Germany 1920: The Working Class Stood Up to an Authoritarian Regime
In the past two months the Trump administration has rampaged through the U.S. government, firing tens of thousands, destroying basic systems that have functioned for decades, ignoring court orders, attacking free speech and any type of dissent, eliminating entire departments and agencies, and removing any opposition to him, Musk, and their minions. In the face […]
Labor Day – Our Struggle Continues!
Labor Day is a long weekend with barbecues and family gatherings, at least for those of us who actually get the day off. It will be accompanied by election-year speeches with promises to improve the economy so that working people’s lives are improved. But no matter whether the promises come from Republicans or Democrats, they […]
Workers Have a Right to a 32-Hour Work Week Plus a Big Boost in Pay
In 1940, the United States government set 40 hours as the basic workweek. Since then, pay for hours worked above 40 has been calculated at time and a half. The government passed this law only after workers engaged in massive struggles, including taking over factories until the bosses met their demands, which included not only […]
Staughton Lynd: Scholar and Defender of the Working Class
On Thursday, November 17, scholar of the people and lifelong activist Staughton Lynd died at the age of 92. Lynd was part of a generation of young scholars who came of age in the 1960s, perhaps best exemplified by himself and Howard Zinn, who sought to pursue knowledge and scholarship in the struggle to make […]
Chile’s September 11th, 1973: Tragedy and Lost Opportunity
On September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, with the support of United States intelligence services, violently overthrew the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende. The documentary, “The Battle of Chile”, by Patricio Guzmán is an excellent portrayal of the events at that time. On that day, the military occupied the capital city of Santiago, bombarded […]
Labor Day History: The Battle of Blair Mountain
This relatively unknown piece of history of the Battle of Blair Mountain shows the heroic efforts miners took to defend themselves and challenge their exploitation.
The Significance of the Pullman Strike of 1894
On June 26th, 1894, members of the American Railway Union began a boycott in support of striking workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company in Pullman, Illinois (today part of Chicago’s South Side). This boycott meant workers all across the railway industry refused to work on any train that had a Pullman car attached to […]