Today in labor history June 08

[Omaha Steve]

June 08

June 8, 1809 - Thomas Paine died in New York City. The author of the essay Common Sense had inspired working people around the world in their drives for independence. To read Common Sense, go to http://www.ushistory.org/Paine/commonsense/index.htm

A battle between the Militia and striking miners at Dunnville, Colo. ended with six union members dead and 15 taken prisoner. Seventy-nine of the strikers were deported to Kansas two days later – 1904

June 8, 1929 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an address before the N.Y. Women’s Trade Union League, said, “Employers and employees alike have learned that in union there is strength, that a coordination of individual effort means an elimination of waste, a bettering of living conditions, and is, in fact, the father of prosperity.” At the time, Roosevelt was governor of New York. In 1932, he was elected president and re-elected three more times.



June 8, 1996 - The Labor Party founding convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio. It is the most recent effort by workers to form their own political movement. Most countries, other than the United States, have large and active labor political parties. Read more about the Labor Party at http://www.thelaborparty.org/a_index.html