On this day in labor history, the year was 1915.
That was the day British socialist illustrator Walter Crane died.
You have probably seen his Art Nouveau style illustrations.
Many celebrate International May Day, memorialize the Haymarket Martyrs of Chicago or commemorate the Paris Commune.
He also published a series of illustrations titled, “Cartoons for the Cause.”
That series was produced to commemorate the International Socialist Trade Union Congress of 1896.
Born in 1845, Crane apprenticed with the Chartist radical, William James Linton.
He started his career illustrating children’s books, nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
He later traveled to Italy with his wife, Mary, to continue with book illustrations and portraiture.
Upon his return to Britain, he became friends with artist William Morris, whose pamphlet, Art & Socialism deeply impacted him.
Crane soon joined the Art Workers’ Guild and the Arts and Crafts Society.
Together, he and Morris joined the Social Democratic Federation.
Crane provided illustrations for its journal Justice.
From there, he helped to found the Socialist League and illustrated its journal, The Commonweal.
When the League failed to gain popularity, he moved on to the Fabian Society, whose members included George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and Sidney and Beatrice Webb.
Crane produced wildly popular images like the Angel of Freedom, and published The Claims of Decorative Art.
In it, he asserted, “art could not flourish in a world where wealth was so unfairly distributed… Only under Socialism could Use and Beauty be united.”
He continued to publish and became principal of the Royal College of Art in 1898.
A strong critic of the British Empire, Crane supported the Labour Party and produced posters each year to celebrate May Day.
February 27 - The 1937 Woolworth Sit-Down
February 26 - The Battle at Bethlehem
February 25 - The Paterson Silk Strike Begins
February 24 - Muller v Oregon Decided
February 23 - Black Workers Lead Historic Strike at UNC
February 22 - Labelling Teachers as Terrorists
February 21 - The First Female Telephone Operator
February 20 - Angelina Grimke is Born
February 19 - Philly Street Car Workers Spark General Strike
February 18 - Anti-Slavery Begins in America
February 17 - Standing Up By Sitting Down
February 16 - The Wisconsin Uprising Begins
February 15 - The Uprising of the 20,000 Comes to a Close
February 14 - Kansas City Laundresses Walk Off the Job
February 13 - Martial Law Declared to Crush the UAW
February 12 - The NAACP is Founded
February 11 - Cutting Corners on Safety at Sequoyah I
February 10 - Forty-Three Workers Buried Alive
February 9 - Organizing Bloody Harlan
February 8 - Butte Copper Miners Join the 1919 Strike Wave
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