Today in Labor History June 13, 1889: Amadeo Bordiga was born (d1970). Proponent of Council Communism and the Italian Communist Left, as well as a founder of the Italian Communist Party. He was a major influence on the 20th century Ultra Left. He called Stalin "the gravedigger of the revolution." Bordiga was imprisoned twice by Mussolini. Lenin criticized him in his screed, "Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920).
Today in Labor History June 7, 1896: Anarchists supposedly set off a bomb during a Corpus Christi parade in Barcelona, Spain. As a result, a dozen people died and thirty were wounded. No one knows who actually set off the bomb, but the government blamed anarchists, who had set off numerous bombs over the previous four years. Consequently, the government went on a witch-hunt, arresting and torturing dozens of anarchists in the infamous Montjuich Prison. However, many leading anarchists denied the accusations and said they would never have set off a deadly bomb in a working-class community like this. They reserved their attacks for members of the ruling class. Nevertheless, the government tried and executed five anarchists, all of whom proclaimed their innocence. They sentenced 67 others to life in prison. Worldwide protests erupted in response. Montjuich Prison was graphically depicted in the opening scene Victor Serge’s epic novel, Birth of Our Power, which he wrote while imprisoned in the Soviet Union for his opposition to Stalin.
Today in Labor History June 1, 1916: The predominantly immigrant iron miners of the Mesabi Range, Minnesota, participated in a seemingly spontaneous strike in response to overpriced housing and goods, long hours and poor pay. The group was led by radical Finns who quickly drew the attention and aid of the IWW. Wobbly organizers, including Carlo Tresca, Joe Schmidt, Frank Little, and later Joe Ettor and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, came to help local strike leaders draw up a list of demands which included an 8-hour day, timed from when workers entered the mine until they were outside; a pay-scale based upon the actual hours worked; paydays twice monthly; immediate back-pay for hours worked upon severance; abolition of the Saturday night shift; abolition of the hated contract mining system. In the Contract Mining system, the bosses hired and paid “skilled” miners to do most of the mining. The contract miners then had to hire their own laborers and pay them out of their meagre wages. The contract miners were often native-born people, while the laborers were usually immigrants. This created a racialized two-tiered system that divided the workers and made it harder to organize. The bosses would routinely offer the contract miners a small concession to get them back to work, while offering the even more poorly paid laborers nothing, destroying their solidarity and ending the strike. Flynn would later go on to cofound the American Civil Liberties Union. Tresca would go on to became a leading organizer against both fascism and Stalinism. He was assassinated in 1943, possibly on orders of the Genovese crime family, possibly on orders of Stalin, and possibly Italian fascists. Frank Little, who was Native American, was later murdered by vigilantes during a strike in Butte. You can read my biography of Frank Little here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/05/frank-little/
As well, since 1945, the USSR had a spy ring within Yugoslavia[128] and Stalin attempted to assassinate Tito several times. Stalin remarked "I will shake my little finger and there will be no more Tito".[129] However, these assassinations would fail, and Tito would write back to Stalin "Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle. [...] If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second."[130] Yugoslavia would go on to become one of the main founders and leaders the Non-Aligned Movement.[131]
Today in Labor History April 1, 1976: Surrealist artist, Max Ernst, died. In addition to his artwork, he was an anti-Fascist, who was literally chased out of France by the Gestapo. He opposed Stalin’s Moscow trials. And much of his art had anti-Fascist and anti-Stalinist themes. He produced his painting “Fireside Angel” (or “Angel of the Hearth and Home”) after the Spanish Republicans were defeated by the Fascists. Ernst said, “Now this was naturally an ironic title for a sort of ungainly beast that tramples down and destroys everything in its path. It was the impression I had at the time of what was likely to happen in the world, and I was right.”
They are all, bar Livni and Herzog, key members of Israel’s War Cabinet. Livni is Israel’s former Foreign Minister & Ambassador to London and Herzog is President of Israel.
They are all, bar Livni and Herzog, key members of Israel’s War Cabinet. Livni is Israel’s former Foreign Minister & Ambassador to London and Herzog is President of Israel.
Today in Labor History March 9, 1879: Anarchist militant and IWW organizer, Carlo Tresca, was born. Tresca was an outspoken opponent of fascism in Germany and Italy, and of Soviet Communism. He was one of the main organizers of the Patterson Silk Strike. He was assassinated in 1943 by an unknown assailant, presumably a fascist or the Mafia. Some believe the Soviets killed him in retaliation for his criticism of Stalin. The most recent research suggests it was the Bonanno crime family, in response to his criticism of the mafia and Mussolini.