Today in Labor History September 9, 1739: Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in Britain’s mainland North American colonies prior to the American Revolution, erupted near Charleston, South Carolina. 25 colonists and up to 50 African slaves died in the revolt. A literate Congolese former soldier named Cato led the revolt.
Today in Labor History September 9, 1828: Leo Tolstoy, Russian author and playwright was born.
1800s
Today in Labor History September 9, 1891: The first strike by African-American plantation workers occurred on this date in Georgia & Arkansas. They were fighting for wages of $1.00 a day. They lost the strike.
Today in Labor History September 9, 1918: Scottish & Anzac troops at the Etaples army base launched a successful five-day mutiny against harsh treatment and bad conditions by attacking the military police and carrying out daily demonstrations. Siegfried Sassoon described the terrible conditions in his poem “Base Details.” English writer Vera Brittain described the atmosphere in her book “Testament of Youth.” William Allison and John Fairley wrote about it in their 1978 book, “The Monocled Mutineer.”
1910s
Today in Labor History September 9, 1919: Boston police walked off the job during the strike wave that was spreading across the country. The police had affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, prompting the police commissioner to suspend 19 of them for their organizing efforts. This inspired others to go on strike.
Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge announced that none of the strikers would be rehired. And he called in the state police to crush the strike. Coolidge mustered the state militia. And he created an entirely new police force from unemployed veterans of World War I. The poorly trained “cops” killed 9 people during the strike. But all the blame was placed on the strikers. The press attacked the striking cops as Bolsheviks. The NY Times said cops had no right to strike and they should quit if they didn’t like their jobs. President Woodrow Wilson called their strike a crime against civilization. AFL President Samuel Gompers urged the cops, whom he represented, to return to work.
1960s-1980s
Today in Labor History September 9, 1968: In a press conference, Mayor Daley admitted what we’ve known all along: “The policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.”
Today in Labor History September 9, 1971: The Attica prison riot began near Buffalo, New York. Nine prison guards were held hostage, dying along with 31 of their captors when 1,500 state police and other law-enforcement officers stormed the complex shooting indiscriminately.
Today in Labor History September 9, 1981: The Sandinista government banned all strikes. We’re a workers’ paradise, motherfucker. We don’t need strikes! Yippie!