Today in Labor History September 13, 1934: 3 workers died during a strike in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, fighting for a minimum wage for textile workers. Over the course of September, more than 420,000 workers joined the strike, making it the largest strike to date in the U.S. There were also massive textile strikes that year in Gastonia, North Carolina, led by the communist NTWU, and in Tennessee. #workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #union #minimumwage #communism

Today in Labor History September 13, 1971: 1,000 National Guardsmen, State Troopers and local cops stormed Attica Prison in New York, after a breakdown in negotiations between officials and prisoners. Governor Rockefeller, with the consent of President Nixon, ordered the attack, which resulted in the massacre of 33 inmates and 10 hostages. Additionally, after regaining control of the prison, police tortured and sexually abused surviving inmates. Contrary to the claims of Gov. Rockefeller, the medical examiners ruled that nearly all the deaths were caused by the police. The prisoner uprising began on September 9, in protest of brutal living conditions and the demand for political rights. More than half of the 2,200 inmates participated in the uprising. #workingclass #LaborHistory #attica #prison #riot #police #policebrutality #policemurder #racism #massacre #newyork #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History September 13, 1900: Filipino insurgents defeated an American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine–American War. Captain Devereux Shields led a 54 Infantrymen into the mountains of Torrijos to combat Abad and his guerrillas. Local guerrillas informed Abad of Shields' movements. In response, he assembled a force of 180-250 regular Filipino soldiers and 1,000-2,000 bolomen. The regular Philippine soldiers were well armed with bolos, pistols, and Spanish Mausers. The bolomen only had machetes. They dressed as farmers by day and ambushed the Americans by night. Shields' defeat was one of the worst defeats for the Americans during the war. It was especially significant given the upcoming election between the hawkish President William McKinley and his anti-imperialist opponent William Jennings Bryan. The Philippine–American War, and the Moro Uprising (Philippine liberation war) against the U.S. occupation, lasted from 1899-1913. Estimates of Philippine deaths from battle range from 10,000-20,000. However, estimates of civilian deaths range from 250,000 to well over 1 million, mostly from the famine and disease brought on by the brutal U.S. occupation. #workingclass #LaborHistory #imperialism #Philippines #guerilla #insurgency #occupation #famine #liberation #potus

Meanwhile, our superintendent has not backed off and a workplace action looks inevitable. Flags at half-mast to honor a fascist? To honor a man who supported school shootings? Stoning lgbtq people to death? The antisemitic great replacement theory? And so much more hate and incitements to violence against marginalized communities. This is the message our superintendent wants to send to our students, their families, our staff, and the broader community?

Yup, he did, indeed, call for publicly televised executions that children could watch. He also said (in reference to school shootings) that gun deaths were acceptable in the fight to protect the 2nd amendment.

Today in Labor History September 12, 1977: South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko died after being beaten to death by police. Over 20,000 came to his funeral. His coffin was decorated with a clenched black fist. Biko was a socialist, anti-imperialist and pan-African nationalist, influenced by Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X and the U.S. Black Power Movement. #workingclass #LaborHistory #southafrica #apartheid #racism #stevebiko #MalcolmX #police #policebrutality #policemurder #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History September 12, 1940: An explosion at the Hercules Powder Plant armaments factory, in New Jersey, killed 51 workers and injured over 200. To this day, the cause remains unclear. However, at the time, it was blamed variously on sabotage by the Irish Republican Army or by Nazis, or just an industrial accident. #workingclass #LaborHistory #explosion #ww2 #nazis #sabotage #NewJersey #workplacedeaths

Today in Labor History September 12, 1934: National Guards troops were deployed throughout New England to quell textile labor strikes. 1,500 strikers fought state troopers in Connecticut, with other conflicts occurring in Fall River, Lawrence, Lowell and Lewiston. In Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 500 protestors attacked the police with bricks. National Guards fired into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. The governor declared that it was a Communist uprising and not a textile strike and sent in the military. The Uprising of ’34 spread throughout the eastern seaboard, with 400,000 textile workers joining the strike, the largest textile strike in U.S. history until that point. Over 18 workers were killed and over 160 were injured, mostly in Georgia, and in South Carolina, where the governor issued shoot-to-kill orders against anyone picketing. The strike ended in defeat. The anti-union propaganda by employers, the state, and the media, were particularly effective in the South, where blacklisting of strike participants and continued union-busting kept the mills union-free and lower-wage for years. Many of the Northern mills relocated there to take advantage of the higher profits to be made from the low-wage, union-free shops. #workingclass #LaborHistory #textile #strike #newengland #union #women #police #policebrutality

Today in Labor History September 12, 1918: Eugene V. Debs, Labor leader and socialist, was sentenced to 10 years, under the Sedition Act, for opposing World War I. While in jail he received one million votes for president. In the late 1800s, he led several railroad strikes and helped found the American Railway Union. In 1905, he cofounded the IWW, along with Big Bill Haywood, Mother Jones, Lucy Parsons, James Connolly, and others. He ran for president as a socialist five times in his life. #workingclass #LaborHistory #eugenedebs #socialism #IWW #union #strike #antiwar #sedition #prison #potus #motherjones #bigbillhaywood #lucyparsons