On this day, 30 July 1913, 20,000 textile workers in Barcelona, mostly women and children, went on strike against low wages and long hours. Female strikers cut the hair of scabs, marking them as traitors. The strike continued until 15 September, when the governor introduced a maximum 60 (!) hour week. More info in this great history of women’s struggles in Barcelona around that time: https://libcom.org/history/female-consciousness-collective-action-barcelona-temma-kaplan
(Content note: the linked article contains mention of sexual violence) https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1177618395756642/?type=3
On this day, 2 August 1924, James Baldwin, gay African-American author and social critic was born. Frustrated with endemic racism in the United States, he moved to France where he spent most of his life. However he did return to the US during the civil rights movement and played an active role in fighting racism, despite the official movement’s homophobia, encouraging civil disobedience and taking part in the March on Washington in 1963 and the Selma march in 1965. In 1968 he also pledged to refuse to pay tax in protest against the Vietnam war. For these “subversive” activities, Baldwin was subjected to illegal surveillance by the FBI, who collated 1884 pages of documents on him.
A key organiser of Vietnam tax resistance was Noam Chomsky. In our podcast he tells the story of the Vietnam war: https://workingclasshistory.com/2018/10/31/e14-the-vietnam-war-with-noam-chomsky/
Pictured: Baldwin in London https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1179836165534865/?type=3
