'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
The above poster is from a series I'm undertaking on radical history, specifically New Zealand events. I was asked by Justseeds, a radical co-op in the US to contribute to their People's History Project, and I decided to concentrate on Waihi. However, we decided it was kind of negative and that victories by labour/radical movements are often overlooked, so I think I may do a new poster on the 8 hour work day and NZ. Not sure yet…
Anyway, today is the anniversary of 'Black Tuesday', so it seems fitting that I post it up. It will still be screenprinted, 2 colour, around A2 size.
The text on the poster reads:
"AOTEAROA / NEW ZEALAND On Black Tuesday — November 12th, 1912 — the New Zealand Police and their ‘organised thugs’ stormed the Miners Workers Union Hall, stronghold of Waihi unionists on strike against the existence of a rival union, believed by many to have been assisted by the Waihi Gold Mining Company. Frederick George Evans was beaten to the ground by a policeman and left to die in the local police cell — resulting in New Zealand’s first official death during an industrial dispute and effectively ending the Waihi Strike. Loyal unionists, women and children were then rounded up and driven out of Waihi by ‘scabs’ while police looked on and did nothing."
Obviously, context, causes and events were a lot more complex than what is on the poster (ie some put foward that the strike was actually more a battle between the Red Feds and more militant, IWW/anarchist inspired workers, and that the death of Evans and how it unfolded is still disputed), but for the medium it seems to be enough.
For more info on the Waihi Strike, check out the following books and sites (there's more, but this is all I can remember of the top of my head):
"The Red and The Gold" by Stanley Roche
"The Red Feds" by Erik Olssen
"The Tragic Story of the Waihi Strike" by NZ Federation of Labour
www.nzhistory.net.nz
www.tuhp.org.nz
Related
http://www.garagecollective.blogspot.com
Comments
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
Bro, the poster looks Ok but the main logo sux
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
Main logo? Can you expand? You mean the text at the top? It's woodcut type, that's why it looks random. I quite like it, but that's my opinion!
Jared D
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
I like it. The Frederick Evans Memorial Committee is holding a rememberance in Waihi, I think this saturday or sunday.
Email me for more info and I'll flick it on to you tommorow. simon.oosterman@ndu.org.nz
Just a side note - they were influenced by IWW - but the IWW was more than anarchist, the influence is probably more american socialist which was quite libertarian.
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
Cheers, yeah I realise that. I tend to define anarchism as libertarian socialism (which for me, includeds anarcho-syndicalism and labour histories) as opposed to post-left anarchists, but i should have made that clearer maybe.
Jared D
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
Jared can you please email me. Cheers.
Re: 'Black Tuesday' and the Waihi Strike — November 12, 1912.
great site, i live in Waihi and will look forward to the 100 yr celebrations ( unlike our local mining company)