Today in Labor History August 16, 1819: Police attacked unemployed workers demonstrating in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England. When the cavalry charged, at least 18 people died and over 600 were injured. The event became known as the Peterloo Massacre, named for the Battle of Waterloo, where many of the massacre victims had fought just four years earlier. Following the Napoleonic Wars there was an acute economic slump, terrible unemployment and crop failures, all worsened by the Corn Laws, which kept bread prices high. Only 11% of adult males had the vote. Radical reformers tried to mobilize the masses to force the government to back down. The movement was particularly strong in the north-west, where the Manchester Patriotic Union organized the mass rally for Peter’s Field. As soon as the meeting began, local magistrates tried to arrest working class radical, Henry Hunt, and several others. Hunt inspired the Chartist movement, which came shortly after Peterloo.

John Lees, who later died from wounds he received at the massacre, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Before his death, he said that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder." In the wake of the massacre, the government passed the Six Acts, to suppress any further attempts at radical reform. The event also led indirectly to the founding of the Manchester Guardian newspaper.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about the massacre in his poem, “The Masque of Anarchy.” The authorities censored it until 1832, ten years after his death. Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo is an excellent portrayal of the massacre, and the events leading up to it. Many writers have written novels about Peterloo, including the relatively recent “Song of Peterloo,” by Carolyn O'Brien, and “All the People,” Jeff Kaye. However, perhaps the most important is Isabella Banks's 1876 novel, “The Manchester Man,” since she was there when it happened and included testimonies from people who were involved.

#workingclass #LaborHistory#peterloo #waterloo #unemployed #poverty #freespeech #massacre #anarchism #novel #poetry#literature #books#poet #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

Today in Labor History August 16, 1819: Police attacked unemployed workers demonstrating in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England. When the cavalry charged, at least 18 people died and over 600 were injured. The event became known as the Peterloo Massacre, named for the Battle of Waterloo, where many of the massacre victims had fought just four years earlier. Following the Napoleonic Wars there was an acute economic slump, terrible unemployment and crop failures, all worsened by the Corn Laws, which kept bread prices high. Only 11% of adult males had the vote. Radical reformers tried to mobilize the masses to force the government to back down. The movement was particularly strong in the north-west, where the Manchester Patriotic Union organized the mass rally for Peter’s Field. As soon as the meeting began, local magistrates tried to arrest working class radical, Henry Hunt, and several others. Hunt inspired the Chartist movement, which came shortly after Peterloo.

John Lees, who later died from wounds he received at the massacre, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Before his death, he said that he had never been in such danger as at Peterloo: "At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder." In the wake of the massacre, the government passed the Six Acts, to suppress any further attempts at radical reform. The event also led indirectly to the founding of the Manchester Guardian newspaper.

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote about the massacre in his poem, “The Masque of Anarchy.” The authorities censored it until 1832, ten years after his death. Mike Leigh’s 2018 film Peterloo is an excellent portrayal of the massacre, and the events leading up to it. Many writers have written novels about Peterloo, including the relatively recent “Song of Peterloo,” by Carolyn O'Brien, and “All the People,” Jeff Kaye. However, perhaps the most important is Isabella Banks's 1876 novel, “The Manchester Man,” since she was there when it happened and included testimonies from people who were involved.

#workingclass #LaborHistory#peterloo #waterloo #unemployed #poverty #freespeech #massacre #anarchism #novel #poetry#literature #books#poet #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

It's finally done! I'm feeling proud. 🩶

Let's go back a bit. This was an idea that hit me one evening and it just needed to be written. It would have been far too long to post as a standalone, so I decided to break it up into chapters, as you guys know. My girlfriend, @aperfectsong, helped me with the rest. You can all thank her for a few of the plot ideas in the very beginning. Somehow, 18 chapters happened, and I love the way it came out.

Anyway, this story is finished now! Enjoy your reading.

⸻

Who else would come to Lix's aid but Randall and Bel? It's just the way things are.

(Expect deep dives into how the BBC and television news programs ran during the late 1950s, period-typical bigotry and sexism, and a good helping of emotional angst. Slow romance is the best kind.)

You can read "The Razor and the Balm" here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53738239/chapters/136035166

@youseeatortoise @strangeseawolf @DoctorMonkey2 @doctorwanderer @QuokkaMocha @Luna_Catriona @EvelynCold @NeanderthalPride @aslgms@paul @Firlefanz @therivercrow

#WritingCommunity#Writer#Author#ArchiveOfOurOwn#AO3 #TheHour

Today in Labor History August 12, 1936: The First International Brigades arrived in Spain to fight against Franco. Organized by the Communist International, between 40,000 and 60,000 men and women from around the world fought on the Republican side against the fascists. 10,000 of them died. Thousands more international activists joined anti-Stalinist forces, like the socialist POUM, or anarchist groups, like the FAI, CNT and the Durruti Column. Americans defied federal law to participate in the International Brigade, as members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Famous Lincoln participants included Avant Garde composer Conlon Nancarrow, labor organizer Delmer Berg, scifi author Theodore Cogswell, novelist William Herrick. The Tom Mooney Company, named for San Francisco labor organizer, Tom Mooney, who was wrongly imprisoned for the WWI Preparedness Day bombing, was commanded by African American labor organizer Oliver Law, the first African-American to command an integrated American military unit. Many African-Americans joined the anti-franco forces. Langston Hughes, who was writing for the Baltimore Afro-American, said: "Give Franco a hood, and he would be a member of the Ku Klux Klan." There was also a George Washington Battlian, and a John Brown battery. Once the U.S. entered World War II, the FBI recommended that none of the veterans of the Spanish war against fascism be given any promotions within the U.S. military, to prevent the “rise of communists” in their ranks. The House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) blacklisted all American veterans of the Spanish war.

You can read my complete article on Tom Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #lincolnbrigades #spain #fascism #antifa #antifascism #anarchism #communism #socialism #stalin#fai #cnt #durruti #tommooney #oliverlaw #union #books #author #writer #composer#Blackmastadon @bookstadon

Today in Labor History August 12, 1936: The First International Brigades arrived in Spain to fight against Franco. Organized by the Communist International, between 40,000 and 60,000 men and women from around the world fought on the Republican side against the fascists. 10,000 of them died. Thousands more international activists joined anti-Stalinist forces, like the socialist POUM, or anarchist groups, like the FAI, CNT and the Durruti Column. Americans defied federal law to participate in the International Brigade, as members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Famous Lincoln participants included Avant Garde composer Conlon Nancarrow, labor organizer Delmer Berg, scifi author Theodore Cogswell, novelist William Herrick. The Tom Mooney Company, named for San Francisco labor organizer, Tom Mooney, who was wrongly imprisoned for the WWI Preparedness Day bombing, was commanded by African American labor organizer Oliver Law, the first African-American to command an integrated American military unit. Many African-Americans joined the anti-franco forces. Langston Hughes, who was writing for the Baltimore Afro-American, said: "Give Franco a hood, and he would be a member of the Ku Klux Klan." There was also a George Washington Battlian, and a John Brown battery. Once the U.S. entered World War II, the FBI recommended that none of the veterans of the Spanish war against fascism be given any promotions within the U.S. military, to prevent the “rise of communists” in their ranks. The House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) blacklisted all American veterans of the Spanish war.

You can read my complete article on Tom Mooney here: https://michaeldunnauthor.com/2024/05/19/tom-mooney-and-warren-billings/

#workingclass #LaborHistory #lincolnbrigades #spain #fascism #antifa #antifascism #anarchism #communism #socialism #stalin#fai #cnt #durruti #tommooney #oliverlaw #union #books #author #writer #composer#Blackmastadon @bookstadon

Good day all! I was out on vacation last week with my family, so that's why there weren't any episodes of Fireside Fedi!

This week though! WOW! I'm nervous and super excited! All times are Eastern, UTC-4.

2025-08-12 1500 @benpate developer of the indie music hosting platform @howdy ! SUPER excited to talk with Ben and all of the amazingness he's working on.

2025-08-13 1100 @rwg is the Ontario Research Chair of Digital Governance for Social Justice, York University. Robert has written numerous books about the current environment of social media, including his next book "Move Slowly and Build Bridges: Mastodon, The Fediverse, and the Struggle for Democratic Social Media."

Watch the show live:
#Owncast #Livestream - https://stream.firesidefedi.live

After the show:
#Peertube #VOD - https://video.firesidefedi.live
#Castopod #Fedicast - https://audio.firesidefedi.live

#Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaJ15PXgRihoPku7JMdDnsw

All #Links - https://firesidefedi.live

#stream #live #interview #firesideFedi #FsF #people #peopleOverPlatforms #protocolsOverPlatforms #fedi #fediverse #open #internet #openInternet #podcast #show #episode #peertube #vod #castopod #writefreely #lemmy #boostplease #fedizen #btfree #bigTechFree #nonprofit #signup #tubeFree #mastodon #research #indieMusic #bandwagon #emmisary #socialMedia #bride #democratic #ontario #governance #books #author #writer #developer #software

If you're enjoying the show, please consider supporting our new nonprofit btfree.org at https://givebutter.com/btfree. We're currently running https://tubefree.org which is a moderated peertube open for signups right now!

Other authors, I actually have enough audio to make a little Sightless Scribbles starter pack audiobook of sorts. Thing is, I am literally the worst with math, so if I tried to do any royalties, I would be in court quicker than you can blink because of my inadequate math skills, so what audiobook platform is everybody using? I don’t want to go with ACX because #Audible hates creatives and is actively trying to harm multiple creators, so does anyone have any other suggestions? Is there a platform that would handle these royalty payouts for me? I’m also not even sure if narrators get royalties or not? I paid for all of these narrations in the past. I’m just collecting them now. #Publishing#Author#Authors#IndieAuthors

Other authors, I actually have enough audio to make a little Sightless Scribbles starter pack audiobook of sorts. Thing is, I am literally the worst with math, so if I tried to do any royalties, I would be in court quicker than you can blink because of my inadequate math skills, so what audiobook platform is everybody using? I don’t want to go with ACX because #Audible hates creatives and is actively trying to harm multiple creators, so does anyone have any other suggestions? Is there a platform that would handle these royalty payouts for me? I’m also not even sure if narrators get royalties or not? I paid for all of these narrations in the past. I’m just collecting them now. #Publishing#Author#Authors#IndieAuthors

Institute for Social Ecology: An Important New Book on the Praxis of Social Ecology

https://social-ecology.org/wp/2025/08/praxis-of-social-ecology/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=praxis-of-social-ecology

A review of Eleanor Finley's new book, Practicing Social Ecology: From Bookchin to Rojava and Beyond
The post An Important New Book on the Praxis of Social Ecology appeared first on Institute for Social Ecology.

#ArticleArchive#Author#BookReviews#BrianTokar

Chapter 16 is here! Just two chapters left...

⸻

Lix is back, and Randall is struggling. Maybe she's struggling too. Bel has a bright idea.

You can read Chapter 16 of "The Razor and the Balm" here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53738239/chapters/178045801

@strangeseawolf @DoctorMonkey2 @doctorwanderer @QuokkaMocha @Luna_Catriona @EvelynCold @NeanderthalPride @aslgms@paul @Firlefanz @therivercrow

#WritingCommunity#Writer#Author#ArchiveOfOurOwn#AO3 #TheHour

#ScribesAndMakers #ttmd 2025.08.03 @JulieLiddellWhitehead Author Talk to Me Day

Sometimes I get the opportunity to research and sometimes I don't, like today (I'm currently unwell). I hope I'm asking a fair question here; beyond that, that it's not something I should have seen in a bio if I'd looked.

Your book collection of short stories appears to be about characters living through hard times and dealing with hard decisions made or needful. It feels like something an author would write in part to work through their own demons or to make sense of a nonsensical world. Is this the case for you? If not, what drives you and your writing? What do you wish the reader to feel they have learned when they finish the reading the last page of your story?

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing and #CommentingIsCool

#gender #fiction #writer #author
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion

Today in Labor History July 31, 1968: Students protested the Olympics in Mexico City. They occupied schools and began a General Strike. Cops violently attacked them. The violence culminated with the Tlatelolco massacre, October 2, during which the cops slaughtered 350-400 people, using snipers. They arrested and tortured over 1,300.

Alejandro Jodorowsky dramatized the massacre in his surreal film, “The Holy Mountain” (1973). In it, he showed birds, fruits, vegetables and other things falling and being ripped out of the wounds of the dying students. The late author, Roberto Bolaño, recounted the massacre in his novel “Amulet” (1999). He also retells the story in his novel, “The Savage Detectives.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #students #olympics #mexico #protest #massacre #tlatelolco #generalstrike #police #policebrutality #policemurder#robertobolaño #film #author #books #fiction #novel #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 31, 1968: Students protested the Olympics in Mexico City. They occupied schools and began a General Strike. Cops violently attacked them. The violence culminated with the Tlatelolco massacre, October 2, during which the cops slaughtered 350-400 people, using snipers. They arrested and tortured over 1,300.

Alejandro Jodorowsky dramatized the massacre in his surreal film, “The Holy Mountain” (1973). In it, he showed birds, fruits, vegetables and other things falling and being ripped out of the wounds of the dying students. The late author, Roberto Bolaño, recounted the massacre in his novel “Amulet” (1999). He also retells the story in his novel, “The Savage Detectives.”

#workingclass #LaborHistory #students #olympics #mexico #protest #massacre #tlatelolco #generalstrike #police #policebrutality #policemurder#robertobolaño #film #author #books #fiction #novel #writer @bookstadon

Today in Labor History July 29, 1962: British aristocrat and fascist leader, Oswald Mosely, was beaten by antifascists in London’s east end. Even after police began to escort him away, activists from the antifascist 62 Group (AKA 62 Committee), led by Jewish, communist, and black activists, were able to pelt him with eggs, fruit and rocks. He later called a rally, which the activists successfully disrupted with shouts of “down with fascists.” The only people arrested were antifascist activists.

62 Group disrupted fascist meetings throughout the early to mid-60s, beating up or attacking fascists whenever they had the chance, much like the Jewish antifascist 43 Group did in the 1940s. As a result, they were able to significantly reduce the power and effectiveness of the fascists in the 1960s.

Mosely had been a Labor MP and junior minister from 1918-1931. As the leader of the British Union of Fascists, publicly supported antisemitism and tried to form alliances with Mussolini and Hitler. During the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, antifascist demonstrators including unions, anarchists, socialists, communists, liberals and Jews, prevented the BUF from marching through the East End of London. During World War Two, Moseley and his wife were imprisoned as threats to the national security.

Mosely is portrayed in numerous works of fiction, including the television series, The Peaky Blinders. He is portrayed in Pink Floyd’s the wall; Aldous Huxley’s 1928 novel, Point Counter Point; HG Wells's 1939 novel The Holy Terror; PG Wodehouse's Jeeves series; and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #oswaldmosely #fascism #antifascism #london #antisemitism #anarchism #communism #socialism #racism #books #novel #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

It’s my birthday! 🎉🥳
As a #disabled and #trans#Artist I’d love to receive boosts, art commissions, and storybook (ebook) purchases today 🖤

https://hyperfollow.com/LukeOrion

Thank you 🥰
#DisabledArtist #lgbtqia #neurodivergent #nonbinary #illustrator#digitalArtist#TransMusician #author

Today in Labor History July 29, 1962: British aristocrat and fascist leader, Oswald Mosely, was beaten by antifascists in London’s east end. Even after police began to escort him away, activists from the antifascist 62 Group (AKA 62 Committee), led by Jewish, communist, and black activists, were able to pelt him with eggs, fruit and rocks. He later called a rally, which the activists successfully disrupted with shouts of “down with fascists.” The only people arrested were antifascist activists.

62 Group disrupted fascist meetings throughout the early to mid-60s, beating up or attacking fascists whenever they had the chance, much like the Jewish antifascist 43 Group did in the 1940s. As a result, they were able to significantly reduce the power and effectiveness of the fascists in the 1960s.

Mosely had been a Labor MP and junior minister from 1918-1931. As the leader of the British Union of Fascists, publicly supported antisemitism and tried to form alliances with Mussolini and Hitler. During the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, antifascist demonstrators including unions, anarchists, socialists, communists, liberals and Jews, prevented the BUF from marching through the East End of London. During World War Two, Moseley and his wife were imprisoned as threats to the national security.

Mosely is portrayed in numerous works of fiction, including the television series, The Peaky Blinders. He is portrayed in Pink Floyd’s the wall; Aldous Huxley’s 1928 novel, Point Counter Point; HG Wells's 1939 novel The Holy Terror; PG Wodehouse's Jeeves series; and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #oswaldmosely #fascism #antifascism #london #antisemitism #anarchism #communism #socialism #racism #books #novel #author #writer #fiction @bookstadon

It’s my birthday! 🎉🥳
As a #disabled and #trans#Artist I’d love to receive boosts, art commissions, and storybook (ebook) purchases today 🖤

https://hyperfollow.com/LukeOrion

Thank you 🥰
#DisabledArtist #lgbtqia #neurodivergent #nonbinary #illustrator#digitalArtist#TransMusician #author

#ScribesAndMakers 2025.07.22 — Show us something you've created. Tell us the story behind it.

There's not much of a story, here. Both my spouse and I have families where preserving fruit in alcohol was a thing (Ukrainian & Italian extraction). In both traditions, what got used was with a neutral spirit, aka vodka. My grandmother used to make her vodka, and reportedly blew up the kitchen sink in a Chicago apartment a long time ago.

These cherries are preserved in bourbon, and newly made so they've about a month to go to be fully enjoyed. I'm creative when it comes to food and food preparation, so a few years ago after making vodka cherries and having left over cherries after running out of the Tito's, I tried a bunch of things like Triple Sec and Old Granddad. The batch I made with Uncle Nearest generated a fandom.

Sadly, I used my reserved Uncle Nearest for this batch. The new bottles just bought, obviously made by a distiller who bought out the original entrepreneurs, cheapened it. It was obvious: dark brown verse light reddish brown, even discounting the address change. Sad.

I think they'll make good cherries next year, though, if not for drinking neat.

More in #AltText.

[Author retains copyright (c)2025 R.S.]

#BoostingIsSharing

#writer #author #photographer #chef #cooking
#writing #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #writers
#RSdiscussion