May 2021

Today in Labor History May 28

The Conspiracy of Equals Today in Labor History May 28, 1797: French authorities executed proto-anarchist revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf. Babeuf formed a secret society, known as the Conspiracy of the Equals, that plotted to overthrow the revolutionary government, with one that was truer to Jacobin ideals. The group included Sylvain Maréchal, Jacques Roux, Jean Varlet and […]

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Today in Labor History May 25

Today in Labor History May 25, 1805: The authorities arrested striking shoemakers (cordwainers) in Philadelphia. The authorities charged them with criminal conspiracy for violating an English common law that barred schemes aimed at forcing wage increases. In 1794, the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers organized around protecting wages and blocking scabs from taking their jobs at

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