemployed. You see, no labor is really menial unless you're not getting adequate wages." (From Workday Minnesota)

January 15, 1946 – 260,000 U.S. electrical workers struck against General Electric, Westinghouse and General Motors. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 15, 1978 -- The C.N.T., the Spanish anarchist trade union, held a demonstration drawing 10,000 protesters in Barcelona to oppose the Moncloa pact (which allowed only the communist C.C.O.O and the socialist U.G.T the right to represent workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 15, 1997 –A general strike was called by a coalition of South Korean labor unions. The unions claimed that 600,000 workers participated in the strike; the government claimed it was only 100,000. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 9

Kropotkin, 1870

January 9, 1883 – In Lyon, France the trial continued for the 68 anarchists accused of inciting workers’ strikes and the abolition of property. The anarchists included Peter Kropotkin, Emile Gautier, Toussaint Bordat and Joseph Bernard. (From the Daily Bleed)

Karel Capek

January 9, 1890 -- Karel Capek, internationally renowned Czech novelist, short-story writer, playwright, essayist, was born on this date in Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now in Czech Republic). Two of his best known works include R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which first introduced the word “robot,” and War with the Newts, which ridicules Nazi-Germany and fascism. (From the Daily Bleed)

Louise Michel in Uniform

Bloody Sunday massacre, St Petersburg

 January 9, 1905 – French anarchiste Louise Michel died on this date. Michel was a leader in the Paris Commune & co-founder of the Women's Battalion. Founder of the journal "Le libertaire" with Sébastien Faure. 100,000 mourners attended her funeral. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 9, 1905 – Russia’s "Bloody Sunday" occurred on this date, with revolution breaking out in St. Petersburg. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 9, 1939 – The Southern Tenant Farmers' Union led a Missouri Highway sit-in of 1,700 tenant families. (From the Daily Bleed)

January 9, 1997 -- South Korea's primary labor group called the biggest strike in the nation's history to protest a controversial new labor law. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 26

Siege of New Ulm, MN, Sioux Uprising

December 26, 1862 – America’s largest public mass execution occurred in Mankato, Minnesota, not surprisingly, when the U.S. military hanged 38 Native Americans for participating in the "Sioux Outbreak." (From Workday Minnesota)

December 26, 1996 – The largest series of strikes and walkouts in South Korean history were occurring on this date, with hundreds of thousands of workers, to protest new legislation that made it easier for companies to layoff and fire workers and avoid paying overtime. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 6

A Rake's Progress, by William Hogarth, depicting a man's downfall to debtor's prison

June 6, 1778 – Debtors prisons were abolished in the U.S., though debtors continued to flourish and creditors came up with numerous other ways to punish them. (From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Amphibious transport landing on Omaha Beach

 June 6, 1944 - British, U.S. and Canadian troops landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, for the suicidal assault known as D-Day. Over 150,000 men and 5,000 ships took part in the operation, with an estimated 10,000 allied troops dying. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 6, 1961 – A Military junta took over in South Korea. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1978 – Proposition 13 passed in California, allowing commercial property owners to maintain phenomenally low property tax rates and bleed the state of revenues for education and public services. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – Israel invaded Lebanon, remaining until June 6, 1985. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1982 – An antinuclear rally at the Rose Bowl, in Pasadena, California, drew 85,000 people who heard Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Wonder and Tom Petty. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1988 – 2 million people participated in a 3-day General Strike in South Africa. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 1989 – Citizens voted to shut down the Rancho Seco nuclear plant in Sacramento, California. There had been a near melt-down in 1985 that had been covered-up until after the Chernobyl disaster. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 6, 2000 – Brazilian Rancher Jeronimo Alves Amorim was sentenced to 19 years for ordering the murder of union leader Expedito Ribeiro de Souza. (From the Daily Bleed)