History articles tagged with strikes

Tongan riots, 2005

Discussion of the riots in Tongan, 2005 and their background.

Quote:

The Tongan riot is part of a wider surge in class struggle in the Pacific since 2005. Since this date, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and Tahiti have experienced major strikes, and Tonga and the Solomons have experienced riots.

1962-1973: Worker and student struggles in Italy

A history of the wave of strikes and occupations that gripped Italian factories and universities during the 1960s. Coming to a head with the Hot Autumn of 1969, independent forms of struggle used by workers represented a significant attempt to break from restrictive trade unions.

Rising from a period of centre-left coalition that had been marked by a constant failure to bring promised reforms to Italian society, the struggles of the 1960s acted as a pressure gauge for many sections of the Italian working class, one which was to reach its climax during the mass strikes of 1968-1970.

1998: Danish private sector strike

A short history of the massive private sector strike that gripped Denmark for 10 days in 1998. Although ending after negotiations between the government and union leaders left workers demands largely unmet, the strike, involving about 10% of the Danish population was nonetheless a spectacular show of workers' strength.

April of 1998 saw a series of talks between private sector unions and employers in Denmark. Initiated by the unions in response to a general economic upturn in the country, the talks represented for many Danish workers the chance for improvements to their working conditions.

The Korean working class: From mass strike to casualization and retreat, 1987-2007

Loren Goldner on the history of the Korean working class during the past 20 years.

The Korean Working Class: From Mass Strike to Casualization and Retreat, 1987-2007

Loren Goldner

ABSTRACT

1970: US national postal strike

A short account of the illegal nationwide postal strikes that spread across America in 1970. After two weeks, during which time the army was called out to break the strike, workers eventually won increases in pay and the right to negotiate on contracts with bosses.

Beginning on the morning of March 18, the strike had been precipitated by months of stalling by union leaders and government officials. With no rights to collective bargaining, and having not seen wages increase between 1967 and 1969, anger amongst postal workers had been simmering for years.

The Good and Bad Old Days - The Whinger

The following notes look at various developments in employment, unemployment, and industrial struggles, mainly in the UK, through the period of the sixties, and up to the mid-seventies.

These notes are not revolutionary, they don't even claim to be radical,... I_just nicked them and adapted them from an old seventies cyclopedia I found in a charity shop!. But they do tell a story, and they illustrate a big process of change at a critical turning point.

From; The Whinger - Irregular journal of hysterical madterialism; No. 6, Oct 2007.

Oil workers struggles in Venezuela under Chavez, 2007

Article with information about recent struggles of the oil workers as well as some information and analysis about the proposed constitutional amendments which were defeated on December 2.

We are publishing our response to a letter sent by a reader from Brazil (T), who asks our opinion about an article he received, from which we are publishing some extracts, and which covers the struggles and mobilizations of the workers against the state oil company "Petroleos de Venezuela" (PDVSA) last September, demanding better wages and contractual benefits.

1911: Liverpool general transport strike

A short history of the strike movement that took hold of Liverpool during the summer of 1911. Culminating in a massive general strike of all transport workers, the movement displayed some of the most extraordinary scenes of class solidarity seen in Britain.

The strike movement of Liverpool occurred during the great period of industrial unrest that was to grip Britain between 1910 and the outbreak of the First World War. Beginning with a walk-out of seamen, the strike soon snowballed and went on to reach epic proportions, involving up to 70,000 people.

Women in the 1919 Winnipeg strike - Fireweed

A brief article from the feminist magazine Fireweed about women in the 1919 general strike in Winnipeg.

"In the coming days women would take their place side by side with men, not as dependents or inferiors but as equals. Thus there would be better relationships based on fundamental love and affinity. This strike was part of the great movement for the emancipation of women.

1919: US steel strike

While defeated by overwhelming police repression against pickets and union halls, the 1919 strike is significant in the history of organized class struggle in basic manufacturing and the high point of William Z. Foster's "bore from within" approach to syndicalism.

1919 Steel Strike
October 3, 1919

The Steel Strike Still Holds Public Attention

October 10, 1919

The Steel Strike is Still On
With Few if Any Changes

1935: Battle of Ballantyne Pier

A short history and background of the 1935 dockers' strike and subsequent bloody confrontation with police in Vancouver that became known as the Battle of Ballantyne Pier.

The story of the Battle of Ballantyne Pier can be traced back to 1912 when the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), began organising amongst waterfront workers in Canada, and alongside the Lumber Handlers’ Union in Vancouver.

1912: The Lena Massacre

A short history of the brutal suppression of a strike by Russian gold miners protesting low wages and inhumane working conditions in 1912.

Situated in the dense forest of south-east Siberia, the massive goldfields that lined the river Lena were, at the turn of the century, amongst the most profitable enterprises in the Russian Empire. The Lena Gold Mining Joint Stock Company (Lenzoloto), the principal owner of the majority of goldfields in the region, was running at profits of 7,000,000 roubles a year.

Mount Isa: the great Queensland strike - Solidarity

Pamphlet by the UK Solidarity group on the 1964-1965 strike and lockout at the Mount Isa copper mine in Queensland, Australia, which placed miners in direct opposition to their union, employer and the Queensland State Government for almost seven months.

The Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919: The Forgotten Revolution - Alan Woods

Trotskyist Alan Woods on the Hungarian uprising of 1919. Wood's account suffers from the usual analytical errors by Trotskyists but is included for reference to these little-known events.

November 12, 1979

Poland 1956 - Vladan Vukliš

A history of the uprising in Poland, 1956 which began at the ZISPO factory in Poznan.

This is an English translation of the original Serbian. Further editing by libcom from the translated version.

Polish Revolt of 1956

Hungarian revolution 1956 - Scorcher publications

An pamphlet on the revolution in Hungary 1956, reproduced from Scorcher publications. No.1 in a series of Council Communist Pamphlets.

Online version by http://www.af-north.org

Before October....

Privatisation by the back door: The health workers’ strike and the future of medical care in Poland

Laure Akai analyses the neoliberal reforms to Poland's health service as the doctors' strike enters its fourth month.

Some hospitals have given up the strike, some hospitals are concluding private deals with doctors. Nurses have organised separately from the doctors with a slightly different agenda. And it well may turn out that the results of the strike are strikingly different salaries for health care workers throughout Poland and increased privatization of the health care industry.

1942: Luxembourg post office strike

An account of the short lived post office strike in Luxembourg, 1942.

George Kieffer was born in 1950, the son of Michel Kieffer, a technician of the Telephone Department of the Luxembourg Post Office, who was active with his wife in the Resistance during the Second World War. Following the death of his father, George, who now lives in England, transferred the former's collection of papers, documents and medals to the Second World War Experience Centre.

Poznan 1956 and Radom 1976

A background report for Radio Free Europe written in 1981, detailing the workers uprisings in Poznan '56 and Radom '76.

BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 46-4-214
TITLE: Polish Workers Commemorate their Past Struggles
BY: J. B. de Weydenthal
DATE: 1981-7-7
COUNTRY: Poland
ORIGINAL SUBJECT: RAD Background Report/192

--- Begin ---

RFE-RL

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research

RAD Background Report/192 (Poland)" 7 July 1981

1831: Merthyr Tydfil uprising

In 1831, Merthyr Tydfil, iron workers struck against redundancies, rising prices and bailiffs, leading to several thousand workers involved in riots that led to bloody suppression by troops and mass arrests.

Two articles on the riots are included, by local historian Bob Saunders, and an excerpt from the Newgate Calendar:

THE MERTHYR RISING 1831
Bob Saunders
BACKGROUND