MikeDunnAuthor<p>Today in Labor History February 28, 1933: Erich Mühsam, was arrested and blamed for the Reichstag fire. The fire was actually set by Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist.<br>Mühsam was sent to the Oranienberg concentration camp, where he was tortured and murdered. Mühsam was an anarchist, poet and playwright who condemned Nazism and satirized Hitler. In the wake of the fire, President von Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree, suspending civil liberties, and launching a "ruthless confrontation" with the Communists, making the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany. They went on a witch hunt, mass-arresting Communists, including members of Parliament, crippling their participation in the March 5th special elections, which allowed the Nazi party to expand their plurality in parliament. Hitler had called in hopes of moving the Nazi party from a plurality to a majority through quasi-legal means. Sound familiar?</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/workingclass" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>workingclass</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LaborHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LaborHistory</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nazis</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/hitler" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>hitler</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/germany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>germany</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/communism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>communism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/anarchism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>anarchism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/concentrationcamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>concentrationcamp</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/reichstag" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>reichstag</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Poet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Poet</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/playwright" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>playwright</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antifascism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antifascism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/antifa" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>antifa</span></a> <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://a.gup.pe/u/bookstadon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstadon</span></a></span></p>