#deathpenalty

Today In Labor History May 1, 1886: The first nationwide General Strike for the 8-hour day occurred in Milwaukee and other U.S. cities. In Chicago, police killed four demonstrators and wounded over 200. This led to the mass meeting a Haymarket Square, where an unknown assailant threw a bomb, killing several cops. The authorities responded by rounding up all the city’s leading anarchists, and a kangaroo court which wrongfully convicted 8 of them, including Albert Parsons, husband of Lucy Parsons, who would go on to cofound the IWW, along with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood, Eugene Debs, and others. Worldwide protests against the convictions and executions followed. To honor the wrongfully executed anarchists, and their struggle for the 8-hour day, May first has ever since been celebrated as International Workers Day in nearly every country in the world, except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #bombing #policebrutality #police #prison #execution #deathpenalty #GeneralStrike #IWW #lucyparsons #motherjones #EightHourDay #mayday

Today in labor history April 30 1886: 50,000 workers in Chicago were on strike. 30,000 more joined in the next day. The strike halted most of Chicago’s manufacturing. On May 3rd, the Chicago cops killed four unionists. Activists organized a mass public meeting and demonstration in Haymarket Square on May 4. During the meeting, somebody threw a bomb at the cops. The explosion and subsequent gunfire killed seven cops and four civilians. Nobody ever identified the bomber. None of the killer cops was charged. However, the authorities started arresting anarchists throughout Chicago.

Ultimately, they tried and convicted eight anarchist leaders in a kangaroo court. The men were: August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fisher, George Engel, Louis Lingg, Michael Schwab, Samuel Felden and Oscar Neebe. Only two of the men were even present when the bomb was thrown. The court convicted seven of murder and sentenced them to death. Neebe was give fifteen years. Parson’s brother testified at the trial that the real bomb thrower was a Pinkerton agent provocateur. This was entirely consistent with the Pinkertons modus operandi. They used the agent provocateur, James McParland, to entrap and convict the Molly Maguires. As a result, twenty of them were hanged and the Pennsylvania mining union was crushed. McParland also tried to entrap WFM leader, Big Bill Haywood, for the murder of Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg had crushed the WFM strike in 1899, the same one in which the WFM had blown up a colliery. However, Haywood had Clarence Darrow representing him. And Darrow proved his innocence.

On November 11, 1887, they executed Spies, Parson, Fisher and Engel. They sang the Marseillaise, the revolutionary anthem, as they marched to the gallows. The authorities arrested family members who attempted to see them one last time. This included Parson’s wife, Lucy, who was also a significant anarchist organizer and orator. In 1905, she helped cofound the IWW. Moments before he died, Spies shouted, "The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today." And Engel and Fischer called out, "Hurrah for anarchism!" Parsons tried to speak, but was cut off by the trap door opening beneath him.

Workers throughout the world protested the trial, conviction and executions. Prominent people spoke out against it, including Clarence Darrow, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, and William Morris. The Haymarket Affair inspired thousands to join the anarchist movement, including Emma Goldman. And it is the inspiration for International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1st in nearly every country in the world except the U.S.

You can read my complete bio of Lucy Parsons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/03/24/lucy-parsons/

You can read my article on the Pinkertons here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/04/union-busting-by-the-pinkertons/

And my article on the Molly Maguires Here:
https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/04/13/the-myth-of-the-molly-maguires/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #haymarket #lucyparsons #IWW #emmagoldman #strike #union #EightHourDay #PoliceBrutality #killercops #prison #deathpenalty #Pinkertons #police

Auto translated from Farsi:

Hamid Hosseinnejad Heydaranlu, a Kurdish political prisoner and father of three, was secretly executed on Monday morning, May 1, 2025. The execution took place despite his family having previously announced that the sentence would be suspended.

He had been arrested in April 2023 in the Chaldaran border region and sentenced to death on charges of “rebelism.” During his detention, Hosseinnejad spent more than 11 months in solitary confinement without access to a lawyer and was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture in order to confess to participating in an armed conflict that, according to documents, he had been present in Turkey at the time.

The Urmia Revolutionary Court issued his death sentence in a short session without reviewing the defense documents; a ruling that was also confirmed by the Supreme Court.

After the execution, judicial authorities refused to hand over the body to the family and did not allow a funeral.

#execution #humanrights #hamidhosseinnejad #kurdistan #notoexecution #justice #politicalprison #Iran #politics #DeathPenalty

حمید حسین‌نژاد حیدرانلو، زندانی سیاسی کُرد و پدر سه فرزند، سحرگاه دوشنبه اول اردیبهشت ۱۴۰۴، به‌صورت مخفیانه اعدام شد. این اعدام در حالی صورت گرفت که خانواده‌اش پیش‌تر از توقف اجرای حکم خبر داده بودند.

او در فروردین ۱۴۰۲ در منطقه مرزی چالدران بازداشت و به اتهام «بغی» به اعدام محکوم شده بود. در طول بازداشت، حسین‌نژاد بیش از ۱۱ ماه را در سلول انفرادی بدون دسترسی به وکیل گذراند و تحت شکنجه‌های شدید جسمی و روانی قرار گرفت تا به مشارکت در درگیری مسلحانه‌ای اعتراف کند که طبق مدارک، در زمان وقوع آن در ترکیه حضور داشته است.

دادگاه انقلاب ارومیه، بدون بررسی مستندات دفاعی و در یک جلسه کوتاه، حکم اعدام او را صادر کرد؛ حکمی که در دیوان عالی کشور نیز تأیید شد.

پس از اعدام، مقامات قضایی از تحویل جسد به خانواده خودداری کرده و اجازه برگزاری مراسم ختم را نیز ندادند.

#اعدام #حقوقبشر #حمیدحسین‌نژاد #کردستان #نهبهاعدام #عدالت #زندان سیاسی