Today in Labor History—June 28, 2011

June 28, 1816 –Luddites attacked the Heathcoat and Boden's Mill at Loughborough, smashing 53 frames worth £6,000. Troops were sent in. Six Luddites were executed. The attack was part of a general revival of violence and sabotage of machinery following a bad harvest. At this same time, 'Swing' riots erupted in the countryside as a protest against low wages, unemployment & the Game Laws.

June 28, 1905 -- The mutinous crew of the battleship "Potemkin" entered the port of Odessa, which had been taken by revolutionaries. Workers' Councils formed.

June 28, 1914 – Austria's Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by the Serbian anarchist Gavrilo Princip, whose attentat was said to have set off World War I, which killed between 5 and 10 million soldiers.

June 28, 1916 – 50,000 workers staged a one day protest strike against the trial of Karl Leibnecht.

June 28, 1956 – 100,000 workers struck in Poznañ, Poland, shouting "Bread & Freedom. The protests were violently suppressed, with at least 67 workers killed. The government sends 10,000 soldiers to the city. The next day, another 70 would be killed, 700 would be arrested, and hundreds more would be wounded.

June 28, 1969 – Gay activists demonstrated in Sheridan Square and in front of the Stonewall Inn, where a riot occurred at 3 am earlier this morning when police raided the bar. Demonstrators were confronted by NYC Tactical Police.

(All from the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—June 27

Emma Goldman, Union Square, NY, urging workers to take Direct Action

Emma Goldman's Magazine, Mother Earth

June 27, 1869 - Anarchist, feminist and labor activist Emma Goldman was born in Lithuania. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

Helen Keller, 1904

 June 27, 1880 – Helen Keller, the deaf, mute and blind author and socialist, was born (1880-1968), Tuscumbia, Alabama. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 27, 1893 – The U.S. Stock Market crashed, initiating a four-year depression. During this depression, labor and strike activity escalated, as demonstrated in the great Pullman Strike of 1894. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 27, 1905 - The Industrial Workers of the World, also known as the “Wobblies,” the radical syndicalist union, was founded at Brand's Hall, in Chicago, Illinois. The Wobblies, advocate industrial unionism, with all workers in a particular industry organized in the same union, as opposed by the trade unions typical today. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

June 27, 1905 –The mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin officially began, with the crew killing the worst of the officers. They sailed on to Odessa (June 30) where the workers were on strike, then escaped to Rumania where they obtained political asylum. (From the Daily Bleed)

Potemkin mutiny leader Matuschenko (center), 1899

 June 27, 1935 - Congress passed the Wagner Act, authored by Senator Robert Wagner of New York. Also known as the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the legislation created the structure for collective bargaining in the United States. (From Workday Minnesota)

No Capitalist Left Behind in Louisiana

The Louisiana Senate recently voted 22-16 to allow corporations to sponsor charter schools in exchange for half of the enrollment slots and half the governing board seats, according to the Times Picayune. The House is expected to approve the bill and Governor Bobby Jindal is expected to sign it.

As is typical, business lobbies pitched the bill as an incentive to attract business to Louisiana (which it is), as if more business is equated with a better life for the masses. As we have seen repeatedly, subsidies, bailouts and tax cuts do not lead businesses to hire more people and they certainly do not lead to better pay and benefits for employees. However, in this case, it is not just teachers who will get screwed by having to work at union-free shops for lower pay and longer hours. With up to half the enrollment slots in the hands of corporate funders, the new schools could easily wind up as elite schools for the children of the rich, worsening the already extreme segregation of students based on their socioeconomic status. Furthermore, the schools’ boards could wind up under the control of single corporations, thus weakening parental and teacher influence over the operations and objectives of the schools, and increasing the chances that curriculum is biased in favor of that corporation’s interests.

Clarence Thomas’s Wife Supported Armed Insurrection, Benefited from Citizens United

In a recent post, “Kids May Not Know Democracy, But They Know a Bum Deal When They See It,” I made the argument that our political system functions quite differently from the idealized system we are taught in school. I specifically argued that it was created and continues to operate to protect the property rights of a tiny minority of society. A recent example of this is the Citizens United case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporate funding of political broadcasts could not be limited, since corporations are entitled to the same 1^st Amendment protections as individuals. The case was close (5-4). Those who voted with the corporations in Citizens United were beneficiaries of corporate gifts, former board members and/or former CEOs of corporations, drawing into question their independence and objectivity in the case.

Clarence Thomas voted with the majority. His wife, Ginni Thomas, is founder and president of the Tea Party-associated lobbying group Liberty Central. Thomas incorporated her organization as a tax-exempt 501(c)4 just two months before the Supreme Court made its final ruling in the Citizens United case, according to a recent report on Alternet.org. Because Ginni Thomas received a salary and/or expenses from Liberty Centyral and because the ruling had a direct influence on the organization’s success in fundraising and lobbying, there was a very clear conflict of interest for Clarence Thomas, who did not recuse himself from the case, as he should have.

The AlterNet piece also said that Liberty Central was linked to the Missouri Sovereignty Project and Gun Owners of America, whose leaders called for war against the U.S. government, as well as another group, Tradition Family and Property, whose leader called the Spanish Inquisition “a beautiful thing.” These groups were listed as “Friends of Liberty Central” on its Web site. It is highly dubious that a man could serve objectively and independently on the nation’s highest court and fulfill his mandate to uphold and defend the constitution when his own wife is supporting armed overthrow of that same nation.

Liberty Central actively opposed Obama Care, another potential conflict of interest since Clarence Thomas solicited donations for Liberty Central, and since the Supreme Court would likely have to rule on the constitutionality of the law. Clarence Thomas also received money for speaking at a Koch Brothers fundraiser in Palm Springs, California. Antonin Scalia also appeared at the gathering (and voted in the majority in the Citizens United case). The Koch Brothers were large beneficiaries of the Citizens United ruling and would appear to have bought the votes of several members of the Court.

Today in Labor History—June 26

June 26, 1894 - The American Railway Union launched a boycott of all trains carrying Pullman cars, turning the Pullman strike into a national strike which was eventually crushed by federal troops and by lack of support from the more conservative American Federation of Labor. Strike leader Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned and many workers were blacklisted for their involvement. (From Workday Minnesota)

Miners, Supporters and Onlookers being deported from Bisbee

 June 26, 1917 – The Bisbee, Arizona IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) miner strike. On July 12, 1,300 strikers, their supporters, and innocent bystanders were illegally deported from Bisbee by 2,000 vigilantes—over 200 miles in cattle cars, without food or water for 16 hours. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

June 26, 1919 – The Winnipeg General Strike, which began on May 15, came to an end as the Winnipeg Labor Council "officially" declared the strike over at 11 o'clock. (From the Daily Bleed)

June 26, 1975 – The FBI provoked a shootout with members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) at Oglala, South Dakota. The deadly firefight left two FBI agents and Lakota activist Joe Stuntz dead. Two AIM leaders were prosecuted for the FBI deaths and found innocent. A third AIM activist, Leonard Peltier, who remains in prison to this day, was later framed when much of the same evidence is disallowed in his trial.

Gay Pride march, Taipei, Taiwan, 2005

 June 26, 1977 – Gay Pride marches occurred throughout the country, with 100,000 marching in San Francisco and tens of thousands in NYC.

Pride in Haifa, Israel, 2009

 June 26, 1994 – In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, over one million people marched in New York City in support of LGBT rights.

June 26, 1997 – “The Gentle Giant," Hawaiian protest singer Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (1959-1997) died. Best known for the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World," Kamakawiwo’ole was also an activist for Hawaiian indigenous rights and Hawaiian independence.