#BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update - November 26, 2025:
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Today in Labor History November 26, 1970: Indigenous activists from the American Indian Movement (AIM) occupied Plymouth Rock in a National Day of Mourning. The protest was sparked when officials from the state of Massachusetts censored a speech to be given by Frank James (Wamsutta), an Aquinnah Wampanoag, on the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. Their rationale was that “anything inflammatory would have been out of place” on this “celebration of brotherhood.” In his speech, James talked about atrocities like the loss of native languages, culture, land, and life.

“Our spirit refuses to die. . . We stand tall and proud, and before too many moons pass we’ll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us. We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees. What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail. You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We, the Wampanoags, will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the American Indian.”

Indigenous people have continued to commemorate the National Day of Mourning in Plymouth every year since 1970. In 1997, police attacked the peaceful demonstration with pepper spray and arrested 25 protestors.

You can read the James’s full speech here: http://www.blackcommentator.com/207/207_day_of_mourning_wampsutta_pf.html

#workingclass #LaborHistory #indigenous #AmericanIndianMovement #AIM #genocide #racism #freespeech #censorship

Today in Labor History November 26, 1911: Paul Lafargue, Cuban-French revolutionary and son-in-law of Karl Marx, died. Lafargue wrote “The Right to Be Lazy” in 1893 while in prison. Lafargue had Jewish, French, Indian, Creole and African ancestry. When IWW cofounder Daniel De Leon asked him about his origins, he replied that he was proudest of his “negro” ancestry. In his youth, Lefargue participated in the International Students Congress in 1865. Consequently, the government banned him from all French universities. So, he moved to London, where he became a frequent visitor to Marx’s house, ultimately marrying his daughter, Laura. Lafargue was a member of the General Council of the First International. He also participated in the Paris Commune.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #marx #paullafargue #communism #revolution #IWW #BlackMastodon #books #writer #author @bookstadon

Today in Labor History November 26, 1883: Abolitionist, women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth died on this date in Battle Creek, Michigan. She escaped slavery in 1826, with her infant daughter, and then sued her former master in 1828 to win the freedom of her son. She won the lawsuit, making her the first black woman to win such a case against a white man. She had grown up in New York, with Dutch as her first language. However, she became a powerful public speaker in English. In 1851, she gave her “Ain’t I a Woman” speech to the Ohio Women's Rights Convention. During the Civil War, she helped recruit black soldiers into the Union Army.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #slavery #abolition #feminism #sojournertruth #civilwar #womensrights #BlackMastodon

Today in Labor History November 26, 1920: The Soviet Red Army broke its truce with the Makhnovist Revolutionary Insurrectionist Army of Ukraine and attacked its former enemies. After the Makhnovists had defeated the White Armies of Ukraine, the Bolsheviks had no more need of them, and began attacking in Crimea and Huliaipole. Local peasants and many Red Army defectors joined the Maknovists, who eventually retook Huliaipole. Despite the attacks and casualties, the Makhnovists maintained some control over Makhnovschina, a large, liberated stateless society in the southeast of the country. Organized under anarchist principles and defended by the Insurrectionary Army, Makhnovschina lasted from 1917-1921. In that time, they implemented a system of common land ownership among the peasantry; established hospitals, schools and children’s communes. Their influence extended over nearly one-third of the country.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ukraine #soviet #communism #nestormakhno #insurrection

#BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update - November 25, 2025:
https://www.bluecollarwriter.com/home/labor-news-update

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Today in Labor History November 25, 1941: Three Schlurfs were arrested in Austria for their resistance to fascism. No, these were not an early version of little blue gnomes, but members of a full-fledged working-class youth movement opposed to the Nazis, and everything they stood for. In some ways, they presaged later youth movements, like Skiffle scene, in the UK, and the early Rock and Roll and Rockabilly scenes, in the U.S. They wore their hair long, shiny with brilliantine, with a swallow tail in the back, and listened to American jazz and blues. The boys wore sharp, double-breasted suits and the girls ("Schlurf kittens") wore colorful dresses with high hemlines. They rebelled against the heavy work ethic and conservative sexuality of the era. And they would battle Hitler Youth in the streets. The origin of the word “Schlurf” was a reclaiming, or embracing, of the term “Schluaf,” an old Viennese insult of boys and men who preferred fun to responsibility. After the war ended, the new authorities in Austria continued to denounce them, as did the Nazis, as ne’er-do-wells for their rejection of work and authority.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nazis #fascism #antifascism #youth #jazz #hitleryouth #rebellion

Today in Labor History November 25, 1947: The "Hollywood Ten" were blacklisted by Hollywood movie studios for refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The blacklist lasted for 13 years, when Dalton Trumbo, a former Communist Party member, was finally credited as the screenwriter of the films “Exodus” and “Spartacus.” Some of the stars accused of having Communist ties included Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn and Fredric March. In 1941, Walt Disney blamed "Communist agitation" for the cartoonists and animators' strike. In 1945, Gerald L. K. Smith, founder of the fascist America First Party, began giving speeches attacking the "alien minded Russian Jews in Hollywood." Ronald Reagan, who was president of the actor’s union, testified before HUAC that a clique within the union was using "communist-like tactics." His first wife, actress Jane Wyman, blamed his allegations against friends and colleagues as a factor leading to their divorce.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #communism #fascism #union #anticommunism #huac #FreeSpeech #redscare #hollywood #sagaftra #reagan #antisemitism #wga

Today in Labor History November 25, 1946: St. Paul teachers, led mostly by women, walked out of their classrooms in American’s first organized teachers’ strike. 1,165 teachers and principals (all represented by the same union) remained out until Dec. 27 in what they called the “strike for better schools.” 90% of teachers voted to strike. Conditions were deplorable. Classrooms designed for 35 students often had 50. Teachers had to buy textbooks for students, yet they were among the lowest paid teachers in the nation.

#workingClass #LaborHistory #teachers #strike #union #students #children #school #women #wages #saintpaul #minnesota

#BlueCollarWriter Labor News Update - November 24, 2025:
https://www.bluecollarwriter.com/home/labor-news-update

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