Today in Labor History March 13, 1697: Spanish conquistadors conquered Nojpeten, capital of the last independent Maya kingdom. This completed the Spanish conquest of Guatemala.
1800s
Today in Labor History March 13, 1848: The German revolutions of 1848-1849 began in Vienna. Middle class participants were committed to liberal principles. Working class revolutionaries fought for radical changes to their working and living conditions. The split between the classes facilitated their violent defeat by the aristocracy. Many fled Germany. Those who came to the U.S. were known as Forty-Eighters. Many of them became militant abolitionists and soldiers in the Union Army when the Civil War began.
Today in Labor History March 13, 1881: Nikolai Rysakov, a member of Narodnaya Volya (“People’s Will”) tried to assassinate Czar Alexander II of Russia. His bomb failed to penetrate the czar’s bullet-proof carriage. However, another Naradnaya Volya member, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, managed to throw his bomb at the Czar’s feet, blowing off his legs and ripping open his stomach. He later died from his wounds. A third member of the organization was ready with yet another bomb, just in case the first two failed.
1920s
Today in Labor History March 13, 1920: The Kapp Putch attempted to overthrow the new German republic. While the government officials fled, workers launched a General Strike and refused to cooperate with the nationalists and royalists behind the coup attempt. The General Strike effectively ended the right-wing assault on the republic. However, it also inspired even more radical actions by the workers, including the Communist Ruhr Uprising, which lasted from March 13 through April 12. The government utilized the right-wing Freikorps to suppress the uprising, killing over 1,000 workers.
Today in Labor History March 13, 1925: Tennessee passed the Butler Act making it unlawful to teach evolution. This led to the Scopes Monkey Trial, pitting William Jennings Bryan against former labor lawyer Clarence Darrow. While Darrow lost this one, he successfully defended Big Bill Haywood (1905) against trumped up charges in the murder of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg.
Today in Labor History March 13, 1925: The Nazis liquidated the Jewish ghetto in Krakow.
1940s-1950s
Today in Labor History March 13, 1946: The United Auto Workers and General Motors signed a new contract after a four-month strike over wages.
Today in Labor History March 13, 1954: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu began, with Viet Minh forces launching an artillery barrage at the French. U.S. forces and the CIA also participated on the French side. The Communist Viet Mihn ultimately won, forcing the French to withdraw from Vietnam. Roughly 2,300 French soldiers died, along with 2 Americans. Over 4,000 Vietnamese died in the fighting.
March 13, 1957: Cuban student revolutionaries stormed the presidential palace in Havana in a failed attempt to assassinate President Batista. 30 militants died in the attack.
1960s
Today in Labor History March 13, 1963: Labor Local 260 Houston negotiated its first contract with Pioneer Bus. This ended dual pay scales for black and white drivers.
Today in Labor History March 13, 1967: United Farm Workers won a contract with the Christian Brothers Winery.
March 13, 1968: Student demonstrations in Warsaw led to street riots. All Polish universities went out on strike against the repressive communist regime, with students occupying the campus buildings. The strike spread throughout the country, leading to a violent crackdown and antisemitic purge that was branded as anti-Zionism.
1970s-1990s
Today in Labor History March 13, 1979: The Marxist New Jewel movement, led by Maurice Bishop, overthrew the prime minister of Grenada. Bishop led the People’s Revolutionary Government of Grenada until 1983, when he was overthrown and executed in a coup supported by the U.S. Bishop supported anti-racist struggles around the world and the fight to end Apartheid. Under his leadership, Granada gave women equal pay to men and provided paid maternity leave. They also banned sexual discrimination and introduced free public health and literacy programs that brought the national illiteracy rate from 35% down to 5%.
The U.S. invaded Granada killed 19 U.S. soldiers and 45 Grenadian. The invasion effectively ended the so-called “Vietnam Syndrome,” where U.S. leaders feared that overt regime change with U.S. boots on the ground would spark large antiwar protests, like those that rocked the nation in the 1960s and early 70s. The Grenada invasion paved the way for much more aggressive interventions like Panama, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.
March 13, 1996: Two leaders of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, Yang Kyu Hon and Kwon Young Kil, were arrested.
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