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.”

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Today in Labor History February 17, 1932: Florence Kelley (b.1859) died on this date. Kelley was a social and political reformer who worked against sweatshops and fought for the minimum wage, eight-hour workday and children’s rights. She coined the term “wage abolition.” She also helped create the NAACP. Kelley was a follower of Karl Marx and a personal friend of Friedrich Engels. As a youth, she belonged to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society and was an activist for women's suffrage and African-American civil rights.

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