Today in Labor History History May 25, 1895: The authorities imprisoned socialist author Oscar Wilde for two years for “indecency” for having sex with men. Many potential witnesses refused to testify against him. However, he was still convicted. The judge said “It is the worst case I have ever tried. I shall pass the severest sentence that the law allows. In my judgment it is totally inadequate for such a case as this. The sentence of the Court is that you be imprisoned and kept to hard labor for two years.” The terrible prison conditions caused Wilde serious health problems and contributed to his early death.

The press often ridiculed him with racist, anti-Irish taunts, portraying him as a monkey, or in black-face. When he visited the U.S., the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "The city is divided into two camps, those who thought Wilde was an engaging speaker and an original thinker, and those who thought he was the most pretentious fraud ever perpetrated on a groaning public.” Yet, when he visited Leadville, Colorado, the miners loved him and drank whiskey with him. In 1886, George Bernard Shaw wrote a petition to get the Haymarket anarchists pardoned. Wilde was the only other literary figure to sign it. Wilde was a supporter of socialism. In his essay “The Soul of Man Under Socialism,” he argued for the abolition of private property, and for cooperation to replace competition.

Image of Oscar Wilde with the quote: Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #lgbtq #homophobia #prison #socialism #anarchism #haymarket #OscarWilde #poetry #drama #books #fiction #author #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History May 18, 1928: Big Bill Haywood died in exile in the Soviet Union. He was a founding member and leader of both the Western Federation of Miners and the IWW (the Wobblies). During the first two decades of the 20th century, he participated in the Colorado Labor Wars and the textiles strikes in Lawrence and Patterson. The Pinkertons tried, but failed, to bust him for the murder of former Idaho governor Frank Steunenberg. However, in 1918, the feds used the Espionage Act to convict him, and 101 other Wobblies, for their anti-war activity. As a result, they sentenced him to twenty years in prison. But instead of serving the time, he fled to the Soviet Union, damaging his image as a hero among the Wobblies. He ultimately died from a stroke related to his alcoholism and diabetes. Half his ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. The other half of his ashes were sent to Chicago and buried near the Haymarket Martyrs’ Monument.

You can read my full article on union busting by the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #BigBillHaywood #soviet #haymarket #kremlin #sabotage #mining

Today in Labor History May 14, 1940: Emma Goldman (1869-1940) died in Toronto, at the age of 70. She had been raising money for anti-Franco forces in Spain. Goldman emigrated to the U.S. from Lithuania in 1885. The Haymarket Affair radicalized her and attracted her to the anarchist movement. She planned the assassination of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, along with her lover Alexander Berkman. However, Frick survived and Berkman was sentenced to 22 years in prison. After that, she renounced “propaganda by the deed.” Nevertheless, she continued to agitate for women’s and workers’ rights and for anarchism. And she went to prison numerous times for “inciting to riot” and for distributing information about birth control. She also went to prison in 1917 for “inducing persons not to register” for the draft. When she was released, the U.S. deported her, and 248 other radicals, to Russia. She initially supported the “workers’ revolution.” However, after learning about the violent suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion by the Bolsheviks, she denounced the Soviet Union.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #EmmaGoldman #soviet #russia #haymarket #birthcontrol #feminism #revolution #riot #antiwar #rebellion #prison #kronstadt #rebellion #fascism #antifascism

Today in Labor History May 5, 1886: The Bay View Massacre occurred in Milwaukee, one day after the Haymarket bombing, in Chicago. Workers in both cities were demonstrating for the 8-hour work-day. There were approximately 1,400 strikes that year for the 8-hour day. In Milwaukee, the governor called out the state militia. They shot and killed seven protesters, including a 14-year-old boy. No militiamen were ever charged. However, the authorities convicted fifty of the strikers and sentenced them to hard labor for "rioting."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #bayview #massacre #riot #EightHourDay #union #strike #haymarket #mayday

Today in Labor History May 4, 1886: A day after police killed four striking workers and injured hundreds, protesters gathered at Haymarket Square in Chicago. As the peaceful event drew to a close, someone threw a bomb into the police line. Police responded by shooting into the crowd, killing one and wounding many. Eight anarchists were later framed even though most were not even present at the Haymarket rally and there was no evidence that linked any of them to the bombing. They tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap and convict the Molly Maguires, 20 innocent Irish union activists, just a few years prior. As a result, twenty of them were hanged and the Pennsylvania mining union was crushed. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#LaborHistory #workingclass #anarchism #haymarket #execution #deathpenalty #chicago #union #solidarity #IWW #maythefourth #eighthourday #lucyparsons #bigbillhaywood #pinkertons #mollymaguires #police #strike

@pasttense @workingclasshistory

The Haymarket Martyrs got a monument of their own in 1893 at the Waldheim cemetery (now Forest Home) in Forest Park, Illinois initiated and funded by working-class people—not “city fathers”
https://portside.org/2026-05-02/haymarket-affair-three-monuments

#Chicago #Haymarket #Labourmovement #MayDay #Monuments #Waldheim #workingclasshistory

Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness:

Hurrah for Anarchy: A History of Haymarket, May Day, and the Chicago Anarchists (Audio Feature)

https://www.tangledwilderness.org/strangers-podcast/hurray-for-anarchy-audio-feature

#MayDay #Haymarket #Podcast #anarchism

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.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #bombing #policebrutality #police #prison #execution #deathpenalty #GeneralStrike #IWW #lucyparsons #motherjones #EightHourDay #mayday