Today in Labor History February 16, 1848: Octave Mirbeau, French novelist and playwright was born. Mirbeau wrote highly transgressive novels that dealt with violence, abuse and psychological detachment. He was also an anarchist and supporter of Alfred Dreyfuss, the Jewish French military officer wrongfully convicted of treason in an antisemitic show trial. He completed his novel, “The Torture Garden,” during the Dreyfess trial and dedicated it to "the priests, soldiers, judges, to those people who educate, instruct and govern men, I dedicate these pages of Murder and Blood."

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