Today in Labor History August 31, 1909: Francisco Ferrer, the Spanish anarchist educator and creator of the first Modern Schools (Escuelas Modernas), was charged as “author in chief” of the uprising known as the “Tragic Week.” He was executed on October 13, 1909, leading to worldwide condemnation. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in the protests that followed, while supporters created new Modern Schools throughout the world, including dozens in the U.S.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ModernSchool #spain #FranciscoFerrer #education #execution #barcelona #TragicWeek

Today in Labor History June 22, 1914: Anarchists, intending to bomb the Rockefeller Mansion, accidentally blew up the Ferrer Center for anarchist education, killing three anarchists and putting a temporary end to the Modern School. They had been seeking revenge against Rockefeller’s Standard Oil for the Ludlow Massacre (4/20/1914), in which Colorado National Guards and private cops, hired by Rockefeller, attacked a tent colony of 1,200 miners and their families, killing 21, including women and children. The private cops were from the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency, same ones involved in the Matewan Massacre in West Virginia. From September 1913 through end of May, 1914, up to 200 people had died in the Colorado Coalfield War, including 37 cops, soldiers and private detectives fighting for the coal companies, making it one of the deadliest strikes in U.S. history.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #colorado #mining #anarchism #ModernSchool #FranciscoFerrer #rockefeller #union #strike #massacre #ludlow #matewan #cops #PoliceBrutality #police

Today in Labor History June 12, 1907: Spanish authorities released anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer from prison for lack of evidence. They had arrested him for complicity in an assassination attempt against King Alfonso. The bombing had been committed by another young anarchist named Morral, who hid his bomb in a bunch of flowers and tossed it into the royal wedding party, killing 15 and wounding more than 70. Morral had once worked at Ferrer’s Modern School.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ModernSchool #FranciscoFerrer #spain #barcelona #prison #bombing #regicide #PMPress @bookstadon

Today in Labor History June 3, 1910: U.S. anarchists formed the Francisco Ferrer Association in Harlem, one year after the wrongful execution of anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer in Spain. The organization founded libertarian socialist schools throughout the U.S. based on the principles of Ferrer’s Modern Schools. The American Modern Schools were designed to counter the discipline, formality and regimentation of traditional American schools. Regular working-class people ran the schools for the children of workers. They sought to abolish all forms of authority, including educational, with the goal of creating a society based on free association and free thought. They emphasized learning by doing, as well as crafts and reading. They avoided rigid curricula, rote memorization and regimentation, as well as rewards and punishments. They also believed that learning was a life-long process that never ended. Therefore, parents and other adults were encouraged to participate in the operation of the schools and to attend evening and weekend lectures. Some of the speakers at these lectures included Clarence Darrow, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and Man Ray. The schools also served as cultural centers for the promotion of revolutionary unionism, free speech, sexual liberation, and anti-militarism.

Read my full article on the anarchist roots of the Modern School Movement: https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/411-spring-2022/the-modern-school-movement/

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #ModernSchool #FranciscoFerrer #Revolution #union #school #education #children #liberation #FreeSpeech

Today in Labor History May 31, 1905: The Spanish anarchist Alexander Farras threw a bomb into a procession headed by French President Loubet and the King Alphonso XIII of Spain. The leaders were not hurt, though several people were wounded. Farras was never caught. Four other anarchists were arrested, tried and acquitted. Then, the following year, again on May 31, anarchist Mateo Morral made another attempt on King Alphonso XIII. He hid a bomb in a bunch of flowers and threw it at the King during his royal wedding. Because he worked in Modern School’s publishing house and was a friend of Francisco Ferrer (the founder of the first Modern Schools), Ferrer was later arrested and imprisoned as an accomplice.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #anarchism #regicide #atentat #assassination #spain #FranciscoFerrer #ModernSchool #Alexander Farras #bomb

Wenn ich so an meine Schulzeit denke, dann wundere ich mich nicht, warum ich #PauloFreire #FranciscoFerrer bevorzuge ^^ 😆

Today in Labor History January 11, 1911: Leonard Abbott, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman opened the first American Modern School in New York City. They modeled it after the Modern Schools that anarchist Francisco Ferrer had created in Spain. 1909, Ferrer was wrongfully convicted of fomenting an insurrection. He was executed in 1909, leading to worldwide protest. You can read my article on the U.S. Modern School movement here: The Modern School Movement (Fifth Estate, #411, Spring, 2022): https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/411-spring-2022/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #modernschool #anarchism #franciscoferrer #insurrection #prison #deathpenalty #emmagoldman #education #school

Today in Labor History January 10, 1859: Anarchist educator Francisco Ferrer was born. Ferrer started the first Modern Schools in Spain and inspired hundreds more to be created throughout the world. He opposed the Church’s monopoly over education and created Spain’s first secular, co-educational schools. In 1909, a kangaroo court convicted him of fomenting an insurrection. They executed him by firing squad on October 13, 1909. His execution caused worldwide condemnation and protests. George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as well as anarchists and radicals like Peter Kropotkin and Emma Goldman protested the execution.

You can read my article on the U.S. Modern School movement here: The Modern School Movement (Fifth Estate, #411, Spring, 2022). https://www.fifthestate.org/archive/411-spring-2022/the-modern-school-movement/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #prison #deathpenalty #execution #education #school #franciscoferrer #spain #kropotkin #EmmaGoldman

Today in Labor History December 5, 1798: Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was recruited to run a new orphanage in the Swiss town of Stans. This was immediately after the French sacked the town, leaving many children without families or homes. It was also Pestalozzi’s first major foray into education. He would go on to become a major influence on later progressive pedagogues, like Friedrich Froebel (creator of the first kindergartens), and anarchist educators, like Francisco Ferrer, founder of the Modern School movement.

#pestalozzi #anarchism #education #pedagogy #franciscoferrer