Today in Labor History December 2, 1867: British author Charles Dickens gave his first public reading in the United States at Tremont Temple in Boston. He described his impressions of the U.S. in a travelogue, “American Notes for General Circulation.” In Notes, he condemned slavery and correlated the emancipation of the poor in England with the abolition of slavery abroad. Despite his abolitionist sentiments, some modern commentators have criticized him for not condemning Britain’s harsh crackdown during the 1860s Morant Bay rebellion in Jamaica. During his American visit, he also spent a month in New York, giving lectures, and arguing for international copyright laws and against the pirating of his work in America. The press ridiculed him, saying he should be grateful for his popularity here.
Today in Labor History December 1, 1912: The rustling card system was put into place by the Anaconda Mining and Smelter Company. Rustling cards verified employees’ identities and employment status. The company used spies to identify union agitators and refused them rustling cards and jobs. In 1920, the IWW called a strike at the mines around Butte. They demanded the end of the rustling cards system, and the implementation of the 8-hour day and higher wages. On 4/21/1920, guards opened fire on unarmed picketers, killing one and injuring sixteen. Dashiell Hammett depicted the strike in his first novel, “Red Harvest.”
Hello fellow-writers, help wanted. Last week my partner lost a number of my tabs. They are irretrievable. One of them was of a website by women on ao growing vegs and, if I remember it well, pictures of pumpkins. They also asked for fiction submissions on nature, with possible bonus points for a vegan character. It's not hearthstories.
Can anybody help me, please? Thanks in advance!
In health and social care, safeguarding refers to the methods and actions done to protect persons' well-being and rights, particularly those of vulnerable populations, from abuse, harm, or neglect. It entails maintaining a safe atmosphere, recognizing symptoms of abuse or potential threats, and applying prevention and response...
Today in Labor History November 26, 1911: Paul Lafargue, Cuban-French revolutionary and son-in-law of Karl Marx, died. Lafargue wrote “The Right to Be Lazy” in 1893 while in prison. Lafargue had Jewish, French, Indian, Creole and African ancestry. When IWW cofounder Daniel De Leon asked him about his origins, he replied that he was proudest of his “negro” ancestry. In his youth, Lefargue participated in the International Students Congress in 1865. Consequently, the government banned him from all French universities. So, he moved to London, where he became a frequent visitor to Marx’s house, ultimately marrying his daughter, Laura. Lafargue was a member of the General Council of the First International. He also participated in the Paris Commune.
Today in Labor History November 23, 1644: At the height of the English Civil War, John Milton published an anti-censorship pamphlet, “Areopagitica.” He had been censored several times, particularly in his attempts to defend divorce, a radical idea in those days. He anonymously published “The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce” (1643), which was condemned by the Puritan clergy as heretical and supportive of sexual libertinism.
Hi, I'm an as-of-yet unpublished YA author and high school math teacher who just joined Mastodon. I'm looking out for suggestions of who to follow in the writing/teaching community!
Today in Labor History November 20, 1896: Rose Pesotta, anarchist labor activist and the only woman on the General Executive Board of the International Ladies' Garment Workers (ILGWU), from 1933-1944, was born on this date, in Ukraine, to a Jewish family. She learned about anarchism by reading books by Bakunin in her father’s library. Her parents set up an arranged marriage for her, which she did not approve. So, she emigrated to the U.S. in 1913, joining the ILGWU the next year. Her local, #25, was filled with militant women veterans of the 1909 Shirtwaist Strike. She wrote regularly for the New York Anarchist press, in both English and in Yiddish. She was friends with Italian-American anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti. In 1933, she organized immigrant Mexican garment workers, leading to the Los Angeles Garment Workers Strike. She also organized workers in Canada and Puerto Rico. Later in life, she worked briefly for the B’nai B’rith. She also wrote two memoirs, Bread Upon the Waters (1944),[6] and Days of Our Lives (1958).
Today in Labor History November 20, 1820: An 80-ton sperm whale attacked and sunk the Essex, a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts. The tragedy occurred off the western coast of South America. 7 members of the 20-man crew died at sea, as they attempted to make land in the lifeboats. Survivors ate their dead comrades to stay alive. The story inspired Herman Melville to write his 1851 novel Moby-Dick. And it inspired modern day orcas to organize and fight back to reclaim the seas from humans.
Today in Labor History November 17, 1942: Ben Reitman, hobo organizer, anarchist and one-time lover of Emma Goldman, died. Reitman served as a doctor for hobos, prostitutes and the downtrodden. He participated in numerous free speech fights and anarchist causes, getting beaten, tarred and feathered, jailed, and run out of town for his troubles, most notably during the San Diego free speech fight. He also wrote the book, “Boxcar Bertha.”
Today in Labor History November 17, 1947: Revolutionary and author Victor Serge died. Serge lived in Paris in the early 20th century, where he was loosely associated with the Bonnot gang of anarchist bank robbers, and where he collaborated with Raymond Callemin on the newspaper L’anarchie. He was in Barcelona during their anarchist uprising and contributed to the CNT’s newspaper, “Tierra y Libertad.” He went to Russia in 1918, initially in support of the communists. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the repressive, autocratic rule, criticized the party and was imprisoned. He wrote numerous books, including the classic “Birth of Our Power” and his autobiographical “Memoirs of a Revolutionist.”
Today in Labor History November 16, 1849: Russian authorities gave a death sentence to author Fyodor Dostoevsky for anti-government activities linked to a radical intellectual group called the Petrashevsky Circle. He and his colleagues were lined up before the firing squad when, at the last minute, a cart arrived with a letter from the Tsar, commuting their sentence. He still had to serve 4 years hard labor in Siberia. Dostoevsky alludes to his experience before the firing squad in his 1868-1869 novel, “The Idiot.”
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 3 Nbr 8 — What does your most productive writing space look like?
This is my most productive writing space. It includes a keyboard and trackpad glued to my treadmill, a monitor above mirroring my iPadPro to the right, a Apple TV puck, a Homepod mini, and coffee.
I get more revision done here than anywhere else, and some composition, too!
"So a lot of all your writing happens on - wait. Is that a treadmill?"
Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but /I'm really a hamster./ That's my hamster wheel. It allows me to get my writing tasks done while getting my aerobic exercise during a busy day (most of them). ~2.8 mph. Remember, I also read aloud to proof my stories...
Today in Labor History November 10, 1995: The Nigerian government executed playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, along with eight other members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop). Saro-Wiwa led a nonviolent movement protesting the despoiling of Ogoniland by Royal Dutch Shell. Beverly Naidoo’s 2000 novel, “The Other Side of Truth,” is based on Saro-Wiwa’s execution, as is Richard North Patterson’s 2009 novel, “Eclipse.”
Today in Labor History November 9, 1851: Kentucky marshals abducted abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, under the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act. They took him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape. Fairbank was an activist on the Underground Railroad. He spent over 17 years in prison and was lashed 35,000 times. He was pardoned in 1864. He was believed to have helped at least 47 people escape slavery. Fairbank wrote a memoir in 1890 called “Rev. Calvin Fairbank During Slavery Times: How He "Fought the Good Fight" to Prepare "the Way." He died in near-poverty, in Angelica, New York, in 1898, at the age of 81.
Today in Labor History November 7, 1918: Kurt Eisner led an uprising that overthrew the Wittelsbach dynasty in Bavaria, during the German Revolution. After the Kiel Mutiny a few days prior, uprising broke out throughout Germany. Within months, the Independent Social Democrats, who were heading the provisional government, were overthrown by the Bavarian Raterepublik, composed of Workers', Soldiers', and Farmers' Councils. Those fighting the socialists included anarchists and anti-authoritarian communists like Erich Mühsam, Gustav Landauer, Ernst Toller and Ret Marut (who became known as the novelist B. Traven after fleeing the counterrevolution and living in exile in Mexico).
Today in Labor History November 7, 1912: Ernest Riebe's "Mr. Block," IWW labor comic strip first appeared in print. Mr. Block was one of the best-loved features in the Wobbly press. Joe Hill wrote a song about "Mr. Block," who was a boss-loving, American Dream-believing, self-sabotaging knucklehead. Some call Riebe the first "underground" comic book artist.
Mr. Block (by Joe Hill)
Please give me your attention, I'll introduce to you
A man who is a credit to the ["Our] old Red White and Blue["]
His head is made of lumber and solid as a rock
He is a common worker and his name is Mr. Block
And Block [he] thinks he may be premier [President] some day
Chorus
Oh Mr. Block, you were born by mistake
You take the cake, you make me ache
[Go] tie a rock on your block and then jump in the lake
Kindly do that for Liberty's sake!
Yes, Mr. Block is lucky - he got a job, by gee!
The shark got seven dollars for job and fare and fee
They shipped him to a desert and dumped him with his truck
But when he tried to find his job he sure was out of luck
He shouted, "That's too raw! I'll fix them with the law!"
Block hiked back to the city but wasn't doing well
He said "I'll join the union, the great AF of L".
He got a job that morning, got fired by the night
He said, "I'll see Sam Gompers and he'll fix that foreman right!"
Sam Gompers said, "You see, you've got our sympathy."
Election day he shouted, "A Socialist for Mayor!"
The comrade got elected [and] he happy was for fair
But after the election he got an awful shock
[When] a great big socialistic bull did rap him on the block
And Comrade Block did sob, "I helped him get his job!"
Poor Block he died one evening, I'm very glad to state
He climbed the golden ladder up to the pearly gate
He said, "Oh Mister Peter, one thing I'd like to tell
I'd like to meet the Astorbilts and John D Rockerfell!"
Old Pete said, "Is that so? You'll meet them down below!"
Tune: It Looks to me Like a Big Time Tonight. from Al Grierson,
by Joe Hill, in 13th ed. of the Little Red Songbook
Book 5 of The Silk Rope Masters is slowly coming together. I had hoped it would have been completed by now but Cancer arrived to stuff up my progress.
I'm hoping to have it finished by early in the new year and ready to submit.
I really love working in Scrivener!
The day before I decided to take a break and trim my trees, so I did! 💪🏻😄 A meditative exercise, I tell you. While pruning, I thought about the plot development of my #scifi book The Closed Tunnel.
Can I brag? Not only am I writing a book, but I have pomegranates in the garden 😂
Key takeaway: writing a #book is not always typing on a keyboard. 80% of the time, the story is born in your head.
Today in Labor History November 5, 1916: The Everett Massacre occurred in Everett, Washington. 300 IWW members arrived by boat in Everett to help support the shingle workers’ strike that had been going on for the past 5 months. Prior attempts to support the strikers were met with vigilante beatings with axe handles. As the boat pulled in, Sheriff McRae called out, “Who’s your leader?” The Wobblies answered, “We’re all leaders!” The sheriff pulled his gun and said, “You can’t land.” A Wobbly yelled back, “Like hell we can’t.” Gunfire erupted, most of it from the 200 vigilantes on the dock. When the smoke cleared, two of the sheriff’s deputies were dead, shot in the back by their own men, along with 5-12 Wobblies on the boat. Dozens more were wounded. The authorities arrested 74 Wobblies. After a trial, all charges were dropped against the IWW members. The event was mentioned in John Dos Passos’s “USA Trilogy.”
what is safeguarding in health and social care
In health and social care, safeguarding refers to the methods and actions done to protect persons' well-being and rights, particularly those of vulnerable populations, from abuse, harm, or neglect. It entails maintaining a safe atmosphere, recognizing symptoms of abuse or potential threats, and applying prevention and response...