Today in Labor History June 3, 1910: U.S. anarchists formed the Francisco Ferrer Association in Harlem, one year after the wrongful execution of anarchist educator Francesc Ferrer in Spain. The organization founded libertarian socialist schools throughout the U.S. based on the principles of Ferrer’s Modern Schools. The American Modern Schools were designed to counter the discipline, formality and regimentation of traditional American schools. Regular working-class people ran the schools for the children of workers. They sought to abolish all forms of authority, including educational, with the goal of creating a society based on free association and free thought. They emphasized learning by doing, as well as crafts and reading. They avoided rigid curricula, rote memorization and regimentation, as well as rewards and punishments. They also believed that learning was a life-long process that never ended. Therefore, parents and other adults were encouraged to participate in the operation of the schools and to attend evening and weekend lectures. Some of the speakers at these lectures included Clarence Darrow, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and Man Ray. The schools also served as cultural centers for the promotion of revolutionary unionism, free speech, sexual liberation, and anti-militarism.

Read my full article on the anarchist roots of the Modern School Movement: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #modernschool #franciscoferrer #Revolution #union #school #education #children #liberation #freespeech

Today in Labor History May 31, 1905: The Spanish anarchist Alexander Farras threw a bomb into a procession headed by French President Loubet and the King Alphonso XIII of Spain. The leaders were not hurt, though several people were wounded. Farras was never caught. Four other anarchists were arrested, tried and acquitted. Then, the following year, again on May 31, anarchist Mateo Morral made another attempt on King Alphonso XIII. He hid a bomb in a bunch of flowers and threw it at the King during his royal wedding. Because he worked in the anarchist Modern School’s publishing house and was a friend of Francisco Ferrer (the founder of the first Modern Schools), Ferrer was later arrested and imprisoned as an accomplice. You can read my complete history of Ferrer and the Modern School movement here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #regicide #atentat #assassination #spain #franciscoferrer #modernschool #alexanderfarras #bomb

Today in Labor History April 21, 1782: Friedrich Froebel was born. Froebel was a German pedagogue who coined the term “kindergarten.” He also produced the first educational toys, known as Froebel Gifts. Froebel was one of the first to recognize of the importance of activity and play in early childhood (Freiarbeit, or free work). Thus, to Froebel, kindergarten was not simply a metaphorical “garden” of children. It was literally a garden for them to observe and interact with the natural world. His kindergartens were suppressed by the Prussian government for their supposed denigration of religion and politics. He rejected the notion of original sin and promoted and practiced the coeducation of boys and girls. He also felt children should be able to grow and develop without the influence of arbitrary political and social priorities. These ideas endeared him to anarchist educators like Francisco Ferrer and others in the Modern School movement. You can my complete article on Ferrer and the Modern School movement here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #friedrichfroebel #pedagogy #education #children #kindergarten #anarchism #modernschool #franciscoferrer

Today in Labor History March 29, 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed at Sing Sing in 1953. The Rosenberg’s sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol were adopted by Abel Meeropol, the composer of “Strange Fruit,” (made famous by Billie Holiday). The sons maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had, in fact, collaborated, but that their mother was innocent. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it. The Rosenberg’s sons were among the last students to attend the anarchist Modern School, in Lakewood, New Jersey, before it finally shut its doors in 1958.

The Modern School movement began in 1901, in Barcelona, Spain, when Francisco Ferrer opened his Escuela Moderna. It was one of the very first Spanish schools to be fully secular, co-educational, and open to all students, regardless of class. His ideas were so popular that 40 more Modern Schools opened in Barcelona in just a few years, while 80 other schools adopted his textbooks. In 1909, there were mass protests and a General Strike against Spanish intervention in Morocco. The state responded with a week of terror and repression, during which they slaughtered over 600 workers and falsely executed Ferrer as an instigator of the protests. His execution led to worldwide protests. Modern Schools started to pop up outside of Spain, inspired by his original Escuela Moderna, including 20 in the U.S.

For more on the Modern School movement, read my article: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #deathpenalty #execution #rosenbergs #espionage #ussr #soviet #communism #prison #SingSing #obama #strangefruit #anarchism #modernschool #abelmeerepol

Today in Labor History January 11, 1912: The Bread and Roses textile strike began in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The IWW organized and led this strike of 32,000 women and children after management slashed wages. A group of Polish women walked out after receiving their pay and realizing they’d been cheated. Others soon joined them. The strike lasted 10 weeks. Many sent their children to live with family, friends or supporters during the strike to protect them from the hunger and violence. Members of the Modern School took in many of these kids. During the strike, the cops kept arresting the women for loitering. So, they began to march as they protested. This was the first known use of the moving picket line. The strike was led by IWW organizers Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Big Bill Haywood, Joe Etter and Arturo Giovannitti. Hundreds were arrested, including Etter and Giovannitti, who were charged with murder. 3 workers died.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #BreadAndRoses #ElizabethGurleyFlynn #women #children #bigbillhaywood #modernschool #police #policebrutality

Today in Labor History January 11, 1911: Leonard Abbott, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman opened the first American Modern School in New York City. They modeled it after the Modern Schools that anarchist Francisco Ferrer had created in Spain. 1909, Ferrer was wrongfully convicted of fomenting an insurrection. He was executed in 1909, leading to worldwide protest. The creators of the American Modern Schools designed them to counter the discipline, formality and regimentation of traditional American schools. Regular working people ran the schools for the children of workers. They sought to abolish all forms of authority, including educational, with the goal of creating a society based on free association and free thought. By the time of the World War I in 1914, Modern Schools were operating in Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Salt Lake City, with more soon to follow in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Paterson. They taught classes in English, Yiddish, Czech, Italian and Spanish. Some of the students at the original New York Modern School were visual artist Man Ray and early birth control advocate Margaret Sanger’s son. Organizers of the Modern Schools believed that learning was a life-long process that never ended. Therefore, parents were encouraged to participate in the operation of the schools and to attend evening and weekend lectures. Some of the speakers at these lectures included Clarence Darrow, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and Man Ray. The schools also served as cultural centers for the promotion of unionism, free speech, sexual liberation, and anti-militarism. The last Modern School in America was in Lakewood, New Jersey. It operated from 1933 to 1958. Two of its last students were the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were accused of giving secrets of the atomic bomb to the Soviets.

You can read my article on the U.S. Modern School movement here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ModernSchool #education #children #FranciscoFerrer #emmagoldman #spain #newyork #union #freespeech #antiwar

Today in Labor History January 10, 1859: Anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer was born. Ferrer started the first Modern Schools in Spain and inspired hundreds more to be created throughout the world. He opposed the Church’s monopoly over education and created Spain’s first secular, co-educational schools. Not surprisingly, Ferrer was vilified by both the church and the state. In 1906, when anarchist Mateu Morral threw a bomb at the king, the authorities arrested Ferrer and shut down his schools. Morral had worked in the library of one of the Modern Schools, but Ferrer had nothing to do with the assassination attempt. Consequently, he was eventually acquitted. However, they got another chance to arrest him in 1909, when mass protests against Spanish intervention in Morocco grew into a General Strike. The state responded with a week of terror and repression known as “The Tragic Week,” during which they slaughtered over 600 workers. Again, the authorities blamed Ferrer, even though he was nowhere near Barcelona at the time. And this time they succeeded, convicting him of instigating the riot and executing him later that year. While in prison, Ferrer wrote the following on his prison wall: “Let no more gods or exploiters be served. Let us learn rather to love each other.” And when facing the firing squad, he said: “Aim well, boys. I know this is not your fault. Long live the Modern School!”

You can read my article on the U.S. Modern School movement here: The Modern School Movement: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ModernSchool #FranciscoFerrer #spain #education #school #insurrection

Today in Labor History December 5, 1798: Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was recruited to run a new orphanage in the Swiss town of Stans. This was immediately after the French sacked the town, leaving many children without families or homes. It was also Pestalozzi’s first major foray into education. He would go on to become a major influence on later progressive pedagogues, like Friedrich Froebel (creator of the first kindergartens), and anarchist educators, like Francisco Ferrer, founder of the Modern School movement, and Paul Robin.

You can learn more about Pestalozzi and Francisco Ferrer in my full article about the Modern School Movement: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #education #school #children #kindergarten #anarchism #franciscoferrer #modernschool

Today in Labor History November 22, 1905: Jo Ann Wheeler Burbank was born. She was an artist and radical educator who lived and taught at the Modern School in Stelton, New Jersey, created after Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909) was assassinated. Ferrer opened his first Modern School (Escuela Moderna) in 1901, in Barcelona, Spain, to counter the brutality, oppression and sexism of the Catholic-run schools that predominated at the time. Ferrer’s schools were among the first coed schools in Spain and taught working-class and poor kids, side-by-side with those from more affluent families. A Francisco Ferrer Association was created in the U.S. after his death, by Emma Goldman, Alexander Berkman and other anarchists. This led to the formation of Modern Schools throughout the U.S. These anarchists also published the original Mother Earth magazine until August 1917. Wheeler started a new Mother Earth magazine in the 1930s to honor Goldman, the original Mother Earth and the work of earlier anarchists.

You can read my full article on Francisco Ferrer and the Modern School movement: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #modernschool #education #motherearth #emmagoldman

Today in Labor History September 8, 1901: Francisco Ferrer, Spanish anarchist educator, opened the libertarian Escuela Moderna in Barcelona, Spain. It was one of the first schools in Spain to coeducate boys and girls. During Ferrer’s days, the Spanish literacy rate was only 50% and all schools were church-regulated. The teachers at the Church-run schools emphasized rote memorization of Catholic dogma, were hostile to any scientific and political thinking that displeased the Church and often physically brutalized students. In contrast, Modern Schools purged their books of all religion and their curriculum was fully secular. These ideas were so popular that 40 more Modern Schools opened in Barcelona in just a few years, while 80 other schools adopted his textbooks.

In 1909, mass protests against Spanish intervention in Morocco grew into a General Strike. The state responded with a week of terror and repression known as “The Tragic Week,” during which they slaughtered over 600 workers. The authorities blamed Ferrer, even though he was nowhere near Barcelona at the time. And they executed him later that year. Ferrer’s execution led to worldwide protests and organizing. Modern Schools started to pop up outside of Spain, inspired by his original Escuela Moderna. After his death, activists created more than 200 Modern Schools in Spain and 20 more in the U.S., one of which continued operating until 1958.

By the time of the First World War, Modern Schools were operating in Philadelphia, Detroit, New York, Seattle, Portland, Chicago and Salt Lake City, with more soon to follow in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and Paterson. They taught classes in English, Yiddish, Czech, Italian and Spanish. While most of the Modern Schools lasted only a few years, the school in Stelton, New Jersey. lasted four decades. Some of the students at the original New York Modern School were photographer Man Ray and Margaret Sanger’s son. The last Modern School in America was in Lakewood, New Jersey. It operated from 1933 to 1958. Two of its last students were the Rosenberg’s sons, who attended the Modern School summer camp after their parents were executed.

Read my complete article on Francisco Ferrer and the Modern School movement here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/30/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #franciscoferrer #modernschool #spain #barcelona #anarchism #education #students #children #generalstrike #repression #protest #demonstrations