https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR1dBUziF_8

#DemocracyNow

'Terrifying': Poorest Countries & #GlobalWorkingClass Face Worst Impacts of #TrumpTariffs

Today In Labor History April 7, 1870: German-Jewish anarchist and pacifist, Gustav Landauer, was born. He was friends with, and influenced, the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber. He served as the Commissioner of Enlightenment and Public Instruction during the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, during the German Revolution of 1918–1919, but was killed when the republic was overthrown. He was also the grandfather of film director, Mike Nichols (The Odd Couple, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and The Graduate).

Today In Labor History April 7, 1915: Jazz legend, Billie Holiday, was born. She was one of the first to sing Abel Meeropol’s, “Strange Fruit,” and performed the most well-known version of the anti-lynching song. Soon after her first public performance of the song, in 1939, the new Federal Bureau of Narcotics started gunning for her. Harry Anslinger, who was a racist, prohibition zealot, led the assault. He hired a black agent provocateur, Jimmy Fletcher, to befriend her and sell her drugs. And Fletcher conducted her first drug bust.
https://youtu.be/-DGY9HvChXk

Today In Labor History April 7, 1947: The National Federation of Telephone Workers (NFTW) launched the first nationwide strike against AT&T and Bell. 350,000 telephone workers, mostly women switchboard operators, walked off the job. Both the AFL and the CIO supported the strike, hoping to bring the telephone workers into their fold. This support provided extra strike funds to help the workers survive their time off the job. By mid-May, 37 of the 39 member unions had won new contracts with raises. NFTW became the Communications Workers of America later that year.

Today In Labor History April 7, 1933: Prohibition ended for beer. Once again, unions could freely organize workers in the bars and workers could drink freely. As Oscar Wilde said, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes.”

Today In Labor History April 7, 2020: Folk music legend, John Prine, died of Covid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNTEbU-a9TE

Today In Labor History April 7, 1804: Haitian general, Toussaint Louverture died on this day. He was one of the most prominent members of the Haitian revolution for independence from France. The slave revolt against the French began in 1791 with the call by Dutty Boukman, a vodou priest. Encouraged by the French and American revolutions. Louverture led 100,000 enslaved Haitians in revolt, winning their freedom in 1793. In 1804, Haiti became first free black republic in the world. The U.S. refused to recognize Haiti for the next 70 and France extracted millions in restitution, destroying any hope of ever moving out of deep poverty. Louverture was betrayed in the end and died in prison. For a fantastic history of the Haitian Revolution, read “The Black Jacobins,” by C.L.R.James.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #toussaintlouverture #haiti #revolution #slavery #racism #boukman #vodou #revolt #independence #BlackMastadon #prison #BlackJacobins #CLRJames #book #writer #author #nonfiction @bookstadon

Yesterday it was the memoirs page. Today my book’s top of Bookshop. org’s *main* Biography & Memoir list.

(right next to Jenni Fagan (Scotland represent!) and a bit under Marcus Aurelius!)

No PR machine. Just people getting behind a working-class Scottish debut

If you’ve been thinking about it, now’s the time:

https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/drystone-a-life-rebuilt-kristie-de-garis/7836359?ean=9781846976469

Now I’m off to build a wall.

Super exciting and inspiring to see so many people out there yesterday. Truly historic numbers of participants. And in spite of my following comments, I think demos like these are critical. If nothing else, they show the world that we are not sheep, that we oppose the fascist regime. It gives the government a taste of how strong we can be. Large demos like these provide a forum for activists to communicate with each other, share ideas, agitate for more radical changes. And it is empowering to be part of large demos, particularly for those who haven't done it before, instilling some hope in these dark times.

But here are a couple of things to consider:

(1) "Hands Off" is a liberal, not a leftist, slogan, devoid of anti-capitalist critique. Consider that the posters included "Hands Off NATO." That piece suggests that at least some organizers and participants actually support imperialist wars and interventions. NATO is one of the most anti-working-class organizations there is. Its entire purpose (contrary to the propaganda) is to pit working-class soldiers against each other in order to protect existing, and acquire new, territory, markets, and workers for the benefit of capitalists.

(2) "Hands Off Medicare, Social Security, libraries, immigrants, trans folks, etc." are necessary and existential short-term goals. But, at best, success brings us back to the pre-Trump status quo, which wasn't particularly good for most working-class people, nor for members of most marginalized communities. We need to be demanding a lot more (which many activists at yesterday’s demos were calling for).

(3) Some of the posters demanded "Fair Elections." But what does this even mean in a representative democracy? Yes, the Republicans have certainly exploited gerrymandering, the electoral college system, and voter suppression to win elections, sometimes even in spite of losing the popular vote. In fact, there are some who think Texas, with the 7th & 8th largest African American communities in the country (Dallas, Houston), would vote blue if not for gerrymandering and voter suppression. But then what? We'd still just be voting for who gets to rule over us and those rulers would still be primarily rich people, whose interests and policies align much more with the CEOs and corporate bosses than with working-class people. If the past is any indication, Democrats would still be supporting Zionism & Genocide, government suppression of strikes and worker movements (e.g., the recent train strike), imperialist & NATO interventions abroad. We'd still have millions living in the streets and millions dependent on food stamps and food pantries. We'd still have snowballing climate change and a government hamstrung by its subservience to capital. Let’s not forget, under Clinton, a Democrat, we got NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the anti-worker NAFTA, and an “End to Welfare as We Know It.” And under Obama we got drone assassinations of U.S. citizens living abroad and a continuation of Bush’s mass deportations and imprisonment of immigrant children.

Optimistically, there were many people at yesterday’s demos who ARE thinking about these issues and fighting for far more than just a return to the pre-Trump status quo. There were lots of anti-genocide signs and posters and solidarity with Palestinians. Many demanding bodily autonomy for all, including both access to birth control and abortion, as well as access to gender affirming care. There were many demonstrators calling for a General Strike, which has far more potential to achieve results than do mass demonstrations. (Direct Action gets the Goods!)

So, let’s continue with these large mass demos. But let’s also start organizing direct actions that hurt the rulers’ bottom line. And let’s also remember that the most enduring North American General Strikes (e.g., Saint Louis, 1877; Seattle, 1919; Winnipeg, 1919; Minneapolis, 1934) all involved incredible organization and coordination, including the delivery of free food to residents; worker control of policing and emergency services; shutdown of corporate media and worker control of mass communication; worker control of transport and shipping.

Today in Labor History April 6, 1905: The Teamsters launched a sympathy strike with clothing cutters in Chicago. The strike started on December 15, 1904, at Montgomery Ward. The company locked out the workers and tried to starve them. The strike quickly spread to other unions. By April 6, 1905, there were 5,000 clothing workers on the picket lines. The teamsters added another 10,000 of their own. The bosses tried to ram through armed wagons full of scabs. The strikers fought back. Things grew increasingly violent. By the time the strike ended in May, twenty-one people were dead, mostly workers.

Today in Labor History April 6, 1919: The Bavarian Soviet Republic was declared. Novelist, B. Traven (Death Ship, Treasure of the Sierra Madre), served on its Central Council of Workers, Soldiers and Farmers. The socialist republic was quashed a month later by the Freikorps, which included Rudolf Hess and other future members of the Nazi party.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #soviet #socialism #communism #germany #nazis #btraven #fiction #fascism #writer #author #books @bookstadon

Today in Labor History April 6, 1968: Oakland police attacked the Black Panthers headquarters and assassinated Bobby Hutton, an unarmed teenager.

Today, to my great shame, I have truly deserted my class.

I've only gone and made myself a Freekeh and Red Quinoa salad.

I'm sorry

Today in Labor History April 5, 1977: U.S. disability rights activist stormed and occupied the offices of the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle. They demanded enactment of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which had passed Congress four years prior. The law mandated that no federally funded programs could exclude persons with disabilities and put into place legal protections, and the right to accommodations, for students with disabilities. During the prior four years, HEW director Joseph Califano repeatedly delayed enactment of the law, while regulations were weakened to benefit business interests. During the San Francisco protests, disability rights activists Judith Heumann, Kitty Cone, and Mary Jane Owen organized a 25-day occupation of the US Federal Building with 150 other activists. Solidarity support from the Black Panthers, allied politicians, and the International Association of Machinists, who provided food, mattresses, wheelchairs, and other equipment, and helped a delegation get to Washington, D.C. The regulations for section 504 were ultimately signed into law on 28 April, 1977.

For a really great documentary on the birth of this movement, please see Crip Camp, A Disability Revolution (2020).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CivilDisobedience #occupation #directaction #disability #ableism #union #solidarity # #blackpanthers #sanfrancisco #JudithHeumann #KittyCone #MaryJaneOwen #BlackMastadon

Today in Labor History April 5, 1989: The United Mine Workers launched their strike against Pittston Coal Co., eventually winning concessions by Pittston on February 20, 1990. The strike started in response to Pittston’s termination of health care for widows, retirees and disabled veteran miners. During the strike, there were 2,000 miners camped out daily at Camp Solidarity, and up to 40,000 total engaging in wild cat strikes, civil disobedience, picketing, occupations and sabotage. The strike reduced Pittston’s production by two-thirds, while over 4,000 strikers were arrested during the strike.

Today in Labor History April 5, 2010: Twenty-nine coal miners were killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia. In 2015, Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was convicted of a misdemeanor for conspiring to willfully violate safety standards and was sentenced to one year in prison. He was found not guilty of charges of securities fraud and making false statements. Investigators also found that the U.S. Department of Labor and its Mine Safety and Health Administration were guilty of failing to act decisively, even after Massey was issued 515 citations for safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine in 2009, prior to the deadly explosion.

So, the U.S. Dept of Labor, back when the U.S. staffed and funded its regulatory agencies, allowed a murderous boss to get away with 515 safety violations, resulting in the deaths of 29 miners, without any consequences for its bosses. And the courts gave the murderous CEO of Massey Energy a year in a Country Club prison for those same 29 worker deaths. But they’re gonna try Luigi Mangione for first-degree murder and seek the death penalty because he supposedly killed a murderous white-collar crook?

As they say, there is no Justice for the working-class; but there’s plenty of “Just Us” for the wealthy, as in court rulings just for them; subsidies and tax right-offs just for them; elite clubs and resorts just for them; and the right, just for them, to kill their workers and consumers in the pursuit of profits.

Today In Labor History April 4, 1866: Russian revolutionary, Dmitry Karakozov attempted to assassinate Czar Alexander II. He failed and the government executed him. Some believe that Karakozov chose the year 1866, since that was the year in which a character in Chernyshevsky’s “What Is To Be Done?” planned to launch a revolution. In the book, the protagonist, Vera Pavlovna, escapes a controlling family, and an arranged marriage, to start a socialist cooperative and a truly egalitarian romantic partnership. She starts a seamstress commune, with shared living quarters, profit-sharing and an on-site school to further the women’s education. Chernyshevsky wrote the novel in response to Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.” He wrote the book while imprisoned in the Peter and Paul fortress. The book inspired generations of Russian radicals, including the nihilists, anarchists and even many Marxists.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nihilism #anarchism #communism #chernyshevsky #russia #novel #fiction #Revolutionary #commune #socialism #books #fiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Today In Labor History April 4, 1968: James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King at the Lorraine Hotel, Memphis, Tennessee. King was in Memphis to support the sanitation workers’ strike that had started in February, 1968, for better working conditions and higher pay. The strike began 2 weeks after 2 workers were crushed to death when their truck malfunctioned, intensifying the already high level of frustration and anger over working conditions and safety. King led a protest march on March 28. Over 20,000 kids cut class to join the demonstration. Some members of the march began smashing downtown windows and looting. The cops intervened with mace, tear gas, clubs and live gunfire, killing 16-year-old Larry Paine, who had his hands in the air when he was shot. On April 3, one day before his assassination, King gave his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech.

Today in Labor History April 3, 1891: Deputized members of the National Guard fired on immigrant strikers in the Morewood massacre, in Pennsylvania. They killed at least ten workers and injured dozens more. The workers were organized with the new United Mine Workers, and were fighting Henry Clay Frick, the same industrialist responsible for the massacre at Homestead the following year, and the man who anarchist Alexander Berkman attempted to assassinate, also in 1892.

Today In Labor History April 3, 1913: Pietro Botto, socialist mayor of Haledon, N.J., invited the Paterson silk mill strikers to assemble in front of his house. 20,000 showed up to hear speakers from the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), Upton Sinclair, John Reed and others, who urged them to remain strong in their fight. The Patterson strike lasted from Feb. 1 until July 28, 1913. Workers were fighting for the eight-hour workday and better working conditions. Over 1800 workers were arrested during the strike, including IWW leaders Big Bill Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn. Five were killed. Overall, the strike was poorly organized and confined to Paterson. The IWW, the main organizer of the strike, eventually gave up.