peterjriley2024

MikeDunnAuthor , 7 days ago to bookstadon group

Today in Labor History June 21, 1877: Ten Irish miners, all union activists & allegedly members of the terrorist Molly Maguires, were hanged in Pennsylvania in The Day of the Rope. It was the second largest mass execution in U.S. history. (The largest was in 1862, when the U.S. government executed 38 Dakota warriors). However, most of the evidence, including claims of membership in the Molly Maguires, came from an agent provocateur, James McParland, who worked for the Pinkertons, on behalf of the mine owners, and who helped plan and carry out many of the murders that were blamed on miners. Nearly everything people “know” today about the Molly Maguires comes from Allan Pinkerton’s work of fiction, “The Molly Maguires and the Detectives” (1877), which he marketed as nonfiction. His heavily biased book was the primary source for dozens of academic works, and for several pieces of fiction, including Arthur Conan Doyle’s final Sherlock Holmes novel, “Valley of Fear” (1915), and the 1970 Sean Connery film, “Molly Maguires.” McParland later helped frame Big Bill Haywood for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. McParland and the Molly Maguires play prominently in my novel, “Anywhere But Schuylkill,” and in the sequel, “Red Hot Summer in the Big Smoke,” which I’m currently working on.

You can read my full article on the Molly Maguires here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

And my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #pennsylvania #executions #union #unionbusting #BigBillHaywood #IWW #pinkertons #AnywhereButSchuylkill #fiction #novel #author #historicalfiction #mollymaguires #books #fiction #novel #author #writer @bookstadon

peterjriley2024 , 11 days ago to bookstodon group

@bookstodon
a.gup.pe

… panorama of sexual and gender dissent in the Spanish State during the 19th & 20th centuries. #LGBTQ+ ourstory during the Second Republic (1931–9), the Spanish Civil War (1936–9), and the fascist Franquist dictatorship (1939–1975). Most of the book is on the “Transition” to formal democracy (1976–1982) following Francisco Franco's death.

Part 1 Interview
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/invertidos-y-rompepatrias-queers-wreck-the-state-an-interview-with-the-author/

Part 2 Interview
https://www.thecommoner.org.uk/invertidos-y-rompepatrias-queers-wreck-the-state-an-interview-with-the-author-part-two/

More: https://invertidosyrompepatrias.noblogs.org/post/2019/08/16/libro-completo/?ref=thecommoner.org.uk

#commoner

MikeDunnAuthor , 21 days ago to bookstadon group

Today in Labor History June 7, 1929: Striking textile workers battled police in Gastonia, North Carolina, during the Loray Mill Strike. Police Chief O.F. Aderholt was accidentally killed by one of his own officers during a protest march by striking workers. Nevertheless, the authorities arrested six strike leaders. They were all convicted of “conspiracy to murder.”

The strike lasted from April 1 to September 14. It started in response to the “stretch-out” system, where bosses doubled the spinners’ and weavers’ work, while simultaneously lowering their wages. When the women went on strike, the bosses evicted them from their company homes. Masked vigilantes destroyed the union’s headquarters. The NTWU set up a tent city for the workers, with armed guards to protect them from the vigilantes.

One of the main organizers was a poor white woman named Ella May Wiggans. She was a single mother, with nine kids. Rather than living in the tent city, she chose to live in the African American hamlet known as Stumptown. She was instrumental in creating solidarity between black and white workers and rallying them with her music. Some of her songs from the strike were “Mill Mother’s Lament,” and “Big Fat Boss and the Workers.” Her music was later covered by Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie, who called her the “pioneer of the protest ballad.” During the strike, vigilantes shot her in the chest. She survived, but later died of whooping cough due to poverty and inadequate medical care.

For really wonderful fictionalized accounts of this strike, read “The Last Ballad,” by Wiley Cash (2017) and “Strike!” by Mary Heaton Vorse (1930).

https://youtu.be/Ud-xt7SVTQw?t=31

#workingclass #LaborHistory #EllaMayWiggans #textile #women #feminist #union #communism #vigilante #policebrutality #police #acab #solidarity #racism #poverty #northcarolina #fiction #HistoricalFiction #author #writer #books #novel @bookstadon