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#prison

39 posts35 participants1 post today
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MikeDunnAuthor

Today in Labor History March 29, 1935: French illegalist anarchist Clément Duval died. He was a major influence on other illegalist anarchists of the era, including members of the Bonnot Gang. In 1886, Duval robbed the mansion of a Parisian socialite. He was condemned to death, but his sentence was later commuted to hard labor on Devil's Island, French Guiana, setting for the novel Papillon. According to Paul Albert, "The story of Clement Duval was lifted and, shorn of all politics, turned into the bestseller Papillon." In a letter printed in the November 1886 issue of the anarchist paper Le Révolté, Duval famously declared: "Theft is but restitution carried out by an individual to his own benefit, being conscious of another's undue monopolization of collectively produced wealth."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #prison #devilsisland #papillon #clementduval #bonnotgang #novel #fiction #books #author #writer @bookstadon

Black and white sketch of Duval. By Unknown author - http://anarcoefemerides.balearweb.net/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4649237
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MikeDunnAuthor

Today in Labor History March 29, 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed at Sing Sing in 1953. The Rosenberg’s sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol were adopted by Abel Meeropol, the composer of “Strange Fruit,” (made famous by Billie Holiday). The sons maintained their parents’ innocence. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, decoded Soviet cables showed that their father had, in fact, collaborated, but that their mother was innocent. They continued to fight for the mother’s pardon, but Obama refused to grant it. The Rosenberg’s sons were among the last students to attend the anarchist Modern School, in Lakewood, New Jersey, before it finally shut its doors in 1958.

The Modern School movement began in 1901, in Barcelona, Spain, when Francisco Ferrer opened his Escuela Moderna. It was one of the very first Spanish schools to be fully secular, co-educational, and open to all students, regardless of class. His ideas were so popular that 40 more Modern Schools opened in Barcelona in just a few years, while 80 other schools adopted his textbooks. In 1909, there were mass protests and a General Strike against Spanish intervention in Morocco. The state responded with a week of terror and repression, during which they slaughtered over 600 workers and falsely executed Ferrer as an instigator of the protests. His execution led to worldwide protests. Modern Schools started to pop up outside of Spain, inspired by his original Escuela Moderna, including 20 in the U.S.

For more on the Modern School movement, read my article: michaeldunnauthor.com/2022/04/

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, separated by heavy wire screen, as they leave U.S. Court House after being found guilty by jury. Ethyl is wearing a bonnet. Julius has glasses, and a thin mustache. By Roger Higgins, photographer from "New York World-Telegram and the Sun" - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c17772, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1309692
#workingclass#LaborHistory#deathpenalty
Public
Nonilex

#Trump on Friday commuted the sentence & probation of #CarlosWatson, a co-founder of the now-defunct #digital #media company Ozy Media, on the day he was set to surrender to prison.

Watson was sentenced in Dec to almost 10yrs in #prison for #fraud, #IdentityTheft, #SecuritiesFraud, & #WireFraud.

Watson & Ozy were also ordered to pay $96M in restitution & forfeiture. As part of Trump’s commutation, they will no longer have to pay.

#law #felon47 #CFPB #SEC #corruption
cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-comm

CNBCTrump commutes sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson just before prison surrenderOzy had falsely claimed to have deals with Google and Oprah Winfrey before the company and CEO Watson were criminally charged.
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MikeDunnAuthor

Today In Labor History March 26, 1918: American anarchist Philip Grosser wrote about being tortured in the prison on Alcatraz Island, while serving time there for refusing to serve in World War I. By 1920, he was the only draft resistor still serving time at Alcatraz. Alexander Berkman referred to him as "one of [my] finest comrades."

#workingclass #LaborHistory #anarchism #philipgrosser #alexanderberkman #alcatraz #prison #torture #WarResistance #wwi #antiwar #writer #author #books #biography @bookstadon

Cover of Grosser's pamphlet, "Alactraz, Uncle Sam's Devil's Island," with blue cover and sketch of the prison building on Alcatraz island. The pamphlet is laying over a page in Grosser's biography, with a sketch of Grosser, looking straight ahead, clean shaven, in a suit and tie.
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MikeDunnAuthor

Today In Labor History March 26, 1910: Congress amended the Immigration Act of 1907 to specifically bar entrance of “paupers, anarchists, criminals and the diseased.” The amendment was specifically designed to limit entry of Eastern and Southern European immigrants, many of whom were becoming radicalized by the deplorable working and living conditions in late 19th and early 20th century America. The law came in the midst of a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria, whipped up by government and media-generated pro-eugenics propaganda. The original law included the following statement of “undesirables” to be prohibited entry into the United States: “All idiots, imbeciles, feebleminded persons, epileptics, insane persons, and persons who have been insane within five years previous; persons who have had two or more attacks of insanity at any time previously; paupers; persons likely to become a public charge; professional beggars; persons afflicted with tuberculosis or with a loathsome or dangerous contagious disease.”

$5 million gold card anyone?

The pro-eugenics Medical Review of Reviews hired four vagrants to demonstrate on Wall Street in 1915. The picture’s original caption said the signs the men were paid to carry asked “some very pertinent questions.” Some of the signs read, “Would the prisons and asylums be filled if my kind had no children?” and “I can’t read this sign. By what right I have children?”
#workingclass#LaborHistory#immigration
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