Today in Labor History August 25, 1819: Allan Pinkerton was born. He founded the Pinkerton private police force, whose strike breaking detectives (Pinkertons, or 'Pinks') gave us the word 'fink' as they slaughtered dozens of workers in various labor struggles. Ironically, Pinkerton was a violent, radical leftist as a youth. He fought cops in the streets as a member of the Chartist Movement. He had to flee the UK in order to not be imprisoned and executed. Yet in America, he became the nation’s first super cop. He created the secret service. He foiled an assassination attempt against Lincoln. He fine-tuned the art of spying on activists and planting agents provocateur in their ranks. His agents played a major role in destroying the miners’ union in the 1870s, as portrayed in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill.” Later, they assassinated numerous organizers with the IWW and came within inches of successfully getting Big Bill Hayward convicted on trumped up murder charges.
Today in Labor History August 22, 1791: Encouraged by the French and American revolutions, Toussaint Louverture led over 100,000 Haitian slaves in a revolt against the French. They were ultimately successful, making Haiti the first black republic in the world. The US refused recognition of Haiti until 1865, as a result of pressure from Southern slaveholders. The French demanded $21 billion In today’s dollars) in reparations for the losses to the former slaveholders, in exchange for peace and recognition of Haiti as an independent nation. The debt was financed through French banks and the U.S. bank, Citibank. The Haitians finally paid it off in 1947. However, the huge interest payments for their independence debt, and the debt incurred through the corruption of the Duvalier dynasty, have made Haiti one of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere. Prior to independence, Haiti was the richest and most productive of all of Europe’s colonies.
The best book I’ve read on the Haitian Revolution is “The Black Jacobins,” by Trinidadian socialist C.L.R. James. Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier explores the revolution in his novel, “The Kingdom of This World” (1949). You can read more about Toussaint Louverture and the slave uprising in Madison Smartt Bell’s trilogy called “All Souls' Rising” (1995) and Isabel Allende’s 2010 novel, “Island Beneath the Sea.”
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon I like how you mention how the American Revolution and the French Revolution helped to drive to Hatian Revolutions, however much the former were weighed down by white supremacy.
Today in Labor History August 21, 1680: Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe from the Spanish. The Pueblo Revolt was an uprising against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The Pueblos killed 400 Spaniards and drove the remaining 2,000 settlers out of the province. However, the Spaniards reconquered New Mexico 12 years later. One cause of the revolt was the Spaniard’s attempt to destroy the Pueblo religion and ban their traditional dances and kachina dolls.
The Pueblo Revolt has been depicted in numerous fictional accounts, many of which were written by native and Pueblo authors. Clara Natonabah, Nolan Eskeets & Ariel Antone, from the Santa Fe Indian School Spoken Word Team, wrote and performed "Po'pay" in 2010. In 2005, Native Voices at the Autry produced “Kino and Teresa,” a Pueblo recreation of “Romeo and Juliet,” written by Taos Pueblo playwright James Lujan. La Compañía de Teatro de Albuquerque produced the bilingual play “Casi Hermanos,” written by Ramon Flores and James Lujan, in 1995. Even Star Trek got into the game, with references to the Pueblo Revolt in their "Journey's End" episode. The rebel leader, Po’pay, was depicted in Willa Cather’s “Death Comes for the Arch Bishop” and in Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World.”
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon here in Northern #California the original people vanished with very little evidence of their existence or resistance. It's tragic, just echoes of them. Here's a rare example of contemporary observation that I happened upon, looking at old timey stuff. These people were forced into labor or killed. Their way of life was wiped out, first by the Spanish, then by the gringo.
What a visiting British naval captain saw circa 1820 in northern California:
Today in Labor History August 18, 1812: Lady Ludd led the Luddite Corn Market riot of women and boys in Leeds, England. Luddites also rioted in Sheffield against flour and meal sellers. England was suffering huge food shortages and inflation at the time, in part because of the War of 1812, which had started in June, and the ongoing Napoleonic wars. Additionally, new technological innovations were allowing mill owners to replace many of their employees with machines. In response, Luddites would destroy looms and other equipment. To try and get control over these worker outrages, the British authorities made illegal oath-taking punishable by death in July 1812. And they also empowered magistrates to forcibly enter private homes to search for weapons. They also stationed thousands of troops in areas where rioting and looting had occurred over the summer.
“Shirley” (1849), Charlotte Bronte’s second novel, takes place in Yorkshire, 1811-1812, during the Luddite uprisings. It was originally published under the pseudonym, Currer Bell. The novel opens with a ruthless mill owner waiting for the delivery of new, cost-saving equipment that will allow him to fire many of his workers, but Luddites destroy the equipment before it reaches him. As a result of the novel’s popularity, Shirley became a popular female name. Prior to this, it was mostly a male name.
Today in Labor History August 14, 1846: The authorities jailed Henry David Thoreau for refusing to pay his taxes in protest of the Mexican War. Aside from this early act of American civil disobedience and war resistance, Thoreau also wrote, “Walden.” His essay, “Civil Disobedience,” influenced generations of activists and writers, including Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Tolstoy, Yeats, Proust, Hemingway, Upton Sinclair and Martin Buber.
@MikeDunnAuthor@bookstadon I’m not doubting you in the least, but I’d love to see the Proust influence detailed, because I’m in the course of reading À la recherche du temps perdu.
Today in Labor History August 11, 1894: Federal troops drove over 1,000 jobless workers from the nation's capital. Led by Charles "Hobo" Kelley, an unemployed activist from California, and Jacob Coxey, they camped in Washington D.C. starting in July. Kelley's Hobo Army included a young journalist named Jack London and a young miner-cowboy named Big Bill Haywood. Frank Baum was an observer of the protest and some say it influenced his Wizard of Oz, with the Scarecrow representing the American farmer, the tin man representing industrial workers and the Cowardly Lion representing William Jennings Bryan, all marching on Washington (Oz) to demand redress from the president (the Wizard). 650 miners, led by a "General" Hogan, captured a Northern Pacific train at Butte, Montana, en route to the protest. The Feds caught up with them at Billings, forcing a surrender, but a few eventually made it to Washington.
Today in Labor History August 10, 1923: Italian-American anarchist and IWW organizer Carlo Tresca was arrested in the United States on the charge of publishing anti-fascist literature. Tresca opposed fascism, Stalinism and mafia-infiltration of unions. He was assassinated in 1943. 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. Tresca wrote two books. His autobiography was published posthumously in 2003. He also wrote a book in Italian, “L'attentato a Mussolini ovvero il segreto di Pulcinella.”
I'd like to read his Mars and California trilogies. But now that I've read two of his, I feel like he great on concepts, ideas, and details, but perhaps not so great on plot. Do you have any other books of his that you like or would recommend? 2/2
@seanbala@bookstadon I absolutely loved the Mars ones. The CA series was more spotty - it felt like great ideas, but, esp. the eco one, almost like a present day city council tale. Not spec ficy enough for me?
People are getting paid for #publishing#AI-written #books, in an #author's name, when in fact the author did not, and knew nothing about this happening.
Then, when the author tries to do something about it to stop this obvious #abuse, they are told no.
Inviting all #writers to join us for the fun and friendship of #WritingWonders. You can participate with a WIP or an already published book. Alina, Amelia and I have come up with some hopefully intriguing questions for August. For added fun, several questions are for your characters to answer in their voice. 😊
As always, play the days you want, skip the ones you want. Looking forward to seeing all your answers, finding great books, and meeting new friends. Here you go! #amwriting#author
Today in Labor History July 5, 1888: Three women were fired from the Bryant & May factory in East London for exposing the appalling working conditions there. Women typically had to work 14-hour days at very low wages and they often suffered debilitating diseases, like Phossy Jaw, from exposure to white phosphorus. The other 1400 women and girl laborers come out in solidarity leading to the “Match Girls' Strike” which was unsuccessful as a strike, but highly effective at generating solidarity and galvanizing the working-class movement. In 1966, Bill Owen and Tony Russell produced a musical about the strike called “The Matchgirls.” Welsh writer Lynette Rees wrote about it in her novel, “The Matchgirl.”
#PhossyJaw Note: Recent tvseries #EnolaHolmes 2 ends on the triumphant visual of the matchgirls marching toward Parliament, BUT the 1888 strike didn’t definitively eliminate the use of #whitephosphorus.
That took another 20 years; Bryant & May didn’t stop using white phosphorus until 1901, and it took the 1906 Berne Convention prohibiting the use of white phosphorus to compel the House of Commons to finally prohibit its usage in the UK after 1910.
Now is your best chance to find my books, Troll Song and Forgotten Legends, available for 50% off at Smashwords as part of their 2023 End of Year Sale! Find my book and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos/