Today in Labor History—April 29

Coxey's Army Leaving Camp (Library of Congress)

April 29, 1894 –Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. His Army of the Poor was immediately arrested for trespassing on Capitol grounds.

The Return of Coxey's Army (By Eddie Starr)

When they busted all the unions,
You can't make no living wage.
And this working poor arrangement,
Gonna turn to public rage.
And then get ready . . .
We're gonna bring back Coxey's Army
And take his message to the street.

(From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Marines With Captured Sandinista Flag, 1932

April 29, 1895 –Warships were sent to Nicaragua to "protect" US interests, the first of many military interventions in that small Central American country. President Taft ordered the overthrow of President Zelaya in 1909.The U.S. later invaded in 1910 and occupied the country in 1912, an occupation that was ultimately ended by the resistance of Augusto Sandino and the original Sandinistas in 1933. In 1934, Anastasio Somoza assassinated Sandino. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

 

April 29, 1899 – Failing to achieve their demand that only union men be employed at the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) dynamited the $250,000 mill, completely destroying it. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas, with orders to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built "bullpens." From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupyied the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Idaho. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1915 –The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded at The Hague, which works for world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish the political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all. Its first president was Jane Addams, who founded and directed Hull House in Chicago for newly arrived immigrants. (From Workday Minnesota)

Captured Revolutionary, May 1919 (German Federal Archive)

April 29, 1919 –From April 29 to May 2, government forces in Munich violently crushed the Republic of the Councils of Bavaria. Workers, socialists, anarchists, and sympathizers bravely resisted. Over 700 were summarily executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1937 –The Friends of Durruti Group postered Barcelona with a list of their demands: "All power to the working class. All economic power to the unions." (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1970 –The National Guard killed seven students at Ohio State University. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History--April 14

April 14, 1812 – There was a Luddite food riot in Sheffield, England, in which mostly women and boys seized potatoes and vegetables and attacked a militia arms store. (From the Daily Bleed)

Currency Issued by Limerick Soviet, 1919

April 14, 1919 – In Limerick, Ireland, a General Strike was in full force against the British military occupation. The workers ran the city as a soviet, printing their own newspaper, issuing their own currency, and regulating food supply to prevent profiteering and keep prices below market. (From the Daily Bleed)
 

April 14, 1930 – Over 100 Mexican and Filipino farm workers were arrested for union activities in Imperial Valley, CA, with 8 being convicted of “criminal syndicalism.” (From The Unionist and Workday Minnesota)

April 14, 1939 – John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” was published. (From The Unionist and Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History--April 13

April 13, 1892 – The Johnson County War was fought between Wyoming homesteaders and an army of mercenaries hired by cattle interests out to monopolize Wyoming land for their own private profit. The war was ended when the US Cavalry rescued the rancher's troops from the settler's dynamite-laden wagon, dubbed the "Ark of Vengeance."  (From The Daily Bleed)

April 13, 1894 - The Great Northern rail strike began in Helena, Montana, spreading to St. Paul within a few days. The strike was led Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, and succeeded in shutting down critical rail links, resulting in a settlement giving in to nearly all of the union’s demands. The successful strike led to thousands of rail workers joining the new union. http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_04_11_2011

Eugene V. Debs Run for Office from Prison (Library of Congress)

 April 13, 1919 – Eugene Debs was imprisoned for his opposition to World War One. Despite being in prison, he still received over one million votes for President in 1920. (From The Daily Bleed)

April 13, 1919 – The military attempted a coup against the Bavarian Republic of the Workers Councils. Anarchists led a successful counter attack. (From The Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—March 15

March 15, 1877 -- Ben Fletcher, African-American IWW organizer was born on this date. Fletcher organized longshoremen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (From the Daily Bleed)

March 15, 1887 - The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades was founded on this date. Today they represent more than 140,000 members in the construction industry, such as Painters, Drywall Finishers, Glaziers, Floor Coverers, and Sign and Display workers. (From Workday Minnesota)

 

March 15, 1917 - The U.S. Supreme Court approved the 8-hour workday under the threat of a rail strike. (From the Daily Bleed) 

March 15, 1920 - The Workers Council movement began a strike in Turin, Italy, which spread to other northern cities by April. Factories were taken over and occupied by workers, who ran them under their own leadership and rules, bypassing and ignoring the bosses. The government sent warships to Turin to land soldiers sent to quash the uprising.
(From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 2

Portrait of Absalom Jones by Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), Delaware Art Museum

January 2, 1800 – The free black community of Philadelphia, led by Absalom Jones, petitioned Congress to abolish slavery and to end the fugitive slave act of 1793. (From the Daily Bleed and USHistory.org)

January 2, 1873 -- Anton Pannekoek (1873-1960) was born on this date. Pannekoek was a Dutch astronomer, mathematician and radical left-communist. Among other works, he published the pamphlet Darwinism and Marxism, 1916, which strongly attacked the social Darwinists, like Spencer. He also wrote the classic, “Workers Councils.” (From the Daily Bleed)

January 2, 1905 - A conference of 23 industrial unionists met in Chicago and issued a manifesto calling for an industrial Union Congress to be held in Chicago on June 27—a meeting that would lead to the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (or IWW or "Wobblies").  (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—December 11

December 11, 1917 -- Thirteen black soldiers were hanged for alleged participation in a riot in Houston, Texas. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1927 – A Soviet-style Commune began in Canton, but was wiped out after three days by the Russian Communist-supplied Kuo Min Tang. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1951 – An Illinois State mine inspector approved coal dust removal techniques at the New Orient mine in West Frankfurt, Illinois. Ten days later the mine exploded, killing 119 workers, because of coal dust accumulations,. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1981 - More than 500 people were massacred by the Salvadoran military in the village of El Mozote in what may have been the largest 20^th century massacre in Latin America. Men, women and children were tortured and systematically executed by the U.S.-supported regime in their attempt to wipe out unions, leftists and peasant activists. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—October 29

October 29, 1918 – The Wilhelmshaven sailors’ mutiny in Germany, with sailors taking over a naval base, garrison and the city of Kiel. Soldiers, sailors and workers councils were established. The German government fell less than two weeks later. (From the Daily Bleed)

October 29, 1929 - This day became known as "Black Tuesday," as the Stock Market took its biggest crash in history, marking the beginning of the Great Depression, (From Workday Minnesota)

October 29, 1966 - The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in Chicago. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—April 29

Coxey's Army Leaving Camp (Library of Congress)

April 29, 1894 –Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. His Army of the Poor was immediately arrested for trespassing on Capitol grounds.

The Return of Coxey's Army (By Eddie Starr)

When they busted all the unions,
You can't make no living wage.
And this working poor arrangement,
Gonna turn to public rage.
And then get ready . . .
We're gonna bring back Coxey's Army
And take his message to the street.

(From the Daily Bleed)

U.S. Marines With Captured Sandinista Flag, 1932

April 29, 1895 –Warships were sent to Nicaragua to "protect" US interests, the first of many military interventions in that small Central American country. President Taft ordered the overthrow of President Zelaya in 1909.The U.S. later invaded in 1910 and occupied the country in 1912, an occupation that was ultimately ended by the resistance of Augusto Sandino and the original Sandinistas in 1933. In 1934, Anastasio Somoza assassinated Sandino. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

 

April 29, 1899 – Failing to achieve their demand that only union men be employed at the Bunker Hill Company at Wardner, Idaho, members of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) dynamited the $250,000 mill, completely destroying it. President McKinley responded by sending in black soldiers from Brownsville, Texas, with orders to round up the miners and imprison them in specially built "bullpens." From 1899 to 1901, the U.S. Army occupyied the Coeur d'Alene mining region in Idaho. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1915 –The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded at The Hague, which works for world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish the political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all. Its first president was Jane Addams, who founded and directed Hull House in Chicago for newly arrived immigrants. (From Workday Minnesota)

Captured Revolutionary, May 1919 (German Federal Archive)

April 29, 1919 –From April 29 to May 2, government forces in Munich violently crushed the Republic of the Councils of Bavaria. Workers, socialists, anarchists, and sympathizers bravely resisted. Over 700 were summarily executed. (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1937 –The Friends of Durruti Group postered Barcelona with a list of their demands: "All power to the working class. All economic power to the unions." (From the Daily Bleed)

April 29, 1970 –The National Guard killed seven students at Ohio State University. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History--April 14

April 14, 1812 – There was a Luddite food riot in Sheffield, England, in which mostly women and boys seized potatoes and vegetables and attacked a militia arms store. (From the Daily Bleed)

Currency Issued by Limerick Soviet, 1919

April 14, 1919 – In Limerick, Ireland, a General Strike was in full force against the British military occupation. The workers ran the city as a soviet, printing their own newspaper, issuing their own currency, and regulating food supply to prevent profiteering and keep prices below market. (From the Daily Bleed)
 

April 14, 1930 – Over 100 Mexican and Filipino farm workers were arrested for union activities in Imperial Valley, CA, with 8 being convicted of “criminal syndicalism.” (From The Unionist and Workday Minnesota)

April 14, 1939 – John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” was published. (From The Unionist and Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History--April 13

April 13, 1892 – The Johnson County War was fought between Wyoming homesteaders and an army of mercenaries hired by cattle interests out to monopolize Wyoming land for their own private profit. The war was ended when the US Cavalry rescued the rancher's troops from the settler's dynamite-laden wagon, dubbed the "Ark of Vengeance."  (From The Daily Bleed)

April 13, 1894 - The Great Northern rail strike began in Helena, Montana, spreading to St. Paul within a few days. The strike was led Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, and succeeded in shutting down critical rail links, resulting in a settlement giving in to nearly all of the union’s demands. The successful strike led to thousands of rail workers joining the new union. http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?history_9_04_11_2011

Eugene V. Debs Run for Office from Prison (Library of Congress)

 April 13, 1919 – Eugene Debs was imprisoned for his opposition to World War One. Despite being in prison, he still received over one million votes for President in 1920. (From The Daily Bleed)

April 13, 1919 – The military attempted a coup against the Bavarian Republic of the Workers Councils. Anarchists led a successful counter attack. (From The Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—January 2

Portrait of Absalom Jones by Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), Delaware Art Museum

January 2, 1800 – The free black community of Philadelphia, led by Absalom Jones, petitioned Congress to abolish slavery and to end the fugitive slave act of 1793. (From the Daily Bleed and USHistory.org)

January 2, 1873 -- Anton Pannekoek (1873-1960) was born on this date. Pannekoek was a Dutch astronomer, mathematician and radical left-communist. Among other works, he published the pamphlet Darwinism and Marxism, 1916, which strongly attacked the social Darwinists, like Spencer. He also wrote the classic, “Workers Councils.” (From the Daily Bleed)

January 2, 1905 - A conference of 23 industrial unionists met in Chicago and issued a manifesto calling for an industrial Union Congress to be held in Chicago on June 27—a meeting that would lead to the formation of the Industrial Workers of the World (or IWW or "Wobblies").  (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—December 11

December 11, 1917 -- Thirteen black soldiers were hanged for alleged participation in a riot in Houston, Texas. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1927 – A Soviet-style Commune began in Canton, but was wiped out after three days by the Russian Communist-supplied Kuo Min Tang. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1951 – An Illinois State mine inspector approved coal dust removal techniques at the New Orient mine in West Frankfurt, Illinois. Ten days later the mine exploded, killing 119 workers, because of coal dust accumulations,. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 11, 1981 - More than 500 people were massacred by the Salvadoran military in the village of El Mozote in what may have been the largest 20^th century massacre in Latin America. Men, women and children were tortured and systematically executed by the U.S.-supported regime in their attempt to wipe out unions, leftists and peasant activists. (From Workday Minnesota)