Today In Labor History--May 1

May 1, International Workers Day!!!!

Mother Jones (Library of Congress)

May 1, 1830 - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born. Mother Jones was renowned for her militancy and fiery oration, as well as her many juicy quotes. She once said, “I’m no lady. I’m a hell-raiser.”  She also was an internationalist, saying “My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression.” Despite the difficulties of constant travel, poor living and jail, she lived to be 100.  (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1866 – Beginning on this day, white Democrats and police attacked freedmen and their white allies in Memphis. By the end of the three-day race riot, 48 were killed. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1883 - Cigar makers in Cincinnati threatened to strike factory owners continued to make them pay 30 cents per month to heat their factories.   (From The Unionist)

May 1, 1884 – The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU), forerunner of the AFL, resolved that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886." Ironically, the FOTLU, which was one of the first bureaucratized “business” unions and which was created as a conservative foil against the radical Knights of Labor, essentially contributed to the ensuing mass insurgency with its resolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1886 – The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred. 340,000 workers struck in Chicago, Milwaukee cities throughout the U.S. Four demonstrators were killed and over 200 wounded by police in Chicago. The US will set another day as Labor Day to undercut world solidarity. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1888 - Nineteen machinists at the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, angered over a wage cut, voted to form a union, which ultimately became the International Association of Machinists. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 1, 1889 – The first International Labor Day was celebrated. The U.S. decided to create its own labor day in September to undercut worker solidarity and to white wash away its violent history of repressing strikes and worker protest. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1890 – The first May Day celebration in Poland saw about 10,000 workers assemble in Warsaw. All nine organizers were arrested and sent to Russian prisons, where two of them died. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1891 –The French army tested their new Lebels machine guns against peaceful May Day demonstrators that included women and children carrying flowers and palms, killing 14 and wounding 40. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1894- The cross-country march by Coxey’s Army of the Unemployed ended with in a march down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. (From Workday Minnesota. Also see Today in Labor History, April 29)

May 1, 1899 – Tzarist police arrested 3000 of the 20,000 participants in Warsaw’s May Day demonstration. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1901- The Cooks’ and Waiters’ Union struck in San Francisco. They were demanding one day of rest per week, a ten-hour work day and a closed union shop for all restaurants in the city. (From The Unionist)

May 1, 1905 – 60 workers found were killed in fights with police during May Day protests in Poland. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1906 – 1,200 members of the Iron Molders Union in Milwaukee struck for shorter hours and more pay. They lost the strike after two years of bitter struggle. One employer, Allis-Chalmers, spent $21,700 to hire the Burr-Herr Detective Agency, resulting in more than 200 assaults on union members, including union leader Peter Cramer, whose was killed. The agency offered one unionist 10 dollars for each striker he beat up. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1933 - The first issue of the Catholic Worker was published. The Catholic Worker was founded in New York City by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, anarchist-Catholics. The first run of the paper published 2,500 copies. By 1936, circulation had risen to 150,000. (From the Daily Bleed and Workday Minnesota)

May 1, 1938 - Congress enacted amendments to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, extending protections to the employees of state and local governments. However, these protections didn’t take effect until 1985 because of court challenges.(From The Unionist)

May 1, 2006 - Millions of immigrants, participating in a national day of mobilization, stayed home from work. Their goal was to demonstrate their economic power and demand comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws. It is estimated that 100,000 gathered in San Jose, California, 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and Los Angeles.  There were demonstrations in at least 50 cities. Despite their numbers, the country has seen a wave of increasingly repressive and racist immigration laws enacted locally in places like Arizona, Georgia, Florida. (From Workday Minnesota, The Unionist)

Today in Labor History—December 6

December 6, 1810 – Miguel Hidalgo abolished slavery in Mexico. (From theDaily Bleed)

Colored National Labor Convention, Harpers 1869 (pub. dom.)

December 6, 1865 – The U.S., always the backwards, 3^rd world nation, followed Mexico’s lead 55 years later by ratifying the 13th amendment and abolishing [chattel] slavery. Prisoners could (and can still) be forced to work without wages, while all workers were (and still are) subject to wage slavery. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 6, 1869 – The first national black labor group, the Colored National Labor Convention, met for the first time in Washington, DC. Roughly 214 delegates attended, sending a petition to Congress requesting direct intervention in the South by subdividing the public lands into forty-acre farms and providing low-interest loans to black farmers. (From Workday Minnesota)

December 6, 1888 - Heywood Broun, cofounder of The Newspaper Guild, was born in New York City. (From Workday Minnesota)

December 6, 1889 – The trial of the Chicago Haymarket anarchists began amidst national and international outrage and protest. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 6, 1907 – 361 coal workers were killed in West Virginia's Marion County when a mine explosed at the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah. It was the worst mining disaster in American history.

December 6, 1928 – The "Ciénaga Slaughter" occurred in Columbia. After breaking a mass strike in the banana region in November, National Army troops fired on a peaceful rally of thousands of strikers, killing over one thousand workers.

December 6, 1933 – Dorothy Day cofounded the Catholic Worker newspaper, New York City

December 6, 1965 – Rose Pesotta, anarchist labor activist, died on this date. Pesotta was the only woman on the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers (ILGWU) from 1933-1944. She participated in a 10-year struggle to organize workers, including a turf war with a communist faction.  

December 6, 1984 – Children picketed the Mendiola Bridge in Manila, Philippines, demanding the release of their parents, who were being held as political prisoners by the U.S.-supported Marcos regime.

Today in Labor History—November 30

November 30, 1830 – Agricultural laborers rioted at Shaftesbury, Dorset, in England, to win the release of five imprisoned comrades. Simultaneously, in Banwell, Somerset, paupers rioted at the poorhouse, then launched an attack on the prison, releasing its prisoners. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 30, 1854 - "Fighting Mary" Eliza McDowell was born on this date. In 1902, McDowell helped organize the first women's local union of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters, which was made up mostly of the low-paid women working in packinghouse canning and labeling operations. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

November 30, 1930 – Mother Jones died, age 100, Silver Spring, Maryland. Jones was an organizer or "walking delegate" for the United Mine Workers (UMW), famous for her bravado. When she and 3,000 women were released by a militia after being held all night in McAdoo, Pennsylvania, they marched straight to the hotel housing the soldiers and ate their breakfast. Even well into her 90s, she still roamed through the hills of West Virginia, encouraging miners to organize. (From the Daily Bleed)

Dorothy Day, 1916 

November 30, 1980 –Anarchist, pacifist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day, died on this date in New York City.  (From theDaily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—November 8

November 8, 1892 – 20,000 black & white workers launched a General Strike in New Orleans. In the wake of the streetcar drivers labor victory earlier in the year, in which they won a closed shop and shorter workday, a massive organizing campaign led to the creation of dozens of new unions and greater demands from the city’s workers. On October 24, several thousand members of the Triple Alliance (teamsters, scalesmen and packers) struck for overtime pay and the 10-hour day. Many members of the Alliance were African American. The bosses used race-baiting to try and divide the workers, but failed. Members of other unions started to join in solidarity, leading to a General Strike on November 8. The strike successfully bled the banks of half their pre-strike holdings. Finally the bosses agreed to sit down with both black and white union leaders and agreed to the 10-hour day and overtime pay, but not a universal closed union shop. (From Wikipedia and the Daily Bleed)

Dorothy Day, 1934, Public Domain

November 8, 1897 - Catholic worker cofounder and leader Dorothy Day was born on this date. The Catholic Worker movement was found in 1933, along with Peter Maurin, combining a spiritual vision of social justice with trade unionism and other activism. Day was considered an anarchist by many anarchists. Catholic Worker houses still exist throughout the country, providing hospice care, housing for activists, and support for various movements. (FromWorkday Minnesota)

November 8, 1968 – Students at San Francisco State College went on strike, leading to what would become the long student strike in U.S. history. The strike was led by the Black Student Union and a coalition of other student groups known as the Third World Liberation Front. The strike actually began on November 6, 1968 and lasted until March 20, 1969. Throughout the strike, activists were violently attacked by the San Francisco Police. The activists were demanding equal access to public higher education, more senior faculty of color and a new curriculum that would embrace the history and culture of all people including ethnic minorities. One of their victories was the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies in 1969, inspiring similar programs at hundreds of other universities. (From SF State News and the Daily Bleed)

November 8, 1972 – The “Trail of Broken Treaties” marchers occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Washington, DC. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 8, 1984 – The Stainforth (England) police station was attacked by striking miners.

Today In Labor History--May 1

May 1, International Workers Day!!!!

Mother Jones (Library of Congress)

May 1, 1830 - Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born. Mother Jones was renowned for her militancy and fiery oration, as well as her many juicy quotes. She once said, “I’m no lady. I’m a hell-raiser.”  She also was an internationalist, saying “My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression.” Despite the difficulties of constant travel, poor living and jail, she lived to be 100.  (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1866 – Beginning on this day, white Democrats and police attacked freedmen and their white allies in Memphis. By the end of the three-day race riot, 48 were killed. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1883 - Cigar makers in Cincinnati threatened to strike factory owners continued to make them pay 30 cents per month to heat their factories.   (From The Unionist)

May 1, 1884 – The Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions (FOTLU), forerunner of the AFL, resolved that "8 hours shall constitute a legal day's work from and after May 1, 1886." Ironically, the FOTLU, which was one of the first bureaucratized “business” unions and which was created as a conservative foil against the radical Knights of Labor, essentially contributed to the ensuing mass insurgency with its resolution. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1886 – The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred. 340,000 workers struck in Chicago, Milwaukee cities throughout the U.S. Four demonstrators were killed and over 200 wounded by police in Chicago. The US will set another day as Labor Day to undercut world solidarity. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1888 - Nineteen machinists at the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railroad, angered over a wage cut, voted to form a union, which ultimately became the International Association of Machinists. (From Workday Minnesota)

May 1, 1889 – The first International Labor Day was celebrated. The U.S. decided to create its own labor day in September to undercut worker solidarity and to white wash away its violent history of repressing strikes and worker protest. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1890 – The first May Day celebration in Poland saw about 10,000 workers assemble in Warsaw. All nine organizers were arrested and sent to Russian prisons, where two of them died. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1891 –The French army tested their new Lebels machine guns against peaceful May Day demonstrators that included women and children carrying flowers and palms, killing 14 and wounding 40. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1894- The cross-country march by Coxey’s Army of the Unemployed ended with in a march down Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. (From Workday Minnesota. Also see Today in Labor History, April 29)

May 1, 1899 – Tzarist police arrested 3000 of the 20,000 participants in Warsaw’s May Day demonstration. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1901- The Cooks’ and Waiters’ Union struck in San Francisco. They were demanding one day of rest per week, a ten-hour work day and a closed union shop for all restaurants in the city. (From The Unionist)

May 1, 1905 – 60 workers found were killed in fights with police during May Day protests in Poland. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1906 – 1,200 members of the Iron Molders Union in Milwaukee struck for shorter hours and more pay. They lost the strike after two years of bitter struggle. One employer, Allis-Chalmers, spent $21,700 to hire the Burr-Herr Detective Agency, resulting in more than 200 assaults on union members, including union leader Peter Cramer, whose was killed. The agency offered one unionist 10 dollars for each striker he beat up. (From the Daily Bleed)

May 1, 1933 - The first issue of the Catholic Worker was published. The Catholic Worker was founded in New York City by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, anarchist-Catholics. The first run of the paper published 2,500 copies. By 1936, circulation had risen to 150,000. (From the Daily Bleed and Workday Minnesota)

May 1, 1938 - Congress enacted amendments to the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act, extending protections to the employees of state and local governments. However, these protections didn’t take effect until 1985 because of court challenges.(From The Unionist)

May 1, 2006 - Millions of immigrants, participating in a national day of mobilization, stayed home from work. Their goal was to demonstrate their economic power and demand comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws. It is estimated that 100,000 gathered in San Jose, California, 200,000 in New York, 400,000 each in Chicago and Los Angeles.  There were demonstrations in at least 50 cities. Despite their numbers, the country has seen a wave of increasingly repressive and racist immigration laws enacted locally in places like Arizona, Georgia, Florida. (From Workday Minnesota, The Unionist)

Today in Labor History—December 6

December 6, 1810 – Miguel Hidalgo abolished slavery in Mexico. (From the Daily Bleed)

Colored National Labor Convention, Harpers 1869 (pub. dom.)

December 6, 1865 – The U.S., always the backwards, 3^rd world nation, followed Mexico’s lead 55 years later by ratifying the 13th amendment and abolishing [chattel] slavery. Prisoners could (and can still) be forced to work without wages, while all workers were (and still are) subject to wage slavery. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 6, 1869 – The first national black labor group, the Colored National Labor Convention, met for the first time in Washington, DC. Roughly 214 delegates attended, sending a petition to Congress requesting direct intervention in the South by subdividing the public lands into forty-acre farms and providing low-interest loans to black farmers. (From Workday Minnesota)

December 6, 1888 - Heywood Broun, cofounder of The Newspaper Guild, was born in New York City. (From Workday Minnesota)

December 6, 1889 – The trial of the Chicago Haymarket anarchists began amidst national and international outrage and protest. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 6, 1907 – 361 coal workers were killed in West Virginia's Marion County when a mine explosed at the Fairmont Coal Company in Monongah. It was the worst mining disaster in American history.

December 6, 1928 – The "Ciénaga Slaughter" occurred in Columbia. After breaking a mass strike in the banana region in November, National Army troops fired on a peaceful rally of thousands of strikers, killing over one thousand workers.

December 6, 1933 – Dorothy Day cofounded the Catholic Worker newspaper, New York City

December 6, 1965 – Rose Pesotta, anarchist labor activist, died on this date. Pesotta was the only woman on the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers (ILGWU) from 1933-1944. She participated in a 10-year struggle to organize workers, including a turf war with a communist faction.  

December 6, 1984 – Children picketed the Mendiola Bridge in Manila, Philippines, demanding the release of their parents, who were being held as political prisoners by the U.S.-supported Marcos regime.

Today in Labor History—November 30

November 30, 1830 – Agricultural laborers rioted at Shaftesbury, Dorset, in England, to win the release of five imprisoned comrades. Simultaneously, in Banwell, Somerset, paupers rioted at the poorhouse, then launched an attack on the prison, releasing its prisoners. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 30, 1854 - "Fighting Mary" Eliza McDowell was born on this date. In 1902, McDowell helped organize the first women's local union of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters, which was made up mostly of the low-paid women working in packinghouse canning and labeling operations. (From Workday Minnesota)

November 30, 1930 – Mother Jones died, age 100, Silver Spring, Maryland. Jones was an organizer or "walking delegate" for the United Mine Workers (UMW), famous for her bravado. When she and 3,000 women were released by a militia after being held all night in McAdoo, Pennsylvania, they marched straight to the hotel housing the soldiers and ate their breakfast. Even well into her 90s, she still roamed through the hills of West Virginia, encouraging miners to organize. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 30, 1980 –Anarchist, pacifist, and co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, Dorothy Day, died on this date in New York City.  (From the Daily Bleed)

Today in Labor History—November 8

November 8, 1892 – 20,000 black & white workers launched a General Strike in New Orleans. In the wake of the streetcar drivers labor victory earlier in the year, in which they won a closed shop and shorter workday, a massive organizing campaign led to the creation of dozens of new unions and greater demands from the city’s workers. On October 24, several thousand members of the Triple Alliance (teamsters, scalesmen and packers) struck for overtime pay and the 10-hour day. Many members of the Alliance were African American. The bosses used race-baiting to try and divide the workers, but failed. Members of other unions started to join in solidarity, leading to a General Strike on November 8. The strike successfully bled the banks of half their pre-strike holdings. Finally the bosses agreed to sit down with both black and white union leaders and agreed to the 10-hour day and overtime pay, but not a universal closed union shop. (From Wikipedia and the Daily Bleed)

Dorothy Day, 1934, Public Domain

November 8, 1897 - Catholic worker cofounder and leader Dorothy Day was born on this date. The Catholic Worker movement was found in 1933, along with Peter Maurin, combining a spiritual vision of social justice with trade unionism and other activism. Day was considered an anarchist by many anarchists. Catholic Worker houses still exist throughout the country, providing hospice care, housing for activists, and support for various movements. (From Workday Minnesota)

November 8, 1968 – Students at San Francisco State College went on strike, leading to what would become the long student strike in U.S. history. The strike was led by the Black Student Union and a coalition of other student groups known as the Third World Liberation Front. The strike actually began on November 6, 1968 and lasted until March 20, 1969. Throughout the strike, activists were violently attacked by the San Francisco Police. The activists were demanding equal access to public higher education, more senior faculty of color and a new curriculum that would embrace the history and culture of all people including ethnic minorities. One of their victories was the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies in 1969, inspiring similar programs at hundreds of other universities. (From SF State News and the Daily Bleed)

November 8, 1972 – The “Trail of Broken Treaties” marchers occupied the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Washington, DC. (From the Daily Bleed)

November 8, 1984 – The Stainforth (England) police station was attacked by striking miners.