A labour revolt or worker's uprising is a period of civil unrest characterised by strong

labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

militancy and strike activity. The history of labour revolts often provides the historical basis for many advocates of

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

, with many instances occurring around the world in both the 19th and 20th centuries.

Labour revolts in France

The Canut Revolts in Lyons, France, were the first clearly defined worker uprisings of the Industrial Revolution. The First occurred in November 1831 and was followed by later revolts in 1834 and 1848. Following the closure of the national workshops after the 1848 revolution in Paris, there was an uprising in Paris involving 100,000 insurgents involved in a three-day battle with the army, volunteers and reserve forces. The

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended ...

in France (1871) is hailed by both anarchists and Socialists as the first assumption of power by the working class, but controversy of the policies implemented in the Commune helped the split between the two groups.

Labour revolts in the United States

The earliest revolts in the United States include the pockets of rebellion by slaves and servants acting together in actual uprisings or planned revolts throughout its colonial period. For instance, there was the case of the 1712 incident where 23 slaves who killed nine whites in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

to avenge their harsh treatment. Slaves have also joined farmers in several uprisings against the social system wherein royal authorities, proprietors, trading companies and large land owners were in charge. One of the most dramatic was the uprising in the Royal colony of Virginia in 1676 led by Nathaniel Bacon against the corrupt royal governor, Sir William Berkeley. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the

1877 Shamokin Uprising The 1877 Shamokin uprising occurred in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, in July 1877, as one of the several cities in the state where strikes occurred as part of the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The Great Strike was the first in the United States in w ...

occurred in the United States. It is considered the bloodiest labor-management confrontation in U.S. history. The uprising was in response to the railroad executives decision to cut wages and lay off employees due to the economic downturn caused by the panic of 1873. The strike began in July 1877 when workers of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad blocked railway traffic after the company imposed a 10 percent pay cut. It sparked similar movements among railroad workers everywhere and an estimated 100,000 workers joined the uprising nationwide. The revolt included riots and destruction of railroad property and was met with violent crackdowns. These Revolts led to the progression of labour movements in the United States, therefore in return led to fairer wages, better working conditions, and the overall well being of workers. The Battle of Blair Mountain in Logan County, West Virginia, U.S. (1921), was the largest organised armed uprising in American Labour History since the Civil War, and had a major impact on labour legislation in the United States. The confrontation was so violent that the then President Warren Harding ordered the aerial bombing of entrenched miner positions.

Labour revolts in Russia, Germany and Eastern Europe

The

Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

in led to the creation of the Saint Petersburg Soviet or worker's council which became the model for most Communist Revolutionary Activity. The Soviet was revived in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...

and the model was repeated in the

German Revolution of 1918–19 German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

, The Bavarian Soviet Republic and the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Some revolutionary activity within the Eastern Bloc resembled Labour Revolts, such as the

Uprising of 1953 in East Germany The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...

, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the

Polish 1970 protests The 1970 Polish protests ( pl, Grudzień 1970, lit=December 1970) occurred in northern Poland during 14–19 December 1970. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase in the prices of food and other everyday items. Strikes were put down by t ...

although many communists would dispute this as 'Counter-Revolutionary' activity.

Labour revolts in Great Britain

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a sig ...

was a period of labour and political militancy in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, between the 1910s and the 1930s. Most famously, this resulted in raising the red flag in the Battle of George Square.

Labour revolts in Spain

*The

Asturian miners' strike of 1934 The Asturian miners' strike of 1934 was a major strike action undertaken by regional miners against the 1933 Spanish general election, which redistributed political power from the leftists to conservatives in the Second Spanish Republic. The str ...

Labour revolts elsewhere

Some observers claimed that the

protests of 1968 The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies. In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...

were part of a "revolutionary wave", with much of the activity motivated by students. *

Gwangju massacre The Gwangju Uprising was a popular uprising in the city of Gwangju, South Korea, from May 18 to May 27, 1980, which pitted local, armed citizens against soldiers and police of the South Korean government. The event is sometimes called 5·18 (Ma ...

in South Korea, 1980 *The Nghe-Tinh Revolt 1930–31 French Indochina * Brazilian Anarchist Uprising 1917–18 *Saigon Commune, Vietnam 1945

References

External links

The Nghe-Tinh Revolt1917–1918: The Brazilian anarchist uprising
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labour Revolts Labor history History of socialism