Imagine if "cracking down on homelessness" actually meant opening up the 2nd, 3rd and 4th homes of the rich and luxury hotel rooms for people to live in.

Today in Labor History October 16, 1859: Abolitionist John Brown led his famous raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry in order to obtain weapons to defeat the forces of slavery. The raid failed and Brown was executed. Brown was an Evangelical Christian who believed he was "an instrument of God", raised to strike the "death blow" to American slavery. #workingclass #LaborHistory #slavery #abolition #johnbrown #deathpenalty #slavery #directaction #BlackMastadon

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. #workingclass #LaborHistory #BlackPanthers #marxism #Revolutionary #fbi #cointellpro #policebrutality #police #policemurder #blm #BlackMastadon

Today in Labor History October 15, 1926: Japanese anarchist militant Nakahama Tetsu was executed for acts of propaganda of the deed. He was a member of Girochinsha (Guillotine Society), which unsuccessfully targeted members of the imperial state. #workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #japan #deathpenalty #guillotinesociety #guillotine

Today in Labor History October 14, 1981: Dock workers in Darwin, Australia, began a seven-day strike, refusing to load uranium on board "Pacific Sky" for eventual use by the U.S. military. After a week, the ship was forced to leave without its cargo. #workingclass #LaborHistory #australia #union #strike #directaction #imperialism #nuclear #dockworkers

Today in Labor History October 14, 1949: 11 leaders of the US Communist party were convicted of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the US government. 10 of the defendants were sentenced to 5 years in prison. The 11th was sentenced to 3 years. The Supreme Court upheld the convictions in June of 1951. The trials were part of the Smith Act trials of Communist Party leaders accused of conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the federal government. However, the defendants argued that they advocated a peaceful transition to socialism, and that the First Amendment guaranteed their freedom of speech and of association protected their membership in a political party. While the trial was under way, the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear weapon, and communists won the Chinese Civil War. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) had also begun its investigations of writers and producers during this period. Public opinion was strongly against the defendants. The judge also sentenced all five defense attorneys to imprisonment for contempt of court. Two of the attorneys were subsequently disbarred. #workingclass #LaborHistory #communism #anticommunism #witchhunt #prison #ussr #soviet #china #coldwar #freespeech #nuclear