Today in Labor History—May 18

Tupac Amaru

May 18, 1781 – Tupac Amaru II, and other Peruvian indigenous leaders, who rebelled against the Spanish conquistadors, was drawn and quartered in Plaza Mayor del Cuzco. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bakunin speaking at IWA, 1869

May 18, 1814 –Russian Anarchist militant and philosopher Mikhail Bakunin was born.  (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1872 – Philosopher, mathematician & social critic Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was born in Wales. Russell won the Nobel prize for literature in 1950. He was imprisoned as a pacifist during WWI, and again in 1961, for protesting in Whitehall. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1895 – Augusto Sandino, leader of the original Sandinista movement for  Nicaraguan independence was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1917 - The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen started organizing in packinghouses across the United States, ultimately bringing their membership from 6,500 in 1917 to 100,000 by 1919. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 18, 1920 - Ten people were killed when coal company officials in Matewan, West Virginia, tried to remove striking union workers from coal company housing. They sent in agents from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency who evicted several families before trying to hop on a train out of town. Sheriff Hatfield, who supported the miners’ right to organize, tried to arrest the detectives who, in turn, tried to arrest Hatfield. Unbeknownst to the detectives, they had been surrounded by miners. No one knows who shot first, but when the smoke had cleared, there were 7 dead detectives (including Albert and Lee Felts) and 4 dead townspeople. The episode became known as the “Matewan Battle” or “Matewan Massacre,” and is depicted in John Sayles’ film Matewan. It should be pointed out that mining was one of the most dangerous and corrupt industries around. Miners were typically forced to live in company town and purchase living necessities from company stores at inflated prices. They were paid in scrip, which was useless outside of the company towns. In the time leading up to the Battle of Matewan, numerous miners had been assassinated by vigilantes, goons or detectives. In the aftermath of the massacre, the miners went on strike and were treated to even more violence. Striking miners were beaten and left to die in the streets. The remaining Felts brother, Tom, instigated a vendetta against Sheriff Hatfield, eventually having him killed by his agency in 1921. (From Workday Minnesota, Wikipedia, Daily Bleed and Matewanwv.com)

May 18, 1927 –Possibly the first U.S. school massacre occurred. Andrew Kehoe was seeking revenge against the community for taxes imposed on his farm to pay for a new school, set off a TNT bomb in the school in Bath, Michigan, killing 43 people, including 39 grade-school children. He then killed his wife, himself & the school superintendent. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1968 – 10,000 marched in Madrid, Spain, erected barricades and clashed with police, in solidarity with the May revolt in France (and in spite of the fact they are still living under a fascist dictatorship). (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1979 – Silkwood vs. Kerr-McGee case was settled, establishing that corporations are responsible for the people they irradiate. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1991 – 200,000 violently protest against South Korean government. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 3

Mikhail Bakunin as a Young Man

May 3, 1849 – A popular rebellion broke out in Dresden, with the militant Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin emerging as an "heroic" leader. He was imprisoned in the Konigstein fortress and condemned to death. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1886 - At the height of the movement for the eight-hour day, police shot into a crowd of workers engaged in a general strike at McCormick Harvester Co. in Chicago. Four workers were killed and hundreds were injured. Anarchists called for a public rally the following day at Haymarket Square to protest the police brutality. At the rally, a bomb was thrown, killing several police. No one was ever caught, yet the police arrested eight leading anarchists who were convicted and sentenced to death. The event  became the inspiration for International Workers Day. (From Workday Minnesota and The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1886 – One thousand brewery workers, on strike for a wage increase, marched to the Falk Brewery, in Milwaukee, to encourage workers there to join their strike. They were members of the radical industrial union the Knights of Labor. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1887 – Two explosions at Mine #1 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, killed 97 white mineers and 52 Chinese miners. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1898 – Bread riots occurred in Milano, Italy. They were brutally repressed, with heavy loss of life. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1916 –An uprising by Vietnamese was suppressed by the French. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1919 – Pete Seeger was born, Patterson, New York. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1920 - A young anarchist printer, Andreas Salsedo, “fell” to his death from a 14th story window of an FBI detention room in New York City. He had been arrested during the anti-commie raids launched by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. The FBI claimed it was suicide. (From Workday Minnesota and The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1926 – A general strike by the Trades Union Congress of Great Britain was finally ended after nine days, though coal miners continued to strike through the summer. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1928 – Anarchist Severino Di Giovanni bombed the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires to protest against the Italian dictatorship. The fascists were assassinating Italian antifascists in exile). Nine were killed and 34 wounded in the blast. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1934 – The IWW strike at Draper Manufacturing Co. began in Cleveland, Ohio. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1937 – The Spanish Republican government launched attacks on workers leading to open resistance against Republican and Communist authorities by radical workers, anarchists, and others opposed to the regional takeover of the worker-run telephone company in Barcelona. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1968 – The first battles of the May Upheaval began in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The police arrested 500 students meeting at the University of Sorbonne to protest repression at Nanterre. Revolt broke out along the route taken by police vans, with thousands fighting against the police. Throughout the month of May and part of June, workers and students occupied schools, factories and offices. By mid-May, 10 million workers were on strike. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1971 – 7,000 people were arrested trying to shut down the Pentagon in protest against the Vietnam war. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1974 – Spanish banker Balthasar Suarez was kidnapped in Paris by the "Groups of International Revolutionary Action" (GARI ) in an attempt to free 100 political prisoners in Spain being held by Franco. (From The Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—December 23

December 23, 1617--America's first penal colony was established in Virginia, creating safe, humane [sic] home for the nascent country's future class war prisoners. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 23, 1921 - President Warren Harding issued a "Christmas amnesty," freeing Eugene V. Debs and 23 other political prisoners who had been imprisoned for their opposition to World War I. (from Workday Minnesota)

December 23, 1938--Franco's forces launched an assault on Catalonia.(From the Daily Bleed)

December 23, 1947-- Truman pardoned 1,523 out of 15,805 WWII draft resistors.(From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 14

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Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel.

July 14, 1789 – Parisians stormed the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a symbol of tyranny, feudal authority and the "divine" rights of kings. The revolution sparked optimism among working people throughout the world. However, only the middle-classes gained control. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 14, 1798 – The Federalist-sponsored Alien and Sedition Acts made it a crime to write, utter or publish "any false, scandalous, & malicious" statements about the government, Congress, or the President. Republicans arrested, including newspaper editors and one member of Congress. Jefferson denounced the laws as a violation of the 1^st Amendment. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

July 14, 1811 -- England: Luddites attacked machines in Sunnon-in-Ashuano. (From the Daily Bleed)

Buenaventura Durruti

July 14, 1896 – Legendary Spanish anarchist and military strategist Buenaventura Durruti was born. Durruti helped organize attacks on the government of dictator Miguel Primo de Riviera in 1923. He was influential in the anarchist federation FAI and the syndicalist union CNT. Durruti is probably best known for leading thousands of anarchist troops (the Durruti Column) against the Franco dictatorship. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Woody Guthrie's Guitar Kills Fascists, Library of Congress

 July 14, 1912 – Folk singer Woody Guthrie was born. (From Workday Minnesota)

July 14, 1921 – The Sacco and Vanzetti case went to the jury. At 7:30 pm the jury returned its verdict: both were both found guilty of murder in the first degree. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 18

Tupac Amaru

May 18, 1781 – Tupac Amaru II, and other Peruvian indigenous leaders, who rebelled against the Spanish conquistadors, was drawn and quartered in Plaza Mayor del Cuzco. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bakunin speaking at IWA, 1869

May 18, 1814 –Russian Anarchist militant and philosopher Mikhail Bakunin was born.  (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1872 – Philosopher, mathematician & social critic Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was born in Wales. Russell won the Nobel prize for literature in 1950. He was imprisoned as a pacifist during WWI, and again in 1961, for protesting in Whitehall. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1895 – Augusto Sandino, leader of the original Sandinista movement for  Nicaraguan independence was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1917 - The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen started organizing in packinghouses across the United States, ultimately bringing their membership from 6,500 in 1917 to 100,000 by 1919. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 18, 1920 - Ten people were killed when coal company officials in Matewan, West Virginia, tried to remove striking union workers from coal company housing. They sent in agents from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency who evicted several families before trying to hop on a train out of town. Sheriff Hatfield, who supported the miners’ right to organize, tried to arrest the detectives who, in turn, tried to arrest Hatfield. Unbeknownst to the detectives, they had been surrounded by miners. No one knows who shot first, but when the smoke had cleared, there were 7 dead detectives (including Albert and Lee Felts) and 4 dead townspeople. The episode became known as the “Matewan Battle” or “Matewan Massacre,” and is depicted in John Sayles’ film Matewan. It should be pointed out that mining was one of the most dangerous and corrupt industries around. Miners were typically forced to live in company town and purchase living necessities from company stores at inflated prices. They were paid in scrip, which was useless outside of the company towns. In the time leading up to the Battle of Matewan, numerous miners had been assassinated by vigilantes, goons or detectives. In the aftermath of the massacre, the miners went on strike and were treated to even more violence. Striking miners were beaten and left to die in the streets. The remaining Felts brother, Tom, instigated a vendetta against Sheriff Hatfield, eventually having him killed by his agency in 1921. (From Workday Minnesota, Wikipedia, Daily Bleed and Matewanwv.com)

May 18, 1927 –Possibly the first U.S. school massacre occurred. Andrew Kehoe was seeking revenge against the community for taxes imposed on his farm to pay for a new school, set off a TNT bomb in the school in Bath, Michigan, killing 43 people, including 39 grade-school children. He then killed his wife, himself & the school superintendent. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1968 – 10,000 marched in Madrid, Spain, erected barricades and clashed with police, in solidarity with the May revolt in France (and in spite of the fact they are still living under a fascist dictatorship). (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1979 – Silkwood vs. Kerr-McGee case was settled, establishing that corporations are responsible for the people they irradiate. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1991 – 200,000 violently protest against South Korean government. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 3

Mikhail Bakunin as a Young Man

May 3, 1849 – A popular rebellion broke out in Dresden, with the militant Russian anarchist Mikhail Bakunin emerging as an "heroic" leader. He was imprisoned in the Konigstein fortress and condemned to death. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1886 - At the height of the movement for the eight-hour day, police shot into a crowd of workers engaged in a general strike at McCormick Harvester Co. in Chicago. Four workers were killed and hundreds were injured. Anarchists called for a public rally the following day at Haymarket Square to protest the police brutality. At the rally, a bomb was thrown, killing several police. No one was ever caught, yet the police arrested eight leading anarchists who were convicted and sentenced to death. The event  became the inspiration for International Workers Day. (From Workday Minnesota and The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1886 – One thousand brewery workers, on strike for a wage increase, marched to the Falk Brewery, in Milwaukee, to encourage workers there to join their strike. They were members of the radical industrial union the Knights of Labor. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1887 – Two explosions at Mine #1 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, killed 97 white mineers and 52 Chinese miners. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1898 – Bread riots occurred in Milano, Italy. They were brutally repressed, with heavy loss of life. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1916 –An uprising by Vietnamese was suppressed by the French. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1919 – Pete Seeger was born, Patterson, New York. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1920 - A young anarchist printer, Andreas Salsedo, “fell” to his death from a 14th story window of an FBI detention room in New York City. He had been arrested during the anti-commie raids launched by Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. The FBI claimed it was suicide. (From Workday Minnesota and The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1926 – A general strike by the Trades Union Congress of Great Britain was finally ended after nine days, though coal miners continued to strike through the summer. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1928 – Anarchist Severino Di Giovanni bombed the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires to protest against the Italian dictatorship. The fascists were assassinating Italian antifascists in exile). Nine were killed and 34 wounded in the blast. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1934 – The IWW strike at Draper Manufacturing Co. began in Cleveland, Ohio. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1937 – The Spanish Republican government launched attacks on workers leading to open resistance against Republican and Communist authorities by radical workers, anarchists, and others opposed to the regional takeover of the worker-run telephone company in Barcelona. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1968 – The first battles of the May Upheaval began in the Latin Quarter of Paris. The police arrested 500 students meeting at the University of Sorbonne to protest repression at Nanterre. Revolt broke out along the route taken by police vans, with thousands fighting against the police. Throughout the month of May and part of June, workers and students occupied schools, factories and offices. By mid-May, 10 million workers were on strike. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1971 – 7,000 people were arrested trying to shut down the Pentagon in protest against the Vietnam war. (From The Daily Bleed)

May 3, 1974 – Spanish banker Balthasar Suarez was kidnapped in Paris by the "Groups of International Revolutionary Action" (GARI ) in an attempt to free 100 political prisoners in Spain being held by Franco. (From The Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—July 14

Prise de la Bastille, by Jean-Pierre-Louis-Laurent Houel.

July 14, 1789 – Parisians stormed the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a symbol of tyranny, feudal authority and the "divine" rights of kings. The revolution sparked optimism among working people throughout the world. However, only the middle-classes gained control. (From the Daily Bleed)

July 14, 1798 – The Federalist-sponsored Alien and Sedition Acts made it a crime to write, utter or publish "any false, scandalous, & malicious" statements about the government, Congress, or the President. Republicans arrested, including newspaper editors and one member of Congress. Jefferson denounced the laws as a violation of the 1^st Amendment. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

July 14, 1811 -- England: Luddites attacked machines in Sunnon-in-Ashuano. (From the Daily Bleed)

Buenaventura Durruti

July 14, 1896 – Legendary Spanish anarchist and military strategist Buenaventura Durruti was born. Durruti helped organize attacks on the government of dictator Miguel Primo de Riviera in 1923. He was influential in the anarchist federation FAI and the syndicalist union CNT. Durruti is probably best known for leading thousands of anarchist troops (the Durruti Column) against the Franco dictatorship. (From the Daily Bleed and Wikipedia)

Woody Guthrie's Guitar Kills Fascists, Library of Congress

 July 14, 1912 – Folk singer Woody Guthrie was born. (From Workday Minnesota)

July 14, 1921 – The Sacco and Vanzetti case went to the jury. At 7:30 pm the jury returned its verdict: both were both found guilty of murder in the first degree. (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—May 18

Tupac Amaru

May 18, 1781 – Tupac Amaru II, and other Peruvian indigenous leaders, who rebelled against the Spanish conquistadors, was drawn and quartered in Plaza Mayor del Cuzco. (From the Daily Bleed)

Bakunin speaking at IWA, 1869

May 18, 1814 –Russian Anarchist militant and philosopher Mikhail Bakunin was born.  (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1872 – Philosopher, mathematician & social critic Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) was born in Wales. Russell won the Nobel prize for literature in 1950. He was imprisoned as a pacifist during WWI, and again in 1961, for protesting in Whitehall. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1895 – Augusto Sandino, leader of the original Sandinista movement for  Nicaraguan independence was born. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1917 - The Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen started organizing in packinghouses across the United States, ultimately bringing their membership from 6,500 in 1917 to 100,000 by 1919. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 18, 1920 - Ten people were killed when coal company officials in Matewan, West Virginia, tried to remove striking union workers from coal company housing. They sent in agents from the Baldwin-Felts detective agency who evicted several families before trying to hop on a train out of town. Sheriff Hatfield, who supported the miners’ right to organize, tried to arrest the detectives who, in turn, tried to arrest Hatfield. Unbeknownst to the detectives, they had been surrounded by miners. No one knows who shot first, but when the smoke had cleared, there were 7 dead detectives (including Albert and Lee Felts) and 4 dead townspeople. The episode became known as the “Matewan Battle” or “Matewan Massacre,” and is depicted in John Sayles’ film Matewan. It should be pointed out that mining was one of the most dangerous and corrupt industries around. Miners were typically forced to live in company town and purchase living necessities from company stores at inflated prices. They were paid in scrip, which was useless outside of the company towns. In the time leading up to the Battle of Matewan, numerous miners had been assassinated by vigilantes, goons or detectives. In the aftermath of the massacre, the miners went on strike and were treated to even more violence. Striking miners were beaten and left to die in the streets. The remaining Felts brother, Tom, instigated a vendetta against Sheriff Hatfield, eventually having him killed by his agency in 1921. (From Workday Minnesota, Wikipedia, Daily Bleed and Matewanwv.com)

May 18, 1927 –Possibly the first U.S. school massacre occurred. Andrew Kehoe was seeking revenge against the community for taxes imposed on his farm to pay for a new school, set off a TNT bomb in the school in Bath, Michigan, killing 43 people, including 39 grade-school children. He then killed his wife, himself & the school superintendent. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1968 – 10,000 marched in Madrid, Spain, erected barricades and clashed with police, in solidarity with the May revolt in France (and in spite of the fact they are still living under a fascist dictatorship). (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1979 – Silkwood vs. Kerr-McGee case was settled, establishing that corporations are responsible for the people they irradiate. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 18, 1991 – 200,000 violently protest against South Korean government. (From the Daily Bleed)