ANZAC day, the 25th April, is one of the most solemn days in #Australia, commemorating the first great battle Australia took part in as a nation - the storming of the beach in what is now known as "ANZAC Cove", Türkiye on April 25, 1915 as part of #WWI. #ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the name for the joint force of the two young nations, forever joined in solidarity and mateship.
Considered too old to be a war correspondent during World War I, photographer Horace Nicholls aimed his camera lens on the homefront capturing the many contributions of the women who took over the workforce - including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
Today In Labor History March 26, 1918: American anarchist Philip Grosser wrote about being tortured in the prison on Alcatraz Island, while serving time there for refusing to serve in World War I. By 1920, he was the only draft resistor still serving time at Alcatraz. Alexander Berkman referred to him as "one of [my] finest comrades."
"The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age" by Juliet Nicolson.
3 out of 5 stars. Non fiction and the author tries to sum up too much, the time in Britain after WWI but there's no focus. There's some good parts in it but a bit all over the place. #books#Bookstodon#NonFiction#History#WWI
Today, in honor of Black History Month, we celebrate the life of Ben Fletcher (April 13, 1890 – 1949), Wobbly and revolutionary. Fletcher joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1912 and became secretary of the IWW District Council in 1913. He also co-founded the interracial Local 8 in 1913. Also in 1913, he led a successful strike of over 10,000 dockers. At that time, roughly one-third of the dockers on the Philadelphia waterfront were black. Another 33% were Irish. And about 33% were Polish and Lithuanian. Prior to the IWW organizing drive, the employers routinely pitted black workers against white, and Polish against Irish. The IWW was one of the only unions of the era that organized workers into the same locals, regardless of race or ethnicity. And its main leader in Philadelphia was an African American, Ben Fletcher.
By 1916, thanks in large part to Fletcher’s organizing skill, all but two of Philadelphia’s docks were controlled by the IWW. And the IWW maintained control of the Philly waterfront for about a decade. After the 1913 strike, Fletcher travelled up and down the east coast organizing dockers. However, he was nearly lynched in Norfolk, Virginia in 1917. At that time, roughly 10% of the IWW’s 1 million members were African American. Most had been rejected from other unions because of their skin color. In 1918, the state arrested him for treason, sentencing him to ten years, for the crime of organizing workers during wartime. He served three years. Fletcher supposedly said to Big Bill Haywood after the trial that the judge had been using “very ungrammatical language. . . His sentences are much too long.”
Today in Labor History January 7, 1939: The authorities finally freed Tom Mooney, a labor activist who they wrongly convicted of murder in the San Francisco Preparedness Day bombing in July 1916. The governor granted him an unconditional pardon after 22.5 years of incarceration. As a result of the bombing, 10 people died and 40 were injured. Not surprisingly, only anarchists were suspected in the bombing. A few days after the bombing, they searched and seized materials from the offices of “The Blast,” Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman’s local paper.
Today in Labor History January 5, 1919: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg launched the Spartacist Uprising in Berlin. Part of the post-WWI Revolution occurring throughout Germany, the Spartacist uprising was essentially a power struggle between the Spartacists and other Council Communists (left-wing, anti-authoritarian communists) against the Social Democrats. 500,000 workers participated in the General Strike they called for January 7 to replace the moderate Social Democratic government with a communist one. Many of the workers obtained arms. They tried, but failed, to get the support of the Navy, which remained neutral in the conflict. However, the Social Democrats got the anti-Communist Freikorps paramilitary to fight for their side. The Freikorps had weapons and military equipment leftover from WWI and were able to quash the uprising within a week. The Freikorps was comprised of WWI vets, many of whom were suffering from PTSD. Many went on to became Nazis. Up to 200 people died in the fighting, including 17 Freikorps soldiers. The Social Democrats captured, beat and executed Liebknecht and Luxemburg.
Today in Labor History December 17, 1918: 1,000 workers, led by Harold Nelson and the Australian Workers' Union, marched on Government House in Darwin, Australia & demanded the resignation of the territory’s Administrator, John Gilruth. They were protesting unemployment, taxation, high prices, lack of political representation, and corruption by the district’s two main employers: Vestey’s Meatworks and the Commonwealth of Australia. They roughed up Gilruth as he attempted to flee inside, broke windows and burned Gilruth's effigy. Gilruth later admitted that if he had he promised to reduce the price of beer (at taxpayers’ expense) the mob would have left peacefully. The Government responded by sending a gunboat. Most people were unaware of the rebellion for several days due to wartime censorship. The press blamed a Soviet establishment in Darwin, along with an uncaring federal government and Gilruth himself.
All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque. You are a teenage German boy who signs up to fight in WWI with your classmates, and you never find anything worth fighting for, just mud and death in the trenches, as any sense of yourself or any recognizable future fades. 4 of 5 library cats 🐈 🐈 🐈 🐈.
There was a time when Britain ruled over half of world's #muslims in #Africa & #India, and Kitchener believed Islam as a homogenous, single centralized entity controlled by the #Caliph — #Mohammad's successor.
This perception probably grew out of the fact that #Turkish#Sultan had immense sway over muslims far away in India.
TIL
Cooties -
As a nickname for body lice or head lice, cooties first appeared in the WWI trenches slang in 1915. It’s apparently derived from the coot, a species of waterfowl supposedly known for being infested with lice and other parasites.
Today in Labor History November 11, 1918: World War I ended, with 10 million dead, 21 million wounded, 7.5 million prisoners and missing in action, and another 22 million killed by the influenza pandemic that was exacerbated by the war. (The pandemic would ultimately kill 50-100 million). Originally celebrated as Armistice Day, November 11 is now known as Veterans Day. And once again, we’re on the verge of an imperialistic World War, but this time with weapons that can obliterate the planet, during another pandemic that has already killed 7 million by the most conservative estimates, over 1 million in the U.S., alone.
Don’t let there be another World War. Peace now in Gaza! Peace now in Ukraine! Down with all imperialism, colonialism, authoritarianism and state violence! Down with capitalism! Down with fascism and supremacy. Freedom, justice, peace, autonomy, and prosperity for all people, regardless of race, religion, gender, ability, age, or sexual orientation.
'In August 2018, Library and Archives Canada finished digitizing more than 600,000 service files of Canadians who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the First World War. We’re pleased to announce that these files have been integrated into our main database, Collection Search, and are now available through a new landing page.'
#Israel-#Hamas conflict is escalating and spilling into #Syria. They are not just Israeli strikes but also #Turkish.
And Türkiye isn't doing it just for giggles but in response to an attack on government facilities in Ankara. Terrorists backed by Syria & #Iran want to expand the conflict using Syrian territory.
There'll be more bloodshed, but as horrible as that sounds, US should stay out militarily until after #Election2024
How effective do you think #InternationalLaw would have been at preventing civilian deaths during #WWI or #WWII?
And then ask yourself why did you answer the way you did? Is it because international law depends on a majority of countries to enforce it? And once it is established that the majority of countries do not care to follow it themselves, only the defeated enemy will be prosecuted in the end?
Why do you think that, only 80 years later, 21st century humans and nations are any different?
Okay, time for a completely naïve take on #WWI#History. Family (not me, alas) are visiting Vimy today, and as usual I'm struck by the tremendous waste of lives from war and the spread of disease from the flu pandemic.
Almost all of the combatants are good friends now, and enjoy economic benefits from trade and cooperation. Did WWI accomplish anything besides the decline of monarchy?
Similar thoughts about WWII - The Commonwealth countries, the U.S., Germany, Japan - we all get along, and prosper from that.
Can you imagine if we just jumped to the good part, and spared everyone the grief?