Today in Labor History June 21, 1919: Strikers were murdered by police on Bloody Sunday, during the Winnipeg General Strike. The strike, which lasted six weeks, from May 15 to June 26, involved over 30,000 workers, and shut down all economic activity. Workers were angry over wartime price gouging and profiteering by business, inflation, stagnant wages, and discrimination against immigrants. Like the IWW, they were calling for the establishment of One Big Union in order to solidify class solidarity and unite workers across all industries into a single organization. Over the course of the strike, 2 workers were killed, 30 were injured, and 94 were arrested.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #GeneralStrike #winnipeg #canada #police #policebrutality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Path%C3%A9_News_No._57_-_(excerpt)_(Winnipeg_General_Strike)_(1919).webm

Mark Carney’s corporate checklist includes gutting the right to strike

#Canada #cdnpoli #unions #labour #labor #WorkersRights #solidarity #generalstrike #MarkCarney

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qNlQ_tJAg8

Someone once told me, "We are the universe experiencing itself."

That little sentence upended my entire worldview and mental model in a way that I will - thankfully - never recover.

It's why I'm agnostic instead of atheist.

It's why I'm in favor of communalism and local determination and not "order" and hierarchies.

The purpose of life is to experience it - full stop.

And we've created a world that limits that for the vast majority of people.

Fix it.

#GeneralStrike #PermanentStrike

Today in Labor History June 19, 1938: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Vancouver cops attacked strikers with tear gas and clubs on Bloody Sunday. Over 100 were injured, with over 43 hospitalized. The strikers were primarily unemployed men, affiliated with the Communist Party. They had been on strike for months and had occupied hotels, the Vancouver art gallery, and post office. Events began on May 20, when 500 unemployed workers began a sit-down strike in the Hotel Georgia, in Vancouver, British Columbia. In early ’38, the government had cut grants to the provinces. As a result, many of the relief camps shut down and jobs dried up. In response, protesters occupied the Hotel Georgia, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the main post office beginning on May 20. They were led by communist organizers. The owner of the hotel refused to call the cops, fearing major property damage in the melee that would ensue. So, he bribed the men to leave. However, those in the post office and art gallery remained for weeks.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #generalstrike #vancouver #bloodysunday #canada #communism #police #policebrutality #unemployment #britishcolumbia #occupation #protest

Today in Labor History June 19, 1903: Benito Mussolini, at the time a radical Socialist, was arrested by Bern police for advocating a violent general strike. As strange as it may seem, in light of his rise to become one of the most powerful and violent fascist leaders in the world, Mussolini came from a radical leftist background. In his youth, he idealized figures like Bakunin and Garibaldi. His father, who was a socialist, named him Benito, after Mexico’s liberal leader Benito Juarez. His two middle names, Andrea and Amilcare, were named for the Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani. In 1867, at age 15, Cipriani fought with Garabaldi in Italy’s second war of independence. He was a member of the First International. And he helped defend the barricades during the Paris Commune. He was re-elected to the Italian Chamber of Deputies eight times, but never was permitted to serve because he refused to swear allegiance to the king. Mussolini’s military failures during World War II ultimately reduced him to being the head of a German puppet state. In 1945, he and his mistress Clara Petacci tried to flee the country, but were captured by antifascist partisans near Lake Como and were executed by the communist partisan Walter Audisio.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #anarchism #mussolini #bakunin #GeneralStrike #socialism #prison #amilcarecipriani #communism #antifascism

Fascinating article on the evolution of Robin Hood from the 12th century to now, in the context of a new film about him coming out.

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20260616-the-dark-violent-medieval-origins-of-robin-hood

Same old pattern: The people create and celebrate a hero who causes all to question the existence of hierarchy and "noble" perverts.

Then those perverts take the story, subvert it to their filthy ends, and repackage it to make their perversions more palatable.

Perverts gonna pervert.

#GeneralStrike #PermanentStrike

Today in Labor History June 18, 1923: A nationwide General Strike took place in Argentina in protest of the assassination of the anarchist Kurt Wilckens in his prison cell. Two workers were killed in the strike as police tried to raid the offices of the anarchist union FORA.

Wilckens was born in Germany. He moved to the U.S. in the 1910s, where he joined the IWW and was exposed to anarchist ideas. He worked as a copper miner in Arizona and was one of hundreds arrested and expelled from the region during the Bisbee Deportation, July 12, 1917. During the Bisbee strike, authorities sealed off the county and seized the local Western Union telegraph office to cut off outside communication, while several thousand armed vigilantes rounded up 1,186 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The workers were herded into manure-laden boxcars and dumped in the New Mexico desert. After that, Wilckens was arrested for making antiwar statements and deported to Germany in 1920 under the Espionage Act.

However, Wilckens moved to Argentina that same year, at the height of the Libertarian Workers’ Movement. Workers in Patagonia rebelled in 1920-1922 and were violently suppressed by the military, led by Lieutenant Colonel Héctor Benigno Varela. They slaughtered 1,500 workers. While the British landowners cheered Varela with rounds of “He’s a jolly good fellow,” the local prostitutes all shouted “Assassins! Pigs! We won’t go with killers” at any soldiers who entered their brothels. Many were jailed for “insulting men in uniform.” To avenge the workers killed, Wilckens, who was a Tolstoyan pacifist, bombed and shot Varela. At his trial, Wilckensstated that he had shot Varela so that he could never kill again.

Hector Olivera’s film about these events, “La Patagonia Rebelde,” came out in 1974. “Bisbee ‘17,” (1999) by Robert Houston, is a historical novel based on the Bisbee deportations. There was also a really interesting film of the same name that came out in 2018. In the film, the town’s inhabitants reenact the events 100 years later. It also includes interviews with current residents.

You can read my full article on the Bisbee Deportation here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2026/06/01/the-bisbee-deportation/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #IWW #bisbee #deportation #argentina #massacre #prison #sexwork #generalstrike #police #kurtwilckens #germany #antiwar #espionage #books #novel #film #author #writer @bookstadon