Today in Labor History November 19, 1943: The Nazis liquidated the Janowska concentration camp in Lviv, Ukraine, murdering at least 6,000 Jews after a failed uprising and mass escape attempt. They typically forced inmate musicians to play Tango of Death during hangings and fox trots during tortures. Simon Wiesenthal was one of the survivors of Janowska. Overall, the Nazis murdered 40,000 in this camp, alone, and a total of 200,000 residents of the Janowska region. The Soviet liberators of the camp found crushed bone buried to a depth of six feet. The photograph shows the bone crushing machine, with Jewish inmates who were forced to operate it. #workingclass #LaborHistory #holocaust #nazis #antisemitism #racism #torture #concentrationcamps #ukraine #jewish #soviet

Today in Labor History November 19, 1915: Joe Hill, IWW organizer and song writer was executed by a Utah firing squad after being convicted of murder on trumped-up charges. His final message from prison was “Don’t mourn, Organize!” His ashes were supposedly sprinkled in every state of the union, except Utah, because he had said, "I don't want to be found dead in Utah." They were also sprinkled in Canada, Sweden, Australia and Canada. Some of his most famous songs were “The Preacher and the Slave,” “The Rebel Girl,” “There is Power in a Union,” “Casey Jones, the Union Scab,” and “Mr. Block.” In 1988, an envelope containing his remaining ashes was discovered. #workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #joehill #anarchism #deathpenalty #prison #folkmusic #singer #execution #solidarity

Why are people now suddenly shocked at Larry Summers? Long before they'd even heard of Epstein, Summers was saying women were not as smart as men and lamenting why "hitting" on women "a few years ago" would get you fired

If the U.S. had a single-payer universal health care system in 2020, nearly 212,000 American lives would have been saved that year, according to a Yale study. In addition, the country would have saved $105 billion in COVID-19 hospitalization expenses alone. The research team further calculated that, in a non-pandemic year, some $438 billion would be saved by single-payer universal health care, like Medicare for All.

Yale School of Public Health

Study: More Than 335,000 Lives Could Have Been Saved During Pandemic if U.S. Had Universal Health Care

If the U.S. had had a single-payer universal health care system in 2020, nearly 212,000 American lives would have been saved that year, according t...

“We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. … That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college].” -Roger Freeman, Educ Advisor to California Governor Ronald Reagan

The Intercept

The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous "Educated Proletariat”

In 1970, Roger Freeman, who also worked for Nixon, revealed the right’s motivation for coming decades of attacks on higher education.

Today in Labor History November 18, 1978: In Jonestown, Guyana, cult leader Jim Jones led his followers at the Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide. 918 people died, including more than 270 children. Members of the temple had murdered Congressman Leo Ryan hours earlier. The church’s ideology was a combination of Christian and socialist ideals, and Jim Jones had previously forged alliances with many left-wing figures, as well as many San Francisco liberals like Mayor George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Governor Jerry Brown and Willie Brown. The temple also had a reputation for aiding California’s poorest residents, especially minorities, drug addicts and homeless people, many of whom died at Jonestown. Don’t “Drink the Koolaid.” It will kill you. #workingclass #LaborHistory #jimjones #peoplestemple #massmurder #guyana #socialism #georgemoscone #harveymilk #jerryborwn #williebrown #homelessness

Today in Labor History November 18, 1918: An anarchist workers' insurrection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil of over 6,000 workers attempted to overthrow the government. Police attacked the marching workers. A bomb went off. Workers tried to occupy the police station and an army barracks. But the movement had been infiltrated from the very start, making it easy for the government to identify and arrest leaders. They arrested 200 workers, 78 of whom were directly linked to anarchist unions. They also shut down numerous anarchist organizations, including several Modern Schools. At least 2 workers died. The photo is from the Sao Paulo General Strike, that occurred the year before. #workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #brazil #GeneralStrike #SaoPaulo #union #police #insurrection

Even if you can afford insurance, you're screwed

NBC News

Death rates rose in hospital ERs after private equity firms took over, study finds

The increased deaths in emergency departments at private equity-owned hospitals are most likely the result of reduced staffing levels, researchers ...