January 2022

Today in Labor History January 21, 1525: Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and George Blaurock founded the Swiss Anabaptist movement by baptizing each other and breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. The Anabaptists were considered Radical Reformers. They preached against hate, killing, violence, taking oaths, participating in use of force or any military actions and against participation in civil government. […]

1800s Today in Labor History January 20, 1872: Filipino soldiers staged a bloody revolt against Spanish rule known as the Cavite Mutiny. Around 200 locally recruited colonial troops and laborers rose up hoping that it would escalate into a national uprising. However, government forces quickly put down the mutiny. They executed many of the participants and cracked

Today in Labor History January 19, 1764: The British House of Commons expelled John Wilkes for seditious libel. Wilkes was a radical journalist and politician who fought for the right of his voters, rather than the House of Commons, to determine their representatives. In 1768, the authorities arrested him. His supporters protested and soldiers shot them in the St George’s Fields Massacre.

Today in Labor History January 18, 1788: The First Fleet arrived in Botany Bay, Australia, with 736 convicts from Great Britain. It took over 250 days to reach its destination. The penal colony became the first European settlement in Australia. Mary Bryant, with her husband, children and 6 other convicts escaped the colony and eventually returned to England.

1500s Today in Labor History January 17, 1536: Francois Rabelais was absolved of apostasy by Pope Paul III and allowed to resume his medical practice. Rabelais was a physician, writer, Catholic monk and Greek scholar. He published “Pantagruel” in 1532. He later incorporated it into his larger work, “Gargantua and Pantagruel,” which satirized the nobility,