1877-2011: 134 Years of Social Struggle in Pilsen Haymarket’s Crucible / Rodištì Revoluce: As German immigrant August Spies made his way down Blue Island Avenue to a rally of striking lumberyard workers on May 3rd 1886, the day before the Haymarket incident, he would have heard other recent immigrants conversing in Czech (or Bohemian as it was than called). Some of them may have been carrying that day’s edition of Svornost, Chicago’s Czech language daily for “freethinkers,” or Budoucnost, the city’s Czech anarchist newspaper. He may have passed one of the Sokol Halls in the neighborhood, Czech community centers and meeting places for athletic, artistic, cultural and political activities. In the 1880’s, Pilsen, the Lower West Side Chicago industrial neighborhood sandwiched between the Union Pacific railroad tracks and the South Branch of the Chicago River, was a Czech enclave. Hence its name, a transplant from the Czech city of Plzen in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, like many of...

Hello pilsenprole readers - if any of you still exist.  Yes, it has been a long damn time since I have been maintaining this blog.  It has been increasingly difficult, first with my intensified job search in the final months of my nearly two years of unemployment, and than as I started my new job as the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization's (PERRO) organizer to spend anytime composing new material.  The really shame is that so much has happened in the past year locally and globally, that should have received more of my attention.  So today I am making an extremely tardy new years pledge of sorts and committing myself to make at least a couple posts every month, from now on.  Hopefully you may find my posts worthy of a few minutes of your time, and hopefully I can start my self back on the track of my original mission, to inform those who do find their way to my blog about important issues a...

May Day 2012 in Chicago... https://photos.app.goo.gl/HCiGfhRKGNAiM2zQ6

Losing your job is hard on any worker. But imagine discovering from the company website that your job is gone. It happened in December to 136 employees of an upscale bakery in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood. Unfortunately, worker center advocates say, such sudden closures with mass firings are not uncommon. Two Chicago worker centers are fighting for laid-off workers left in their wake. Karen Leyva was the assistant office manager at Rolf's Patisserie. She said workers were told on a Saturday the bakery would be closed for cleaning on Sunday and to report to work on Monday. But a worker who helped maintain the company website spotted the closure announcement online. Leyva and Deyanira Alvarez, a customer service rep, quickly organized a phone tree. Read the rest here... http://labornotes.org/2012/02/sudden-business-closures-chicago-prompt-wage-theft-fights

UE workers are again occupying at 1333 N Hickory "Serious Materials" formerly "Republic Window and Door". According to former UE officer and journalist Mike Elk, they are demanding that rather than laying off workers the factory be sold to a company that can keep people on, or be turned over to the workers as a cooperative. Need people to turn out to support them NOW!

There will be a brief update on the victory at Piccolo school on tomorrow's episode of Labor Express Radio. For more see the following links... http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=3073&section=Article and... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tw4PgOeRuLg

Breaking News! Piccolo parents defend their school, children and teachers, protest "Turnaround" This afternoon Piccolo Elementary parents held a Press Conference to defend their school. They announced that they will occupy Piccolo to protest the Board of Education's plans. The Board plans to vote on Wednesday to turnaround Piccolo and hand over management of the school to AUSL, Academy for Urban School Leadership, a privately connected firm with ties to City Hall. For the time being, you can follow what's happening on Occupy Chicago's UStream account. To support the parents of Piccolo, go to Piccolo School, 1040 N. Keeler . Bring friends, food, blankets, and water. Support Our Schools, Don't Close Them! Let's tell Mayor Emanuel: Support Our Schools Don't Close Them! 4:00 PM Monday, February 20th Rally at Lake View High School 4015 N. Ashland Avenue CPS has wasted millions on school closings, which hurt our students and tear apart communities. Demand:...