#BookThreads #booksky 📚💙 #bookstodon A Tough Neighbourhood - my #bookreview for "Brilliant Blue" by Karen Stevens on my #bookblog now! Thanks to Barbican Press for this surprizing collection of #shortstories via @edelweiss about #workingclass Brits. #2026NewReleaseChallenge #20BOS26

http://tcl-bookreviews.com/2026/06/28/shortstorysunday-a-tough-neighbourhood/

This video begins with a distant view of a work by Paulo Andringa, of Amável Vitorino, a prisoner under Portugal Fascist dictatorship. His face is a collage composed of photographs of other political prisoners held by the fascists, which become visible as the video zooms in on them. Vitorino was a shoemaker in Mora who was imprisoned “for unpleasant comments to the current political situation of the country and its leaders.”

The work is displayed at the Museu do Aljube (the Museum of Resistance and Freedom), housed in the former prison and torture grounds for the Portuguese Fascist dictatorship, in Lisbon, Portugal. If you haven’t been there, this museum is well worth visiting. It commemorates not only the domestic resistance against Portugal’s 41-year dictatorship (1933-1974), but the independence movements of Portugal’s former colonies, movements which helped bring down the dictatorship in 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/h8OTaUg5_qw

#workingclass #LaborHistory #fascism #antifa #antifascism #portugal #resistance #independence #GeneralStrike #colonialism

Today in Labor History June 27, 1927: Grace Lee Boggs was born. She was a socialist author, feminist, and activist for African American and Asian American liberation and civil rights. In the 1940s and ‘50s, she had ongoing collaborations with Trinidadian Marxist C.L.R. James and with Raya Dunayevskaya, a U.S. Marxist (and one-time secretary for Trotsky).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #marxism #socialism #graceleeboggs #civilrights #racism

Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The mutiny on the Russian battleship Potemkin began. Tensions were already high because of recent loses in the Russo-Japanese war and the presence. Furthermore, the crew was made up of recent recruits and the officers were relatively inexperienced. The mutiny began when sailors refused to eat the borscht that was served to them because of the meat was crawling with maggots. The ship’s 2nd in command threatened to shoot the men if they didn’t eat it. When he did shoot one of the mutineers, the crew attacked him and other officers, promptly killing nearly half the officers on board. They then decided to sail to Odessa to join the General Strike that was going on there. After that, they escaped to Romania where they obtained political asylum. The mutiny is considered an important step toward the Russian Revolution. It was depicted in Serge Eisenstein’s classic film, “The Battleship Potemkin.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #potemkin #russia #soviet #communism #revolution #mutiny #film #sergeeisenstein

Today in Labor History June 27, 1905: The Industrial Workers of the World (AKA IWW or the Wobblies) was founded at Brand's Hall, in Chicago, Illinois. The IWW was a radical syndicalist labor union, that advocated industrial unionism, with all workers in a particular industry organized in the same union, as opposed by the trade unions typical today. Founding members included Big Bill Haywood, James Connolly, Eugene V. Debs, Lucy Parsons, and Mother Jones. The IWW was and is a revolutionary union that sought not only better working conditions in the here and now, but the complete abolition of capitalism. The preamble to their constitution states: The working class and the employing class have nothing in common. Instead of the reformist motto, "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work," the preamble calls for the Abolition of the wage system.
They advocate the General Strike and sabotage as two of many means to these ends. However, sabotage to the Wobblies does not necessarily mean bombs and destruction. According to Big Bill Haywood, sabotage is any action that gums up the works, slowing down profits for the bosses. Thus, working to rule and sit-down strikes are forms of sabotage. The IWW is the first union known to have utilized the sit-down strike. They were one of the first and only unions of the early 20th century to organize all workers, regardless of ethnicity, gender, nationality, language or type of work (e.g., they organized both skilled and unskilled workers). They also were subjected to extreme persecution by the state and by vigilantes working for the corporations. Hundreds were imprisoned or deported. Dozens were assassinated or executed, including Joe Hill, Frank Little, Wessley Everest and Carlo Tresca. And scores were slaughtered in massacres, like in McKees Rock railway strike, PA (1909); Lawrence Textile Strike, MA (1912); San Diego Free Speech Fight, CA (1912); Grabow, LA Lumber Strike (1912); New Orleans, LA banana strike (1913); Patterson, NJ textile strike (1913); Mesabi Range Strike, MN (1916); Everett, WA massacre (1916); Centralia, WA Armistice Day riot (1919) and the Columbine, CO massacre (1921). There was also the Hopland, CA riot (1913), in which the police killed each other, accidentally, and framed Wobblies for it.

There are lots of great books about the IWW artwork and music. The Little Red Songbook. The IWW, Its First 50 Years, by Fred Thompson. Rebel Voices: An IWW Anthology, by Joyce Kornbluth. But there are also tons of fictional accounts of the Wobblies, too. Lots of references in Dos Passos’, USA Trilogy. Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammett, was influenced by his experience working as a Pinkerton infiltrator of the Wobblies. The recent novel, The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter, has a wonderful portrayal of Elizabeth Gurly Flynn, during the Spokane free speech fight. And tons of classic folk and protest music composed by Wobbly Bards, like Joe Hill, Ralph Chaplin, Haywire Mac and T-Bone Slim.

To learn more about the IWW and its organizers you can read the following articles I wrote:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/03/16/the-haywire-mac-story/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #strike #generalstrike #sabotage #bigbillhaywood #freespeech #scabs #pinkertons #eugenedebs #motherjones #lucyparsons #assassination #prison #deportation #anarchism #socialism #books #fiction #folkmusic #author #write @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 27, 1880: Helen Keller was born (1880-1968) in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In addition to being an early advocate for disability rights, she was also a radical socialist for women’s suffrage and birth control, the rights of workers and world peace. She supported the NAACP and was a founding member of the ACLU. She also joined the IWW and wrote for them from 1916-1918. In 1933, the Nazi Youth burned her book, “How I Became Socialist.” However, like many people of her era, from both the right and the left, she supported the eugenics movement and once claimed that the lives of infants with severe cognitive impairments were not worth saving. She published 12 books. Her most famous was her autobiography, “The Story of My Life,” (1903).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #hellenKeller #disabilityrights #socialism #feminism #aclu #naacp #eugenics #ableism

Today in Labor History June 27, 1869: Anarchist, feminist and labor activist Emma Goldman was born in Lithuania. She helped plot the assassination of steel magnate, Henry Clay Frick, with her lover and comrade Alexander Berkman. Frick was fiercely anti-union and hired hundreds of Pinkertons to suppress the Homestead steel strike in 1892. In a gun battle, the Pinkertons killed nine strikers. Seven Pinkertons died, as well. Later that year, Berkman carried out the assassination attempt, but failed, and spent many years in prison. It was supposed to be an attentat, or propaganda by the deed. Like many anarchists of that era, they believed that their violent action would inspire working people around the world to rise up against capitalism and its leaders, like Frick. After that, Goldman publicly spoke out against attentats, because they weren’t inspiring the masses into action, but they were increasing state repression against their movement.

The state did imprison Goldman numerous times for other offenses, like “inciting to riot,” war resistance, and illegally distributing information about birth control. They even arrested her in 1901, in connection with the assassination of President McKinley, though she had nothing to do with it. They eventually released her and executed a mentally ill, registered Republican named Leon Czolgosz for the crime. In December, 1919, they deported her and Berkman to Russia. She had initially been supportive of the Bolshevik revolution and was excited to be there to witness its fruits, but denounced them after the massacre of more than a thousand sailors during the Kronstadt rebellion in 1921. Soon after, she and Berkman left Russia, completely disillusioned. However, in Germany and England, leftists were offended by her denunciations of the Soviet Union. Berkman died in 1936. That same year, she travelled to Spain to support the anarchists during the Civil War. She died a few years later in Toronto, at the age of 70.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #emmagoldman #alexanderberkman #feminism #prison #russia #soviet #Revoluion #spain #antifascism #kronstadt #rebellion #homestead

Today in Labor History June 26, 1968: The March of 100,000 took place in Rio de Janeiro against the U.S.-supported military dictatorship in Brazil. It was one of the largest and most important protests in Brazil’s history. Organized by student activists, it attracted workers, artists, intellectuals, and opposition politicians. Prior to the march, violence by the government had been on the rise, with their military killing a student in March. When wakes were held for the student, the police responded with further violence. In early June, police arrested 300 students for protesting. On June 21, Bloody Friday, the authorities slaughtered 28 students and injured hundreds more who were protesting in front of the U.S. embassy. During that demonstration, protesters burned 15 police cars and the authorities arrested over 1,000 people.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #students #demonstrations #resistance #dictatorship #masacre #brazil #police #policebrutality

The Nation magazine wants AOC to apologize for opposing the fascist Nazis and supporting Kamala Harris. This pro right wing MAGA Nazi loving publication can eat a bag of pickles.

Now AOC isn't far enough left for them? Why don't they apologize for helping elect the Nazis? They should apologize to everyone suffering under this regime they helped elect.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/aoc-dnc-apology-kamala-harris-gaza/

#AOC #BernieSanders #Democrats #democratic #DNC #Gaza #WorkingClass #Mamdani #eattherich #TheNation #KamalaHarris

Today in Labor History June 26, 1975: Two FBI agents and one member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) were killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Undercover FBI agents framed AIM activist Leonard Peltier for the two FBI deaths. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings. Nevertheless, a judge sentenced him to two consecutive life terms. Peltier admitted to participating in the shoot-out in his memoir, “Prison Writings, My Life in the Sundance.” However, he denied killing the FBI agents. He became eligible for parole in 1993. Amnesty International, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the Dalai Lama, all campaigned for his clemency. President Obama denied his request for clemency in 2017. On January 19, 2025, the last full day of his presidency, Joe Biden commuted Peltier's life sentence to home confinement. Peltier’s health had been declining for several years.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #americanindianmovement #aim #leonardpeltier #FBI #prison #pineridge #politicalprisoner #indigenous #nativeamerican #memoir #books #author #writer #bookstadon