13 October 1948: Ruppert brewery strike

On this day, 23 October 1913, suffragettes carried out an arson attack on Bristol University's recently-built boat house at their athletics ground. Suffragette literature was left nearby as well as a note saying "Business before pleasure. Hobhouse being responsible will pay. Release Mary Richardson." Mary Richardson was a London suffragette who had recently been imprisoned for an arson attack on a house in Hampton-on-Thames. Hobhouse was presumably aristocrat and Liberal cabinet minister Charles Hobhouse. In retaliation for the attack, around 300 Bristol University students attacked the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) shop which was nearby, smashing its windows, and burning its literature in the street. The student publication subsequently stated: “We may congratulate ourselves on the completeness of our revenge on the ‘Suffs'… The arm of the law is just too short to reach these female fanatics”. This incident was one of many such arson attacks by the WSPU. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12633/bristol-sports-pavilion-attack

On this day, 22 October 1921, workers at the Castleconnell fisheries in Ireland went on strike after their boss repeatedly failed to attend arbitration meetings to address their demands. When he failed to make concessions, workers escalated their tactics by occupying fisheries and declaring a soviet (workers council). The Dáil cabinet instructed police and volunteers to evict the strikers, but the workers held out until December 22, when they agreed to leave for a final arbitration session, which sided very much with the workers. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/12632/castleconnell-fisheries-strike

On this day, 21 October 1935, the St Vincent labour rebellion began on the British-occupied Caribbean island when workers protesting against high prices in the capital, Kingstown, were fired on by police. People were protesting against plans to maintain sugar tariffs which helped producers at the expense of consumers. They held an angry rally outside the courthouse, where they smashed windows and damaged the cars of officials. The governor and attorney general were attacked, and the crowd ransacked the office of a councillor and plantation owner, and liberated 10 prisoners. Armed police read the Riot Act and then began firing into the crowd, killing one and injuring several. Rioting then spread to Georgetown and Chateaubelair, and protesters cut telephone wires and destroyed bridges. At midnight that night, a British warship arrived and authorities declared a state of emergency the next day which lasted for 3 weeks. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9431/st-vincent-labour-rebellion

On this day, 20 October 1901, hundreds of workers at the sugar refinery in Rosario, Argentina, demonstrated outside their factory for a pay increase and a maximum 10-hour working day. The strike was attended by anarchist leaders such as Romulo Ovidi. After being identified by the police, the officers tried to arrest them without provocation, unleashing disorder, which they tried to suppress with sabres. Anarchist and Yugoslavian migrant worker Cosme Budislavich, 34, was shot in the back of the head by the police as he tried to flee the scene. Later, officers arrested other workers and witnesses. The working class of various industries - including railway workers, mill workers and bricklayers - responded three days later with a general strike and a repudiation rally attended by more than 8000 people, including Virginia Bolten. Today, a square in Rosario is named after Cosme Budislavich. Before the strike, Florencio Sánchez, journalist and playwright, wrote: "Workers! Everywhere in the world our comrades are fighting for their welfare against the usurers of all countries, showing that the exploited are not ready to compromise. The time of the sheep who let themselves be sheared is gone. The bosses have henchmen to guard the wealth produced by us; they have everything they need to resist: we have our arms and our unbreakable will to defend ourselves and to triumph. And when they think to crush us by hunger, let us agree that bread and freedom are not asked for, they are taken". "We are all exploited and therefore we must unite to fight against capital. Long live workers' solidarity! Long live the strike!" More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9321/cosme-budislavich-killed-by-police

On this day, 19 October 1945, the UK Labour government decided to deport hundreds of Chinese seamen who were living in Liverpool, 20,000 of whom had been brought to the city to assist the war effort in World War II. The Home Office claimed they were "an undesirable element" in the city. However, in reality the law-abiding behaviour of Chinese migrant workers had received much official praise. Government records show the real reason was that local "authorities were anxious to secure the use of the housing accommodation which the Chinese occupied". The government had no legal justification for the deportations, so to expel them authorities varied the sailors' landing conditions so that they would have to leave by a certain date. Any still in the city beyond that point could then be arrested and sent back to China. Even many men with British wives and British-born children were deported, and they were not informed that they had the legal right to stay. Some of their wives were then stripped of their citizenship and forced to leave as well. For others, and unmarried couples, the men were forced to leave their partners and children in Britain, never to see them again. More information, sources and map: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9142/uk-decides-to-expel-chinese-seamen