Today in Labor History May 28

 Arrested during the Rochester General Strike

French authorities executed proto-anarchist revolutionary Gracchus Babeuf. Babeuf formed a secret society, known as the Conspiracy of the Equals, that plotted to overthrow the revolutionary government, with one that was truer to Jacobin ideals. The group included Sylvain Maréchal, Jacques Roux, Jean Varlet and others. Throughout his life, Babeuf advocated for the poor and for the abolition of private property. He said “Society must be made to operate in such a way that it eradicates once and for all the desire of a man to become richer, or wiser, or more powerful than others.” - 1797

400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blew themselves up in In Guadeloupe, rather than submit to Napoleon’s troops. Delgres had fought as an officer for Revolutionary France against Great Britain. The Jacobins had freed the slaves, but Napoleon threatened to reimpose slavery throughout the empire. During his resistance, the French army drove Delgrès and his followers into a fort. When they realized there was no escape, they committed suicide by igniting the gunpowder stores, attempting to kill as many French troops as possible in the process. Much later, the French built a memorial for him opposite that of Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian revolution. However, the true location of both men’s remains are a mystery. - 1802

 The Ladies Shoe Binders Society formed in New York. The following year, a similar society formed in Philadelphia. In 1860, 20,000 women shoe workers participated in one of the largest strikes to date. - 1835

The first American law prohibiting employment of women was passed to prevent women from working in coal mines in Illinois. – 1879

At least 30,000 workers in Rochester, New York, participated in a general strike in support of the nearly 500 municipal workers who had been fired for forming a union. The next day, the city agreed to reinstate all of the discharged workers, drop the illegal charges against arrested picketers, and recognize the workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively. – 1946