Today in Labor History—June 21

June 21, 1852—Friedrich Froebel died. 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.

James McParland, Pinkerton private cop who claimed to have infiltrated the Molly Maguires

June 21, 1877 - Ten miners, allegedly members of the Molly Maguires, were hanged in Pennsylvania. Many historians argue that the Molly Maguires, a secret miners’ organization allegedly responsible for violence and social conflict in the coal regions, never really existed. The investigation into the miners’ involvement with the Molly Maguires was conducted by private detective agency. A private police force arrested them and coal company attornies prosecuted them. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

June 21, 1937 -- The Ohio Steel Strike of 1937 continued. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 21, 1943 – The Detroit race riots continued. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 21, 1964 - Civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner were disappeared near Philadelphia, Mississippi by the Ku Klux Klan, who beat them to death with clubs and chaings. Their mangled bodies were later found by federal agents. (From Workday Minnesota)

June 21, 1994 – The UAW began a strike at Caterpillar plants in Peoria, Decatur, & Pontiac.
(From the Daily Bleed)

June 21, 1997 – 100,000 marched in solidarity with striking newspaper labor workers in Detroit. (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—May 29

Louise Michel

May 29, 1830 – Anarchist Louise Michel, was born in Vroncourt, France. Michel, also known as The Red Virgin, was a leader of the Paris Commune. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1839 – Revolution against the Mexican government broke out in Yucatan. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1854 – Civil rights activist, Lydia Flood Jackson, opened the first school for black children in Sacramento, California. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1881 –Chinese anarchist Li Shizeng was born. He led the anarchist Jinde Hui group (Society for Progress and Virtue), with Wu Zhihui, & Zhang Ji. He also tried unsuccessfully to turn the Guomindang into an anarchist organization. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1922 – The Portuguese army and police opened fire on 10,000 protesters outside the police station in Macau. The protesters wanted the release of three Chinese barbers who had beaten up soldiers for sexually harassing a Chinese woman. Seventy people were shot dead, while over 100 beaten, leading ultimately to a general strike is declared. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1943 – The British RAF dropped 1,500 tons of bombs on Wuppertal, Germany killing 2,450 civilians and destroying nearly 4,000 houses. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1946 - The United Mine Workers (UMWA) and the U.S. government signed a pact establishing one of America’s first union medical and pension plan. The UMWA Welfare and Retirement Fund permanently changed health care delivery in U.S. coal fields. The Fund was used to build eight hospitals in Appalachia. It also established many clinics and recruited doctors to practice in rural coal field areas. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 29, 1950 –The United Auto Workers (UAW) at General Motors won hospitalization plan. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1967 – The Poor Peoples' Campaign was launched in Washington D.C. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 29, 1969 – Government violence triggered General Strikes in Cordoba and La Plata Argentina. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 24

Anti-conscription parade at Victoria Square, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

May 24, 1917 – Mass anti-draft demonstrations occurred in Montreal, Quebec. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1921 – The trial of anarchist labor organizers Sacco & Vanzetti began on this day. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1941 –Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1943 –A march against anti-Semitism in Bulgaria led to the cessation of Jewish deportations. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1949 –UAW labor leader Victor Reuther was shot and nearly killed at his Detroit home by police. His brother Walter had previously survived an attempted abduction in April 1938, a shotgun attack in 1948 and a bombing in 1949. He ultimately died in a plane crash in 1970, though curiously only one newspaper speculated that it might have been an assassination. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1961 – Freedom Riders were arrested immediately after arriving in Jackson, Mississippi. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1973 – An 11-day strike began at the state prison in Lucasville, Ohio. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1980 – Hundreds were arrested in the occupation of Seabrook, New Hampshire, nuclear power plant construction site. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1982 – Over 200,000 people participated in massive anti-nuclear demonstration in Tokyo. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 24, 1990 – Earth First! And IWW members Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney were bombed in Oakland, California. Police immediately arrested the victims, destroyed evidence, and went on a witch hunt of local activist groups like Earth First! and Seeds of Peace. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History: April 20

April 20, 1812— Luddites attacked factories in Middleton, Manchester, Bolton, Ashton,  Oldham and Cheshire England in protest of new technologies that were throwing them out of work. (From the Daily Bleed)

Ruins of the Ludlow Mining Camp

April 20, 1914—Ludlow Massacre, Colorado. National Guards opened fire on a mining camp during a strike in Ludlow, Colorado, killing five miners, two women, and twelve children. By the end of the strike, more than 75 people had been killed. The strike involved 10,000 members of the united Mine Workers of America (UMW), 1,200 of whom had been living in the Ludlow tent colony. Many of the “Guards” were actually goons and vigilantes hired by the Ludlow Mine Field owner, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who were temporarily sworn into the State Militia for the occasion. During the assault, they opened fire on strikers and their families with machine guns and set fire to the camp.

Armored “Death Car” With Mounted Machine Guns

Mining was (and still is) a dangerous job. At the time, Colorado miners were dying on the job at a rate of more than 7 deaths per 1,000 employees. The working conditions were not only unsafe, but terribly unfair, too. Workers were paid by the ton for coal that they extracted, but were unpaid for so-called “dead work” like shoring up unstable roofs and tunnels. This system encouraged miners to risk their lives by ignoring safety precautions and preparations so that they would have more time to extract and deliver coal. Miners also lived in “company towns” where the boss not only owned their housing and the stores that supplied their food and clothing, but charged inflated prices for these services. Furthermore, the workers were paid in “scrip,” a currency that was valid only in the company towns. So even if workers had a way to get to another store, they had no money to purchase anything. Therefore, much of what the miners earned went back into the pockets of their bosses. (From Labor History, The Daily Bleed, Wikipedia and Workday Minnesota)

National Guard Arrive in Ludlow

 April 20, 1948 - United Auto Workers President Walter Reuther was shot and seriously wounded by would-be assassins. He survived and ultimately died in a plane crash in 1970. Reuther also survived an attempted kidnapping in April, 1938, while his brother Victor was shot and nearly killed by police in 1949. The UAW headquarters was also bombed in 1949. Both Walter and Victor were again nearly killed in a small private plane near Dulles Airport. Despite this history of attempts on his life, virtually no media addressed the possibility that his actual death may have been an assassination. (From The Daily Bleed, and Workday Minnesota)

April 20, 1985 - 250,000 people marched in Washington, D.C., to protest US policy in Central America. (From The Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History: April 11

Luddites Smashing Looms (from Cotton Times)

April 11, 1812 – 300 Luddites attacked Wroe & Duncliffs Mfg., in Rawfords Hill, England, to destroy the machinery that was replacing them and throwing them out of work. Wroe & Duncliffs Mfg. was set ablaze, while Wm Cartwright's mill in Liversedge was attacked by mobs. (From The Daily Bleed)

April 11, 1934 - Frank Norman, who had the gall to organize all citrus workers, regardless of their race, was kidnapped from his home in Florida and murdered by the Ku Klux Klan. http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_04_11_2011

April 11, 1938 – Richard Whitney, the five-term president of the New York Stock Exchange, was sentenced to 5-10 years for grand larceny. (From The Daily Bleed)

April 11, 1941 - The Ford Motor Company signed its first contract with the United Auto Workers. (From the Unionist)

April 11, 1947 - Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black baseball player to play in the major leagues. (From the Unionist)

April 11, 1968 – the Civil Rights Act of 1968 was signed into law barring racial discrimination in housing & other areas. The Act also made it a crime to cross state lines with the intent to incite a riot, giving the government a new tool to prosecute labor and other protest organizers. (From The Daily Bleed)

April 11, 1974 - United Mine Workers President W. A. "Tony" Boyle was found guilty of first-degree murder for ordering the 1969 assassination of union reformer Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski.  (From the Unionist)

April 11, 1980 – Eleven-day strike by 34,000 New York City Transit Authority workers for higher wages ended with management agreeing to a 9% raise in the 1st year and 8% in the 2^nd. During this same year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prohibited sexual harassment of workers by supervisors in the workplace. (From the Unionist)

April 11, 1986 – 17 were arrested on felony riot charges after police tear-gas striking Hormel meatpacking workers in Austin, Minn. The following day, 6,000 people demonstrated against Hormel and the police (nearly one-third of the city’s entire population). The strike was eventually suppressed by Hormel, with the collaboration of the state, and the workers’ own union. (From The Daily Bleed and the Unionist)

April 11, 1997 - 25,000 people marched in Watsonville, CA in support of the United Farm Workers organizing campaign for strawberry workers. (From the Unionist)

Today In Labor History: April 8

April 8, 1864—13^th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, banning chattel slavery, but allowing a continuation of wage slavery and the forced labor of convicts without pay. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 8, 1911 – 128 convict miners, mostly African-Americans jailed for minor offenses, were killed by a massive explosion at the Banner coalmine near Birmingham, Alabama. While the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, which occurred just two weeks earlier, elicited massive public attention and support for the plight of immigrant women working in sweatshop conditions, the Banner explosion garnered almost no public sympathy, probably due to racism and the fact that they were prisoners. (From Workday Minnesota)

Emma Goldman 1911 (Library of Congress)

April 8, 1916—Emma Goldman was arrested for giving a lecture on birth control. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 8, 1937—The UAW struck a GM plant in Ontario to win union recognition. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 8, 1952 - President Harry Truman sent the U.S. Army to take over the nation’s steel mills to avoid a strike. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the president’s action to be illegal. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—March 13

(From wikipedia)

March 13, 1925 – Tennessee made it unlawful to teach evolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 13, 1946 - The United Auto Workers and General Motors signed a new contract after a four-month strike over wages. (From Workday Minnesota)

March 13, 1961 – IWW Labor organizer and recovering anarchist Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was elected chair of the National Committee of the Communist Party, U.S.A. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 13, 1963 – Labor Local 260 Houston negotiated its first contract with Pioneer Bus, ending dual pay scales for black and white drivers. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 13, 1967 – United Farm Workers (UFW) won a contract with the Christian Brothers Winery. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 13, 1968 – Student demonstrations in Warsaw led to street riots. All Polish universities were out on strike, with students occupying university. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 13, 1996 – Two leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Yang Kyu Hon and Kwon Young Kil, were arrested. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 11

March 11, 1811 - Luddites attacked looms near Nottingham. (From the Daily Bleed)


March 11, 1812 - Luddites suffered their first defeat at Rawkolds Mill, England.
(From the Daily Bleed)


March 11, 1833 -  U.S. invaded Nicaragua to protect Nicaraguan workers, er, U.S. business interests in that country. (From the Daily Bleed)


March 11, 1845 - Maori uprising against British rule began on this date. (From the Daily Bleed)


March 11, 1858 - The Great Indian Mutiny (March 9-16)--also known as the Sepoy Rebellion--ended with massacres and harsh reprisals against the Indian protesters by the British.
(From the Daily Bleed)


March 11, 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi began his Salt March on this date. Marching from Ahmadabad to Delhi, Indians were protesting the salt tax and exposing the tyranny of British rule in India. (From Workday Minnesota)

March 11, 1937 -  The MacBeth mine exploded in West Virginia, killing 18 workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 11, 1950 - TWA maintenance workers won an 11-day strike. They won severance pay and limits on subcontracting.
(From the Daily Bleed)

March 11, 1976 - Cesar Chavez ended another fast (this one for 23 days). 
(From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 7

Lynn Shoemakers Strike, 1860 (Image from libcom)

March 7, 1860 – 6,000 shoemakers were joined by 20,000 other New England workers in a mass strike in Lynn, Massachusetts. Also known as the great New England shoemakers strike, thousands of women marched through a blizzard carrying signs saying: "American Ladies Will Not Be Slaves." Within a month, shoe manufacturers offered higher wages to bring strikers back to the factories, but continued to refuse to recognize a union. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 7, 1868 - The Knights of St. Crispin and the Daughters of St. Crispin organized to win regulation of the use of machinery in the shoe industry, which threatened handcrafted work. (From Workday Minnesota)

Bolshevik Bombs Confiscated During the 1905 Peasant Uprising

 March 7, 1905 – A Russian peasant rebellion began, during which the peasants burned many castles of the nobility. (From the Daily Bleed)

Red Army Attacking Kronstadt

 March 7, 1921 – Select forces of the Red Army (commanded by Leon Trotsky) opened fire on the rebellious sailors, soldiers and workers of Kronstadt. Trotsky once said that “One can't make an omelet without breaking eggs." (From the Daily Bleed)

March 7, 1932 - More than 3,000 people, led by the United Auto Workers union, marched on the main Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan, demanding that laid off workers be rehired, a slowdown of the assembly lines and an end to the evictions of unemployed workers from their homes. During the protests, police opened fire with machine guns, killing 4 and injuring 60. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

March 7, 1942 – IWW founder and anarchist labor organizer Lucy Parsons died on this date in Chicago, Illinois. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 7, 1996 – A crowd of 3,000 workers destroyed the Freeport copper mine facilities in Tamika, Irian Jaya (West Papua), after a Dani clansman was run over by company security. The mine was shut down as community organizations prepared a list of demands protesting human rights violations, eco-terrorism and cultural genocide. Overnight, the world price of copper jumped from $15 to $2580 per ton. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 4

March 4, 1634 – The first American tavern opened on this date in Boston, Massachusetts. (From the Daily Bleed)

Union Stockyards, Chicago, 1870s (from Wikipedia)

 March 4, 1865 - Union Stockyards opened in Chicago, establishing the Windy City as the world's largest meat packing center by the end of the decade. Thousands of workers migrated to Chicago to work in the yards, leading to the organizing of numerous unions and the establishment of Chicago as one of the nation’s union strongholds. (From Workday Minnesota)

March 4, 1908 -- Lakeview School, in Collinwood, Ohio, caught fire, with 174 children and two teachers dying as a result. (From the Daily Bleed)

Anti-IWW Cartoon from the Spokane Spokesman Review, 1909 (Image from WAFreePress)

March 4, 1910—The Industrial Workers of the World won their free speech fight in Spokane, Washington, when the licenses of 18 “employment” agencies were revoked. The campaign was intended to dissuade workers from “buying” jobs in the streets from the job sharks (“employment” agencies) that routinely swindled workers. The fight began in late 1908 and continued through 1909. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 4, 1937 – The UAW won their sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. The strike at the Fisher Body Plant Number One lasted 40 days and was the longest sit-down strike in history. 5,000 armed workers circled the plant to protect the workers inside. Following police attacks with tear-gas, workers fought back with fire hoses. 13 workers were injured by police gunfire. By the time the National Guard arrived, sympathy strikes had spread to GM plants across the country. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 4, 1989 - The International Association of Machinists struck Eastern Airlines, with 8,500 ramp service workers, mechanics, aircraft cleaners and stock clerks joined by 6,000 flight attendants and 3,400 pilots in the nationwide strike. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—February 17, 2012

February 17, 1879 – Russian nihilists unsuccessfully tried to assassinate Czar Alexander in St. Petersburg.  (From the Daily Bleed)

Big Bill Haywood

 February 17, 1906 - "Big Bill" Haywood and two others were arrested (kidnapped) for the murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Stuenenberg. Clarence Darrow successfully defended them, telling jurors, "If at the behest of this mob you should kill Bill Haywood, he is mortal, he will die, but I want to say that a million men will grab up the banner of labor where at the open grave Haywood lays it down . . ." (From Workday Minnesota)

Florence Kelley

 February 17, 1932 – Florence Kelley (b.1859) died on this date. Kelley was a social and political reformer who worked against sweatshops and fought for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays and children’s rights. (From the Daily Bleed)

February 17, 1936 – The United Rubber Workers launched a sit-down strike at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. (From the Daily Bleed)

February 17, 1937 – Workers at Fansteel Corporation staged a sit-down strike for union recognition. (From the Daily Bleed)

February 17, 1996 – A 3-day UAW wildcat strike began at the Chrysler truck plant in Warren, Michigan. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—February 11

February 11, 1916 – Feminist and civil-rights activist Flo Kennedy was born in on this date Kansas City, Missouri. As a lawyer, Kennedy represented Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker and H. Rap Brown. In 1972 she formed the Feminist Party and filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint alleging that the Catholic Church violates tax-exempt requirements by spending money to influence political decisions. "I'm just a loud-mouthed middle-aged colored lady . . . & a lot of people think I'm crazy. Maybe you do too, but I never stop to wonder why I'm not like other people. The mystery to me is why more people aren't like me." (From the Daily Bleed)

Seattle Strikers and their Supporters Took Over Most City Services, Including Food Distribution

 February 11, 1919 – The Seattle General Strike ended. (From the Daily Bleed)

Sit Down Strikers in Flint

 February 11, 1937 - General Motors recognized the United Auto Workers (UAW) following a 44-day sit-down strike involving 48,000 GM workers. Two months later, company guards beat up UAW leaders at the River Rouge, Michigan plant.  (From Workday Minnesota)

February 11, 1964 – 19,000 students boycotted Cincinnati schools to protest segregation. (From the Daily Bleed)

February 11, 1981 – Eight workers were contaminated when 100,000 gallons of radioactive coolant leaked into a containment building of the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Sequoyah I plant in Tennessee. (From the Daily Bleed)