Portside

Political Violence, Way Back When

ON NOVEMBER 6, 1919, 105 YEARS AGO, many U.S. law enforcement agencies -- federal, state, and local -- were putting the finishing touches on preparations for a massive, nationwide attack on progressive organizations and their members. 

A day later they staged the largest coordinated police action against civil liberties ever to occur in the U.S. (up until then), arresting and brutalizing hundreds of dissidents (plus hundreds of innocent bystanders) and seizing tons of both political publications and printing equipment in 36 U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. 

The event, which surely terrorized almost anyone in the country who was critical of government repression, was planned and orchestrated by the U.S. Department of Justice and its leader, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. It was the first of the so-called Palmer Raids, which were carried out with searches and seizures that were characterized by violence and lack of judicial warrants. 

From a strictly law-enforcement point of view, the raids were a failure because very few of the arrested were ever convicted of a crime or deported. But the raids' lawless brutality and permanent destruction of property were a set-back to the targeted individuals and organizations. and they sent a clear signal that there were few bars to illegal reactionary violence in the U.S. Read about the experience of one Palmer Raid victim, Crystal Eastman, here: https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/distinguished-alumni/crystal-eastman/

A Song You Probably Won’t Forget

NOVEMBER 7, 1949, IS THE 75th ANNIVERSARY of a mayoral election in Boston, Massachusetts, that is almost certainly best-remembered because of its lasting influence on songs of political protest.

One of the five candidates to be Boston’s mayor was Walter O’Brien, a member of the left-wing Progressive Party. O’Brien finished dead last in the polling and would be totally forgotten but for one thing. Two of his supporters – Jacqueline Steiner and Bess Lomax Hawes – wrote a song about O’Brien’s campaign promise to lower the fare on the Boston public system known as the M.T.A. 

The catchy ditty, “Charlie on the M.T.A.” has been an exemplar of a political protest song for three-quarters of a century.  If you haven’t ever heard it, or just want to hear it again, click here: https://youtu.be/MbtkL5_f6-4?si=1wwLnOaYSycI48oj

Death With Dignity

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, IS THE 30th ANNIVERSARY of the day Oregon voters approved the state’s Death With Dignity Act, making Oregon the first U.S. state and one of the first jurisdictions in the world to permit physician-assisted suicide with certain restrictions. https://portside.org/2016-06-10/californians-now-have-right-aid-dying-how-did-we-get-here

A Very Important Conference, I Think

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, IS THE 40th ANNIVERSARY of the first Hackers’ Conference, which was held in Sausalito, California.

Among the 150 attendees in the 1984 inaugural event were John Draper, Richard Greenblatt, Ted Nelson, Richard Stallman, Bob Wallace and Steve Wozniak.

The conference, which became and remains an annual event, is an invitation-only gathering of information technology designers, engineers and programmers to discuss the latest developments and innovations in the computer industry. People in the industry swear it’s very important and who am I to disagree with them? https://youtu.be/zOP1LNr70aU?si=NEl0yt6wTUHDkmMt

When Ernie Met Bert in 1969

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10 IS THE 55th ANNIVERSARY of the first day that Sesame Street was broadcast.

Why is that factoid commemorated by This Week in People’s History? 

For a highly informative and fascinating answer to that question, click here to read “How We Got to Sesame Street” by New Yorker staff writer (and Harvard University professor) Jill Lepore: https://portside.org/2020-05-10/how-we-got-sesame-street

A Very Big Win for Militant Musicians in 1944

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, IS THE 80th ANNIVERSARY of a major strike victory that holds important lessons for today.

After a rock solid national strike that lasted for 27 months, 136,000 members of the American Federation of Musicians bent the record industry to their will and forced the huge record labels – RCA Victor and Columbia – to agree to pay the union a fee (known as a royalty) for every record sold.

The giant record companies did their contractual duty and paid the union a small sum for every record they sold, with the result that the fund collected roughly $4.5 million in three years, which made it possible for the union to hire its own unemployed members and produce nearly 19,000 free performances of all kinds. 

The recording industry hated the royalty-based fund, and soon persuaded the U.S. Congress to pass a law making it illegal, but the lesson was clear: if Congress had not put its thumb on the scale, there was indeed tremendous power in the union.

 There are many relevant lessons – for today’s union members and for the general public – in the AFM’s 1944 victory, which are clearly explained in this article published in 2022 by Jacobin:  https://jacobin.com/2022/03/1940s-musicians-strike-american-federations-of-musicians-afm-labels-streaming

Apartheid Must Go!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, IS THE 50th ANNIVERSARY of the day that the United Nations General Assembly voted 91-22 to suspend South Africa’s racist apartheid regime from participating in the UN. 

The 22 countries voting “No” were Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Germany, and Zaire. 

The General Assembly did not expel South Africa from the UN because it lacked the authority to do so. South Africa remained a non-participating member of the UN until 1994, when the suspension was lifted after apartheid regime was voted out of office. https://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/un_against_apartheid.shtml

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