Today in Labor History April 2, 1903: Mexican police fired on more than 10,000 protestors, killing 15 and wounding many more. People had been protesting the reelection of General Bernardo Reyes as governor of Nuevo Leon, who was aligned with Mexico's brutal dictator, Porfirio Diaz.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #mexico #protest #massacre #Revolution #PoliceBrutality #police #dictatorship #porfiriodiaz

Today in Labor History April 2, 1863: Bread riots occurred in Richmond, Virginia, as a result of a drought the previous year, combined with a blockade by the Union Army and overall Civil War-related shortages. Food riots occurred throughout the South around this time, led primarily by women. During the Richmond riot, women broke into storehouses and shops, stealing food, clothing and jewelry before the militia was able to restore order.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #CivilWar #rebellion #Riot #looting #richmond #virginia #women

Today in Labor History April 2, 1840: Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist was born. He was also a liberal activist, playing a significant role in the political liberalization of France, and in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army officer falsely convicted and imprisoned on trumped up, antisemitic charges of espionage. He was also a significant influence on mid-20th century journalist-authors, like Thom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer and Joan Didion. Wolfe said that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of Steinbeck, Dickens, and Zola.

Zola wrote dozens of novels, but his most famous, Germinal, about a violently repressed coalminers’ strike, is one of the greatest books ever written about working class rebellion. It had a huge influence on future radicals, especially anarchists. Some anarchists named their children Germinal. Rudolf Rocker had a Yiddish-language anarchist journal in London called Germinal, in the 1910s. There were also anarchist papers called Germinal in Mexico and Brazil in the 1910s.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #zola #germinal #anarchism #writer #fiction #strike #dreyfus #antisemitism #rebellion #novel #author #books #france #mining #coal #journalism @bookstadon

# Last week's top 7 albums
Missed last Monday, week before I was a few hours past Monday, and this week apparently #ListenBrainzMonday is #ListenBrainzThursday. Idc, I really like doing this so here goes. My top albums for the week of March 23-29, 2026 (last week).

List of albums and their artists in the alt text, with corrected album names. I either haven't found how to choose a specific release for a listen or it's not a feature yet, so when a song is on multiple albums sometimes it's not registered as the one I listened to.

Personal favorite artists this week:
- Limp Wrist
- Downtown Boys
- Dead City (Dead City Punx)

#limpwrist
#queercore #fagsfightback #queersbashback #smearthefear #notgayasinhappy #queerasinfuckyou

#downtownboys
#nychardcore #radical #politics #communism #labor #workingclass #proletariat #fuckthebosses

#deadcitypunx #deadcity
#lahardcore #illegalshows #gangster #barrio #mexican #spontaneousshows #graffiti

@ListenBrainz @musicbrainz

"Ownership of Time Is Learned Early"

With the advent of neoliberalism in the 1980s, the mission of public education has become more about preparing for life in the workforce rather than preparing for life. The state shapes working class consciousness rather than the other way around.

Source: https://take-note.com/note-takers/marshall--mayer/notes/ownership-of-time-is-learned-early/view

#authenticphotography #education #elementaryschool #lifelonglearning #ownership #publicschool #workingclass

Today in Labor History April 1, 1946: Over 400,000 UMWA coal miners from 26 states went on strike for safer conditions, health benefits and increased wages. WWII had recently ended and President Truman saw the strike as counterproductive to economic recovery. In May, 1946, he seized the mines, making the miners temporarily federal employees. He ended the strike by offering them a deal that included healthcare and retirement security.

The coal strike was part of the strike wave of 1945-1946, the largest in U.S. history. During WWII, most of the major unions collaborated with the U.S. war effort by enforcing labor “discipline” and preventing strikes. In exchange, the U.S. government supported closed shop policies under which employers at unionized companies agreed to hire only union members. While the closed shop gave unions more power within a particular company, the no-strike policy made that power virtually meaningless.

When the war ended, inflation soared and veterans flooded the labor market. As a result, frustrated workers began a series of wildcat strikes. Many grew into national, union-supported strikes. In November 1945, 225,000 UAW members went on strike. In January 1946, 174,000 electric workers struck. That same month, 750,000 steel workers joined them. Then, in April, the coal strike began. 250,000 railroad workers struck in May. In total, 4.3 million workers went on strike. It was the closest the U.S. came to a national General Strike in the 20th century. And in December 1946, Oakland, California did have a General Strike, the last in U.S. history.

In response to the strike wave, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, which severely restricted the powers and activities of unions. It also banned General Strikes, stripping away the most powerful tool workers had.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #union #strike #strikewave #generalstrike #wildcat #coal #mining #worldwartwo

Today in Labor History April 1, 1990: The minimum wage was raised to a whopping $3.80 per hour.

Living wage, anyone?

Better yet, Abolish the Wage System!
For a world without bosses, landlords, priests or kings!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #minimumwage #aprilfools #solidarity #sabotage #generalstrike

Wait, Is This Some Other Kind of April Fool’s Day Joke?

Today in Labor History April 1, 1991: The minimum wage was raised again, to an even more whopping $4.25 per hour!

Labor is entitled to all it creates

Dump the Bosses Off your Backs!

#workingclass #LaborHistory #minimumwage #aprilfools #solidarity #sabotage #generalstrike

Today in Labor History April 1, 1976: Surrealist artist, Max Ernst, died. In addition to his artwork, he was an anti-Fascist, who was literally chased out of France by the Gestapo. He opposed Stalin’s Moscow trials. And much of his art had anti-Fascist and anti-Stalinist themes. He produced his painting “Fireside Angel” (or “Angel of the Hearth and Home”) after the Spanish Republicans were defeated by the Fascists. Ernst said, “Now this was naturally an ironic title for a sort of ungainly beast that tramples down and destroys everything in its path. It was the impression I had at the time of what was likely to happen in the world, and I was right.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #surrealism #maxernst #fascism #antifascism #communism #gestapo #stalin

Today in Labor History April 1, 1929: Textile workers struck at the Loray Mill, in Gastonia, N.C. Textile mills started moving from New England, to the South, in the 1890s, to avoid the unions. This escalated after the 1909 Shirtwaist strike (which preceded the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist fire), the IWW-led Lawrence (1912) and (1913) Patterson strikes, which were led by Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Big Bill Haywood and Carlo Tresca. The Gastonia strike was violent and bloody. Dozens of strikers were imprisoned. A pregnant white woman, Ella Mae Wiggins, wrote and performed songs during the strike. She also lived with and organized African American workers, one of the worst crimes a poor white woman could commit in the South. The strike ended soon after goons murdered her. Woody Guthrie called Wiggins the pioneer of the protest ballad and one of the great folk song writers.

Wiley Cash wrote a wonderful novel about Ella Mae Wiggins and the Gastonia strike, “The Last Ballad.” Jess Walter wrote a really great novel about the Spokane free speech fight, featuring Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, called “The Cold Millions.” Other novels about the Gastonia strike include Sherwood Anderson’s, “Beyond Desire,” and Mary Heaton Vorse’s, “Strike!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJj65ZmjnS8

#workingclass #LaborHistory #gastonia #loray #strike #union #EllaMayWiggins #WoodyGuthrie #novel #fiction #HisFic #IWW #TriangleShirtwaist #books #author #writer #historicalfiction #folkmusic #racism #communism #woodyguthrie @bookstadon