Today in Labor History April 13, 1919: The military attempted a coup against the Bavarian Republic of the Workers Councils. Anarchists led a successful counter attack.

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Today in Labor History March 15, 1920: The Workers Council movement began a strike in Turin, Italy, which spread to other northern cities by April. Workers took over and occupied factories, running them under their own leadership and rules, bypassing and ignoring the bosses. The government sent warships and soldiers to quash the uprising. Anarchist Errico Malatesta and Antonio Gramsci played key roles in the occupation.

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Today in Labor History February 21, 1919: Kurt Eisner, a socialist activist in the Bavarian revolution and president of the Republic of Councils, was assassinated by extremists in Munich. The Central Council of the Republic declared a General Strike and state of siege in response, leading to the Bavarian Soviet Republic in April 1919. The republic was run through workers’ councils. The reactionary Freikorps paramilitary, along with elements of the German Army, quashed the republic in May. Many of those involved in the overthrow of the Bavarian Soviet Republic went on to become members of the Nazi Party.

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Today in Labor History February 11, 1919: The Seattle General Strike ended after five days as a result of a sell-out compromise by AFL bureaucrats. The strike began in response to government sanctioned wage cuts. Both the AFL and the IWW participated. During the strike, the workers formed councils, which took over virtually all major city services, including food distribution and security. They also continued garbage collection. Laundry workers continued to handle hospital laundry. And firefighters remained on duty. They established a system of food distribution, which provided 30,000 meals each day. Any exemption to the work stoppage had to be ok’d by the General Strike Committee.

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