Today in Labor History August 28, 1749: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born. Ralph Waldo Emerson considered Goethe to be one of the greatest writers of all time. Goethe was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. He was friends with the philosopher Friedrich Schiller. His most celebrated drama was “Faust.” However, German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer named Goethe’s novel, “Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship,” one of the four greatest novels ever written.
Labor History August 28, 1910s
Today in History August 28, 1917: Ten Suffragettes were arrested while picketing the White House. The “Counterfeit Lady Series,” by Victoria Thompson fictionalizes this stage of the U.S. suffragist movement.
Today in Labor History August 28, 1918: Big Bill Haywood and 14 other members of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) were sentenced to 20 years prison for draft obstruction. They opposed World War I because it, like most wars, exploited and sacrificed working class people to benefit the wealthy elites of capitalism.
Labor History August 28, 1920s
Today in History August 28, 1920: West Virginia Governor Cornwell requested federal troops to guard the mines and protect scab labor during a strike by miners, resulting in rioting.
Today in Labor History August 28, 1921: The Soviet Red Army dissolved the stateless Anarchist Free Territory, after driving the Black Army out of Ukraine. The Free Territory existed from 1917-1923. The anarchist rebel leader, Nester Makhno, barely escaped, and with serious injuries. Michael Moorcock’s “A Nomad of the Time Streams” is a steampunk/alternative history novel where Makhno survives into the 1940s.
Today in History August 28, 1924: The Georgian opposition launched their August Uprising against the Soviet Union. 1930s
Today in Labor History August 28, 1933: A Filipino Labor Union led a strike of 6,000 California lettuce workers demanding 40-45 cents an hour, union recognition and better working conditions. Striking white farm workers split from the Filipinos and accepted arbitration. The growers accused the Filipinos of being communists, while the highway patrol and armed vigilantes drove striking farmworkers off the farms. In September, vigilantes burned a camp of striking workers down to the ground. Police then raided their union headquarters in Salinas, arresting scores of strikers and their leaders. Despite the violence and police abuse, the strikers held out, eventually winning union recognition and 40 cents an hour wages.
1950s-1970s
Today in History August 28, 1955: Teenager Emmett Till was brutally murdered on this day in Money, Mississippi, for speaking “inappropriately” to a white woman. The brutality of the murder and the lack of justice for his family helped to mobilize opposition to segregation in America.
Today in Labor History August 28, 1963: Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I have a dream . . .” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. March organizers included Bayard Rustin of the AFL-CIO and UAW President Walter Reuther.
Today in History August 28, 1970: The UAW Local 1714 had its first wildcat strike lasting one day.
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