Archilochus

MikeDunnAuthor , 17 days ago to bookstadon group

Today in Labor History June 11, 1913: Cops shot Black & White IWW members (Industrial Workers of the World) and AFL maritime workers in New Orleans. As a result, one worker died and two were injured. The imprisoned another 43 IWW members. They were striking against United Fruit Company for better wages. This strike was part of a strike wave at ports along the eastern seaboard, particularly in Philadelphia, led by African American IWW organizer Ben Fletcher. Most of these strikes were successful. However, the one in New Orleans was lost. United Fruit would go on to become one of the most powerful corporations of the 20th century. They ultimately controlled vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, Colombia, and the West Indies, and maintained a virtual monopoly in the so-called banana republics of Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. In 1954, they lobbied for the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala, which was successfully planned and orchestrated by the CIA, led by CIA-director Allan Dulles, who was also a board member of United Fruit. In the 1980s, United Fruit officially became Chiquita. Their violence and corruption were described in the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Thomas Pynchon, O. Henry, and Pablo Neruda.

You can read my complete biography of Fletcher here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2021/05/13/ben-fletcher-and-the-iww-dockers/

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