To this day, Mexico honors Ricardo Flores Magon, and his brothers, who led the anarchist revolution in, and occupation of, Tijuana and other northern Baja California towns in 1911, during the early days of the Mexican Revolution.
Berlin has a Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in the Mitte neighborhood. I spoke at a radio station there, about Food Not Bombs, back in the early 1990s. Germany has at least one street named after Emma Goldman.
There is a Kropotkinskaya metro station in Moscow & Mount Kropotkin in Antarctica. There are still numerous schools around the world named for Spanish anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer. And numerous places have streets or squares named after Karl Marx.
But where are the revolutionary street and place names in the U.S.? Emma Goldman and Ricardo Flores Magon both spent considerable portions of their lives in the U.S., including time in U.S. prisons (Magon died in Leavenworth). Joe Hill's music lives on, was performed by Pete Seeger, Utah Philips, and Paul Robeson, was executed by the state on trumped up charges. Where are the Joe Hill streets? How about Albert Parsons, falsely convicted and executed for the Haymarket bombing, or his wife Lucy, radical organizer and cofounder of the IWW? How about street names or parks named for Cherokee radical and IWW organizer Frank Little, lynched by vigilantes? Or African-American IWW organizer Ben Fletcher?
The closest thing that comes readily to my mind is a short stretch of 9th St., in Oakland, renamed Huey P Newton Street, in 2021. Or Malcolm X school in Berkeley.
If you know of other examples of street or place names in the U.S. named for radicals or revolutionaries, please share photos.
Today in Labor History June 17, 1911: Federal troops, led by Madero, recaptured Tijuana from the Magonista anarchist rebels. Among those surviving and escaping was the famous Wobbly (IWW) songwriter, Joe Hill. Another Wobbly bard, Haywire Mac (compose of The Big Rock Candy Mountain and Hallelujah, I’m a Bum), also participated in the occupation of Tijuana. The Magonistas had captured the Baja California border town of Mexicali on January 29, and Tijuana on May 8, as well as Ensenada, San Tomas, and many other northern Baja California towns. The rebels encouraged the people to take collective possession of the lands. They also supported the creation of cooperatives and opposed the establishment of any new government. Many U.S. members of the IWW participated in the revolution. Lowell Blaisdell writes about it in his now hard to find book, “The Desert Revolution,” (1962). The IWW had been active in nearby San Diego since 1906, sight of an infamous Free Speech fight in 1912. During that struggle, in which many veterans of the Desert Revolution fought, police killed 2 workers. Vigilantes kidnapped Emma Goldman and her companion Ben Reitman, who had come to show their support. However, before deporting them, they tarred and feathered Reitman and raped him with a cane.
Today in Labor History May 8, 1911: The anarchist Magonista army captured Tijuana, with support from IWW members. As result, they now controlled of most of Baja California. During their short revolution, they encouraged the people to take collective possession of the lands, create cooperatives and refuse the establishment of any new government. Today there is a Ricardo Flores Magon Street in Tijuana, near Avenida Revolution.
Today in Labor History March 18, 1918: U.S. authorities arrested Mexican anarchist Ricardo Flores Magón under the Espionage Act. They charged him with hindering the American war effort and imprisoned him at Leavenworth, where he died under highly suspicious circumstances. The authorities claimed he died of a "heart attack," but Chicano inmates rioted after his death and killed the prison guard who they believed executed him. Magon published the periodical “Regeneracion” with his brother Jesus, and with Licenciado Antonio Horcasitas. The Magonostas later led a revolution in Baja California during the Mexican Revolution. Many American members of the IWW participated. During the uprising, they conquered and held Tijuana for several days. Lowell Blaisdell writes about it in his now hard to find book, “The Desert Revolution,” (1962). Dos Passos references in his “USA Trilogy.”
Today in Labor History January 29, 1911: The Mexican Liberal Party, led by the anarchist Magonistas, captured the Baja California border town of Mexicali, during their revolution in Baja California. Many members of the IWW participated in the revolution, which also conquered and held Tijuana and Ensenada for several days. Lowell Blaisdell writes about it in his now hard to find book, “The Desert Revolution,” (1962).