workingclasshistory:On this day, 16 September 1917, Eva Lynch, a member of the revolutionary Industr
workingclasshistory:On this day, 16 September 1917, Eva Lynch, a member of the revolutionary Industrial Workers of the World union in Australia was arrested while addressing a meeting in Sydney, where she was training women public speakers to try to keep the union alive while so many of the men were in prison. She was charged under the Unlawful Associations Act, which prohibited membership of the IWW due to the union’s effective opposition to World War I. Appearing in court wearing a coat embroidered with a red flag, she pleaded not guilty but was convicted and sentenced to four months’ hard labour – less than the statutory six months because she was a woman; the first to be prosecuted under the Act. Learn more about the history of the IWW in Australia in this podcast episode: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/01/28/e19-the-iww-in-australia/ https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1529463643905447/?type=3 -- source link