Today in Labor History March 29, 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed at Sing Sing in 1953. The Rosenberg’s sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol (adopted by Abel Meeropol, the composer of “Strange Fruit,”), maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had, in fact, collaborated, but that their mother was innocent. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it. The Rosenberg’s sons were among the last students to attend the anarchist Modern School, in Lakewood, New Jersey, before it finally shut its doors in 1958.
Today in Labor History January 11, 1912: The Bread and Roses textile strike began in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The IWW organized and led this strike of 32,000 women and children after management slashed wages. A group of Polish women walked out after receiving their pay and realizing they’d been cheated. Others soon joined them. The strike lasted 10 weeks. Many sent their children to live with family, friends or supporters during the strike to protect them from the hunger and violence. Members of the Modern School took in many of these kids. During the strike, the cops kept arresting the women for loitering. So, they began to march as they protested. This was the first known use of the moving picket line. The strike was led by IWW organizers Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Big Bill Haywood, Joe Etter and Arturo Giovannitti. Hundreds were arrested, including Etter and Giovannitti, who were charged with murder. 3 workers died.
Today in Labor History January 11, 1911: Leonard Abbott, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman opened the first American Modern School in New York City. They modeled it after the Modern Schools that anarchist Francisco Ferrer had created in Spain. 1909, Ferrer was wrongfully convicted of fomenting an insurrection. He was executed in 1909, leading to worldwide protest. The creators of the American Modern Schools designed them to counter the discipline, formality and regimentation of traditional American schools. Regular working people ran the schools for the children of workers. They sought to abolish all forms of authority, including educational, with the goal of creating a society based on free association and free thought. By the time of the World War I in 1914, Modern Schools were operating in Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Salt Lake City, with more soon to follow in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Paterson. They taught classes in English, Yiddish, Czech, Italian and Spanish. Some of the students at the original New York Modern School were visual artist Man Ray and early birth control advocate Margaret Sanger’s son. Organizers of the Modern Schools believed that learning was a life-long process that never ended. Therefore, parents were encouraged to participate in the operation of the schools and to attend evening and weekend lectures. Some of the speakers at these lectures included Clarence Darrow, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and Man Ray. The schools also served as cultural centers for the promotion of unionism, free speech, sexual liberation, and anti-militarism. The last Modern School in America was in Lakewood, New Jersey. It operated from 1933 to 1958. Two of its last students were the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were accused of giving secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets.
Today in Labor History January 10, 1859: Anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer was born. Ferrer started the first Modern Schools in Spain and inspired hundreds more to be created throughout the world. He opposed the Church’s monopoly over education and created Spain’s first secular, co-educational schools. In 1909, a kangaroo court convicted him of fomenting an insurrection. They executed him by firing squad on October 13, 1909. His execution caused worldwide condemnation and protests. George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as anarchists and radicals like Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman protested the execution. You can read my article on the U.S. Modern School movement here: The Modern School Movement (Fifth Estate, #411, Spring, 2022). https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/411-spring-2022/the-modern-school-movement/
Today in Labor History August 31, 1909: Francisco Ferrer, the Spanish anarchist educator and creator of the first Modern Schools (Escuelas Modernas), was charged as “author in chief” of the uprising known as the “Tragic Week.” He was executed on October 13, 1909, leading to worldwide condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the protests that followed, while supporters created new Modern Schools throughout the world, including dozens in the U.S.