Today in Labor History November 3, 1956: Israel Defense Forces slaughtered 275 Palestinians in Khan Yunis, in Egyptian-controlled Gaza and another 111 in Rafah, during house to house searches for Fedayeen militants, during the Suez Crisis. #workingclass #LaborHistory #suez #israel #palestine #freepalestine #EndtheOccupation #massacre #egypt #zionism #warcrimes

MikeDunnAuthor 1 year ago

Today in Labor History November 3, 1918: The German Revolution of 1918–19 began when 40,000 sailors took over the port in Kiel, in the wake of the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, a few days earlier. In less than two weeks, it brought down the German empire, forcing all the monarchs to abdicate. They created a republic, led by the moderate Social Democrats, who vowed to implement modest reforms, including women’s suffrage and the eight-hour work day. The far-left socialists, however, wanted to create a republic led by workers’ councils. At the end of the year, violence erupted between the two groups over a dispute about sailors’ pay, killing 67. This led to the Communist Spartacist Uprising, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, and the Bavarian Soviet. The Social Democrats enlisted the Freikorps to help them suppress the uprisings against its authority, resulting in another 200 deaths. The Freikorps was composed of right-wing veterans of World War One, many of whom went on to become members of the Nazi Party. #workingclass #LaborHistory #germany #communism #socialism #berlin #bavaria #mutiny #rosaluxemburg #nazi

MikeDunnAuthor 1 year ago

Today in Labor History Nov 2, 1965: Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, set himself on fire in front of the Pentagon, directly below the office of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war. Fellow Quaker and peace activist Alice Herz had set herself on fire in Detroit, Michigan a few months prior, also to protest the war, as had several Buddhist monks, including Thích Quảng Đức. Morrison had brought his one-year-old daughter, Emily, with him to the self-immolation. He died within minutes of being placed in the ambulance. Demonstrators held a vigil for Morrison, and then occupied the Pentagon for four days until they were removed and arrested. Five days after Morrison’s death, Vietnamese poet Tố Hữu wrote the poem, "Emily, My Child", assuming Morrison’s voice, speaking to Emily and telling her the reasons for his sacrifice. And one week after his death, Roger Allen LaPorte set himself on fire in front of the United Nations building in New York. By the end of the war, napalm had killed over 50,000 civilians in Vietnam. #workingclass #LaborHisotry #vietnam #war #communism #anticommunism #napalm #protest #pentagon #selfimmolation #poetry #unitednations

MikeDunnAuthor 1 year ago

Today in Labor History Nov 2, 1917: The Balfour Declaration proclaimed British support for the creation of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, then part of the Ottoman empire. It was during World War One, when the British were at war with the Ottomans. The declaration supposedly said "that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities." Though the declaration called for a National Home for the Jewish people, there was no such thing as a “National Home” under existing international law. The declaration was purposefully vague about aspirations for creating a future Jewish state, as well as the boundaries of the Jewish “National Home,” that would be created. Furthermore, while the declaration called for the protection of Arab civil and religious rights, it made no mention of protecting their political rights, even though they comprised the overwhelming majority of residents living in Palestine (90% of the local residents at that time were Christian or Muslim Arabs). The declaration is widely considered to be a principal cause of the ongoing conflict in the region, as it led to an increase in Jewish immigration to Palestine, as well as the creation of the Israeli state. Leaders of neighboring countries considered the declaration to be a betrayal of previous agreements they had made with Israel. Palestinian Arabs considered the declaration to have imposed on them by a foreign power, "in a flat disregard of both the presence and the wishes of the native majority resident in that territory." It should be noted that the declaration was made at a time of intense antisemitism in Europe, which likely played a significant role in Britain’s decision to issue it. Many British political leaders wanted the Jews out of Britain. Others saw the declaration as a tool for exploiting “international Jewish power” to support their imperial and wartime objectives. Many Zionist leaders were happy to encourage these views, since they supported their objective of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine. #workingclass #LaborHistory #balfourdeclaration #israel #palestine #zionism #antisemitism #arab #colonialism #freepalestine #EndtheOccupation #gaza