On This Day and Working Class History the twelfth of January and on the twelfth of January nineteen thirteen, the General Confederation of Workers was formed at the Germinile's Study Center in San Jose, Costa Rica. It was an anarchosyndicalist union for all workers, based on the principles of collective action,
direct democracy, and federalism. In its first decade, the union fought to eliminate child labor and for better pay, shorter hours, better conditions, better health and safety, and more leisure for workers and their families. It led two of the first strikes in the country in the twentieth century, one of which was against the Notorius multinational Corporation the United Fruit Company in Limon, and the union helped improve the quality
of life for many poor Costa Ricans. In nineteen twenty three, at its third congress, reformist socialists took control of the union and decided to set up a political party and stand in elections.
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