Today in Labor History--January 5
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 1 hour ago
First Negro Labor Convention (From Harpers) *January 5, 1869* -- The First U.S. Negro Labor Convention was held on this date. (From the Daily Bleed) *January 5, 1914* - Ford raised its basic wage from $2.40 for a nine-hour day to $5 for an eight-hour day. (From Workday Minnesota) Rosa Luxemburg Karl Liebknecht *January 5, 1919* – The Spartacists, led by Karl Liebknecht & Rosa Luxemburg, led a revolt to renew the November revolution lasting 6 days (in Berlin). Both Liebknecht and Luxemburg were murdered by the so-called "democratic" left on January 15th. (From the Daily Blee... more »
Labor History Timeline--Insurrection, Palmer Raids and WWI
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 1 day ago
*1918 Ginger Goodwin Assassination: *A hired private policeman shot United Mine Workers Organizer Ginger Goodwin outside Cumberland, B.C. (Source: AFGE) * * *1919* *Fannie Sellins Assassination*: Company guards gunned down United Mine Worker organizer Fannie Sellins in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania. (Source: AFGE) Chaos during Boston police strike and riot *1919* *Boston Police Strike and Riot:* On September 19, looting, rioting, and sporadic violence broke out in downtown and South Boston after 1,117 policemen declared a work stoppage. Governor Calvin Coolidge brought ... more »
Today in Labor History—January 4
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 1 day ago
*January 4, 1909* – The ITGWU was founded on this date in Dublin. Many of the founding members came from the socialist movement or from the IWW.(From the Daily Bleed) *January 4, 1932* – At the height of the Great Depression, a U.S. Senate subcommittee considered providing unemployment relief after hearing speakers describe people living in the street, starving, and foraging through garbage dumps for scraps. One speaker, the director of the Children’s Bureau of Philadelphia told the committee, "They do not die quickly. You can starve for a long time without dying." (From Workda... more »
Labor History Timeline--Rise of IWW, Garment Workers and State/Employer Violence
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 2 days ago
Lucy Parsons *1905* *The Industrial Workers of the World* (IWW or Wobblies) was founded on June 27, 1905, by Big Bill Hayward, Daniel De Leon, Eugene Debs, Lucy Parsons, Father Haggarty, Mother Jones, Ralph Chaplin and others, in part in response to the defeats of the WFM in Colorado, Utah and Idaho and in opposition to the conservative AFL. The IWW was not just a labor union fighting for better conditions for working people, but a revolutionary organization out to abolish the wage system and employer class completely. Like the Knights of Labor, they organized all workers in... more »
Today in Labor History—January 3
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 2 days ago
Propaganda Film on the Preparedness Day Bombing, Hearst-Pathe Film Tom Mooney, 1910 *January 3, 1917* – The trial of labor organizer Tom Mooney began in San Francisco on this date. Mooney was framed by Martin Swanson, a detective with a long history of interfering in San Francisco strikes, for the Preparedness Day bombing. Swanson maintained constant surveillance and harassment of Mooney and Warren Billings, as well as Alexander Berkman & Emma Goldman. Billings and Mooney were still convicted and imprisoned for the bombing, with Mooney serving over 22 years for a crime he di... more »
Labor History Timeline: Early Industrial Capitalism, Abolition and the Nascent Labor Movement
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 3 days ago
*1800 Gabriel Prosser Uprising:* Prosser was a literate, enslaved blacksmith who planned a large slave uprising in Richmond, Virginia but was betrayed and executed before the revolt was launched. At the time, 39% of Virginia’s population was enslaved, thus the potential damage from a slave revolt was significant. It is estimated that 100 co-conspirators were involved in Gabriel’s Uprising, including several whites who he likely met working in the foundries. (Sources: Wikipedia) Denmark Vessey *1822 The Vessey Conspiracy*: Denmark Vessey, a Caribbean slave inspired by the... more »
Today in Labor History—January 2
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 3 days ago
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 wrot... more »
Labor History Timeline--The Colonial and Revolutionary Eras
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 4 days ago
*The Colonial and Revolutionary Eras* *1619 First slaves brought to American colonies: *They were brought to Jamestown by Dutch traders who had stolen them from a Spanish ship. Because the Spanish usually baptized captured Africans and the English exempted baptized people from chattel slavery, these first African Americans joined around 1,000 English indentured servants in the colony. (Source:Wikipedia) Bacon's Rebellion-The Burning of Jamestown *1676 Bacon’s Rebellion: *Nathanial Bacon led Virginia settlers in a rebellion by against the rule of William Berkeley an... more »
Today in Labor History—January 1
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 4 days ago
Haitian revolution Toussaint L'Ouverture *January 1, 1804* – Haitian slaves, led by Jean Jacques Desalines, declared independence from France, making Haiti the first free black republic in the world. The U.S. refused to recognize Haiti for the next 70 and France extracted millions in restitution, destroying any hope of ever moving out of deep poverty. The slave revolt against the French began in 1791 with the call by Dutty Boukman, a vodou priest and was led by Toussaint L'Ouverture. (From theDaily Bleed and Wikipedia; For a really great history of the Haitian revolution, plea... more »
Today in Labor History—December 31
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 5 days ago
*December 31, 1890* - Ellis Island opened on this date in New York City, where millions of immigrants to the United States first set foot in the land of the free. (From Workday Minnesota) *December 31, 1931* – 60,000 unemployed workers rallied at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh, near Father Cox's Shantytown. The shantytown lasted from 1929 to 1932 and was the staging base for the Reverend James Cox's unemployed army. (From the Daily Bleed) *December 31, 1982*--Martial law was declared in Poland in 1981 in an attempt to suppress the anti-communist Solidarnosc labor movement. It w... more »
Today in Labor History—December 30
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 6 days ago
*December 30, 1883* - *John Swinton's Paper* described the abuse of immigrants conned by job sharks lured to the U.S. with tales of high wages and dream jobs, only to get stuck in terrible jobs with rotten wages. (From Workday Minnesota) Bonnot Gang-First Use of Get Away Car Victor Serge * December 30, 1890* – Victor Serge was born on this date in Brussels. Serge was a novelist, poet, historian, & militant activist, most well-known as a member of the Bonnot Gang (see here, here, here and here) and for his novel *The Birth of Our Power*. (From theDaily Bleed) * * ... more »
Today in Labor History—December 29
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 1 week ago
Sitting Bul l*December 29, 1890* - U.S. Army troops slaughtered 150 Sioux men, women and children at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Days earlier, they had killed Sitting Bull. (From Workday Minnesota) *December 29, 1970 *– Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act. (From the TWU) ------------------------------ Modern School
Dockworkers Threaten East Coast Strike, Reject West Coast Deal
Michael Dunn at Modern School - 1 week ago
Bloody Thursday, San Francisco, West Cost Ports Strike, 1934 Dockworkers from Massachusetts to Texas are threatening to strike on Sunday, in what would be the first East Coast port shut down since 1977, a two-month work stoppage that cost retailers billions of dollars (see New York Times). The threat has so worried the corporate bosses that they are demanding Obama block the strike by invoking the Taft-Hartley Act, as Bush did in 2002 to end a West Coast port strike. The anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act, which passed in 1947, banned the General Strike, solidarity or sympathy strike... more »