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

Soviet CDs And CD Players Existed, And They Were Strange

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://hackaday.com/2026/03/29/soviet-cds-and-cd-players-existed-and-they-were-strange/

Videoraportaasin tapaista IS-2-panssarin saapumisesta Panssarimuseoon.
#is2 #panssarimuseo #tank #tanks #armour #ww2 #soviet #sovietunion #finland #armourmuseum

https://youtu.be/QtJH1Za35As

"The #GinoGermaniInstitute of #SocialSciences and #StrategicStudies, an #Italian think tank based in #Rome and focused on countering #disinformation, has presented its 2026 research paper, “#Antisemitism and #Russian Active Measures from the #Tsars to #Putin,” authored by researcher #MassimilianoDePasquale.

The study, which traces developments from the era of the tsars through the #Soviet period to the present day, argues that Russian antisemitism is not merely a relic of the past but an active component of contemporary hybrid warfare. Through the use of trolls, bots and compliant media outlets, #Moscow is said to stoke antisemitism across the Western world – on the right (via #whitesupremacism) and on the left (via radical #antiZionism) – with the sole aim of eroding the social fabric of liberal #democracies."

https://www.kyivpost.com/analysis/72745

An unexpectedly grand building in a small mountain town in Georgia. It is a relic of the Soviet era, built in the 1950s. This was a community space for local agricultural workers as a community and entertainment venue.

#Abandoned #Photography #History #Georgia #LostPlaces #History #Soviet

Today In Labor History March 27, 1918: The Cheka (Soviet secret police) tried to arrest the clown duo Bim-Bom for satirizing the Communist regime. The audience initially thought it was part of the act until they heard live shots being fired at the clowns as they fled. The clowns were later questioned, but released. And afterward, refrained from satirizing the government. They had been active since 1891 and continued up until World War II. They used unusual objects as musical instruments, like frying pans, brooms, saws. Prior to the Communist Revolution, they routinely satirized the Czar. For this, they were often censored or banned from events. They also performed throughout Europe, in Berlin, Budapest, Paris and Prague. In one of their satires of the Bolsheviks, Bim brought out framed portraits of Trotsky and Lenin. Bom asked what he was going to do with them. He replied, “I’ll hang one, and put the other against the wall.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #communist #soviet #russia #cheka #censorship #freespeech #clowns #satire