Do not dismiss the real peril the republic faces: A man who plotted to subvert the constitutional order is in a position to regain power, has been cooking up plans to implement authoritarian policies and inject Christian Nationalism into the US government.
"It’s ultimately up to individual advocates like Williams to decide how much information to give to a pregnant survivor—and, in the process, how much legal risk they’re willing to shoulder if they do discuss abortion."
Today in Labor History February 7, 1913: A county sheriff and his deputies on the “Bull Moose Special” (an armored train fitted with machine guns), attacked a miners’ tent colony at Holly Grove, in West Virginia. This was during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike (4/18/1912 through July 1913). Mother Jones was one of the main organizers. Over 50 people died during the violent confrontations with scabs, goons and private detectives. Countless more died from starvation and malnutrition. In terms of casualties, it was one of the worst strikes in U.S. history. It was a prelude to the bigger and even more violent Battle of Matewan, and the Battle of Blair Mountain (Aug-Sep, 1921). The latter was the largest labor uprising in U.S. history, and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. 10,000 minors battled 3,000 lawmen and scabs, and only ended with the U.S. army intervened. Up to 100 people died. And during the battle, bombs were dropped on the striking miners by airplane, the 2nd time in U.S. history that had been done. (The first was just months earlier, during the Tulsa Race Massacre).
Today in Labor History February 3, 1910: Mary Harris "Mother" Jones addressed Milwaukee brewery workers during a two-month stint working alongside women bottle-washers while on leave from the United Mine Workers:
"Condemned to slave daily in the wash-room in wet shoes and wet clothes, surrounded with foul-mouthed, brutal foremen . . . the poor girls work in the vile smell of sour beer, lifting cases of empty and full bottles weighing from 100 to 150 pounds, in their wet shoes and rags, for they cannot buy clothes on the pittance doled out to them. . . . Rheumatism is one of the chronic ailments and is closely followed by consumption . . . An illustration of what these girls must submit to, one about to become a mother told me with tears in her eyes that every other day a depraved specimen of mankind took delight in measuring her girth & passing comments."
"If the flytrap is destined to be confined to the greenhouses of Walmart and the community gardens of posh retirement communities, is it really surviving?"
Today in Labor History November 30, 1930: Mother Jones died, age 100, in Silver Spring, Maryland. She was an organizer or "walking delegate" for the United Mine Workers (UMW), famous for her bravado. When she and 3,000 women were released by a militia after being held all night in McAdoo, Pennsylvania, they marched straight to the hotel housing the soldiers and ate their breakfast. Even well into her 90s, she still roamed through the hills of West Virginia, encouraging miners to organize.
"UHS facilities admitted patients who didn’t need to be there to begin with, failed to provide adequate treatment and staffing, billed insurance for unnecessary services over excessive lengths of time, and improperly used physical and chemical restraints and isolation."
"Still, the board voted 4 to 1 to become the first public library system in the nation to cut ties with the ALA."
Libraries are at the center of America's culture war. For #MotherJones, Kiera Butler reports on how this conflict plays out in the small-town community of Gillette, Wyoming.
Today in Labor History September 21, 1913: Mother Jones led a march of miners' children through the streets of Charleston. Between 1912 and 1913, there were frequent violent conflicts during the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia. At least 50 people died from violence during the strike, plus unknown numbers from starvation. Most of the violence was provoked by the Baldwin-Felts detectives that the mine owner brought in to bust the strike. During one incident, the sheriff and private detectives attacked a miners’ camp with an armored train, equipped with machine guns and high-powered rifles. After the attack, Ma Blizzard led a group of women who destroyed the tracks, setting the precedent for Central American Solidarity activists who, in the 1990s, destroyed tracks after a munitions trains ran over and dismembered Brian Willson’s legs.
Today in Labor History September 12, 1918: Eugene V. Debs, Labor leader and socialist, was sentenced to 10 years, under the Sedition Act, for opposing World War I. While in jail he received one million votes for president. In the late 1800s, he led several railroad strikes and helped found the American Railway Union. In 1905, he cofounded the IWW, along with Big Bill Haywood, Mother Jones, Lucy Parsons, James Connolly, and others. He ran for president as a socialist five times in his life.
Today in Labor History September 2, 1921: The Battle of Blair Mountain ended on this date in 1921, with the U.S. government bombing striking coal miners by plane, the second time the U.S. government used planes to bomb its own citizens (the first was in the Tulsa riots, earlier that year). The Battle of Blair Mountain was one of the largest civil uprisings in U.S. history and the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War. The uprising lasted 5 days and involved 10,000-15,000 coal miners confronting an army of scabs and police. The battle came as mine owners tried to crush attempts by coal miners to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields. From the late 1800s, mine owners forced workers to live in company towns, where rent was deducted from their wages and they were paid in scrip, which was accepted only at the overpriced company stores and was worthless everywhere else. The work was very dangerous and safety equipment and precautions were minimal. The mine owners had a long tradition of using private detectives and goons to spy on workers, infiltrate their meetings, rough them up, and block any attempts to unionize. The battle began after Sheriff Sid Hatfield (an ally of the miners and hero from the Battle of Matewan) was assassinated by Baldwin-Felts agents. Much of the region was still under martial law as a result of the Battle of Matewan. Miners began to leave the mountains armed and ready for battle. Mother Jones tried to dissuade them from marching into Logan and Mingo Counties, fearing a bloodbath. Many accused her of losing her nerve. The miners ignored her and a battle ensued between miners and cops, private detectives, scabs and eventually the U.S. military.
Today in Labor History, July 24, 1893: Ammon Hennacy was born. He was a Christian pacifist, anarchist, social activist, and member of the Catholic Worker Movement and IWW. He created the Joe Hill House of Hospitality in Salt Lake City, Utah, and practiced tax resistance. As a college student, he was a member of the Socialist Party of America and, in his words, "took military drills in order to learn how to kill capitalists." During World War I, he was imprisoned for protesting the draft. While in prison, the only book he was allowed was the bible. It was there that he became a pacifist and a Christian anarchist. He also led a prison hunger strike, which got him 8 months in solitary. In the 1950s, he joined the IWW, and the Catholic Worker movement, with founder, Dorothy Day, as his godmother. He continued to participate in war resistance, tax resistance and anti-nuclear protests throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. And he wrote numerous books, including “The One-Man Revolution in America,” with each chapter about a different American radical (e.g., Thomas Paine, William Lloyd Garrison, John Woolman, Dorothy Day, Eugene Debs, Malcolm X, Mother Jones, Clarence Darrow, and Albert Parsons).
In spite of oppressors, in spite of false leaders, in spite of labor’s own lack of understanding of its needs, the cause of the worker continues onward. Slowly his hours are shortened, giving him leisure to read and to think. Slowly his standard of living rises to include some of the good and beautiful things of the world..... The future is in labor’s strong, rough hands.
"On Saturday afternoon, Teamsters president Sean O’Brien delivered an update on the UPS contract negotiations that could lead to the company’s workers striking next month. O’Brien stressed at a press conference that if UPS doesn’t concede to the union’s demands 'we will put 340,000 strong Teamsters on the streets until we get what we want.'”
"Imagine I come home and find a crazy man in my house. He is holding a full gas can and a lit match. 'If you don’t sign over the deed to your house,' he screams, 'I will burn this place down.' I refuse, and we enter a standoff for days. Neighbors gather around my home. The police arrive. It is a major scene. The media show up. The newspaper and TV reporters see this as a big story and slap it on the front page and lead the evening news with it: 'Two local residents caught in fierce negotiations. If their talks don’t succeed, a house will go up in flames.'"
Today In Labor History May 1, 1886: The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred in Milwaukee and other U.S. cities. In Chicago, police killed four demonstrators and wounded over 200. This led to the mass meeting a Haymarket Square, where an unknown assailant threw a bomb, killing several cops. The authorities responded by rounding up all the city’s leading anarchists, and a kangaroo court which wrongfully convicted 8 of them, including Albert Parsons, husband of Lucy Parsons, who would go on to cofound the IWW, along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, and others. Worldwide protests against the convictions and executions followed. To honor the wrongfully executed anarchists, and their struggle for the 8 hour day, May first has ever since been celebrated as International Workers Day in nearly every country in the world, except the U.S.
Today In Labor History May 1, 1830: Mary Harris "Mother" Jones was born. Mother Jones was renowned for her militancy and fiery oration, as well as her many juicy quotes. She once said, “I’m no lady. I’m a hell-raiser.” She also was an internationalist, saying “My address is wherever there is a fight against oppression.” Despite the difficulties of constant travel, poor living and jail, she lived to be 100. She was also a cofounder of the anarchosyndicalist IWW.
"Elon’s loyal following of right-wingers and shitposters have embraced #TwitterBlue with open arms. But they’re not happy that others have not: Several of #Musk fans and far-right public figures have tweeted at and about celebrities to complain about their refusal to fork over money for Twitter Blue."