All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) (Oscar-winning anti-war drama)

https://fedi.video/w/bdKfRCBTk83cPhyp7snzHe

Today in Labor History December 23, 1921: President Warren Harding issued a "Christmas amnesty," freeing Eugene V. Debs and 23 other political prisoners who had been imprisoned for their opposition to World War I under the Sedition Act. Debs was a founding member of the IWW, a socialist, and a 5-time candidate for president of the US. In the 1912 election, he won 6% of the vote. He also led the 1894 Pullman Strike of over 250,000 railroad workers.

In 2023, the U.S. launched its #WithoutJustCause campaign to seek the release of the over 1 million political prisoners around the world, ignoring/denying the fact that it has its own political prisoners, including Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been in prison through eight different presidencies. Very few political prisoners have been pardoned historically, particularly those on the Left. Here are a few exceptions:

*Washington and Adams both pardoned several men convicted for the Whiskey Rebellion.
*Hayes pardoned the anarchist Ezra Heywood for his 1878 conviction for violating the Comstock Act (for publishing articles in support of free love).
*Teddy Roosevelt pardoned Filipino revolutionary Servillano Aquino, ancestor to future Philippine presidents Benigno and Corazon Aquino.
*Coolidge commuted the sentence of Marcus Garvey, convicted of mail fraud, but then had him deported.
*Ford granted amnesty to over 50,000 Vietnam War resisters.
*Jimmy Carter granted clemency to Lolita Lebrón, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Irving Flores Rodriguez, Puerto Rican nationalists who opened fire in the U.S. House of Representatives and wounding five Congressmen in 1954
*Clinton pardoned Elizam Escobar, Puerto Rican artist and activist, convicted of seditious conspiracy in 1980; and commuted the sentences of 16 members of FALN, a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary. He also commuted the sentence of Susan Rosenberg, former radical activist and domestic terrorist, convicted of illegal explosives possession in 1984. She also was involved in several Brink’s armored car robberies, providing material support to the Black Liberation Army, and helping Assata Shakur escape from prison.
*Obama commuted the sentence of army whistle blower Chelsea Manning. He also commuted the sentence of Oscar López Rivera, an FALN member serving 55 years for seditious conspiracy
*Trump posthumously pardoned Susan B. Anthony for illegally voting in 1872, in spite of the fact that Anthony, herself, never would have accepted a pardon, as it would have wrongly validated the trial proceedings and the fine she refused to pay.
*Biden commuted the life sentence of Leonard Peltier to home confinement for life.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #prison #union #strike #solidarity #socialism #sedition #IWW #worldwarone #antiwar #politicalprisoner #eugenedebs #mumia #leonardpeltier

Women my age fill their hours

The Last
Merryn Williams

#Poetry #MerrynWilliams #TheHighWindow #WorldWarOne #TheGreatWar #Conscription #Pandemic

https://thehighwindowpress.com/2025/12/13/poetry-winter-2025/#Merryn%20Williams

Today in Labor History November 14, 1918: Striking workers were gunned down in Granges, Switzerland during a General Strike of over 250,000 workers. Some of their demands were universal women’s suffrage, a 48-hour week, old age and disability insurance, and forcing the rich to pay off the nation’s debt. Women still did not have full suffrage until 1990 in some parts of Switzerland.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #switzerland #strike #GeneralStrike #women #worldwarone #antiwar #massacre #union