Today in Labor History February 21, 1937: The League of Nations banned foreign nationals from volunteering in the Spanish Civil War. Nevertheless, thousands from Britain, the U.S. and other countries came to Spain and joined the Republicans in the fight against Franco and fascism. Altogether, over 59,000 international volunteers supported the anti-fascist cause, along with over 3,000 soviet “technicians.” Roughly 500,000 soldiers and civilians died in the war. The antifascist republican forces lost, leading to a 40-year fascist dictatorship.

One of the battalions of American volunteers was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company, after the anarchist IWW member Tom Mooney, who was framed for the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops. Law was from West Texas and had worked as a stevedore. Due to his skill, Law quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican army. However, he died on July 9, 1937, as he led an attack on Mosquito Crest.

You can read more about Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #TomMooney #AbrahamLincolnBrigade #SpanishCivilWar #fascism #dictatorship #antifascism #solidarity #civilwar #antifa #civilians #franco #spain #union #republican #blackhistorymonth #IWW #anarchism #communism #tommooney #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1937: The League of Nations banned foreign nationals from volunteering in the Spanish Civil War. Nevertheless, thousands from Britain, the U.S. and other countries came to Spain and joined the Republicans in the fight against Franco and fascism. Altogether, over 59,000 international volunteers supported the anti-fascist cause, along with over 3,000 soviet “technicians.” Roughly 500,000 soldiers and civilians died in the war. The antifascist republican forces lost, leading to a 40-year fascist dictatorship.

One of the battalions of American volunteers was named the Tom Mooney Machine-Gun Company, after the anarchist IWW member Tom Mooney, who was framed for the 1916 Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco. It was led by Oliver Law, a communist, and the first black man known to have commanded white U.S. troops. Law was from West Texas and had worked as a stevedore. Due to his skill, Law quickly rose in the ranks of the Republican army. However, he died on July 9, 1937, as he led an attack on Mosquito Crest.

You can read more about Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #TomMooney #AbrahamLincolnBrigade #SpanishCivilWar #fascism #dictatorship #antifascism #solidarity #civilwar #antifa #civilians #franco #spain #union #republican #blackhistorymonth #IWW #anarchism #communism #tommooney #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History February 21, 1919: Kurt Eisner, a socialist activist in the Bavarian revolution and president of the Republic of Councils, was assassinated by extremists in Munich. The Central Council of the Republic declared a General Strike and state of siege in response, leading to the Bavarian Soviet Republic in April 1919. The republic was run through workers’ councils. The reactionary Freikorps paramilitary, along with elements of the German Army, quashed the republic in May. Many of those involved in the overthrow of the Bavarian Soviet Republic went on to become members of the Nazi Party.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #communism #councilcommunism #soviet #bavaria #kurteisner #germany #nazis #socialism

Today in Labor History February 21, 1848: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published the “Communist Manifesto,” in Brussels, just as the Revolutions of 1848 began to erupt across Europe. After the French overthrew their monarchy, revolutions broke out in Germany, Italy and Austria. When the Prussian democratic parliament collapsed, and the king imposed new counter-revolutionary measures, Marx moved to Paris, then London, where he and his family lived in poverty while he continued to publish. He wrote his most important work there, “Das Kapital.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #KarlMarx #FriedrichEngels #communism #CommunistManifesto #kapital #Revolution #paris #london

Today in Labor History February 18, 1946: Sailors in the Royal Indian Navy mutinied in Bombay harbor. Their rebellion spread throughout the Provinces of British India. 20,000 sailors participated on 78 ships and 20 shore establishments. British troops and Royal Navy warships ultimately suppressed the mutiny. The Indian National Congress and Muslim League both condemned the mutiny, while the Communist Party of India supported the rebellion.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #muslim #communism #mutiny #Bombay #rebellion

Today in Labor History, February 17, 1942: Huey Newton was born. Together with Bobby Seale, he cofounded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in Oakland, 1966. They did armed patrols of African American communities to defend them from police violence. They started free breakfast programs for children that became the model for federal programs that came later. Despite accusations that he was a rapist, he was also a fierce critic of sexism, and homophobia, and called on the Panthers to give full support to both the Feminist and LGBTQ movements.

For a really great book on the Panthers' house band, The Lumpen, check out Party Music, by Ricky Vincent.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #blackpanthers #hueynewton #racism #feminism #lgbtq #funk #soul #communism #BlackMastodon #blackhistorymonth

Today in Labor History, February 17, 1942: Huey Newton was born. Together with Bobby Seale, he cofounded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, in Oakland, 1966. They did armed patrols of African American communities to defend them from police violence. They started free breakfast programs for children that became the model for federal programs that came later. Despite accusations that he was a rapist, he was also a fierce critic of sexism, and homophobia, and called on the Panthers to give full support to both the Feminist and LGBTQ movements.

For a really great book on the Panthers' house band, The Lumpen, check out Party Music, by Ricky Vincent.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #blackpanthers #hueynewton #racism #feminism #lgbtq #funk #soul #communism #BlackMastodon #blackhistorymonth

Today in Labor History February 16, 1931: The Harlan County War (AKA Bloody Harlan) began when the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%, leading to a nearly decade-long series of coal strikes, executions, and bombings in Harlan County, Kentucky from 1931-1939. At least 13 coal miners were killed, along with 5 cops and vigilantes working for the coal operators. The bosses also evicted union organizers, and their families, from Company housing. The companies owned every in the entire county. Evicted workers flocked to the three that were independent, particularly Evarts. The scabs were protected by private cops, who were given full police privileges, as well as the right to act with impunity outside the coal properties. The thugs were organized and led by Sheriff Blair.

It was during this strike that Florence Reece composed the famous folk song, “Which Side Are You On?” which has been covered by Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello, among many others. She wrote the song after Sheriff Blair and his men had come to her house in search of her husband, Sam, one of the union leaders. She was home alone with their seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then remained outside, waiting to shoot him down when he returned. But he didn't come home that night. Afterward she tore a sheet from a calendar on the wall and wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?” to an old Baptist hymn: “Lay the Lily Low.” Reece also supported a second wave of strikes in the 1970s, as portrayed in the documentary “Harlan County, USA,” in which she performs "Which Side Are You On?."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #coal #harlancounty #coal #mining #vigilantes #police #police brutality #florencereece #folk #folkmusic #whichsideareyouon #communism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZHfZt4o6c

Today in Labor History February 16, 1931: The Harlan County War (AKA Bloody Harlan) began when the Harlan County Coal Operators' Association cut miners' wages by 10%, leading to a nearly decade-long series of coal strikes, executions, and bombings in Harlan County, Kentucky from 1931-1939. At least 13 coal miners were killed, along with 5 cops and vigilantes working for the coal operators. The bosses also evicted union organizers, and their families, from Company housing. The companies owned every in the entire county. Evicted workers flocked to the three that were independent, particularly Evarts. The scabs were protected by private cops, who were given full police privileges, as well as the right to act with impunity outside the coal properties. The thugs were organized and led by Sheriff Blair.

It was during this strike that Florence Reece composed the famous folk song, “Which Side Are You On?” which has been covered by Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, Dropkick Murphys, Natalie Merchant, Ani DiFranco, and Tom Morello, among many others. She wrote the song after Sheriff Blair and his men had come to her house in search of her husband, Sam, one of the union leaders. She was home alone with their seven children. They ransacked the whole house and then remained outside, waiting to shoot him down when he returned. But he didn't come home that night. Afterward she tore a sheet from a calendar on the wall and wrote the words to “Which Side Are You On?” to an old Baptist hymn: “Lay the Lily Low.” Reece also supported a second wave of strikes in the 1970s, as portrayed in the documentary “Harlan County, USA,” in which she performs "Which Side Are You On?."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #coal #harlancounty #coal #mining #vigilantes #police #police brutality #florencereece #folk #folkmusic #whichsideareyouon #communism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZHfZt4o6c

Today in Labor History February 16, 1934: Thousands of Socialists battled Communists at a rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden. 20 were injured in the melee. The rally was organized to protest the massacre of 1,000 Austrian socialists by the fascist regime of Engelbert Dollfuss. 5,000 members of the Communist Party violently disrupted the meeting to prevent Matthew Woll, of the AFL, and New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, from speaking. Woll was a collaborationist who believed that the most effective strategy for workers was a partnership with the bosses. He was also a staunch anti-communist and worked with the CIA to disrupt leftwing labor organizing in Europe. Some American Communists at that time considered that anyone who wasn’t communist was fascist, including non-communist socialists. On the morning of the rally, the Daily Worker denounced Woll and La Guardia as “open fascist[s]” and urged their Socialist brothers not to let them speak. During the rally, Communists jeered and booed the Socialists, calling them fascists, leading up to the violence.

The next month, five days after the opening of the Dachau concentration camp, the American Jewish Congress held another anti-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. 20,000 attended, plus another 40,000 rallied outside. One of their demands was that President Roosevelt immediately amend the immigration laws to allow German Jews entry into the U.S.

A few years later, 2/20/1939, Nazis held a large rally at Madison Square Garden. Advertised as a “Pro-American Rally,” 20,000 attendees, in Nazi armbands, were greeted with a 30-foot-tall banner of George Washington, flanked by large swastikas. Storm troopers in Nazi uniforms guarded the aisles. Their rhetoric was very similar to that of the participants at Trump’s rally there in 2024. Attendees had picket signs that read “Stop Jewish Domination of Christian America.” There were speeches about stopping the Jews from taking American jobs. One of the speakers, Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, pointed out that American history has always been white supremacist, from the founding of the country by white men, to slavery, the Chinese exclusion act, anti-miscegenation laws, and Jim Crow. They referred to Washington as America’s first fascist. Thousand of anti-fascists demonstrated outside. Both Mayor LaGuardia, and the American Jewish Committee supported the Nazis’ right to hold the rally. LaGuardia said, "If we are for free speech, we have to be for free speech for everybody, and that includes Nazis."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #communism #socialism #Riot #MadisonSquareGarden #newyork #austria #antifa #antifascism #trump #MAGA #nazi