Transcribing the Past

  IS COLORADO IN AMERICA? MARTIAL LAW DECLARED IN COLORADO!  FREE PRESS THROTTLED IN COLORADO! BULL-PENS FOR UNION IN MEN IN COLORADO! FREE SPEECH DENIED IN COLORADO! SOLDIERS DEFY THE COURTS IN COLORADO! WHOLESALE ARRESTS WITHOUT WARRANT IN COLORADO! UNION MEN EXILED FROM HOMES AND FAMILIES IN COLORADO! CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS QUESTIONED IN COLORADO!  CORPORATIONS CORRUPT AND CONTROL ADMINISTRATION IN COLORADO! RIGHT OF FAIR, IMPARTIAL AND SPEEDY TRIAL ABOLISHED IN COLORADO!  CITIZENS' ALLIANCE RESORTS TO MOB LAW AND VIOLENCE IN COLORADO! MILITIA HIRED TO CORPORATIONS TO BREAK THE STRIKE IN COLORADO! THESE are absolute facts and are not the only outrages that have been perpetrated on Colorado in the name of law and order. It has been charged and never successfully denied that the corporations contributed $15,000,00 towards the election of the present Republican administration, but Governor Peabody has been unable to "DELIVER THE GOODS." THE unions have not...

  There are a lot of important events in Labour history that get overlooked. The Coal Miners strike in 1948 in France is one of them. I have tried for days to find information on this event and so far all I've found is a short interview on Radio Fours History Hour, some archival footage from Pathe with no commentary just a few minutes of film reel recording random events during the strike and one article by a French Trotskyist organisation written at the time and translated into English at a later date. I'm assuming there's more information in French, but even with my limited French I wasn't get many results and couldn't read what I found. The Trotskyist article is interesting but unfortunately the authors were motivated by a desire to discredit the French Communist Party (PCF) and cast themselves as its replacement, rather than recount the events of the strike accurately for the benefit of all. And since its the only source I've found I can't tell...

  Link https://youtu.be/p5G8A7oCa6I This week, we cover the Miike coal mine strike of 1960. As labor and management do battle over the future of the mines, how will the future of the country be shaped by their clash? http://isaacmeyer.net/2018/06/episode-245-the-summer-of-rage-part-2/   Hello and welcome to the History of Japan podcast, episode 245 the Summer of Rage Part II. Last week we covered the protests that brought down the Kishi government and set the tenor for the next half century of Japanese politics. A consensus on economic growth and nothing else. This week I want to talk about another protest which also stretched into the summer of 1960, and which helped set the tone for the future of post-war Japan. Last week we looked at what is by any measure the beating heart of Japan, Tokyo itself. This week our focus is about as far away from that as you can get, a small called Miike, split between Fukuoka and Kumamoto Prefectures in central Kyush...

  From America The Silk weavers of Paterson lost the strike that they had bravely fought for five months. The cause of the defeat was mainly hunger and that only 5,000 of the 25,000 strikers were members of the IWW, the support funds were not sufficient but the number of opponents were more than sufficient. Because apart from the capitalists and their guard dogs the police, the strike was also opposed by the national American Federation of Labor (AFL). The strike also failed to gain the sympathy of New York's Social Democratic politicians and their newspapers, since the American's did not support the tactics of direct action and sabotage favoured by the syndicalists. Despite the lack of support from them the IWW is growing and expanding amongst the proletariat everywhere. Despite losing this strike something else was won; the solidarity of between 15,000-25,000 striking workers who bravely stood by the strike until hunger forced them to return to work. The IWW re...

  Video link  https://youtu.be/onWZ1SE-5Ok In 1976 South Asian women workers who had made Britain their home, led a strike against poor working conditions in a British factory. Lakshmi Patel was one of the South Asian women who picketed the Grunwick film-processing factory in north London for two years, defying the stereotype of submissive South Asian women. They gained the support of tens of thousands of trade unionists along the way. Lakshmi talks to Farhana Haider about how the strike was a defining moment for race relations in the UK in the 1970s. Transcript Program Producer Max Pierson: But we begin with an example of hard-won workers’ rights in Britain. And if that phrase conjures up images of beefy miners or dockers confronting their bosses you might be in for a bit of a surprise. Because we’re going back to 1976 when a group of South Asian women led a strike over poor working conditions. These were strikers in Saris, they took the lead but event...

  The following is a transcription I've made of the above pamphlet by the CGT on the French Coal Miners Strike of 1948 . The Truth About The French Miners’ Strike (October – December 1948) Foreword After the Liberation of he country, the General Confederation of Labour, being concerned both with the interests of the working-class and with the general interest of the country, launched an appeal for increased production. This appeal was understood by the workers and output rapidly reached a level, higher than pre-war. Any Government having a sense of national interest and knowing that the recovery of French economy depended, above all, on the efforts of the working-class, would have improved the living conditions of the workers, since it was by their efforts that the country’s output had increased. Nothing has been done in this respect: quite the contrary. For 18 months, our rulers have systematically carried out an anti-working class policy. a) ...