https://feed.podbean.com/laborhistoryin2/feed.xml
A daily, pocket-sized history of America's working people, brought to you by The Rick Smith Show team.
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
On this day in labor history, the year was 1855.
That was the day Haymarket Martyr August Spies was born.
He immigrated to America from Germany in 1872 and became involved in the Chicago labor movement while working as an upholsterer.
The Panic of 1873 and the Great Strikes of 1877 radicalized Spies.
He soon joined the Socialist Labor Party but soon left over the issue of electoral politics.
He and others favored revolutionary action instead and threw their weight to the emerging anarcho-syndicalist movement.
Spies and his comrade, Albert Parsons, believed that trade unions must work towards ending capitalism, rather than simply fighting for economic gains.
They soon became leaders of the International Working People’s Association in Chicago.
Spies became editor of the radical, German language newspaper, Arbeiter-Zeitung.
The worker’s newspaper decried the incredible wealth of a few, amidst the immense poverty and suffering workers faced.
It became a rallying point for the Eight-Hour Day campaign.
Spies and other anarchist leaders, who would soon be known as the Haymarket Martyrs, became involved in organizing the Mayday strike in 1886.
Spies gave the impassioned speech at McCormick Reaper Works
He witnessed the Chicago police shoot down two workers as they confronted scabs at the gate and organized a protest rally in response.
The rally took place at the Haymarket Square the next evening.
When the fateful bomb was thrown, Spies and his comrades were immediately arrested.
They were tried and convicted for their political views.
There was no evidence linking any of them to any crime.
As he walked to the gallows, Spies shouted “The Day Will Come When Our Silence Will Be More Powerful Than the Voices You Are Throttling Today.”
October 29 - Alice Doesn’t Day
October 28 - The Pony Express
October 27 - The 1948 Donora Smog
October 26 - America’s Florence Nightingale
October 25 - NY Daily News On Strike!
October 24 - Eight Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest, Eight Hours for What We Will!
October 23 - John Sweeney is Elected
October 22 - Pretty Boy Floyd Is Gunned Down
October 21 - Through Rain, Sleet, Snow & Anthrax
October 20 - Remembering Debs
October 19 - Tragedy on the Tracks
October 18 - Voice of an Era
October 17 - Fighting to End Poverty
October 16 - Thank A Farmer
October 15 - Too Little, Too Late for Radiation Sickness
October 14 - Marching for Equality
October 13 - We Whipped the Ivy League and You Can Too!
October 12 - Workers Begin to Come Together
October 11 - Remembering Mary Heaton Vorse
October 10 - With a Push of a Button, Oceans Are Joined
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast