Today in Labor History October 17, 1837: José Bernardo was shipped to the Tarrafal Penal Colony in Cape Verde, where he was among the first political prisoners at the brutal concentration camp built by the fascist Portuguese Estado Novo dictatorship. Bernardo was a professional soccer player, anarchist, and revolutionary unionist. He participated in the preparations for the revolutionary strike of January 18, 1934. He remained in the concentration camp until his release, in 1940. Most were not so lucky. He survived until 1987. The Portuguese dictatorship lasted until 1974, when there was a popular uprising, the Carnation Revolution, led by left-wing members of the military, against the fascist regime. Discontent among the military began decades earlier, when they were soundly defeated by the military of newly independent India as they tried to hold onto their colonies in Goa and Daman and Diu. Independence movements from the 1950s to early 1970s severely strained the resources and resolve of the Portuguese military, particularly its conscripts, tasked with holding onto its vast overseas colonies in Mozambique, Angola, Guinea, Macau, Timor, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, #workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #anarchism #antifascism #antifa #portugal #union #concentrationcamp #portugal

Today in Labor History October 17, 1961: French police massacred 200-300 Algerians protesting against police oppression and the curfew imposed against their community in Paris. Police searched the Algerian ghettos for FLN members, indiscriminately killing dozens of innocent Algerians before turning their guns on a large group of protesters gathered near the Seine River. The next day, the police released an official death toll of three dead and 67 wounded, a figure disputed by witnesses who observe bodies littering the area and floating in the Seine. #workingclass #LaborHistory #france #paris #algeria #police #policebrutality #acab #massacre #demonstration #liberation #racism #colonialism

Today in Labor History October 17, 1950: The "Salt of the Earth" zinc mine strike began in Silver City, New Mexico. The strike lasted for 14-months and inspired the film “Salt of the Earth,” which was blacklisted. The film was one of the first to portray a feminist political point of view, particularly through Actress Rosaura Revueltas’s role as Esperanza Quintero. When the Company uses the new Taft-Hartley Act (which also bans General Strikes) to impose an injunction preventing the men from picketing, their wives go walk the picket line in their places. LGBTQ and labor activist Will Geer also played in the film. Writer Michael Wilson, director Herbert Biberman and producer Paul Jarrico had all been blacklisted for their alleged communist ties. Only 13 of the 13,000 theaters in the U.S. showed the film. Geer is most well-known for his role as Grandpa Walton, in the long-running TV series, The Waltons. Because of his activism on labor and political issues, he was blacklisted in Hollywood for many years. In 1934, he became a member of the Communist Party. He also met LGBTQ activist Harry Hay that year and they became lovers. Together, they supported the San Francisco General Strike and demonstrated against fascism and for workers’ rights. #workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #union #GeneralStrike #lgbtq #tafthartley #communism #feminism #chicano #censorship #freespeech #mining #fascism #antifa #antifascism

Today in Labor History October 17, 1939: Warren Billings, labor activist, and falsely imprisoned for the 1016 San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing, was finally released from Folsom Prison. As a result of the bombing, 10 people died and 40 were injured. Not surprisingly, only anarchists were suspected in the bombing. Tom Mooney and Warren Billings were both anarchists, and members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). A few days after the bombing, they searched and seized materials from the offices of “The Blast,” Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman’s local paper. Billings and his codefendant Tom Mooney were wrongly convicted. They served 23 years in prison and were released in 1939. Governor Edmund G. Brown pardoned them in 1961. During the Spanish war against fascism (AKA the Spanish Civil War), many Americans volunteered to join the antifascist cause as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades. One of the battalions was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops. Read my full article on Billings and Mooney here:

Michael Dunn

Tom Mooney and Warren Billings - Michael Dunn

Share via: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More On July 22, 1916, someone set off a bomb during the pro-war “Preparedness Day” parade in San Francisc...

#workingclass #LaborHistory #prison #anarchism #tommooney #warrenbillings #sanfrancisco #emmagoldman #alexanderberkman #IWW #fascism #antifa #antifascism

Or overthrowing capitalism which, for most of us, is the more attainable option.

Today in Labor History October 16, 1973: Mass murderer and War Criminal Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Lê Đức Thọ, for their work in orchestrating a ceasefire in the Vietnam War. Two Nobel Prize committee members resigned in protest. During his diplomatic career, Kissinger was involved in orchestrating and/or supporting the Chilean coup and Pinochet dictatorship (over 3,000 killed); the Argentine Dirty War (up to 30,000 killed); the Pakistani genocide in Bangladesh (3 million killed); and the Genocide in East Timor (up to 300,000 killed). #workingclass #LaborHistory #warcrimes #humanrights #genocide #henrykissinger #nobelprize #dictatorship #vietnam #chile #argentina #easttimor #bangladesh #pakistan

Today in Labor History October 16, 1968: Riots broke out in Kingston, Jamaica when the government banned Guyanese university lecturer Dr. Walter Rodney from returning to his teaching position at the University of the West Indies. Rodney, was a socialist, active in the Black power movement, who worked with the poor of Jamaica in an attempt to raise their political and cultural consciousness. #workingclass #LaborHistory #socialism #FreeSpeech #AcademicFreedom #jamaica #censorship #teaching #education #BlackMastodon #poverty

Today in Labor History October 16, 1968: Tommie Smith and John Carlos were ejected from the US Olympic team for participating in the Olympics Black Power salute. #workingclass #LaborHistory #olympics #blackpower #tommiesmith #johncarlos #mexico #racism #civildisobedience #BlackMastadon