Today in Labor History November 7, 1837: Abolitionist printer Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot dead by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, while attempting to protect his printing shop from being destroyed a third time. He previously published just across the river, in Missouri, a slave state. When informed about the murder, John Brown said publicly: "Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery." #workingclass #LaborHistory #johnbrown #abolition #slavery #racism

Today in Labor History November 7, 1919: The first Red Scare, or "Palmer’s Reign of Terror," began in the U.S. on this date, on the 1-yr anniversary of the Russian Revolution, with the imprisonment of 3,000 anarchists without bail at Ellis Island. During the Palmer raids, thousands of anarchists, communists, union leaders and other radicals were rounded up, imprisoned, deported and killed. Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were among those who were deported. #workingclass #LaborHistory #palmerraids #redscare #anarchism #communism #socialism #anticommunism #freespeech #prison #murder #Revolution

Bird flu surges among poultry amid a scaled back federal response. In the past 30 days, the virus has struck 66 poultry flocks, leading to the deaths of more than 3.5 million turkeys, chickens and ducks, a steep increase compared to the summer months. All this, while there's been a mass firing of federal science and public health personnel and an ongoing government shutdown that has significantly reduced both surveillance and mitigation efforts. The consequences could be far worse than higher egg prices and Thanksgiving dinners without any turkey. Last year, the U.S. saw close to 70 human H5N1 infections, including one death-- which could be seen as having dodged a major bullet. This year could be far more deadly or, worse, the birdflu could evolve the ability to transmit person to person, causing a pandemic that is far more deadly and devastating than the covid pandemic. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/11/06/nx-s1-5600125/bird-flu-risk-outbreak-trump-administration?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us #birdflu #H5N1 #pandemic #thanksgiving #publichealth

Corporate profits are soaring even as layoffs mount. Economists call it a "jobless boom." Companies have cut nearly 1 million jobs this year — the most since 2020. And the loss is due overwhelmingly to Artificial Intelligence. And that's not counting the 300,000 federal jobs Trump gutted, or the 70,000 STEM job, mostly in academia, gutted by his cuts to federal STEM funding.

Corporate profits are soaring even as layoffs mount. Economists call it a

A trend that started in the technology sector is spreading to other industries, with businesses cutting workers even as their profits expand.

#workingclass #classwar #poverty #unemployment #ai

It's not really about the contradictions. It's about the skyrocketing wealth gap; the inflation and lack of good-paying jobs; the poverty and material insecurity; the lack of affordable healthcare and housing; the anxiety over the climate crisis and threat of global war; the brazen greed, criminality and barbarity of the governing and wealthy classes; and the fear those closes have that they're pushing the rest of us to the point where rebellion is the only option.

Just get a job? You means one of those 300,000 (and still counting) federal jobs that Trump destroyed? Or one of the 70,000 STEM jobs lost because of Trump's cuts to Science funding? Or one of the 1.4 million federal jobs that exist, but that aren't getting paid due to the govt. shutdown? And then what's left? A gig job or some other low-wage work that doesn't even offer health insurance? Maybe Kellyanne, and all her rich plutocrat friends, ought to go out and get a f*cking job.

Today in Labor History November 6, 1968: Students at San Francisco State College went on strike, leading to what would become the longest student strike in U.S. history. The strike was led by the Black Student Union and a coalition of other student groups (including Indigenous, Hispanic, Philippine, and Asian students) known as the Third World Liberation Front. The Black Panthers and Students for a Democratic Society were also involved. The strike lasted until March 20, 1969. Throughout the strike, activists were violently attacked by the San Francisco Police. The activists were demanding equal access to public higher education, more senior faculty of color, an end to ROTC, and a new curriculum that would embrace the history and culture of all people including ethnic minorities. One of their victories was the creation of the College of Ethnic Studies in 1969, inspiring similar programs at hundreds of other universities. #workingclass #LaborHistory #sfsu #students #protest #EthnicStudies #ThirdWorldLiberationFront #BlackPanthers #sds #filipino #indigenous #asian #mexican #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History November 6, 1217: The Charter of the Forest was sealed by King Henry III, re-establishing rights to the “forests” for “free men” that had been eroded by William the Conqueror and his heirs. “Forest” included large areas of commons such as heathland, grassland and wetlands, productive of food, grazing and other resources. At that time, royal forests were among the most important sources of food, as well as fuel for cooking, heating and charcoal production. “Free men” were a subset of peasants who paid lower rents and who were subjected to fewer restrictions than other peasants. The document was complementary to the Magna Carta and was considered radical for its time and place. #workingclass #LaborHistory #feudalism #peasants #MagnaCarta #freedom #rights