Today in Labor History June 6, 1982: Israel invaded Lebanon, remaining until June 6, 1985. The war was led by Ariel Sharon, who later became prime minister, despite the Kahan Commission later finding him culpable for the Sabra and Shatila massacre, which killed up to 3,500 Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shiites. By the end of the war, Israel had lost over 650 soldiers. However, up to 2,400 PLO militants and 1,200 Syria soldiers were killed. And as many as 20,000 civilians were killed during the war.

Israel has invaded, bombed, or otherwise attacked Lebanon numerous times since the creation of the Israeli state: raid on Beirut Airport (1968), the Litani Operation (1978), the “Peace for Galilee” operation (1982), the “Settlement of Accounts” operation (1993), the “Grapes of Wrath” operation (1996), the July war (2006), the Tufan al-Aqsa (2023-2024), and now the current war.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #zionism #israel #palestine #lebanon #invasion #occupation #massacre #SabraAndShatila #refugees #humanrights #PLO

Today in Labor History June 5, 1925: Mine owners in La Coruna, Chile, launched an attack on rebel workers in a nitrate mine encampment, killing over 2,000 workers. Over 500 workers were tortured. This came in the wake of an earlier massacre, in March, at the Marusia saltpeter mine in Huara, Chile, in which 500 striking workers were slaughtered by the government. In that strike, the troops entered town shooting. A group of workers responded by throwing dynamite them, killing several, and seizing their guns. The workers then took over the explosives depot of the mine and cut the telegraphic lines, forcing the troops to retreat. The miners armed and organized the entire town to resist the military, which returned in large numbers. They attacked at night and machine-gunned down everyone, men, women, and children, but not without losing another 36 soldiers to the resistance.

Tensions in the region had been high for several years, with lots of organizing by anarchist and communist groups. A local mayor had contacted the Minister of War, in 1924, claiming that the Soviet revolution had broken out in the Pampas. This led to a state of siege and long-term military occupation. Despite the military presence, saltpeter miners struck throughout most of early 1925, demanding the nationalization of the mines. The government shut down the newspapers “El Despertar de los Trabajadores” (communist) and “El Surco” (anarchist) and arrested several union leaders, leading to a General Strike on June 4, 1925. During the General Strike, workers occupied the offices of 124 saltpeter mines and shut down the port of Iquique. The workers looted the warehouses and distributed provisions among the starving workers in the camps. When the military attacked, the workers fought back with homemade grenades (tin jars loaded with dynamite, rivets and paste). The military attacked the buildings occupied by the workers with long range cannons, forcing them to flee into the pampas. The attack caused much of the saltpeter to burn, destroying homes and warehouses containing food. Once the region had been subdued, they arrested the anarchist leader, Carlos Garrido, and executed him without trial in a soccer field.

#LaborHistory #workingclass #strike #massacre #PoliceAbuse #police #chile #torture #rebellion #generalstrike #anarchism #communism

Today in Labor History June 4, 1939: The U.S. blocked the MS St. Louis from landing in Florida. The ship carried 963 Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Nazis. Canada also refused. As a result, the ship was forced back to Europe. Over 200 of its passengers ultimately died in Nazi concentration camps. The ordeal is also known as the Voyage of the Damned. This event has been depicted in numerous books, including Julian Barnes’s novel, A History of the World in 10 ½ Chapters (1989); Bodie and Brock Thoene's novel Munich Signature (1991); and Leonardo Padura's novel Herejes (2013). Cordell Hull, who was Secretary of State at the time, and who led the calls to turn the refugees away, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1944. It was one of the worst Nobel prizes ever awarded (along with Henry Kissinger (1973), who facilitated bloody dictatorships in Chile and Argentina, genocides in Bangladesh and East Timor, and carpet bombing of Cambodia. Or Elihu Root (1912), the U.S. Secretary of War who oversaw the brutal repression of the Filipino independence movement. And let’s not forget Shimon Peres, Yitzak Rabin and Yasser Arafat (1994), who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize despite their histories of human rights abuses. Or Aung San Suu Kyi (1991). Or Mikhail Gorbachev (1990), who sent tanks into the Baltic republics less than a year after winning his “peace” prize, killing numerous civilians. Or Barack Obama (2009), who began assassinating civilians with his drones and arresting more immigrants than his predecessor, George W. Bush, not long after winning his Nobel. Or Woodrow Wilson (1919), an outright racist and apologist for slavery, who sent troops to occupy Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, and to “intervene” in Cuba, Honduras and Panama, and who oversaw the Palmer raids that led to over 10,000 arrests and over 500 deportations of union leaders, peace activists, socialists and anarchists. Or Menachem Begin (1978), who four years after receiving his “peace” prize launched the bloody invasion of Lebanon, and who refused to fire Ariel Sharon, even after the Kahan Commission found Sharon culpable for the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #Nazis #Fascism #Jews #holocaust #NobelPrize #massacre #genocide #antisemitism #imperialism #invasion #occupation #ConcentrationCamps #HistorialFiction #novel #books #author @bookstadon

This was HEARTBREAKING

Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, who volunteered in #GAZA exposed Israel:

"I held a lifeless child in my arms. There was no equipment to save him. This is not a #war; it is a #massacre of the innocent."
https://x.com/i/status/2061910193303347583

Today in Labor History June 1, 1929: A meeting of the Korean Anarchist Federation (KAF) was held in Peking in which it was decided to divert all resources outside Korea itself to Manchuria. Over 2 million Koreans were living in Manchuria at the time, and the KAF was a significant force. They were focused on providing mutual aid for all Koreans in Manchuria, establishing a society based on liberty and equality, in which resources were to be distributed "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs". Their significance was short-lived, however, as the Japanese attacked from the south, while Stalinists attacked from the north. By 1931, many of the anarchist leaders were dead and the region was devastated.

Image is of Kim Chwa-chin, the anarchist chairman of the Korean People's Association in Manchuria and commander of the Korean Independence Army.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #korea #china #manchuria #japan #stalin #communism #massacre #MutualAid

Corrido de Cananea, sung by Linda Ronstadt, about getting arrested during the Cananea strike, in Sonora, Mexico, 1906, a prelude to the Mexican Revolution.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzJAovNXcU4

#workingclass #LaborHistory #cananea #mexico #copper #mining #anarchism
#RicardoFloresMagon #strike #massacre #mexico #Revolution #IWW

Today in Labor History June 1, 1906: The bloody Cananea copper miners' strike began in Sonora, Mexico. The miners were demanding 5 pesos a day and an 8-hour workday, commensurate with what the U.S. citizens who were working side-by-side with them were earning. As many as 100 miners were killed in the strike, mostly by U.S. citizens working for the company. Although they were forced back to work without winning any of their demands, it contributed to the general unrest that led ultimately to the Mexican Revolution.

The anarchist, Ricardo Flores Magón, along with members of his Partido Liberal Mexicana, organized a brigade of revolutionaries, who traveled from Arizona to the Cananea copper mines with the goal of exterminating all Americans employed there. The Arizona Rangers captured several of them. Magón and many others were extradited to Tombstone, Arizona, charged with violating U.S. neutrality laws, and imprisoned until 1910. After this, the Magonistas conquered parts of Baja California, including Tijuana, during the Mexican Revolution. Many IWW members from the U.S. joined the Magonista forces. Tombstone was the site of the gunfight at OK Corral, just a few miles away from Bisbee, where vigilantes would kidnap and deport IWW immigrant miners in 1917.

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

#workingclass #LaborHistory #cananea #mexico #copper #mining #anarchism
#RicardoFloresMagon #strike #massacre #mexico #Revolution #IWW

Today in Labor History May 31, 1838: Kentish peasants clashed with British troops in the Battle of Bosendon Wood. Sir William Courtenay led the uprising. Courtenay had previously run for public office and spent time in a lunatic asylum. He built up a large local following in the previous four years with his millenarian preaching and demonstrations against the New Poor Law of 1834. On May 29, 1838, he led a march through town, with a loaf of bread on a pole (a local symbol of protest). They continued protesting for the next two days, alarming the town’s wealthy elites. When the authorities tried to arrest Courtenay, he shot and killed a constable. The authorities quickly mustered a small army. Courtenay had a gun and a sword, but his followers had only sticks. Courtenay managed to kill a Lieutenant in the ensuing battle, but was promptly killed by other soldiers, who also killed eight of his followers.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #peasant #uprising #revolt #massacre #ClassWar #poverty #uk #britain
#hunger