Today in Labor History—September 5

Execution of Robespiere

September 5, 1793 – The revolutionary government began the Terror. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1794 – Radical democrat Jacques Roux was arrested in France. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1863 – Bread riots occurred in Mobile, Alabama. (From theDaily Bleed)

September 5, 1882 – The first American Labor Day was observed, with 30,000 workers marching in New York City. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1887 – Labor Day was first observed as a legal holiday (to distract workers from celebrating the much more oppositional International Workers Day on May 1 and the historical of violence against the working class epitomized by the Haymarket affair). (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1911 – Students abandoned their classrooms in London and marched in the streets after a boy was punished for encouraging his friends to strike against corporal punishment. Schools in over 60 major towns and cities come out in solidarity. (From the Daily Bleed)

September 5, 1917 –Federal agents attacked Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) halls and offices in 48 cities across the nation as part of the Palmer raids against the left. 

September 5, 1964 – Elizabeth Gurley Flynn died in Moscow. Flynn was an anarchist, labor militant and founding member of the IWW before converting and joining the American Communist Party. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—August 25

August 25, 1775 – Two thousand Liverpool seamen ignored the reading of the Riot Act to free nine of their fellow workers who had been imprisoned for wrecking a ship after being paid short wages. Workers de-rigged all ships in port, making them unable to sail and levied money from local merchants. Aften several demonstrators were killed at the Liverpool Exchange, they raided warehouses and gunsmiths for arms and seized two cannons from a whaling vessel. (From the Daily bleed)

Allan Pinkerton, Workers Enemy #1

August 25, 1819 – Allen Pinkerton was born, founder of the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') gave us the word 'fink' as they slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1921 – West Virginia Governor Morgan asked President Warren Harding for Federal troops and military aircraft to suppress the United Mine Workers’ militant actions. (From the Daily bleed)

A. Phillip Randolph, 1942

 August 25, 1925 -- African American labor organizer A. Phillip Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1937 – The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters signed its first contract with Pullman. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1950 –President Harry Truman ordered the U.S. Army to seize all the nation's railroads to prevent a General Strike. The railroads were kept under federal control for two years. (From the Daily bleed)

August 25, 1968 – The Battle of Lincoln Park occurred during the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Roughly 10,000 demonstrators battled approximately 11,000 riot police, 6,000 National Guard, 7,500 US army troops and 1,000 FBI, CIA & army/navy intelligence services agents. (From the Daily bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 26

July 26, 1877 – 30 workers were killed by federal troops at the "Battle of the Viaduct", Chicago, during the Great Upheaval (AKA Greet Strike). During the battle U.S. troops and police attacked about 5,000 workers at Halsted & 16th Street in Chicago.  A judge later found the police guilty of preventing the workers from exercising their right to freedom of speech and assembly. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 26, 1894 - A Strike Committee was created by President Grover Cleveland to investigate the causes of the Pullman strike and the subsequent walkout by the American Railway Union. After four months, the commission absolved the strikers and placed the blame entirely on Pullman and the railroads for the conflict. (From Workday Minnesota)

Police rounding up workers and activists during Tragic Week, Barcelona

Francisco Ferrer, founder of the Modern Schoo

July 26, 1909 – The Tragic Week, la Semena Tragica, began in Barcelona, with a General Strike and protests by regionalists, anarchists, radicals and angry workers protesting the government mobilization of troops to fight in Morocco and the government’s terrible labor policies. Churches and convents were attacked and burned, priests wounded and killed, along with police. Martial law was declared, lasting months. Rather than reform, the government assaulted Barcelona with the full force of the military, with mass arrests and killings. Francisco Ferrer, founder of the Escuela Moderna (Modern School), namesake of this blog, was executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 10

Striking Railroad Workers Confronting National Guard

 July 10, 1894 – The Pullman strike was put down by 14,000 federal and state troops. Over the course of the strike, federal troops killed 34 American Railway Union members in the Chicago area. Eugene Debs and many others were imprisoned during the strike for violating injunctions. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 10, 1902 –A coal mine explosion in Johnstown, Pennsylvania killed 112 workers. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 10, 1917 – The Jerome Deportation occurred in Arizona, a precursor to the more infamous Bisbee Deportation that occurred on July 12, 1917. (From the Daily Bleed)