New Orleans General Strike (1892)

Tue Nov 08, 1892

Image: Photograph of tracking cotton from steamboat taken in 1891 in New Orleans, Levee. Photo shows dockworkers moving cotton from steamboat to the distribution area.

On this day in 1892, a general strike across racial lines broke out in New Orleans, a city-wide action of solidarity with three unions on strike. After white workers refused racial bribes, workers won their demands in just three days.

The general strike grew out of a strike by three unions who had joined forces to go on strike the two weeks prior. The three unions, collectively known as the "Triple Alliance", were an alliance of black and white workers. The New Orleans Board of Trade announced it would sign contracts agreeing to the terms - but only with the white unions, however this offer was steadfastly refused.

Eventually, other union leaders in the city began calling for a strike in support of the Triple Alliance, and, on this day in 1892, a multi-racial coalition of 25,000 workers across the entire city went on strike. Efforts by the city to find strikebreaking workers, both from within and outside of New Orleans, failed.

After just three days, the Board of Trade agreed to binding arbitration to settle the strike, with employers agreeing to sit down with both white and black union leaders. After 48 hours of negotiations, the employers agreed to the 10-hour day and overtime pay for the Triple Alliance workers. Members of other unions also won reduced hours and higher pay.

• Date: 1892-11-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, neworleanshistorical.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #General Strikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ed Boyce (1862 - 1941)

Sat Nov 08, 1862

Ed Boyce, born on this day in 1862, was a radical labor organizer who served as President of the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) and as a socialist Idaho State Representative. After just one term, Boyce resigned in disgust.

Boyce was arrested for his role in the 1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike and inspired "Big Bill" Haywood (co-founder of the IWW) to join his first union.

In 1894, Boyce was elected to the Idaho state senate. There, he battled for the eight-hour day for miners, the establishment of an arbitration board to settle labor disputes, an investigation of the 1892 mining war, and the banning of "yellow-dog" contracts (contracts prohibiting workers from joining the union).

Boyce was so disillusioned by the political process that he resigned after one term.

• Date: 1862-11-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, scholarworks.umt.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

October Revolution (1917)

Wed Nov 07, 1917

Image: Vladimir Lenin giving a speech to Vsevobuch servicemen on the first anniversary of the foundation of the Soviet armed forces, Red Square, Moscow, 25th May 1919. This photo, brought from Russia by Dr. W.A. Wovschin, shows a view of a mass meeting, when the Soviet leader made an appeal for the men to keep together for the glory and safety of Russia.

On this day in 1917, the October Revolution began in Russia when the Bolsheviks initiated an armed insurrection in Petrograd, seizing the Winter Palace and dissolving the Provisional Government in a coup with minimal violence. The name "October Revolution" comes from the fact that the revolution began on October 25th in the dating convention of the time.

Led by the Bolshevik Party, the revolution took place through an armed insurrection in Petrograd and was instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917 - 1923. By November 8th, the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional government located in Petrograd, then capital of Russia, had been captured.

Elections were held on November 12th. In contrast to their majority in the soviets (local council governments), the Bolsheviks only won 175 seats in the 715-seat legislative body, coming in second behind the Socialist Revolutionary Party, which won 370 seats.

On its first and only day in session, the Constituent Assembly came into conflict with the soviets, and it rejected soviet decrees on peace and land, resulting in the Constituent Assembly being dissolved by the Bolsheviks in January.

The political situation devolved into a civil war between the Bolsheviks, Whites (counter-revolutionaries), Makhnovists, independence movements, and other socialist factions.

The Bolsheviks eventually defeated all rival parties and formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922. Their victory marked the beginning of Marxism-Leninism as a global force.

• Date: 1917-11-07
• Learn More: www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.britannica.com.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Canada Limits War Industry Strikes (1939)

Tue Nov 07, 1939

Image: Asbestos Strike in Canada, from Centre d'archives de la région de Thetford - Fonds Famille Gérard Chamberland

On this day in 1939, Canada extended the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act (IDIA) to cover disputes between employers and employees engaged in "war work", severely limiting the contexts in which a strike was legal to initiate.

The IDIA, first passed in 1907, forbade strikes and lockouts in mines and certain public utility industries until a dispute had first been dealt with by a board of conciliation. Before 1939, only forty-one of one thousand applications actually made it to the strike stage.

War work was defined as including "the construction, execution, production, repair, manufacture, transportation, storage or delivery of munitions of war or supplies" and "the construction, remodelling, repair or demolition of defense projects." After the extension of the IDIA, the applications to strike increased six-fold, however only seven strikes (4% of the total) were allowed in the following year and a half.

• Date: 1939-11-07
• Learn More: archive.macleans.ca.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Michael Schwerner (1939 - 1964)

Mon Nov 06, 1939

Image: Photograph of Michael Scwerner with light hair and a goatee, facing the camera

Michael Schwerner, born on this day in 1939, was one of three Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) field/social workers killed in Philadelphia, Mississippi by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

In the early 1960s Schwerner became active in working for civil rights for black people; he led a local Congress of Racial Equality group on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, called "Downtown CORE." He participated in a 1963 effort to desegregate Gwynn Oak Amusement Park in Maryland. As activism increased in the South, Schwerner and his wife Rita Schwerner Bender volunteered to work for National CORE in Mississippi, helping black people exercise their right to vote.

Michael Scwerner and fellow civil rights workers James Chaney and Andrew Goodman were killed near the town of Philadelphia, Mississippi while investigating the burning of Mt. Zion Methodist Church, which had been a site for a CORE Freedom School.

Arrested by the local sheriff, the trio was released that evening without being allowed to contact anyone. On the road, they were stopped by patrol lights and two carloads of KKK members, kidnapped, tortured, and killed.

The sheriff, along with six others, were indicted and convicted for depriving the three men of their civil rights. No one was held accountable for their murders until 2005, when outspoken white supremacist Edgar Ray Killen was convicted on three counts of manslaughter.

• Date: 1939-11-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, mscivilrightsproject.org.
• Tags: #Civil Rights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Hilde Radusch (1903 - 1994)

Fri Nov 06, 1903

Hilde Radusch, born on this day in 1903, was a German communist, anti-fascist, and queer feminist author. Imprisoned by the Nazis, Radusch survived World War II and became a prominent lesbian writer and activist.

In 1924, Radusch became a member of the Communist Party, and from 1929 until 1932 Radusch served as a Communist Party city councilor in Berlin.

Radusch was arrested by the Nazi government on April 6th, 1933, less than a month after returning from a political trip to the Soviet Union. After refusing to sign a contrived confession, she ended up in the Barnim Street women's prison, along with around two hundred other "politicals", those identified by the Nazi government as political prisoners (distinct from "criminals").

Released in September 1933, she went on to run a restaurant with her partner Else "Eddy" Klopsch, which served as a refuge for people wanted by the Nazi regime. After the war, she became the head of the Schöneberg office dedicated to "Victims of Fascism", however she lost the job after being denounced as "lesbian".

Radusch was the editor of "Our Little Newspaper" ("Unserer Kleinen Zeitung"), described by historian Ilona Scheidle as the first lesbian newspaper after World War II. In the 1970s, Radusch co-founded "L74", a Berlin group of older lesbians.

• Date: 1903-11-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.spd-fraktion-tempelhof-schoeneberg.de.
• Tags: #Communism, #Birthdays, #Queer, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ida Tarbell (1857 - 1944)

Thu Nov 05, 1857

Image: **

Ida Tarbell, born on this day in 1857, was an American investigative journalist and feminist. "The quest of the truth had been born in me - the most tragic and incomplete, as well as the most essential, of man's quests."

Born in Pennsylvania at the onset of the oil boom, Tarbell is possibly best known for her 1904 book, "The History of the Standard Oil Company". Her expose on the practices of Rockefeller's Standard Oil was called a "masterpiece of investigative journalism", by historian J. North Conway, as well as "the single most influential book on business ever published in the United States" by historian Daniel Yergin.

The work would contribute to the dissolution of the Standard Oil monopoly and helped usher in multiple pieces of anti-trust reform, including the Clayton Antitrust Act and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

"The quest of the truth had been born in me - the most tragic and incomplete, as well as the most essential, of man's quests."

- Ida Tarbell

• Date: 1857-11-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.smithsonianmag.com, connecticuthistory.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Journalism, #Feminism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

The Everett Massacre (1916)

Sun Nov 05, 1916

The Everett Massacre (also known as Bloody Sunday) was an armed confrontation in Everett, Washington between local police, a deputized mob, and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union that took place on this day in 1916.

The Seattle IWW sent three hundred of its members up to Everett to demonstrate in solidarity with striking shingle workers there. Upon arriving at the dock, however, they were greeted by Snohomish County Sheriff McRae and two hundred "citizen deputies", who refused to let them land.

Gunfire was exchanged, and at least seven people were killed and forty-three were wounded. Despite this violence, striking workers in Everett continued with their planned demonstration and were promptly taken to jail by McRae.

• Date: 1916-11-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, depts.washington.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #IWW, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

United Farm Workers Office Bombed (1970)

Wed Nov 04, 1970

On this day in 1970, a United Farm Workers (UFW) office was bombed Salinas Valley, California. The bombing took place during the Salad Bowl strike, the largest farm workers strike in U.S. history, which had begun on August 23rd of that year.

The Salad Bowl strike was in part a protest against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters winning legal jurisdiction over farm workers in California (the UFW had previously organized these workers). The Salad Bowl Strike caused the price of lettuce to double practically overnight, and lettuce growers lost $500,000 a day.

During the strike UFW leader César Chávez was arrested and imprisoned. When he was visited by athlete Rafer Johnson and Ethel Kennedy, widow of slain Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Johnson and Kennedy were attacked by an anti-union mob on the steps of the jail and police had to suppress the quarrel.

Although the strike ended on March 26th, 1971 when the Teamsters and UFW signed a new jurisdictional agreement reaffirming the UFW's right to organize field workers, jurisdictional labor disputes (and associated violence) would continue for years afterward. These tensions led directly to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975.

• Date: 1970-11-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, peoplesworld.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Terrorism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Allende Assumes Office (1970)

Tue Nov 03, 1970

On this day in 1970, Salvador Allende became the first Marxist to serve as elected leader of a Latin American liberal democracy. "We are seeking to overcome [the bourgeois state]...Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist socialism."

As President, Allende sought to nationalize major industries, expand education and improve the living standards of the working class. Specific examples of his policies include giving educational grants to indigenous children, literacy programs in impoverished areas, and establishing a minimum wage for workers of all ages.

On September 11th, 1973, the military moved to oust Allende in a coup d'état assisted by the Henry Kissinger and the CIA. As troops surrounded La Moneda Palace, he gave his last speech vowing not to resign. Later that day, Allende died of suicide with a gun, according to an investigation conducted by a Chilean court with the assistance of international experts in 2011.

Following Allende's death, General Augusto Pinochet refused to return authority to a civilian government, and Chile was later ruled by a military junta that was in power up until 1990. This junta dissolved the Congress of Chile, suspended the Constitution, and began a persecution of alleged dissidents, in which at least 3,095 civilians disappeared or were killed.

"As for the bourgeois state, at the present moment, we are seeking to overcome it, to overthrow it.… Our objective is total, scientific, Marxist socialism."

- Salvador Allende, as quoted in Conversations With Allende (1970) by French philosopher Régis Debray

• Date: 1970-11-03
• Learn More: www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, jacobinmag.com.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Marxism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

UK Postal Workers' Strike Ends (2003)

Mon Nov 03, 2003

On this day in 2003, a wildcat strike involving two-thirds of Royal Mail workers in the United Kingdom (around 20,000 people) ended in victory for the striking mail carriers.

In August of that year, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) called for a national strike for higher wages, however the proposition we defeated in a close vote. A few months later, in late October, postal workers engaged in a wildcat strike of their own, indicating a lack of trust between union rank-and-file and leadership.

The strike began when a driver in Dartford, London was sacked and 400 co-workers engaged in a spontaneous work stoppage. Within eleven days, 20,000 to 25,000 workers were out, mostly from London and the South East. More than 16 million letters per day were piling up and, after a few days, 10,000 post boxes across London were sealed off.

On November 3rd, after the management promised that there would be no repression, sackings or local deals, the strike was resolved. On the aims of the workers and why the strike was successful, one worker commented:

"It was a defensive, but successful strike. The issue is we broke the anti strike legislation. In this case even the headquarters union official were not trying very hard to enforce the law and the local union reps were actively working against the law. We broke through the unions officials 'anti-strike' politics again, and we were successful when we did."

• Date: 2003-11-03
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.theguardian.com.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Norman Morrison Self-Immolation (1965)

Tue Nov 02, 1965

Norman Morrison (1933 - 1965) was a Baltimore Quaker committed suicide via self-immolation in protest of the Vietnam War on this day in 1965. Morrison was 31 and left behind a wife and three children.

The act was a protest United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and took place directly below Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara's office at the Pentagon. Morrison was 31 and left behind a wife and three children.

Morrison's death was widely publicized and drew comparisons to Thích Quảng Đức and other Buddhist monks, who burned themselves to death to protest the repression committed by the South Vietnam government in years prior. In Vietnam, Morrison became a folk hero to some, his name rendered as "Mo Ri Xon". On May 9th, 1967, protesters held a vigil for Morrison before occupying the Pentagon for four days until being removed and arrested.

• Date: 1965-11-02
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.theguardian.com.
• Tags: #Imperialism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org