On this day, 14 August 1889, the great London dock strike began when workers at West India Dock walked out and called on others to join them. Within two weeks, 130,000 were out, and dockers’ wives organised a rent strike for the duration of the stoppage. Australian dockers donated money to support their UK colleagues, and after four weeks the employers caved and agreed nearly all the workers’ demands. The dispute marked a turning point in British working class history, as disorganised casual workers like the dockers were inspired to organise themselves and start to win. This is a short history of the struggle: https://libcom.org/history/1889-the-great-london-dock-strike https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1187727991412349/?type=3
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Happy Birthday to Me (1981) directed by J. Lee Thompson
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On this day, 14 August 1944, Italian resistance partisan Irma Bandiera, aka ‘Mimma’, was murdered by the Nazis. They had blinded her and tortured her for seven days, however she refused to give up the names of her comrades. Her body was then dumped in the street outside her parent’s house. Today there is a street named after her in her native Bologna.
If you want to help us research and promote the history of working class like Mimma, please consider supporting us. Check out our 2019 fundraiser: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/07/30/working-class-history-turns-5/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1187808588070956/?type=3
