#railway sabotage

[russianreader]

To Not Die as Slaves: Solidarity Zone's Mission to Aid Russia's Radical Anti-War Protesters

Ivan Astashin Muscovite Ivan Astashin knows firsthand what human rights activism, Russian prisons, and terrorism and arson charges look like. As a young man, he was close to Eduard Limonov’s National Bolsheviks and was arrested as part of the high-profile Autonomous Combat Terrorist Organization (ABTO) case, in which a group of young men were charged with a series of arson and terrorist…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"TRAIN WRECKER GETS TWO YEARS," Sault Star. May 6, 1912. Page 1. --- Found guilty of attempting to derail an A. C. R. train at Hobon last week, Mike Dunbovitch was this morning sentenced by Magistrate Mackey to spend two years in Kingston Penitentiary.

Dunbovitch was previously in the employ of the O'Boyle Construction Co., but had been discharged. He tried to derail the train by plugging a switch. He was arrested by Provincial Constable Connor.

[AL: Dunbovitch or Dunbodie was an 'Austrian' immigrant to Canada, 20 years old and unemployed; this was his first offence. He was actually convicted of breaking locks and stealing a railway handcar. He was convict #F-389 at Kingston Penitentiary and worked in the quarry and trucking gang. He was a very poorly behaved according to prison rules - he was 'admonished' (reported and lectured) five times between June and October. He was reported again in November and December and lost his 'good time.' He was put in solitary for 12 days in February 1913, and again in March and April. Finally, he was transferred in mid-April 1913 to the high security permanent segregation unit - the Prison of Isolation. A few days later he was given 7 days bread and water in his cell. He was kept in Isolation for the rest of the year, and released at the almost full extent of his sentence in April 1914.]

[renegadetalk-fm]

‘Massive Arson Attacks’ Sabotage French Railways During Olympics

[townpostin]

Maoist Bandh Paralyzes Kolhan Division, Disrupts Rail Services

CPI (Maoist) Protest Against Alleged Police Action Halts Normal Life Naxalites sabotage Howrah-Mumbai railway line, stranding trains for hours. JAMSHEDPUR – The Communist Party of India (Maoist) enforced a one-day bandh across Kolhan division on Wednesday, severely disrupting daily life and transportation. Naxalites uprooted fish plates on the Howrah-Mumbai railway line between 2-3 AM, halting…

[hedgehog-moss]

Last time I went to the village to buy bread I saw a woman in the street who was dressed like a 19th-century peasant, complete with a thick old-timey accent with dialect words no one uses anymore—she was telling a little group of people to follow her so of course I had to drop everything and follow her too.

And it turned out she was a theatre actress who has read a lot of local archives in libraries and town halls, and offered her services to organise guided tours of various villages to tell people about local history in a fun way, by playing characters who lived here in the Middle Ages, the 19th century, or WWII. It's such a cool idea! I talked to her for a bit after the visit and she said she wasn't sure it'd work / attract enough people, but she had groups of tourists + local families show up for the visit every week, in every village where she did this, so she think she'll be hired again next summer.

When I joined their group she was talking about WWII, and how my & other nearby villages were known by the Nazis and Vichy as a hotbed of terrorists, with some Gestapo officers killed in bomb attacks. (In retaliation the Nazis eventually rounded up 100+ locals and deported them to camps, as well as shooting a few.) I was mostly familiar with WWII anecdotes from the North-East, where my grandparents lived during the war, and I found it funny how different they sounded—my grandfather made Resistance activities sound well-planned and careful (espionage, sabotage, underground presses, infiltrating railway services etc) while oral histories around here make them sound a lot more spontaneous and—handcrafted? like "Emile brought what we needed for the bomb in his wheelbarrow hidden under a layer of straw and we exploded 2 Nazis."

We then went to visit the former girls' school, and I learnt a lot about my country's history of education for girls! Also it was really sweet because there was an old lady in our group who had attended this school as a child and had lots of school memories to share. Most of them were very wholesome, until eventually our tour guide went "Surely you also have some School Mischief to tell us about" and the old woman at first was like no no no no, I was a good girl. And then she conceded that when she had to sort lentils for the nuns' dinner and she resented one of them for berating her in class, she'd do a shit job on purpose and leave some little stones in the lentils.

Then our last step was the fairground where the town fair was (and is still) held, and our tour guide told us little 19th-century anecdotes (in-character, more like acting them out) that she'd found in old postcards and letters in the archives—how the town fair was where you'd go for your dentist appointment (i.e. to have your bad teeth pulled with pliers with no pain medicine) and to get any object repaired, like damaged pans or clogs; how there were dancing bears and performing monkeys; how one year the merchant who sold linen for women's trousseaus had her linen display trampled "by 300 cows" (might have been an exaggeration) and she hit the cow herder and it started a massive brawl.

My favourite anecdote was how back in the 1800s the local innkeeper was frustrated by the fact that the nearest village is just 10km away, and people who came to the fair often decided to go spend the night there so their journey back the next day would be less long, and so he started to tell them about the beast that lives under the bridge between the two villages. Travellers say horses go mad when they see it and just jump into the water. Some say the beast has dug up corpses from the cemetery because it likes human flesh, though of course it prefers it fresh. I'm now convinced half of local legends were single-handedly created by business savvy innkeepers determined to get more customers than the rival inn 10km away.

I'm sad I only learnt about these visits at the end of summer when they're coming to an end, but I'll definitely follow this woman around again if she returns with more stories next year!

[newsbites]

An explosion in the Russian border region of Bryansk derailed a freight train on Monday, authorities said.

Local governor Alexander Bogomaz said an explosive device went off along the Bryansk-Unecha line, 60km from Ukraine.

The incident, which occurred at 10:17 Moscow time (07:17 GMT), saw the locomotive catch fire and seven freight wagons derailed, Russian Railways said.

The region - which borders Ukraine and Belarus - has seen acts of sabotage since Russia invaded Ukraine.

The train was reportedly carrying oil products and timber. No injuries were reported.

[saltimam]

Pills, Quick!!!

[channeledhistory]

[log6]

Favorite Olympics shitshow moment (besides the railway arson sabotage and insufficient food in the Olympics Village) is the storm cell forming directly over Paris dropping 15 days worth of rain in a few hours. It's like a sign. And Aya Nakamura after being harassed for months just not giving a fuck about anything LMFAOO

[russianreader]

Vladlen Menshikov: A Real Russian Hero

Vladlen Menshikov: A Real Russian Hero

Vladlen Menshikov. Photo courtesy of Solidarity Zone We have begun supporting Vladlen Menshikov, accused of anti-war sabotage on the railways. On September 30, pro-government media reported the arrest of 29-year-old Vladlen Menshikov by the FSB in the Sverdlovsk Region. Investigators claim that Menshikov installed short-circuiting devices on the railway at the eightieth kilometer of the stretch…

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

The "Wrecking Crews"

"Eric Hobsbawm in his study of avenging bandits declared that such groups gained their appeal not as "agents of justice, but… [as] men who prove that even the poor and weak can be terrible." The striker groups embraced such a doctrine in exacting revenge on those who had transgressed community standards. Like other striker vigilante bands such as the Molly Maguires, they set out to punish both invaders (strikebreakers) and traitors (shopmen who continued to work), thus displaying to the victim and surrounding citizenry the required standards of behavior. These groups who engaged in intimidation and violence could be described as semi-autonomous gangs. Although not officially sanctioned by union hierarchies, the gangs' tactics handicapped the railroads' attempts to maintain production and repair. These gangs maintained that every conceivable method should be used to stop the importation of replacement labor. Their most common forms of action were shootings followed by kidnapping and punishment. These mobile bands, described by various authorities as "auto-raiders," "auto-squads," "wrecking crews," and "chain gangs," enforced community standards and values.

One form of intimidation was the general firing of weapons from speeding cars. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on August 1 that "auto raiders… swooped down on the Southern Pacific Railroad" shops at Colfax, and fired volleys into the windows and walls. Earlier, on July 14, "auto-raiders" attacked scabs at the Orville shops of the Western Pacific Railroad. The scabs were dragged from their bunk beds and "beaten severely." The auto-squads did not operate unchallenged. At Roodhouse, Illinois, on August 27, a gun battle railroad erupted after a carload of strikers attacked local shops. Deputy marshals and railroad guards returned fire and the strikers fled the scene. Fear of auto-squads inadvertently led to the August 12 shooting death of Deputy Marshal W. A. Cross at Little Rock, Arkansas. Suspicious of an automobile that appeared to be shadowing him, Cross girded himself for action. Three men in the car jumped out and "with pistols in their hands" yelled, "Get them up." Cross pulled out his revolver; a gun battle commenced, resulting in Cross being fatally shot in the head and chest. Unknown to Cross, the men in the car were city detectives searching for armed robbers. U.S. Marshal G. L. Mallory reported that not until the detectives searched Cross's body did they discover his badge and thereby his identity as a deputy marshal. Tragically, Cross was not the only victim; city detective J. W. Cabiniss died from bullets fired from Cross's revolver.

Drive-by shootings held enormous risk for both strikers and protectors of strikebreakers. To offset such danger, strikers used kidnapping to intimidate and wreak revenge. Victims of kidnappings consisted of three types: imported strikebreakers, local scabs, and foremen who had stayed at work. In the case of new hires, their treatment was given as a warning to leave the vicinity. The U.S. marshal of Danville, Illinois, F. H. Holmes, testified that strikers formed a "chain gang" and abducted a scab to Terre Haute and then beat him. At Slater, Missouri, one unfortunate was not only kidnapped but also tarred and feathered. Just as humiliating was the experience of strike-breakers working for the Chicago and North Western Railway. After being thrown out of Boone, Iowa, many were left only "in their B.V.D.'s or less."

Stripping of victims became a common and humiliating accompaniment of the kidnapping. Two Santa Fe Railroad scabs, for example, were kid- napped from Fenner, California, on August 9, and "stripped and turned loose in [the] desert by masked parties." On August 16, a Bureau of Investigation agent reported that a scab was "kidnapped, disrobed and left on the road" at Hornell, New York. At Pocatello, Idaho, a shopman who refused to go on strike was "stripped of his clothing and released beyond the city limits." On July 21 a scab was taken from Hamlet, North Carolina, and beaten. The kidnappers used the victim's hat as a warning to others, displaying it in a jeweler's window. Pinned to the hat read the message: "This is the remains of the first strikebreaker at Hamlet."

The real wrath of these semi-autonomous groups was reserved, however, for foremen who had remained at work and trained strikebreakers to do the shopmen's work. Strike sympathizers were blamed for tarring and feathering Bert Dickson, a roundhouse foreman for the Chicago and Alton Railroad, at Roodhouse, Illinois. Another victim, Henry Boyce, foreman of the Chicago and North Western, was abducted by an automobile gang at Antigo, Wisconsin, and transported to Elmhurst, Illinois. Although Boyce remained unharmed, the message had been made: his presence in Antigo could no longer be tolerated. A Great Northern Railroad foreman from Deer Lodge, Montana, experienced a similar embarrassing episode. The foreman was taken five miles out of town and "left in his underwear." His experience was nothing compared to that of W. T. Byland, a foreman for the Chicago and Elgin Railroad who endured a mock lynching. He testified that a rope was tied around his neck "so that [his] feet just cleared ground, for two or three seconds." Throughout the incident Boyle was told to quit work and join the strike.

The kidnapping and disrobing of scabs and foremen represented provocative punishments. By stripping the victims, the gangs symbolically transformed the scab into vulnerable and disgraced flotsam. The scabs then faced the lonely and humiliating experience of returning to their homes to get clothing and to tend their damaged pride. Just as devastating, stripping the victim of his clothing emasculated him. Thus accompanying the humiliation of the ordeal was a loss of masculinity.

In the South, a particular form of violence accompanied kidnappings, namely, whippings. In Fort Worth, Texas, for example, four strikebreakers were grabbed by a mob at a local dance, taken into the country and flogged with "leather straps," and warned to "head South and not return." The warning implies that the victims were Mexican. Also in Texas, sixteen guards were "stripped to the waist and flogged with blacksnake whips." Flogging also occurred in Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina. The South, with its long tradition of vigilantism and its propensity for using violence, reflects most clearly a community's bid to mete out punishment and concretize collective displeasure. The struggle for control of their respective locales created a situation where many felt compelled to engage in such acts, or, at least, to look the other way when incidents occurred. It is of the utmost significance, however, that most of the whippings and kidnappings took place after injunctions had been handed down and marshals and troops had been dispatched.

Violence and vandalism occurred off the picket line as well. In Haverlock, Nebraska, for example, railroad sympathizers had their "houses painted yellow." The painting of signs on houses and sidewalks was particularly common. The act represented a public reminder that the occupant had transgressed community standards. Humiliation for the house dweller was sure to follow, tainting both the scab and his family members. Denver strikers utilized a similar tactic. A military intelligence report explained:

Strikers in Denver have resorted to the novel form of annoyance to strikebreakers of painting their houses yellow and in prominent places the word 'SCAB' is printed in large letters.

Nor was vandalism confined to houses. John Nelson, a foreman of car repairs at Cadillac, Michigan, discovered that his "three-wheel velocipede" was missing; after an extensive search, it was found in a river with a tag attached that read "Definition of a Scab." Scabs in Ogden, Utah, received threatening letters accompanied by "undertaker cards." Strikers or sympathizers also gained entrance to some shops and left messages for supervisory personnel. For example, a car inspector for the Michigan Central Railroad found his missing hammer with a note attached to it. The note spelled out a warning: "We are watching you and will get you yet."

Workmen were also threatened by persons in cars. A spy report from the Pennsylvania Railroad identified one particular "wrecking crew." The spy, identified as no. 28, explained that a string of "wrecking crews" had been formed in Chicago. According to the spy, local shopcraft leaders knew of the existence of these "crews" and encouraged them to intimidate supervisory officials. There is, however, no information as to the validity of this claim. Neither is there confirmation of the spy report that strike leaders sent out coded messages advocating sabotage. For example, a spy reported that the question in a union circular asking, "Are the trains on your division running on time," was really instructions to engage in sabotage.

A perusal of major newspapers during this early period of the strike high-lights numerous instances of fist fights, sabotage, and other violent confrontations. In many cases, however, these conflicts are not corroborated. Sabotage, however, constituted a common phenomena. Strikers and sympathizers, unable to control the flow of scabs into the shops, resorted to vandalism on a large scale. By far the most common method was the cutting of air hoses. Part of the braking system, these hoses also connected each freight or passenger car to one another. Although potentially dangerous, the cut hoses could easily be spotted by the train crew and yard workers. The main purpose was to delay the movement of trains. Other common forms of sabotage included greasing tracks, placing obstructions on the tracks, and placing emery dust and other foreign substances in journal boxes, pipes, and cylinders. The number of incidents was extremely large, and the geographical scope widespread. As Harry Daugherty remarked in 1923, "It is impossible to compile the exact number of such cases."

- Colin J. Davis, Power at Odds: The 1922 National Railroad Shopmen’s Strike. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1997. p. 96-99.

[esperfruit]

Some more Human AU fellas

Arry & Bert Darlington

Age: 53 (Arry is older)

Height: 212 cm

A pair of intimidating and sinister gangster twins that work directly under Diesel 10 and have been loyal to him for years. They follow every of D10's orders with glee and without question. They are especially good at intimidating others thanks to their imposing statures and are eager for some dirty work. If D10 wants someone to be taught a lesson or permanently out of the picture, they have got it covered.

When the parents of D10's nephew, Darius Diesel, died, they were assigned as little Darius' bodyguards and personal tutors in combat and weapon use. They just as loyal to Diesel as to D10 as they grew a soft spot for the now young man, who they had looked after since he was just a child.

Matthew "Cranky" Hawkins

Age: 48

Height: 209 cm

The leading crane operator at Brandam Docks. He earned the nickname Cranky due to his permanent bad mood, being even more grumpy than Gordon. He has no time for anyone's nonsense and doesn't approve of any form of silliness, which is ironic as he has the habit of teasing others, often using his crane to sabotage collegues that got sassy with him earlier. Cranky is not on good terms with young people, calling them bugs and is actively opposed of minors such as Thomas and Percy even being near his work place.

His bad attitude made him disliked and avoided by many and made his work very lonely but he refuses to ever admit that. His closest collegues, Salty and Porter try to lift his mood and keep him company to varying success. Cranky managed to mallow out and be more tolerable towards other but he still carries that nickname for good reason.

Lincoln "Salty" Ruston

Age: 51

Height: 198 cm

A former marine that now works at Brendam Docks. He adapted mannerisms that made him seem like a pirate and prefers to be called Salty in association with his affinity for the sea. He is a jolly man that likes to lend others a hand and entertain them with pirate tales with some being more rediculous than the last. He is close friends with Porter, on very good terms with Henry and wants to brighten the mood for Cranky.

Johan "Bulgy" Regent

Age: 39

Height: 192 cm

Driver of a double-decker bus and Bertie's senior, who introduced him to everything when the cheerful young man just started his new job. He got his nickname from Bertie and never seems to get rid of it much to his dismay. Bulgy has a strong distaste for the rails and is very strong in his conviction that busses and the roads are more important and superior in every way. He found his fair share of like minded people such as steamroller driver George Aveling or some lorry drivers but failing to recruit his mentee Bertie into the "Anti-Railway League".

His relationship with Bertie has always been complicated. On one hand he cares for him as a fellow bus driver and former trainee, adoring his enthusiasm and passion for the profession and never-fading cheerfulness. On the other hand, said cheerfulness can also annoy Bulgy from time to time as well as Bertie's frequent cheekyness and the thing Bulgy dislikes the most is Bertie being all chummy with the railway and glady being their friend as long as they acknowledge the importance of the roads.

[amtrak-official]

did you hear about the thing with the sabotage of some of the railways in france? outside of paris?

No, tell me about it

[radicalgraff]

"Solidarity with BOAK, Russian sabotage group."

Graffiti in Warsaw, Poland in solidarity with BOAK (Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists) an underground guerilla organization based in Russia & Belarus. The group aims for social revolution and a libertarian communist society.

Since the start of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the group has sabotaged railway infrastructure in Russia and Belarus, as well as attacking Russian military commissariats and telecommunications infrastructure.

[workingclasshistory]

On this day, 22 June 1945, tens of thousands of workers in Nigeria defied the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and walked out on a general strike in protest at the British colonial administration refusing to meet workers' demands for a minimum wage of 2 shillings and sixpence and a 50% increase in the cost of living allowance. The TUC wanted to delay any action, but after months of agitation involving mass meetings of up to 8,000 workers at a time, the workers were not prepared to wait any longer. Railway employees, dockers and civil service workers walked out while many workers at private firms refused to cross picket lines. At its peak, between 42,000 and 200,000 workers were out, and despite the deployment of British troops and sabotage by some nationalist groups like the Nigeria Youth Movement the stoppage lasted 45 days. The strike was largely successful, as the cost of living increase was awarded in 1946, backdated to the previous year. For this and hundreds of other stories, get hold of a copy of our book, Working Class History: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-book Pictured: A general strike in Nigeria, 1964 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=648724973967388&set=a.602588028581083&type=3