1910s
1912: The Lawrence textile strike
A short history of the strike of 20,000 textile workers, mostly women and girls who included native and immigrant workers, which won big concessions over wages, conditions and hours for the entire textile industry
At the turn of the 20th century, Lawrence, Massachusetts was one of the most important textile manufacturing towns in the United States. The mills in the area were principally under the ownership of the American Woollen Company, which employed about 40,000 people. The Company's consolidation of thirty-four factories across New England had a yearly output of about $45,000,000.
1919: The Calais mutiny
A short history of the strike and mutiny of British troops stationed in France following the end of the First World War which won concessions and helped speed up demobbing.
As the end of World War I was nearing, the British Army was being used more extensively in France, as the French military had largely disintegrated due to widespread mutiny. However, as time progressed, British soldiers were proving equally unwilling to fight and to obey.
1919: The RAF Biggin Hill mutiny
A short history of the victorious rebellion of British servicemen in the air force who were living in appalling conditions, soon after World War I.
1919: The Southampton mutiny
A history of the militant rebellion of British troops in Southampton following the end of the First World War. Amidst the widespread dissatisfaction, the men were highly reluctant to return to Europe after the end of the conflict.
1918-1930: Mutiny and resistance in the Royal Navy
A short history of mutinies and rebellions in the British Royal Navy and Marines from the end of World War I, Russian Revolution and up until 1930.
Whilst the mutinies in the German and French Navies in the First World War have been well documented little information is available concerning the British Royal Navy. There was, however, considerable talk of mutiny at Portsmouth, in the summer of 1918.
1917: The Etaples mutiny
A short history of one of the early big mutinies of British troops in Europe as World War I came to an end.
Etaples, about 15 miles south of Boulogne, was a notorious British Army base camp for those on their way to the front. Under atrocious conditions both raw recruits from England and battle-weary veterans were subjected to intensive training in gas warfare, bayonet drill, and long sessions of marching at the double across the dunes.
1917-1918: The Brazilian anarchist uprising
A short history of the attempted revolution in Brazil of 1918. The uprising failed when it was infiltrated by security forces, and the army did not join the side of the workers.
In 1918 Rio de Janeiro city was shaken by a series of events that would culminate in one the most important episodes in the history of the Brazilian workers movement: an attempted insurrectionary strike designed to bring down oligarchic republican government and replace it with workers’ and soldiers' councils.
13. The Socialist Challenge
War and jingoism might postpone, but could not fully suppress, the class anger that came from the
realities of ordinary life. As the twentieth century opened, that anger reemerged. Emma Goldman,
the anarchist and feminist, whose political consciousness was shaped by factory work, the
Haymarket executions, the Homestead strike, the long prison term of her lover and comrade,
1918: The Hungarian Revolution
The history of the revolution which brought down the monarch and saw workers' and peasants' councils spring up across the country, only to be betrayed by its social democratic and Communist "leadership".
On May 1st, 1917 a massive strike wave and demonstration led to the fall of the reactionary government of Count Tisza, on the 23rd of May.
The Nationalities Question in the Russian Revolution (Rosa Luxemburg, 1918)
Luxemburg reveals the counter-revolutionary nature and consequences of the Bolsheviks' nationalist policy of the "right of self-determination of peoples"
Originally published as Chapter II of the pamphlet The Russian Revolution, which was constituted out of notes prepared by Rosa Luxemburg in prison in 1918, and published posthumously.
