Today in Labor History July 27, 1918: Miner and union organizer Ginger Goodwin was shot by a hired private cop outside Cumberland, British Columbia sparking Canada's first General Strike. He was a labor activist and a member of the Socialist Party of Canada. Additionally, he was an antiwar activist who said that workers of one country should not be employed to kill workers of another country because of capitalist conflict. “War is simply part of the process of Capitalism,” he said. “Big financial interests will reap the victory, no matter how the war ends.” However, in spite of his protests, he was still drafted to fight in the First World War. In order to avoid conscription, he fled into the mountains, where he was murdered by a cop in 1918. Canada’s first General Strike began in response.

https://youtu.be/GrwUueuW6rs

The Ballad Of Ginger Goodwin

Ginger Goodwin is a name you don't often hear or see.
They don't say a word about him in our country's history.
He was a labour leader and he wouldn't go to war.
"While the army breaks our strikes at home, its strikers I'll fight for."

In Trail back in the summer of 1917.
Ginger fought against conscription even though he was class D.
But when he led a miners' strike to spread the eight hour day
Conscription checked him out again and found he was class A.

Ginger hid from cops and soldiers in the hills near Cumberland.
Miners brought him food and sheltered him, they knew he was their friend.
So the bosses hired special cops when their power was at stake.
Dan Campbell murdered Goodwin at the head of Comox Lake.

The whole damn town of Cumberland turned out for the funeral hike.
Vancouver's workers shut her down for a one day general strike.
Soldiers back from foreign wars then attacked the labour hall.
Both the bosses and the workers knew who caused the Czar's downfall.

You can still see Ginger's grave along the road to Cumberland.
He didn't win no medals and no one understands.
Don't tell me that a hero has to die in foreign lands.
We lost heroes here in labour's wars and they all had dirty hands.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #gingergoodwin #canada #union #strike #miners #antiwar #police #policebrutality #folkmusic #generalstrike #socialism #onebigunion

Alt...

Headstone of Ginger Goodwin at the Cumberland Municipal Cemetery in Cumberland, British Columbia. Flowers have been left on the grave. Note that the date inscribed on the headstone is inaccurate. By Antifascistferret - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57129343

Anti_war poster designed by UC Berkeley students, 1970

#Art #Design #AntiWar

Alt...

The Stars and Stripes flag but inverted. The red stripes replaced with rifles, the stars with military airplanes

Today in Labor History June 5, 1969: 250 imprisoned U.S. soldiers rioted at the military penal stockade at Fort Dix over barbarous conditions and the tortures being inflicted on them by the US military state. The majority were in prison for going AWOL, resisting the draft, or as conscientious objectors. Many were being held without trial. Their grievances included overcrowding, starvation, beatings, being chained to chairs, forced confessions, and participation in an unjust war. 38 of them were charged with inciting to riot. (Note the sign over the entrance to the prison: “Obedience to the Law is Freedom.” The photographer, David Fenton, called it Mussolini-like. It reminds me of the slogan over Auschwitz: “Work Sets You free.” Embarrassed, the military removed the sign soon after the photograph was published).

#workingclass #LaborHistory #prison #mutiny #uprising #vietnam #antiwar #peace #activism #torture #Riot #fascism #nazis #concentrationcamp

Alt...

Fort Dix Stockade Entrance Sign 1969: Obedience to the Law is Freedom. By David Fenton - From the photographer David Fenton., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=127801339

Today in Labor History May 22, 1968: New York police broke through the barricades at Columbia University, busting the student occupations there. As a result, 998 were arrested and over 200 injured. Students were demanding a black studies program and an end to military recruitment and ROTC on campus. Sound familiar? However, today’s student protests are bringing back the worst of 1960s-‘70s police brutality and university intolerance for Free Speech along with McCarthy era firing, blacklisting and doxing of academics for the crime of criticizing the Israeli government, under bogus claims of antisemitism.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #columbia #policebrutality #antiwar #police #policebrutality #racism #antiracism #student #protest #antisemitism #mccarthyism #freespeech #academicfreedom #studentprotest #freepalestine #EndTheOccupation

Alt...

Police attacking student protesters at Columbia University, 1968.

Today in Labor History May 14, 1970: State police confronted anti-war demonstrators at Jackson State University, Mississippi. Shortly after midnight, they opened fire, killing two African-American students and wounding twelve others. No cops were ever arrested or indicted. This occurred eleven days after the massacre at Kent State.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #jackson #kentstate #policebrutality #massacre #racism #antiwar #student #protest #studentprotest #univerities #nationalguards #BlackMastodon

Alt...

The bullet-riddled windows of Alexander Hall, a women’s dormitory at Jackson State College in Jackson, Miss. Two African American students were killed and 12 injured when police opened fire on the building claiming they were fired upon by snipers, May 15, 1970. (AP Photo)

Today in Labor History May 10, 1887: UMW organizer Ginger Goodwin was born on this date. He was also a socialist and anti-war activist. In 1918, he was murdered by a private cop. His assassination, along with outrage over World War One conscription, inflation, low wages, and censorship of the socialist media, sparked Canada's first General Strike, in Vancouver. Goodwin said that workers of one country should not be employed to kill workers of another country because of capitalist conflict. “War is simply part of the process of Capitalism,” he said. “Big financial interests will reap the victory, no matter how the war ends.”

You can still see Ginger's grave along the road to Cumberland.
He didn't win no medals and no one understands.
Don't tell me that a hero has to die in foreign lands.
We lost heroes here in labour's wars and they all had dirty hands.

https://youtu.be/GrwUueuW6rs

#workingclass #LaborHistory #generalstrike #union #umw #gingergoodwin #policebrutality #police #canada #censorship #freespeech #wages #inflation #vancouver #antiwar #classwar #solidarity #folkmusic

From ancient goddesses to modern peace activists − Mother’s Day celebrates women’s political power

On Mother’s Day, Americans go all out with gift-buying and dining out to honor the women in their lives. In fact, according to some estimates, consumer spending in the United States on this day is around US$34 billion.

This consumerist emphasis has long been criticized – including by the holiday’s founder, Anna Jarvis. She started the celebration in 1908 to honor her own mother, Civil War-era activist Ann Jarvis, who founded Mothers’ Day Work Clubs in her native West Virginia.

#MothersDay #women #power #PoliticalPower #politics #goddesses #antiwar #protest #war #USCivilWar #peace #PeaceActivism

@xankarn wrote

…prepare for the administration to first lash out at the journalists who are collecting and disseminating the facts and then to come for vocal opponents of the war…

Same pattern we saw with the Vietnam War, for example: if you oppose the war, you're not "supporting our troops."

My motto is

I support our troops, but not the politicians who forced them to leave their families and fight a pointless war.

(I need to tighten it up a bit.)

#antiwar #nonviolence

#GrahamPlatner Went to Hell and Back. He Has a Simple Message for #Democrats.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/opinion/graham-platner-forever-war-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.dFA.zPAA.8bvnke2a7T7W&smid=url-share

from #NewYorkTimes #NYT
[shareable 30-day gift article]
April 22, 2026

[written by a former #Obama admin official]

“I don’t want other young Americans to go through what I’ve been through. And I don’t want to send other young Americans to inflict the horror that I had to inflict on people.”

Polling suggests that most Americans agree with him. So does the feedback he gets day to day. The people he meets overwhelmingly oppose the #war; many are furious or heartbroken about it. That includes his fellow veterans. “I don’t know a single guy I served with who thinks this thing in #Iran is a good idea,” he told me. Many of those guys are #MAGA. “This was one of the reasons they were big Trump supporters — he was the #antiwar or ‘America first’ candidate.”

#NoWarWithIran
#news #politics #USpol #Maine #Senate #USSenate #US #USA