Today in Labor History June 14, 1381: Wat Tyler’s Rebellion continued, with peasant rebels easily capturing London Bridge and the Tower of London. In the process, they killed the English Chancellor and Treasurer. Richard II met with the rebels, as depicted in this painting above. Artisans, peasants, village officials burned down jails and court records and freed prisoners in an attempt to remove Richard’s corrupt officials and permanently end serfdom.
1700s
Today in Labor History June 14, 1789: Survivors of the Mutiny on the Bounty, including Captain William Bly, landed in Timor. They had traveled 7,400 miles in a lifeboat. Bligh eventually reached England and the authorities dispatched the HMS Pandora to capture the mutineers. They caught fourteen of them in Tahiti. However, soon after, they ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef. As a result, 31 crew members and 4 of the prisoners died. The rest of the mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian remained undiscovered on Pitcairn Island. There they raised families with Tahitian women they brought with them during the mutiny. But nearly all of these mutineers died fighting with each other and the Tahitian men they brought with them.
1840s
Today in Labor History June 14, 1848: Afro-Cuban revolutionary and guerrilla leader Antonio Maceo was born. Known as the “Titan of Bronze,” Maceo helped defeat the Spanish and win Cuban independence. People also called him the “Greater Lion.” He participated in over 500 battles during the Ten Years’ War. He earned the Bronze Titan moniker after surviving numerous gunshot and blade wounds. He rose to the rank of Brigadier General within five years. However, he would have risen more quickly if it weren’t for racism.
1870s
June 14, 1872: Canada officially legalized trade unions.
Today in Labor History June 14, 1877: The U.S. government declared the first American Flag Day (on this 100th anniversary of the flag’s creation). Howard Zinn said, “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
1900s-1910s
Today in Labor History June 14, 1905: The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin mutinied after sailors were shot for complaining about being served maggot-ridden meat. Civilians soon joined the mutineers in revolutionary actions that included the burning of granaries, quays and ships in harbor. The insurrection was part of the 1905 Russian Revolution in which the first soviets formed. The mutiny was the basis for the seminal film by Sergei Eisenstein, with music scored by Dmitri Shostakovich.
June 14, 1907: Women won the right to vote in Norwegian parliamentary elections.
June 14, 1914: The Italian General Strike was broken through the treason of the Socialists and their trade union. “The Red Week of Ancône” ended with 17 deaths and thousands of injuries.
1920s-1950s
Today in Labor History June 14, 1928: Internationalist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, was born.
Today in Labor History June 14, 1954: President Eisenhower signed a bill that added “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.
June 14, 1959: Dominican exiles left from Cuba and landed in the Dominican Republic in an attempt to overthrow the Trujillo dictatorship. Trujillo’s forces captured them and executed all but four of them.
1960s
June 14, 1968: Radical pediatrician and child-care expert Dr. Benjamin Spock was convicted of conspiring to counsel draft evasion. Spock, who was the target of political attacks and repression by the Nixon administration, refused to support the liberal McGovern and instead ran as the candidate of the People’s Party.
2000s
June 14, 2002: poet and activist June Jordan died.
Today in Labor History June 14, 2006: Mexican state police attacked 50,000 striking teachers occupying streets Zocalo of Oaxaca. No one died, but over one hundred teachers were hospitalized.
June 14, 2015: Anne Nicol Gaylor, American activist was born. Gaylor co-founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation
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