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THIS WEEK IN PEOPLE’S HISTORY, NOV 6–12  
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_ Political Violence, Way Back When (1919), A Very Catchy Ditty
(1949), Death With Dignity (1994), A Very Important Conference, I
Think (1984), When Ernie Met Bert (1969), A Very Big Win for Militant
Musicians (1944), Apartheid Must Go! (1974) _

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_POLITICAL VIOLENCE, WAY BACK WHEN_

ON NOVEMBER 6, 1919, 105 YEARS AGO, many U.S. law enforcement agencies
-- federal, state, and local -- were putting the finishing touches on
preparations for a massive, nationwide attack on progressive
organizations and their members. 

A day later they staged the largest coordinated police action against
civil liberties ever to occur in the U.S. (up until then), arresting
and brutalizing hundreds of dissidents (plus hundreds of innocent
bystanders) and seizing tons of political publications printing
equipment in 36 U.S. cities, including Boston, New York, Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San
Francisco and Seattle. 

The event, which surely terrorized almost anyone in the country who
was critical of government repression, was planned and orchestrated by
the U.S. Department of Justice and its leader, Attorney General
Mitchell Palmer. It was the first of the so-called Palmer Raids, which
were carried out with searches and seizures that were characterized by
violence and lack of judicial warrants. 

From a strictly law-enforcement point of view, the raids were a
failure because very few of the arrested were ever convicted of a
crime or deported. But the raids' lawless brutality and permanent
destruction of property were a set-back to the targeted individuals
and organizations. and they sent a clear signal that there were few
bars to illegal reactionary violence in the U.S. Read about the
experience of one Palmer Raid victim, Crystal Eastman, here:
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_A SONG YOU PROBABLY WON’T FORGET_

NOVEMBER 7, 1949, IS THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY of a mayoral election in
Boston, Massachusetts, that is almost certainly best-remembered
because of its lasting influence on songs of political protest.

One of the five candidates to be Boston’s mayor was Walter
O’Brien, a member of the left-wing Progressive Party. O’Brien
finished dead last in the polling and would be totally forgotten but
for one thing. Two of his supporters – Jacqueline Steiner and Bess
Lomax Hawes – wrote a song about O’Brien’s campaign promise to
lower the fare on the Boston public system known as the M.T.A. 

The catchy ditty, “Charlie on the M.T.A.” has been an exemplar of
a political protest song for three-quarters of a century.  If you
haven’t ever heard it, or just want to hear it again, click here:
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_DEATH WITH DIGNITY_

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, IS THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY of the day Oregon voters
approved the state’s Death With Dignity Act, making Oregon the first
U.S. state and one of the first jurisdictions in the world to permit
physician-assisted suicide with certain restrictions.
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_A VERY IMPORTANT CONFERENCE, I THINK_

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, IS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY of the first Hackers’
Conference, which was held in Sausalito, California.

Among the 150 attendees in the 1984 inaugural event were John Draper,
Richard Greenblatt, Ted Nelson, Richard Stallman, Bob Wallace and
Steve Wozniak.

The conference, which became and remains an annual event, is an
invitation-only gathering of information technology designers,
engineers and programmers to discuss the latest developments and
innovations in the computer industry. People in the industry swear
it’s very important and who am I to disagree with
them? [link removed]

_WHEN ERNIE MET BERT IN 1969_

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10 IS THE 55TH ANNIVERSARY of the first day that
Sesame Street was broadcast.

Why is that factoid commemorated by This Week in People’s History? 

For a highly informative and fascinating answer to that question,
click here to read “How We Got to Sesame Street” by New Yorker
staff writer (and Harvard University professor) Jill Lepore:
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_A VERY BIG WIN FOR MILITANT MUSICIANS IN 1944_

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, IS THE 80TH ANNIVERSARY of a major strike victory
that holds important lessons for today.

After a rock solid national strike that lasted for 27 months, 136,000
members of the American Federation of Musicians bent the record
industry to their will and forced the huge record labels – RCA
Victor and Columbia – to agree to pay the union a fee (known as a
royalty) for every record sold.

The giant record companies did their contractual duty and paid the
union a small sum for every record they sold, with the result that the
fund collected roughly $4.5 million in three years, which made it
possible for the union to hire its own unemployed members and produce
nearly 19,000 free performances of all kinds. 

The recording industry hated the royalty-based fund, and soon
persuaded the U.S. Congress to pass a law making it illegal, but the
lesson was clear: if Congress had not put its thumb on the scale,
there was indeed tremendous power in the union.

 There are many relevant lessons – for today’s union members and
for the general public – in the AFM’s 1944 victory, which are
clearly explained in this article published in 2022 by
Jacobin:  [link removed]

_APARTHEID MUST GO!_

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, IS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY of the day that the
United Nations General Assembly voted 91-22 to suspend South
Africa’s racist apartheid regime from participating in the UN. 

The 22 countries voting “No” were Australia, Canada, Denmark,
France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom,
United States, Uruguay, Venezuela, West Germany, and Zaire. 

The General Assembly did not expel South Africa from the UN because it
lacked the authority to do so. South Africa remained a
non-participating member of the UN until 1994, when the suspension was
lifted after apartheid regime was voted out of office.
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