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Today in Labor History August 1, 1921: Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Felts private cops. They did it in retaliation for Hatfield’s role in the Matewan labor battle in 1920, when two Felts family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies. Sheriff Hatfield had sided with the coal miners during their strike. The private cops executed Hatfield and Chambers on the Welch County courthouse steps in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. The Battle of Blair Mountain started in September 1921. The armed miners battled 3,000 police, private cops and vigilantes, who were backed by the coal bosses. It was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history, and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The president of the U.S. eventually sent in 27,000 national guards. Over 1 million rounds were fired. Up to 100 miners were killed, along with 10-30 Baldwin-Felts detectives and 3 national guards. They even dropped bombs on the miners from planes, the second time in history that the U.S. bombed its own citizens (the first being the pogrom against black residents of Tulsa, earlier that same year).

Several novels portray the Battle of Blair Mountain, including Storming Heaven, by Denise Giardina, (1987), Blair Mountain, by Jonathan Lynn (2006), and Carla Rising, by Topper Sherwood (2015). And one of my favorite films of all time, “Matewan,” by John Sayles (1987), portrays the Matewan Massacre and the strike leading up to it. The film has a fantastic soundtrack of Appalachian music from the period. And the great West Virginia bluegrass singer, Hazel Dickens, sings the title track, "Fire in the Hole." She also appears in the film as a member of the Freewill Baptist Church.

You can read my complete article on the Battle of Blair Mountain, and Matewan, here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mining #westvirginia #strike #union #police #vigilantes #uprising #racism #riots #blackwallstreet #film #novel #books @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 30, 1676: Nathaniel Bacon issued the "Declaration of the People of Virginia," beginning Bacon's Rebellion, an armed insurrection against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. It was the first insurrection in the American colonies and the first class uprising in North America. Thousands of indentured white Europeans united with free, indentured, and enslaved black people to demand rights and privileges they were being denied. They took up arms and drove Berkeley from Jamestown, burning the colonial capital to the ground. It took several years for the authorities to put down all the pockets of resistance. Bacon died of dysentery. However, Berkeley executed 23 of his followers. King Charles, disillusioned with Berkeley’s rule, recalled him to England. The king said "That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father."

The unification of poor blacks and whites scared the hell out of the ruling class. Consequently, they realized they needed to sow divisions between the poor, so they would fight among each other rather than unify in another uprising against the rich. This led to a hardening of the color lines and the development of the ideas of race and racial superiority. The ruling elite used the uprising to justify passage of the Virginia slave code of 1705 and many of the first laws that distinguished between black and white people. They shifted from their reliance on indentured white servitude to chattel slavery, and bestowed new status and privileges on poor and formerly indentured whites. Further, they used the uprising, and Bacon’s own hatred of Native Americans, to unify all white farmers, large and small, against the Indigenous peoples.

Today in Labor History July 29, 1848: The police put down the Tipperary Revolt against British rule. The Young Ireland movement led this nationalist rebellion, which was part of a wave of European revolutions that occurred that year. Because the revolt occurred in the wake of the Great Famine, and the Irish were still suffering from hunger and poverty, it is also sometimes called the Famine Rebellion. During the revolt, the rebels chased an Irish Constabulary into the Widow McCormack’s house in Ballingarry, South Tipperary, where they took her children hostage. She demanded to be let in, but the cops refused. Rebel leaders tried negotiating with the cops, so that no one would get hurt. “We’re all Irishmen,” they said. “Put down your guns and you’re free to go.” However, the cops began firing and a gunfight ensued, lasting hours, until a large group of police reinforcements chased the rebels off. The authorities later arrested many of the leaders and sent them to the penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).

In my first novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,” my main character’s mother is brought to America in 1848 by her family, who were fleeing deportation to Van Diemen’s Land for their role in the uprising.

You can get a copy from these indie retailers:
keplers.com/
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 #ireland #revolt #rebellion #uprising #tipperary #independence #republican #police #policebrutality #Revolution #mikedoyle #anywherebutschuylkill #books #fiction #historicalfiction #author #writer #novel @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 28, 1915: 330 U.S. marines landed in Port-au-Prince, marking the beginning of a 19-year occupation of Haiti. The occupation took place after President Vilbrun Guillaume Sam was assassinated by insurgents. Haitians rose up against the Americans in two major rebellions during the occupation. U.S. forces slaughtered up to 15,000 Haitians in protests and uprisings, plus another 5,500 died in their forced labor camps. The U.S. was guilty of numerous human rights violations, including summary executions, censorship, concentration camps and torture.

Heute in der Geschichte der #Arbeiterklasse: 20. Juli 1549: Beginn der Ketts Rebellion gegen die Einfriedungen. Am 6. Juli fingen die Rebellen an, Einfriedungen in Morley St. Botolph zu zerstören. Als sie am 20. Juli das Anwesen von John Flowerdew angriffen, versuchte er, sie zu bestechen, damit sie stattdessen das Anwesen von Robert Kett angreifen. Der Plan ging aber nach hinten los, als Kett sich den Rebellen anschloss und ihnen half, seine eigenen Zäune niederzureißen. Ihre 3.500 Mann starke Volksarmee eroberte Norwich. Sie stellten die Landbesitzer massenhaft vor Gericht und gründeten auf Mousehold Heath eine Republik. Die Bewegung gewann an Stärke, die Armee wuchs auf 16.000 Mann an. Die Behörden schlugen den Aufstand schließlich nieder. Insgesamt starben 3.000 Rebellen und 250 Söldner des Staates in den Kämpfen. Aber Kett lehnte die Begnadigung des Königs ab und sagte: „Könige begnadigen normalerweise böse Menschen, nicht unschuldige Männer. Wir haben nichts getan, um eine solche Begnadigung zu verdienen. Wir haben uns keines Verbrechens schuldig gemacht.“ Daraufhin folterten die Behörden Kett und hängten ihn langsam über mehrere Tage hinweg.

Zahlreiche historische Romane haben Ketts Rebellion thematisiert: „Mistress Haselwode: A tale of the Reformation Oak“ (1876) von Frederick H. Moore; „For Kett and Countryside“ (1910) von F.C. Tansley; „The Great Oak“ (1949) von Jack Lindsay; „A Rebellious Oak“ (2012) von Margaret Callow und „Tombland“ (2018) von C.J. Sansom. #workingclass #LaborHistory #rebellion #uk #england #enclosures #uprising #HistoricalFiction #novel #book #fiction #author #writer @bookstadon Quelle: Post von [kolektiva.social] @MikeDunnAuthor

Today in Labor History July 20, 1549: Kett's Rebellion against the enclosures began. Insurgents began destroying enclosures in Morley St. Botolph on July 6. When they attacked the estate of John Flowerdew, on July 20, he tried to bribe them into attacking the estate of Robert Kett, instead. However, the plan backfired when Kett joined the rebels and helped them to tear down his own fences. Their 3,500-strong peoples' army captured Norwich. They tried landowners en masse and established a Commonwealth on Mousehold Heath. The movement gained strength, with the army growing to 16,000. The authorities eventually quashed the rebellion. Overall, 3,000 rebels and 250 mercenaries of the state died in the battles. But Kett refused the King's pardon, arguing: "Kings are wont to pardon wicked persons, not innocent men. We have done nothing to deserve such a pardon. We have been guilty of no crime." In response, the authorities tortured and hanged Kett slowly over several days.

Numerous historical novels have portrayed Kett's rebellion: “Mistress Haselwode: A tale of the Reformation Oak” (1876), by Frederick H. Moore; “For Kett and Countryside” (1910), by F.C. Tansley; “The Great Oak” (1949), by Jack Lindsay; “A Rebellious Oak” (2012), by Margaret Callow and “Tombland” (2018), by C.J. Sansom.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #rebellion #uk #england #enclosures #uprising #HistoricalFiction #novel #book #fiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 19, 1979: Sandinista rebels overthrew the Somoza government in Nicaragua, ending the authoritarian 43-year Somoza family dynasty and replacing it with a revolutionary government. They instituted a program of mass literacy, gender equality and access to medical care. However, they also committed many human rights abuses, including the oppression and mass execution of indigenous people. The Sandinistas are named after Augusto Sandino, who led the rebellion against the U.S. occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s. He was murdered by Somoza senior in 1934, launching the decades-long dictatorship. In the 1920s, Sandino lived in exile, in Mexico, where he was influenced by anti-imperialist, anarchist and communist revolutionaries, including the IWW. The original and modern Sandinista flags were influenced by the IWW’s anarcho-syndicalist red and black colors.

The CIA orchestrated a Civil War between the Sandinistas and the right-wing Contras from 1984-1989. The Contras blew up rural schools and hospitals and routinely carried out rape and torture. In 1983, U.S. Congress passed the Boland Amendment, banning further aid to the Contrals. And in 1984, the International Court of Justice ruled that the U.S. prior support had been in violation of International law. However, even after the Boland Amendment, the Reagan administration continued to back the Contras by raising money from allies and covertly selling arms to Iran (then engaged in a war with Iraq), and funneling the proceeds to the Contras. In later Congressional hearings, when questioned for 8 hours, Reagan responded that he couldn’t remember at least 124 times, which was sufficient for Congress to absolve him of violating their own law, while National Security Council aide Lt. Col. Oliver North took much of the blame.

Today in Labor History July 19, 1972: British SAS units helped the Omani government against the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat, during the Dhofar Rebellion. The Front was a Marxist, pan-Arab nationalist group which wanted an independent state in Dhofar, free from Sultanic rule. They were supported by Communist Guerillas from South Yemen and received backing from both China and the USSR.

Today in Labor History July 18, 1966: Start of the 6-day Hough Uprising in Cleveland, Ohio. 1,700 National Guards intervened. 4 African Americans died. 50 people were injured. City officials blamed black nationalists and communists, but the real causes were poverty and racism. Over 66,000 people, lived in Hough. 90% of them were black. The neighborhood suffered from racially segregated and inferior schools, lack of routine garbage collection, no street cleaning, and 20% of all housing units officially dilapidated, many owned by absentee white landlords. Meanwhile, the racially segregated police stoked racial tensions. 20% of Cleveland's major crimes were committed in Hough, even though it had only 7% of the city's population, and only 165 of Cleveland's 2,100 police officers were African American. In 1963-1964, a coalition of African American civil rights groups led a nine-month protest campaign against the poor-quality, racially segregated schools and racial discrimination against blacks by labor unions. The protests were Cleveland's first large, racial protests, and their failure to achieve significant progress sent the message that negotiation and legal action produced only limited results.

Today in Labor History July 18, 1936: Beginning of Spanish coup and rise of fascist leader, Francisco Franco, and Catalonian uprising against the coup, marking the beginning of the Spanish war against fascism. The anarchosyndicalist union, CNT, went to the democratically-elected Republican Catalan government to request arms, but were denied. So, activists raided the armories and gun shops, as well as arms being stored on ships in harbor. They also seized cars and plated them with armor and built homemade explosives. Rebels in Madrid were defeated early, but anarchists seized control of most of Catalunya and Aragon. And within days, Republican forces had control of nearly all of Catalunya, Aragon, Valencia, Castille-La Mancha, Murcia, Andalucia, Asturias and Cantabria, as well as much of Basque Country. The war lasted over two and a half years, and ended in defeat for the Republicans, with hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides (including roughly 300,000 civilians), as well as hundreds of thousands of refugees. It also led to a fascist dictatorship, with hundreds of thousands more imprisoned, tortured, exiled, and/or murdered, lasting until Franco’s death in 1975.

Today in Labor History July 17, 1794: The biggest rebel victory of the Whiskey Rebellion occurred on this date when a mob of 500 armed men, protesting a new excise tax on distilleries, clashed with troops from Fort Pitt after firing on a revenue collector and burning down his home. Many of the rebels were poor farmers, who made spirits with their excess grain, and war veterans, who believed they were still fighting against taxation without representation.

Within weeks, 13,000 uniformed militiamen were sent in to quash the rebellion, including Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton (whose buddies in the rum business were the major benefactors of the tax). Most of the rebels gave up and went home before the soldiers arrived. However, they did arrest 20 men, but most were acquitted due to mistaken identity. Only two men were convicted and sentenced to hang. However, Washington pardoned them. Furthermore, the authorities were unable to collect taxes on many of the distilleries in eastern Kentucky and Western Pennsylvania.

Nevertheless, Washington’s response was seen as successful because he demonstrated that the national government had both the will and ability to suppress popular resistance to its laws. Furthermore, it set a precedent for what types of protest the new government would tolerate. The rebels had believed the American Revolution had established the people as sovereign, with the right to change the government by force. In contrast, the Federalists in the government believed that the government was sovereign because it had been established with the consent of the people.

Susanna Rowson wrote a play called “The Volunteers” (1795) in which the militiamen were the heroes of the Whiskey Rebellion. She was also an early advocate for women’s education and an abolitionist. Her novel “Charlotte Temple” was the most popular American novel until Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s cabin.” L. Neil Smith wrote an alternative historical fiction novel, “The Probability Broach,” (1980) in which the rebels win and execute Washington for treason. David Liss published “The Whiskey Rebels” (2008), another historical fiction piece about the rebellion.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #whiskey #rebellion #insurrection #uprising #taxes #books #fiction #historicalfiction #novel #writer #author @bookstadon

Pueblo Youth Revolt 2025

El Chante: Casa de Cultura, Saturday, August 9 at 04:00 PM MDT

Pueblo Action Alliance on Instagram: "🔥 PAA is excited to announce our 4th Annual Pueblo Youth Revolt happening Saturday, August 9, 2025. 🔥 📍El Chante: Casa De Cultura @elchantecasadecultura 804 Park Ave. SW ABQ, New Mexico 💙 4 pm to 8 pm 💙 ✨ We will have an evening filled with family friendly events! As always, we will have a community feed to share our gratitude for everyone coming! Art Stations provided by our team, community vendors, fellow organizations to engage with everyone, and cultural dances for the people! 🌽 Thanks to our CRR Fellow Zae for making this awesome artwork for this big announcement! Our youth fellows are hard at work organizing this community event, so mark your calendars! Come by for "Grab" and get some goodies for the trip home! 🚙 *virtual honking around the village* #1680 #PuebloYouthRevolt #nextgenerationresistance #PuebloRevoltNeverEnded #YouthJustice #rezlife #YouthJustice #CultivatingRootsandResistance #PuebloLife #food"

https://www.instagram.com/p/DMLy7OQvZCq/

burque.fun/event/pueblo-youth-

Today in Labor History 7/16/1877: The Great Railway Strike (Great Upheaval) began in Martinsburg, WV, with strikes spreading across the country, despite the unions, which tried to block it. Boatmen, steelers, miners & workers of all ages, genders & races joined in. Militias & national guards were deployed. For the 1st time ever, federal troops were used to crush a strike. Workers fought back with rocks & bricks. They sabotaged equipment. Dumped railroad cars. Rerouted engines. Many of the poorly paid soldiers went AWOL & joined the strikers. In Lebanon, PA, they mutinied. Karl Marx called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.”

In Chicago & St. Louis, strikes were led by the communist Workingmen’s Party, affiliated with the First International. In Chicago, future Haymarket martyr, Albert Parsons, gave a fiery speech. In St. Louis, workers took over & ran the city for a week in what became known as the St. Louis Commune (after the Paris Commune of 1871). At a huge meeting in St. Louis, a black man asked: “Will you stand with us regardless of color?” The crowd replied: “We will!”

The Great Upheaval ended after 45 days, with over 100 workers slaughtered. In Pittsburgh, the militia killed 20 workers in 5 minutes. In Chicago, they killed another 20. In Scranton, up to 50 were killed. In the aftermath, unions became better organized, particularly the new Knights of Labor, which mushroomed in size. But the bosses learned many lessons, too. Many of the old stone armories we see across the country today were built after the Great Upheaval to provide cities with greater fire power for the next great strikes.

My novel, "Anywhere But Schuylkill," is part of the "Great Upheaval" trilogy. You can get a copy from these indie booksellers:
keplers.com/
greenapplebooks.com/
christophersbooks.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 full article on the Great Upheaval here: michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #strike #wildcat #GeneralStrike #railroad #union #marx #uprising #rebellion #KnightsOfLabor #chicago #pittsburgh #saintlouis #pariscommune #communism #police #policebrutality #books #fiction #historicalfiction #novel #write #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 15, 1927: The July Revolt of 1927 began in Vienna. It ended with police firing into the crowd and killing 89 protesters. Additionally, five police died. Over 600 protestors and roughly 600 policemen were injured. The clash was the culmination of a conflict between the Social Democratic Party of Austria and a right-wing alliance of wealthy industrialists and the Catholic Church.

Today in Labor and Writing History 7/15/1381: The authorities executed Peasants Revolt leader John Ball by hanging, drawing and quartering. They later stuck his head on a pike and left it on London Bridge. Ball was a radical roving priest who routinely pissed off the Archbishop of Canterbury. As a result, they imprisoned him at least three times and excommunicated him. He helped inspire peasants to rise up in June of 1381, though he was in prison at the time. Kentish rebels soon freed him. The revolt came in the wake of the Black Plague and years of war, which the government paid for by heavily taxing the peasantry. Furthermore, the plague had wiped out half the population.

Ball and his followers were inspired, in part, by the contemporary poem, “Piers Plowman,” (1370-1390) by William Langland. Ball put Piers, and other characters from Langland’s poem, into his own cryptic writings, which some believe were coded messages to his followers. Ball is mentioned in the poem, “Vox Clamantis,” (also 1380-1390) by John Gower:

“Ball was the preacher, the prophet and teacher, inspired by a spirit of hell,
And every fool advanced in his school, to be taught as the devil thought well.”

Ball was also the main character in the anonymous play, “The Life and Death of Jack Straw,” (1593), which is about the Peasants’ Revolt. And socialist, William Morris, wrote a short story called “A Dream of John Ball.” John Ball is also referenced several times in “The Once and Future King,” (1958) by T. H. White.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasant #revolt #rebellion #uprising #JohnBall #prison #rebels #execution #poetry #books #fiction #novel #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 6, 1918: Uprising against the Bolsheviks by the Left Socialist Revolutionary Party (SR) during the Russian Civil War. One of their goals was to restart the war against Germany, which was helping suppress revolutionary activity in neighboring Ukraine and Finland. They also were frustrated by Bolsheviks’ move away from Revolutionary Socialism and toward “opportunistic service to the state." Maria Spiridonova, who spent years in prison under the Czar, and later under the Bolsheviks, was one of the leaders of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. She was also a member of the Shesterka ("Six")—6 women SR terrorists who were sent to Siberia. The failure of the SR Uprising facilitated the Bolsheviks consolidation of power and contributed to their creation of a one-party state in the USSR.

📌El ultimo álbum de estudio de Bob Marley: 45 años de ‘Uprising’
📌Las noches de julio en Carabanchel llenan la programación de las Plazas con Alma con cultura y mucho rock
📌Metal. La novela gráfica, de VV.AA
📌Fiestas, festivos y fechas destacadas de este julio 2025
carabanchel.net
#Carabanchel #Madrid
#bobmarley #reggae #TheWailers #Uprising
#asfalto #DíadelRock #musica #plazasconalma #Retratosdebarrio #rock
#AC/DC #comic #elthrashmetal #Metallica #novelagráfica #OzzyOsbourne #rockeros
#DíadelasInstituciones #festivos #FiestadelCarmen #fiestas #julio #SanFermín #SantiagoApóstol #SemanaNegradeGijón

Today in Labor History June 30, 1648: The Chmielnicki Uprising began, a 9-year Cossack rebellion in the eastern territories of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Cossacks, Tatars and Ukrainian peasants allied against Polish domination. There were rampant atrocities, particularly by Cossacks, against Catholics and Jewish civilians, and equally violent reprisals by the Polish state. It marked the end of Polish hegemony in the region, and the beginning of its decline in power. Millions died in the conflict, including over 100,000 Jews. It also led to the creation of a Cossack Hetmanate (at the time, also known as Ukraine), a state that lasted from 1648 to 1782, with vassal relations with Czarist Russia and subjugation of its people to the Czar.

#ICE #Uprising #civilwar
#Intifada Update June 12 2:40 EDT:

The Intifada against Trump and ICE is spreading, we have serious fighting in multiple cities and National Guard deployments to multiple cities.

Both civil wars and revolutions often start like this. The Syrian civil war certainly did.

As of now we have:

National Guard deployed in LA, Marines about to deploy
Fighting continues in LA anyway

Fighting in San Francisco too

Fighting in Seattle

Cop cars set on fire in a police parking lot in NYC

Cop cars smashed in a battle in Atlanta

Fighting in Austin, Texas
Texas Governor Abbot mobilizing the TX National Guard himself against protesters

National Guard being deployed by Trump to 5 more "deep blue" cities some of which don't even have fighting yet.

So far the pattern looks like this:

In cities not experiencing ICE raids and where police do not attack protesters, the protests stay peaceful.

In cities with a critical mass of community defenders, ICE raids are resisted by force. Fighting then continues after the initial raid is defeated or limited by defenders.

In cities where police assault peaceful protesters, force is sometimes (not always) met with force. Fighting may then continue for the duration

Video: cop cars burn in an NYC police parking lot. Published by Unity of Fields so unlikely to be old recycled 2020 footage.