Today in Labor History February 22, 1651: the St. Peter’s Flood on the Frisian coast drowned 15,000 people.
1800s
February 22, 1879: “Le Revolte” first appeared in Switzerland. The paper was founded by Peter Kropotkin, Francois Dumarteray and Elisee Reclus. Reclus was a veteran of the Paris Commune. They published the journal bimonthly from 1879 until March, 1885.
Today in Labor History February 22, 1892: The founding convention of the People’s Party met in St. Louis. The Knights of Labor, United Mine Workers and 20 other labor organizations came in support. The party criticized political corruption, increasing concentration of wealth and attacks on workers’ rights.
February 22, 1899: Filipino forces launched counterattacks against the U.S. during the Philippine-American War. However, they failed to retake Manila and ultimately lost the war. 12,000-20,000 Filipino soldiers died and 1 million civilians died from famine and disease. Many of these deaths occurred in the U.S. run concentration camps.
1910s-1920s
Today in Labor History February 22, 1917: The Russian Revolution began.
February 22, 1918: At the height of the first Red Scare, U.S. authorities raided the office of “Cronaca Sovversiva.” Sacco and Vanzetti had written for this anarchist paper and donated money to it. It was their first documented link to the anarchist movement. Luigi Galleani published the paper from 1903 to 1920. He came to the U.S. in 1901 after escaping from an Italian prison. He participated in the Paterson silk strike where he was wounded and charged with rioting.
February 22, 1921: A wave of strikes in Petrograd occurred in opposition to terrible factory conditions, food shortages and the discipline of “war communism.”
1940s-present
Today in Labor History February 22, 1943: The Nazis executed members of the White Rose resistance movement, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst.
February 22, 2004: Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation’s largest teachers union, National Education Association, a terrorist organization. Meanwhile, the Bush administration was imprisoning citizens and non-citizens indefinitely without trial for being “terrorists.”