Today in Labor History December 30, 1905: Governor Frank Steunenberg of Idaho was assassinated by a bomb. Steunenberg had been elected on a Populist Party "defend the working man" ticket. But then he called on federal troops to crush the 1899 miners’ strike. Authorities promptly blamed members of the radical WFM, including Big Bill Haywood, who would later go on to cofound the IWW. The actual assassin was Harry Orchard, a WFM union member who was also a paid informant and agent provocateur for the Cripple Creek Mine Owners’ Association. The investigation was conducted by Pinkerton agent James McParland, the same man who infiltrated the Ancient Order of Hibernians in eastern Pennsylvania and acted as an agent provocateur, leading to the wrongful executions of 20 Irish miners. After interrogation by McParland, Orchard signed a 64-page typed confession claiming that he had been hired to kill Steunenberg by the WFM leadership ("Big Bill" Haywood; General Secretary, Charles Moyer; and President George Pettibone). Superstar labor lawyer Clarence Darrow got all three WFM defendants acquitted. Orchard pled guilty and received a death sentence in a separate trial, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison. McParland also plays prominently in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,” about the period leading up to the wrongful executions of the Irish miners.

Read more about the Western Federation of Miners here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/the-western-federation-of-miners/

Read more about the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

Read more about the wrongfully convicted Irish miners here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

Pick up a copy of my novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill, here:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #wfm #westernfederationofminers #bigbillhaywood #pinkertons #police #prison #books #novel #historicalfiction #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History December 1, 1912: The rustling card system was put into place by the Anaconda Mining and Smelter Company. Rustling cards verified employees’ identities and employment status. The company used spies to identify union agitators and refused them rustling cards and jobs. In 1917, the IWW called a strike at the Anaconda mines around Butte, Montana. They demanded the end of the rustling cards system, and the implementation of the 8-hour day and higher wages. Author Dashiell Hammett served as a Pinkerton strikebreaker in the Anaconda miners’ strike. However, when the Pinkertons enlisted him to assassinate Native American IWW organizer Frank Little, he refused, and quit the agency. On 4/21/1917, guards opened fire on unarmed picketers, killing one and injuring sixteen, while vigilantes lynched Frank Little. Dashiell Hammett depicted the strike in his first novel, “Red Harvest.” André Gide called Red Harvest “the last word in atrocity, cynicism, and horror.”

You can read my biography of Frank Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

You can read my essay on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can read my biography of Hammett here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/dashiell-hammett/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #mining #wages #unionbusting #books #fiction #franklittle #assassination #indigenous #nativeamerican #author #writer #dashiellhammett #pinkertons @bookstadon

Today in Labor History October 14, 1883: The two-day founding congress of the International Working People's Association (IWPA) occurred in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the Allegheny Turner Hall, marking the beginning of the anarchist-trade union movement in the US. Participants wore red badges and carried red flags. The congress endorsed militant labor organizing, overthrowing the state, and "propaganda by the deed," which included assassinations. Parsons, Spies, Johann Most, and others drafted the Pittsburgh Manifesto at this event. The manifesto called for the overthrow of the ruling class and replacing it with free cooperatives. The manifesto ends with the following line: “Tremble, oppressors of the world! Not far beyond your purblind sight there dawns the scarlet and sable lights of the JUDGEMENT DAY!”

Here are the basic principles called for in the manifesto:
1. Destruction of the existing class rule, by all means, i.e., by energetic, relentless, revolutionary, and international action.
2. Establishment of a free society based upon co-operative organization of production.
3. Free exchange of equivalent products by and between the productive organizations without commerce and profit-mongering.
4. Organization of education on a secular, scientific, and equal basis for both sexes.
5. Equal rights for all without distinction to sex or race.
6. Regulation of all public affairs by free contracts between the autonomous (independent) communes and associations, resting on a federalistic basis.

Preceding the IWPA was the Workingmen’s Party (WPUS), formed in Philadelphia in 1876, which played a major role in the Great Upheaval of 1877, particularly in St. Louis and Chicago. During that strike wave, over 100 workers were slaughtered by cops, Pinkertons and federal troops. Albert and Lucy Parsons were important organizers during that strike. However, the WPUS became dominated by Lasallian socialists, who opposed strikes and direct action, and believed they could vote capitalism away. The Parsons, and many others, were radicalized by the brutality against the Great Upheaval strikers, and subsequently became anarchists. The WPUS ultimately split as a result of the conflict between the anarchists, Marxists, and Lasallians, later becoming the Socialist Labor Party. And the anarchists left to form the IWPA, which helped unite Albert Parsons and August Spies and other anarchists who were later wrongly implicated in the 1886 Haymarket bombing. The subsequent witch hunt for anarchists, and the convictions and executions that followed the Haymarket bombing, effectively destroyed the IWPA.

Read my article on Lucy Parsons and the Haymarket Affair here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

Read my article “The Wide Awakes and the Antebellum Roots of Wokeness” to learn more about the Turner Society and the radical German immigrant abolitionists in the mid- to late 1800s: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/27/the-wide-awakes-and-the-antebellum-roots-of-wokeness/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #lucyparsons #AlbertParsons #pittsburgh #Pinkertons #strike #union #syndicalism #marxism #socialism #directaction #abolition #haymarket #prison

Today in Labor History October 13, 1902: Teddy Roosevelt threatened to send in federal troops as strikebreakers to crush a coal strike. The strike by anthracite coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania was led by the United Mineworkers of America (UMWA). The region had had dozens of previous strikes led by earlier and now defunct unions like the WBA. The UMWA was created 12 years prior, when the Knights of Labor Assembly #35 merged with the National Progressive Miners Union. Over 100,000 miners participated in the strike, threatening to cut off heating fuel for most of the country. It was also the first strike settled by federal arbitration. The miners won a 9-hour work day (down from 10) and a 10% wage increase.

This was the same region where, in 1877, 20 Irish union activists were hanged on false charges of Molly Maguire terrorism to crush the WBA, brought on by the shenanigans of agent provocateur James McParland, working for the Pinkertons. That struggle is depicted in my novel, Anywhere But Schuylkill.

Read my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

Read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/’

Purchase my novel:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn
Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #coal #mining #union #strike #pennsylvania #Pinkertons #MollyMaguires #AnywhereButSchuylkill #fiction #historicalfiction #books #novel #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History September 23, 1913: The United Mine Workers of America began the first of a series of strikes which would escalate into the Colorado Coalfield War. Miners were fighting the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) for safer working conditions and better pay. From 1884 and 1912, Colorado miners averaged 6.81 deaths per every 1,000 miners, a fatality rate over double the national average of 3.12. However, two mine explosions in 1910 brought the state mining mortality rate to above 10, triple the national average. Due to jury tampering by the company, Rockefeller was never held accountable and never had to pay out any settlements. CF&I virtually owned the political apparatus of Colorado. The company registered every one of its employees to vote, even non-citizen immigrants and company mules, in a tactic that would make today’s Republicans blush. The Colorado Coalfied War lasted over the next two years and resulted in up to 200 deaths, including over 37 soldiers and private cops working for Rockefeller. The war included the Ludlow Massacre, when National Guards massacred at least 19 people living in a tent colony, including 12 children and three women. In retaliation for this unprovoked massacre, armed miners attacked mines, killing scabs, destroying property, and fighting National Guard troops. It was possibly the bloodiest labor dispute in U.S. history. Rockefeller used both Pinkertons and Baldwin-Felts private detectives to protect scabs and intimidate striking miners. They would attack mining camps with machine guns mounted on a car dubbed the “Death Special.” The authorities repeatedly jailed Mother Jones, who had come to support the strike. During one arrest, miners tried to free her but were repelled by National Guards. On the first day of the strike, she said during a speech: "Rise up and strike! If you are too cowardly, there are enough women in this country to come in here and beat the hell out of you."

Read my article on the Ludlow massacre here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/20/the-ludlow-massacre/

Read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #union #miners #coal #massacre #police #policebrutality #pinkertons #immigrants #colorado #ludlow #rockefeller #nationalguards #motherjones

Today in Labor History August 25, 1819: Allan Pinkerton was born. He founded the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles and scores more imprisoned. Ironically, Pinkerton, himself, was a violent, radical leftist as a youth. He fought cops in the streets as a member of the Chartist Movement. He had to flee the UK in order to not be imprisoned. Yet in America, he became the nation’s first super cop. He created the secret service. He foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. He fine-tuned the art of spying on activists and planting agents provocateur in their ranks. His agents played a major role in destroying the miners’ union in the 1870s, as portrayed in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.” Later, the Pinkertons assassinated numerous organizers with the IWW and came within inches of successfully getting Big Bill Hayward convicted on trumped up murder charges. They tried to hire author Dashiell Hammett to murder Native American IWW organizer Frank Little. He declined, but wrote about his experience as a Pinkerton agent in his first novel, Red Harvest.

You can get Anywhere But Schuylkill from any of these indie bookstores:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

You can read my biography of Pinkerton here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

My biography of Frank Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #pinkertons #IWW #union #police #books #fiction #historicalfiction #AnywhereButSchuylkill #mining #coal #writer #author #FrankLittle #indigenous #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 26, 1894: President Grover Cleveland created a Strike Committee to investigate the causes of the Pullman strike and the subsequent walkout by the American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs. After four months, the commission absolved the strikers and placed the blame entirely on Pullman and the railroads for the conflict. Roughly 250,000 workers participated in the strike. And an estimated 70 workers died, mostly at the hands of cops and soldiers. To appease workers, the government came up with a new holiday, Labor Day, to commemorate the end of the Pullman Strike. However, President Cleveland had other interests in creating the new holiday. Rather than rewarding workers, his goal was to bury the history of the Haymarket Affair and the radical anarchist and socialist history of the labor movement by choosing any day other than May 1 as the new national labor holiday.

On May 1, 1886, 350,000 workers went on strike across the U.S. to demand the eight-hour workday. It was the world’s first May Day/International Workers’ Day demonstration—an event that has been celebrated ever since, by nearly every country in the world, except for the U.S. Two days later, Chicago Police and Pinkertons attacked protesters, killing at least one person. On May 4, anarchists organized a demonstration at Haymarket Square to protest that police violence. Somebody threw a bomb, which killed at least one cop. The police opened fire, killing another seven workers. Six police also died, likely from “friendly fire” by other cops.

The authorities went on a witch hunt, rounding up most of the city’s leading anarchists and radical labor leaders. They ultimately convicted seven anarchists, even though none of them were present at Haymarket Square when the bomb was thrown, and executed four of them in 1887, including Albert Parsons. After her husband’s execution, Lucy Parsons continued her radical organizing, writing, and speeches. In 1905, Lucy cofounded the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, James Connolly, and others.

You can read my complete article about the Great Upheaval here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/31/the-great-upheaval/

You can read my biography of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #pullman #strike #railroad #eugenedebs #socialism #laborday #haymarket #anarchism #union #policebrutality #police #IWW #lucyparsons #pinkertons #mayday

Today in Labor History July 23, 1892: Anarchist Alexander Berkman tried to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick in retaliation for the 9 miners killed by Pinkerton thugs on July 6, during the Homestead Steel Strike. Frick was the manager of Homestead Steel and had hired the Pinkertons to protect the factory and the scab workers he hired to replace those who were on strike. Berkman, and his lover, Emma Goldman, planned the assassination hoping it would arouse the working class to rise up and overthrow capitalism. Berkman failed in the assassination attempt and went to prison for 14 years. He wrote a book about his experience called, “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist” (1912). He also wrote “The Bolshevik Myth” (1925) and “The ABC of Communist Anarchism” (1929).

You can read my complete article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #communism #alexanderberkman #prison #assassination #strike #steel #carnegie #massacre #emmagoldman #pinkertons #books #writing #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 22, 1877: A General Strike began in St. Louis, as part of the national Great Upheaval wave of wildcat strikes. The St. Louis strike is generally considered the first General Strike in U.S. history. It was organized by the communist Workingman’s Party and the Knights of Labor. In addition to joining in solidarity with striking rail workers, thousands in other trades came out to fight for the 8-hour day and an end to child labor. For nearly a week, workers controlled all functions of society. Black and white workers united, even though the unions were all segregated. At one rally, a black steamboat worker asked the crowd if they would stand behind levee workers, regardless of race. “We will!” they shouted back. Another speaker said, “The people are rising up in their might and declaring they will no longer submit to being oppressed by unproductive capital.”

Whereas most of the worker uprisings that were occurring throughout the U.S. were spontaneous wildcat strikes (as most of the unions were opposed to the great strike), the situation in St. Louis was led by communists and was revolutionary. “There was a time in the history of France when the poor found themselves oppressed to such an extent that forbearance ceased to be a virtue, and hundreds of heads tumbled into the basket. That time may have arrived with us.” A cooper said this to a crowd of 10,000 workers in St. Louis, in July, 1877. He was referring to the Paris Commune, which happened just six years prior. Like the Parisian workers, the Saint Louis strikers openly called for the use of arms, not only to defend themselves against the violence of the militias and police, but for outright revolutionary aims: “All you have to do is to unite on one idea—that workingmen shall rule this country. What man makes, belongs to him, and the workingmen made this country.”

Karl Marx enthusiastically followed events during the Great Strike. He called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” He predicted that it would inevitably be suppressed, but might still “be the point of origin for the creation of a serious workers’ party in the United States.” Ironically, many of the Saint Louis activists were followers of Ferdinand Lasalle, whom Marx despised, and who believed that communist revolution could happen through the vote. And some of them, like Albert Currlin, a Workingmen’s Party leader in Saint Louis, were outright racists, who mistrusted the black strikers and refused to work with them, undermining the success of the commune. Ultimately, 3,000 federal troops and 5,000 deputized police (i.e., vigilantes) ended the strike by killing at least 18 people and arresting at least 70.

My novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,” is about the coal strike that preceded the Great Upheaval. My work in progress, “Red Hot Summer in the Big Smoke,” opens exactly two weeks prior to the start of the Great Upheaval, with the mass execution of innocent coal miners and union organizers who were framed by the Pinkertons.

You can get my novel from any of these indie retailers:
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

You can read my complete article on the Great Upheaval here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/31/the-great-upheaval/

You can read my complete article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #greatupheaval #paris #commune #Revolutionary #communism #saintlouis #pinkertons #GeneralStrike #wildcat #strike #knightsoflabor #workingmensparty #marx #solidarity #books #author #writer #fiction #historicalfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 13, 1892: Martial law was declared in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, with National Guards and federal troops coming to “restore order.” The Western Federation of Miners had called the strike, demanding a living wage of $3.50/day. However, their militancy escalated when they discovered that the bosses were using Pinkertons to infiltrate and undermine their union, and after mine guards killed of one of their members. Things came to a head on July 11, when WFM members fought gunbattles with company guards at several mines and dynamited the Frisco mine.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #strike #union #wfm #idaho #nationalguard #livingwage #pinkertons

Today in Labor History July 11, 1892: Frisco Mine was dynamited by striking Coeur D’Alene miners after they discovered they had been infiltrated by Pinkertons and after one of their members had been shot. The striking miners belonged to the Western Federation of Miners. Prior to this, the mine owners had increased work hours, decreased pay and brought in a bunch of scabs to replace striking workers. Ultimately, over 600 striking miners were imprisoned without charge by the military in order to crush the strike.

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/?s=pinkerton

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #union #strike #bombing #pinkertons #wfm #scabs #friscomine

Today in Labor History July 6, 1892: Locked out workers out at the Homestead Steel Works battled 300 Pinkerton detectives hired by Carnegie, who owned the Homestead mill. Homestead boss, Henry Clay Frick, had locked the workers out on July 1 and brought in Pinkertons to import and protect scabs brought in to replace striking workers. Determined to keep the plant closed and inoperable by scabs, the strikers formed military units that patrolled the grounds around the plant, and the Monongahela River in boats, to prevent access by strikebreakers and their Pinkerton guards. On the night of July 5, Pinkertons, armed with Winchester rifles, attempted to cross the river. Reports conflict as to which side fired first, but a gun battle ensued. Steelworkers defended themselves with guns and a homemade cannon. Women participated in the action, calling on strikers to kill the Pinkertons. 3-7 Pinkertons and 11 union members were killed in the battle. The Pinkertons eventually fled, but the strike continued for months. Court injunctions eventually helped to crush the union, protecting the steel industry for decades from organized labor.

Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman plotted to assassinate Homestead Boss Henry Clay Frick for his role in killing the workers. Berkman later carried out the assassination attempt, failed, and went to prison for 14 years. He wrote a book about his experience called, “Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist” (1912). He also wrote “The Bolshevik Myth” (1925) and “The ABC of Communist Anarchism” (1929).

K. Friedman wrote about the strike in “By Bread Alone” (1901). Friedman was a Chicago socialist, settlement-house worker and journalist. His novel was an early example of the transformation in socialist fiction from "utopian" to "scientific" socialism. More recently, Trilby Busch wrote about the strike in her novel, “Darkness Visible” (2012). @robertatracy also references the strike in her recent novel “Zigzag Woman” (2024). And the Pinkertons play prominently in my novel “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”

You can read my history of the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can get a copy of my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,”
https://www.keplers.com/
https://www.greenapplebooks.com/

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #homestead #carnegie #socialism #pinkertons #scabs #anarchism #alexanderberkman #emmagoldman #pittsburgh #steel #fiction #books #novel #writer #author #historicalfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 2, 1892: Carnegie Steel locked out workers at its Homestead, PA, plant. The lockout culminated in a major battle between strikers and Pinkerton security agents on July 6. Determined to keep the plant closed and inoperable by scabs, the strikers formed military units that patrolled the grounds around the plant, and the Monongahela River in boats, to prevent access by strikebreakers and their Pinkerton guards. On the night of July 5, Pinkertons, armed with Winchester rifles, attempted to cross the river. Reports conflict as to which side fired first, but a gun battle ensued. Both sides suffered numerous deaths and injuries. Women also participated in the action. In the end, the Pinkertons gave up and surrendered. However, the governor called in the state militia, which quickly displaced the picketers and allowed the scabs in, thus ending the strike. In the wake of the bloody strike, Alexander Berkman, an anarchist, tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, Carnegie’s agent at Homestead.

K. Friedman wrote about the strike in “By Bread Alone” (1901). Friedman was a Chicago socialist, settlement-house worker and journalist. His novel was an early example of the transformation in socialist fiction from "utopian" to "scientific" socialism. More recently, Trilby Busch wrote about the strike in her novel, “Darkness Visible” (2012). @robertatracy also references the strike in her recent novel (2024), “Zigzag Woman.” And the Pinkertons play prominently in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill” @michaeldunnauthor

You can read my history of the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #homestead #carnegie #socialism #Pinkertons #scabs #anarchism #alexanderberkman #pittsburgh #steel #fiction #books #novel #writer #author #historicalfiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The Industrial Workers of the World (AKA IWW or the Wobblies) was founded at Brand's Hall, in Chicago, Illinois. The IWW was a radical syndicalist labor union, that advocated industrial unionism, with all workers in a particular industry organized in the same union, as opposed by the trade unions typical today. Founding members included Big Bill Haywood, James Connolly, Eugene V. Debs, Lucy Parsons, and Mother Jones. The IWW was and is a revolutionary union that sought not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states: The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. It also states: Instead of the conservative motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, "Abolition of the wage system."
They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. However, sabotage to the Wobblies does not necessarily mean bombs and destruction. According to Big Bill Haywood, sabotage is any action that gums up the works, slowing down profits for the bosses. Thus, working to rule and sit-down strikes are forms of sabotage. The IWW is the first union known to have utilized the sit-down strike. They were one of the first and only unions of the early 20th century to organize all workers, regardless of ethnicity, gender, nationality, language or type of work (e.g., they organized both skilled and unskilled workers). They also were subjected to extreme persecution by the state and by vigilantes working for the corporations. Hundreds were imprisoned or deported. Dozens were assassinated or executed, including Joe Hill, Frank Little, Wessley Everest and Carlo Tresca. And scores were slaughtered in massacres, like in McKees Rock railway strike, PA (1909); Lawrence Textile Strike, MA (1912); San Diego Free Speech Fight, CA (1912); Grabow, LA Lumber Strike (1912); New Orleans, LA banana strike (1913); Patterson, NJ textile strike (1913); Mesabi Range Strike, MN (1916); Everett, WA massacre (1916); Centralia, WA Armistice Day riot (1919) and the Columbine, CO massacre (1921). There was also the Hopland, CA riot (1913), in which the police killed each other, accidentally, and framed Wobblies for it.

There are lots of great books about the IWW artwork and music. The Little Red Songbook. The IWW, Its First 50 Years, by Fred Thompson. Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, by Joyce Kornbluth. But there are also tons of fictional accounts of the Wobblies, too. Lots of references in Dos Passos’, USA Trilogy. Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett, was influenced by his experience working as a Pinkerton infiltrator of the Wobblies. The recent novel, The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter, has a wonderful portrayal of Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, during the Spokane free speech fight. And tons of classic folk and protest music composed by Wobbly Bards, like Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Haywire Mac and T-Bone Slim.

To learn more about the IWW and its organizers you can read the following articles I wrote:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/03/16/the-haywire-mac-story/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #generalstrike #sabotage #bigbillhaywood #freespeech #scabs #pinkertons #eugenedebs #motherjones #lucyparsons #assassination #prison #deportation #anarchism #socialism #books #fiction #folkmusic #author #write @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 8, 1917: The Granite Mountain/Spectacular Mine disaster killed 168 men in Butte, Montana. It was the deadliest underground mine disaster in U.S. history. Within days, men were walking out of the copper mines all over Butte in protest of the dangerous working conditions. Two weeks later, organizers had created a new union, the Metal Mine Workers’ Union. They immediately petitioned Anaconda, the largest of the mine companies, for union recognition, wage increases and better safety conditions. By the end of June, electricians, boilermakers, blacksmiths and other metal tradesmen had walked off the job in solidarity.

Frank Little, a Cherokee miner and member of the IWW, went to Butte during this strike to help organize the miners. Little had previously helped organize oil workers, timber workers and migrant farm workers in California. He had participated in free speech fights in Missoula, Spokane and Fresno, and helped pioneer many of the passive resistance techniques later used by the Civil Rights movement. He was also an anti-war activist, calling U.S. soldiers “Uncle Sam’s scabs in uniforms.” On August 1, 1917, vigilantes broke into the boarding house where he was staying. They dragged him through the streets while tied to the back of a car and then hanged him from a railroad trestle.

Author Dashiell Hammett had been working in Butte at the time as a striker breaker for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. They had tried to get him to murder Little, offering him $5,000, but he refused. He later wrote about the experience in his novel, “Red Harvest.” It supposedly haunted him throughout his life that anyone would think he would do such a thing.

You can read my biography of Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/

And my biography of Hammett here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/dashiell-hammett/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #FrankLittle #indigenous #nativeamerican #cherokee #freespeech #mining #antiwar #civilrights #Pinkertons #books #fiction #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 8, 1904: A battle between the Colorado state militia and striking miners occurred in Dunnville, Colorado. As a result, six union members died and 15 were taken prisoner. The authorities deported 79 of the strikers to Kansas. Most of this was done under the auspices of Rockefeller, who effectively owned the state government and militia.

This incident occurred during the Colorado Labor Wars of 1903-1904. Big Bill Haywood and the Western Federation of Labor (WFM) led the strikes. However, they were violently suppressed by Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives, local cops and militias. Scholars have said “There is no episode in American labor history in which violence was as systematically used by employers as in the Colorado labor war of 1903 and 1904.”
James McParland ran the Pinkerton agency in Denver. He had served as an agent provocateur in the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s. The state convicted and executed 20 innocent Irish coal miners because of his false testimony. (I depict that story in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”) McParland also tried to sabotage the WFM, in Colorado, by placing spies and agents provocateur within the union. And he unsuccessfully tried to get Big Bill Haywood convicted for murdering former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Haywood was innocent.

You can read more on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can pick up my novel here:
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https://boundtogether.org//
https://www.historiumpress.com/michael-dunn

Or send me $25 via Venmo (@Michael-Dunn-565) and your mailing address, and I will send you a signed copy!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #colorado #laborwars #bigbillhaywood #wfm #union #strike #Pinkertons
#scab #solidarity #jamesmcparland #books #novel #historicalfiction #author #writer #AnywhereButSchuylkill @bookstadon

Today in Writing History May 22, 1859: Author Arthur Conan Doyle was born. He was most famous for his character, Sherlock Holmes. However, he was also a physician and a staunch supporter of compulsory vaccination. He wrote several articles denouncing the views of anti-vaxxers. But he was not particularly successful as a doctor. So, as he sat around waiting for patients to show up, he took to writing stories. Perhaps his most well-known book was The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901). But it was his 1914 Holmes story, The Valley of Fear, that piqued my interest. It is about the Molly Maguires, like my book, Anywhere But Schuylkill, and involves some of the same characters (but with different names). Unfortunately, Doyle relied heavily on the testimony of America’s first celebrity cop, Allan Pinkerton, as his original source and, consequently, makes many of the same historical errors as so many others who’ve written about those events.

You can read my article on Pinkerton, and his war on unions here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

You can read my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mollymaguires #Pinkertons #union #strike #irish #immigration #police #unionbusting #writer #author #books #fiction #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 9, 1907: Big Bill Haywood went on trial for murder in the bombing death of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. Clarence Darrow defended Haywood and got him acquitted. Steunenberg had brutally suppressed the state’s miners. Haywood had been framed by a Pinkerton agent provocateur named James McParland, the same man who infiltrated the Pennsylvania miners’ union in the 1870s and got 20 innocent men executed as Molly Maguires. You can read about that in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.”

Read my article on Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #BigBillHaywood #clarencedarrow #deathpenalty #AgentProvocateur #pinkertons #mollyMaguires #AnywhereButSchuylkill #historicalfiction #books #author #writer #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 5, 1884: The Knights of Labor struck at Jay Gould’s Union Pacific over wage cuts and won. Because of their success in this strike, their membership rapidly grew. However, when the Knights struck again, in 1886, Gould defeated them and the union quickly started to unravel. 200,000 workers participated in the Great Southwest Train Strike of 1886. Gould hired Pinkertons to infiltrate union and to work as scabs. The Governor of Missouri mustered the National Guards. The Governor of Texas used the National Guards and the Texas Rangers against the strikers. At least ten people died during the strike.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #railroad #union #strike #KnightsOfLabor #TexasRangers #massacre #pinkertons

Today in Labor History May 4, 1886: A day after police killed four striking workers and injured hundreds, protesters gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago. As the peaceful event drew to a close, someone threw a bomb into the police line. Police responded by shooting into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. Eight anarchists were later framed even though most were not even present at the Haymarket rally and there was no evidence that linked any of them to the bombing. They tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap and convict the Molly Maguires, 20 innocent Irish union activists, just a few years prior. As a result, twenty of them were hanged and the Pennsylvania mining union was crushed. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#LaborHistory #workingclass #anarchism #haymarket #execution #deathpenalty #chicago #union #solidarity #IWW #maythefourth #eighthourday #lucyparsons #bigbillhaywood #pinkertons #mollymaguires #police #strike