Speaker 1: On This Day and Working Class History the twelfth of
Speaker 1: January and on the twelfth of January nineteen thirteen, the
Speaker 1: General Confederation of Workers was formed at the Germinile's Study
Speaker 1: Center in San Jose, Costa Rica. It was an anarchosyndicalist
Speaker 1: union for all workers, based on the principles of collective action,
Speaker 1: direct democracy, and federalism. In its first decade, the union
Speaker 1: fought to eliminate child labor and for better pay, shorter hours,
Speaker 1: better conditions, better health and safety, and more leisure for
Speaker 1: workers and their families. It led two of the first
Speaker 1: strikes in the country in the twentieth century, one of
Speaker 1: which was against the Notorius multinational Corporation the United Fruit
Speaker 1: Company in Limon, and the union helped improve the quality
Speaker 1: of life for many poor Costa Ricans. In nineteen twenty three,
Speaker 1: at its third congress, reformist socialists took control of the union
Speaker 1: and decided to set up a political party and stand
Speaker 1: in elections.
Speaker 2: The sources maps and all of our anniversaries each day,
Speaker 2: check out the on This Day section of our stories
Speaker 2: at at stories Stop Workingclasshistory dot com, and if you
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Speaker 2: working class history. Links in the show notes. The music
Speaker 2: by a Dead See You Tomorrow,