Today in Labor History May 26, 1824: Women and girls led the first recorded factory strike in US history. 102 women and girls walked off the job at Slater Mill, in Pawtucket, and picketed their factory.
Two days prior, the owners had increased working hours by an hour per day with no additional pay. Additionally, they slashed the pay of power-loom weavers by 25%. Those affected were all women and girls aged 15 to 30. According to the bosses, the girls had already been earning “extravagant wages.”
The owners were caught off guard. They were not expecting a protest. Indeed, no U.S. factories had ever experienced a strike. Perhaps even more shocking, other workers and community members joined them in solidarity. They blockaded the mills and hurled rocks at the mansions of the owners. On the final day of the week-long strike, workers set one of the mills on fire. The next day, the owners agreed to negotiate and agreed on a compromise.
The US Department of the Treasury just released a comprehensive new report about labor relations and the middle class that affirms what the workers have been screaming out for at least 150 years no…
Today in Labor History March 16, 2003: Israeli Defense Forces murdered American activist Rachel Corrie in Rafah by running over her with a bulldozer. She had been defending a Palestinian home that the IDF was trying to demolish as part of their collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Today in Labor History October 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party was created by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, in Oakland, California. One of their early core practices was open-carry armed citizen’s patrols monitoring abusive police behavior. They also implemented free breakfast programs and community health clinics, and advocated for revolutionary class struggle. The FBI sabotaged the Panthers through its COINTELPRO and participated in the assassination of Panthers, like Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. In 1969, the Panthers officially declared sexism to be counterrevolutionary and ordered its male members to treat women as equals. In 1970, Huey Newton expressed support for the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the LGBTQ Liberation Movement which, he correctly noted, were subject to much of the same police brutality as were African Americans.
When people talk about "back during the pandemic," they clearly aren't paying attention to facts like London's Gatwick Airport canceling flights this week because 30% of their air traffic controllers were out sick with Covid.
Today in Labor History October 26, 1892: Ida B. Wells published “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases,” which led to threats against her life, and the burning down of her newspaper’s headquarters in Memphis. Wells, who was born into slavery, was a journalist, educator, feminist, and early Civil Rights leader who helped found the NAACP.
Today in Labor History December 3, 1946: Female retail clerks at Hastings and Kahn’s launched the Oakland General Strike, the last General Strike to occur in the U.S. Other workers soon joined in. Over 100,000 workers participated in the 3-day Oakland General Strike, which was part of the 1945-1946 strike wave, the largest strike wave in US history. Over 5 million workers participated in the nationwide strike wave, including 225,000 UAW members, 174,000 electric workers struck, 750,000 steel workers, 250,000 railroad workers. There were several other General Strikes in 1946, too, including Lancaster, PA; Stamford, CT; Rochester, NY. In reaction to this strike wave, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, which severely restricted the powers and activities of unions. It also banned General Strikes, stripping away the most powerful tool workers had.
Today in Labor History November 7, 1915: Emiliano Zapata proposed a new labor law that included an 8-hour day, prohibition of work for children under age 14, worker cooperatives to run factories abandoned by owners, and a fixed minimum wage.
Today in Labor History November 13, 1974: Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers union activist Karen Silkwood was assassinated during her investigation of a Kerr-McGee nuclear plant in Oklahoma. Her car was run off the road while she attempted to deliver documents to a New York Times reporter.
We must devastate the avenues where the wealthy live.
-Lucy Parsons
Today, In honor of Black History Month, we celebrate the life of Lucy Parsons (c. 1851 – 1942) an American anarchist born to an enslaved African American who then married a black freedman in Texas. She may also have had indigenous and Mexican heritage. She married Albert Parsons, a former Confederate officer, in Waco, Texas. After the war, he was shot in the leg for helping African Americans register to vote.
They moved to Chicago together around 1873 and their politics were radicalized by the violent repression of the Great Upheaval of 1877. Both members of the International Workingmen's Association, and the Knights of Labor, they participated in the strikes that would result in up to 30 deaths by cops and national guards, in Chicago, alone. Nationwide, the wave of wildcat strikes associated with the Great Upheaval would result in over 100 worker deaths. Because of his revolutionary street speeches, Albert was fired from his job at the Chicago Times and blacklisted. Albert Parsons was executed in 1887 as one of the Haymarket Martyrs who had been fighting for the eight-hour workday.
Lucy Parsons later set up the Chicago Working Women's Union with her friend Lizzie Swank and other women. Lucy would go on to cofound the IWW, in 1905, with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, James Connolly, and others. The IWW was and is a revolutionary union seeking not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states, “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common.” They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. Lucy also edited radical newspapers and became a sought-after public speaker.
Today in Labor History November 23, 1903: Army troops were sent to Cripple Creek, Colorado to put down a rebellion by striking coal miners. 600 union members were thrown into a military bullpen, and held for weeks without charges. When a lawyer arrived with a writ of habeas corpus, General Bell, who led the repression, responded "Habeas corpus, hell! We'll give 'em post mortems!” The strike was led by Big Bill Haywood and the Western Federation of Miners, which, at the time, was the most militant union in the country, calling for revolution and abolition of the wage system.
Today in Labor History, October 30, 2014: Sweden became the first European Union member state to officially recognize the State of Palestine. As of July 2019, 138 out of the 193 United Nations member states officially recognized Palestine.
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain took a swipe at former President Trump, saying he serves a “billionaire class,” a day ahead of Trump’s visit to Detroit, where he wi…
Today in Labor History November 21, 1921: The original Columbine Massacre occurred in Serine, Colorado. State police and company thugs used machine guns against the unarmed miners, slaughtering six striking IWW members, all of whom were unarmed. Dozens more were injured.
Today In Labor History September 29, 1921: Lithuanian anarchist revolutionary Fanya Baron was executed by the Cheka on the personal order of Lenin. Baron spent her early life participating in the Chicago workers' movement and IWW. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, she moved to Ukraine and joined the Makhnovist movement. She was arrested and imprisoned by the Cheka. On July 1, 1921, she broke out of prison with the help of the Underground Anarchists and went to Moscow, where she was discovered and aided by Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. However, on August 17, 1921, she was discovered and arrested again by the Cheka, and ultimately executed.
Today in Labor History October 2, 2007: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Starbucks Workers Union won their grievances against the Starbucks in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Starbucks chose to settle after the NLRB busted them for anti-labor violations.
Today in Labor History December 5, 1955: E. D. Nixon and Rosa Parks initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott lasted until December 20, 1956, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Alabama and Montgomery bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.
Today in Labor History January 19, 1812: Luddites torched Oatlands Mill in Yorkshire, England. In order to avoid losing their jobs to machines, Luddites destroyed equipment in protest. Their movement was named for Ned Ludd, a fictional weaver who supposedly smashed knitting frames after being whipped by his boss. Luddite rebellions continued from 1811-1816, until the military quashed their uprising.
Chant no more your old rhymes about bold Robin Hood
His feats I but little admire
I will sing the Achievements of General Ludd
Now the Hero of Nottinghamshire.
The sentiment for this poem comes from the fact that Robin Hood was a paternalistic hero, a displaced aristocrat who stole from his class brethren and gave to the poor; whereas Ned Ludd represented the autonomy and self-sufficiency of the working class.
Today in Labor History February 11, 1919: The Seattle General Strike ended after five days as a result of a sell-out compromise by AFL bureaucrats. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AFL and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee.
Today in Labor History March 6, 1857: The Dred Scott decision by the U.S. Supreme Court opened up federal territories to slavery and denied citizenship to blacks. Dred Scott had sued for his family’s freedom, arguing that they had lived four years in the north, where slavery was illegal. The Court ruled 7-2 that people of African descent weren’t U.S. citizens and thus had no standing before the court.
New US Treasury report confirms that unions are good for everybody (boingboing.net)
The US Department of the Treasury just released a comprehensive new report about labor relations and the middle class that affirms what the workers have been screaming out for at least 150 years no…
[News] UAW boss says Trump works for ‘billionaire class’ ahead of visit (thehill.com)
United Auto Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain took a swipe at former President Trump, saying he serves a “billionaire class,” a day ahead of Trump’s visit to Detroit, where he wi…