Organizing Don'ts #2 [a little black cat says: It’s best to never say the “U” word too soon..]
In one-on-ones with your coworkers, saying the “U” word too early can lead to confusion and/or fear. [a coworker sweats and looks anxious, saying “What are you even TALKING about? Oy! No way! We’ll all get FIRED for sure!]
Decades of anti-union laws and propaganda have made the work environment for organizing very difficult. [the little black cat listens to the coworker say, “what’s a UNION? Isn’t that ILLEGAL? Why bother?]
Ask questions that help coworkers recognize their power as workers. In due time, you’ll all be ready to say the “U” word together. [5 coworkers are all confronting the boss, saying, “UNION!”]
On this day, 13 January 1943 19-year-old Ukrainian anti-Nazi resistance fighter Ulyana Matveevna Gromova was executed by German forces. Arrested three days before, she endured brutal torture as the Nazis tried to force her to disclose the names of her comrades. They beat her, whipped her with metal, burned her with hot irons, flayed and mutilated her, tore out her hair and rubbed salt in her wounds but she refused to betray any of her comrades. And she raised the spirits of her fellow detainees by reciting poetry.
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Read this story and hundreds of others in our new book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, with a small number from our first print run still available here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-bookhttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1630097250508752/?type=3
On this day, 14 January 1930, Albrecht “Ali” Höhler - gangster and militant of the German Communist Party’s paramilitary organisation the Roter Frontkämpferbund - shot Horst Wessel, a unit leader of Berlin’s Nazi stormtroopers (SA). Wessel was raised to the position of martyr by the Nazis, while Höhler was sentenced to six years in jail, only to be dragged out and killed once the Nazis came to power.
Pictured: Ali Höhler.
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Read this and hundreds of other stories in our first book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion. There are a small number of copies remaining from our first print run available here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-book (or on our link in bio on Instagram) https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1630152483836562/?type=3
