Working Class Calendar

South Korean General Strike (1996-97)

Thu Dec 26, 1996

Image: A Time magazine cover from January 1997 with the headline "Showdown in Seoul South Korea Gets Tough on Labor"

On this day in 1996, more than 700,000 South Korean workers initiated a four-week general strike in response to a new anti-labor law passed quietly by the government. Workers won some amendments to the law the following February.

Earlier that year, the South Korean government had claimed changes to the economy were necessary to make the country more competitive. After failing to pass a new labor bill following six months of hearings, the ruling New Korea Party (NKP) went about passing their reforms in an underhanded fashion.

The NKP created a secret committee to create the new set of labor laws on December 3rd and then, very early in the morning of December 26th, members of the party passed eleven bills in twenty minutes.

The passed laws made it easier and legal for companies to lay off workers, increased the legal workweek by 12 hours, made the use of scab labor during strikes legal, and outlawed strike pay.

This caused widespread outrage not just among labor organizations, but among other parties as well, who had been kept in the dark about the proceedings. Following the bills' passage, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions (FKTU) and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) called on their 1.2 million members to strike, the first call for a general strike in their history.

After a single day, the strikes started spreading to other sectors including hospitals. On December 28th, South Korean riot police used methods such as tear gas against the strikers in order to dispel crowds. Strikers responded by throwing bricks.

The government threatened to arrest union leaders in January, as large-scale clashes continued with authorities. In late January and February of 1997, the strike ended after the labor laws were amended by the government, however many of the anti-labor reforms were kept in place.

• Date: 1996-12-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, edition.cnn.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mao Zedong (1893 - 1976)

Tue Dec 26, 1893

Image: Mao Zedong 1963 [Wikipedia]

Mao Zedong, born on this day in 1893, was a communist revolutionary and a founder of the People's Republic of China, which he governed as Chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1949 until his death in 1976. Making his own innovations on Marxism-Leninism, his theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism.

The son of a peasant farmer, Mao Zedong was born on December 26th, 1893 in the village of Shao Shan, Hunan province. At age 27, Mao attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai, in July 1921. Two years later, he was elected to the Central Committee of the party at the Third Congress.

From 1931 to 1934, Mao helped established the Chinese Soviet Republic in Southeast China, and was elected as the chairman. Starting in October 1934, "The Long March" began, an arduous military retreat from southeast to northwest China. The Long March took place over 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) in 370 days. Following the conclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese War, a civil war broke out in which the Communists defeated the Kuomintang and established the People’s Republic of China in October 1949.

Several monumental events in Chinese history occurred during Mao's administration, such as the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, Chinese involvement in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the Sino-Soviet split, and Richard Nixon's 1972 diplomatic visit to Beijing.

In 1946, Mao gave an interview to American journalist Anna Louise Strong. Here is a short excerpt:

Strong: Do you think there is hope for a political, a peaceful settlement of China's problems in the near future?

Mao: That depends on the attitude of the U.S. government. If the American people stay the hands of the American reactionaries who are helping Chiang Kai-shek fight the civil war, there is hope for peace.

...

Strong: Suppose the United States uses the atom bomb? Suppose the United States bombs the Soviet Union from its bases in Iceland, Okinawa and China?

Mao: The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the U.S. reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapon.

Mao: All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are really powerful. In Russia, before the February Revolution in 1917, which side was really strong? On the surface the tsar was strong but he was swept away by a single gust of wind in the February Revolution. In the final analysis, the strength in Russia was on the side of the Soviets of Workers, Peasants and Soldiers. The tsar was just a paper tiger. Wasn't Hitler once considered very strong? But history proved that he was a paper tiger. So was Mussolini, so was Japanese imperialism. On the contrary, the strength of the Soviet Union and of the people in all countries who loved democracy and freedom proved much greater than had been foreseen.

Mao: Chiang Kai-shek and his supporters, the U.S. reactionaries, are all paper tigers too. Speaking of U.S. imperialism, people seem to feel that it is terrifically strong. Chinese reactionaries are using the "strength" of the United States to frighten the Chinese people. But it will be proved that the U.S. reactionaries, like all the reactionaries in history, do not have much strength. In the United States there are others who are really strong -- the American people.

Mao: ...Although the Chinese people still face many difficulties and will long suffer hardships from the joint attacks of U.S. imperialism and the Chinese reactionaries, the day will come when these reactionaries are defeated and we are victorious. The reason is simply this: the reactionaries represent reaction, we represent progress.

"A revolution is not a dinner party, nor a literary composition, nor painting nor embroidering. It cannot be done so delicately, so leisurely, so gentlemanly and gently, kindly, politely and modestly. Revolution is insurrection, the violent action of one class overthrowing the power of another. An agrarian revolution is a revolution by the peasantry to overthrow the power of the feudal landlord class. If the peasants do not apply great force, the power of the landlords, built up over thousands of years, can never be uprooted."

- Mao Zedong

• Date: 1893-12-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org, www.marxists.org, www.marxists.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Seminole Nation Defeats U.S. Army (1837)

Mon Dec 25, 1837

On this day in 1837, Africans and Native Americans who had formed Florida's Seminole Nation decisively defeated an invading U.S. force more than twice their size, led by slaveowner and future U.S. president Zachary Taylor.

Since the founding of the U.S., escaped African slaves had settled in modern-day Florida. At the same time, Seminoles suffering under Creek rule in Alabama and Georgia were fleeing south to seek independence. There, the two groups formed an alliance, sharing cultivation techniques and putting up armed resistance against colonization and slaver forces.

The U.S. repeatedly invaded territory controlled by this alliance, and, on Christmas Day in 1837, 380 to 480 Seminole fighters gathered on the northeast corner of Florida's Lake Okeechobee ready to halt the armies of Colonel Zachary Taylor, a Louisiana slaveholder and future U.S. president.

Seminole riflemen waited for the soldiers in trees, firing on them from above. The battle was a decisive defeat for U.S. forces, however Taylor falsely claimed a victory when returning to Fort Gardner.

• Date: 1837-12-25
• Learn More: www.zinnedproject.org, libcom.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Bloody Christmas (1951)

Tue Dec 25, 1951

Image: A still from the movie L.A. Confidential, showing a Los Angeles Times front-page story with the headline "BLOODY CHRISTMAS Police Assault Prisoners in Jailhouse Melee"

On this day in 1951, LAPD officers beat 7 imprisoned civilians, an event known as "Bloody Christmas". Police leadership covered up the abuse, but, after an investigation, 8 officers were indicted, 54 were transferred, and 39 were suspended. The event was fictionalized in the 1990 novel "L.A. Confidential" by James Ellroy, later made into the film of the same name.

On Christmas Eve 1951, LAPD officers Julius Trojanowski and Nelson Brownson responded to a report that minors were drinking alcohol. Officers accosted seven men - five Mexican, two white - at the scene, and ordered them to leave despite the fact that they had identification proving they were old enough to drink.

When the men refused to leave, officers used force. In the ensuing scuffle, both cops were injured. Seven hours after the fight, LAPD officers arrested all seven men at their own homes.

Six were taken straight to the Los Angeles Central City Jail, however one was dragged to a squad car by his hair and driven to the city's Elysian Park, where he was beaten so badly that he required two blood transfusions due to the extent of his injuries.

The remaining six prisoners were taken from their cells in the Central City Jail and lined up by dozens of cops, many of them drunk. Approximately 50 officers then participated in a beating that lasted for 95 minutes, giving the men severe injuries that included punctured organs and broken facial bones.

Senior LAPD management kept the attack on the prisoners out of the mainstream news for almost three months. Media coverage ignored the beatings on Christmas Day and focused on the brawl the night before.

Members of the Mexican-American community pushed for a focus on police brutality and, as more reports of violence flooded in, the media began to turn against the LAPD, running stories condemning police tactics. Despite initiating an internal investigation, LAPD Police Chief William Parker was dismissive, suggesting that criminals were alleging police brutality to get him fired so that the L.A. underworld could re-establish its illegal activities.

The internal investigation's report uncovered a widespread culture of police brutality, leading to grand jury hearings against the LAPD. Officers who had previously given detailed information to internal affairs investigators could remember very little in court.

Despite police attempts to obstruct the hearings, they resulted in eight officers being indicted for assault. Five of them were convicted, but only one received a sentence of more than a year in prison. A further 54 officers were transferred, and 39 were temporarily suspended without pay.

• Date: 1951-12-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.latimes.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Stormé DeLarverie (1920 - 2014)

Fri Dec 24, 1920

Stormé DeLarverie, born on this day in 1920, was a biracial queer icon whose reported scuffle with police was the spark that ignited the Stonewall Riots in 1969. She is sometimes referred to as the "Rosa Parks of the gay community" or "Rosa Parks of Stonewall".

DeLarverie was born in New Orleans to a black mother and a white father, and spent the 50s and 60s as a "male impersonator" in the Jewel Box Revue, the period's only racially integrated drag troupe. Her gender-bending style of zoot suits and black ties was groundbreaking for the era.

On June 28th, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, a scuffle broke out when a woman, believed to be Stormé, was roughly escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon. The woman fought with at least four of the police, swearing and shouting, for about ten minutes. When she shouted to the bystanders "Why don't you guys do something?", the crowd began rioting and clashed with police.

"It was a rebellion, it was an uprising, it was a civil rights disobedience - it wasn’t no damn riot."

- Stormé DeLarverie

• Date: 1920-12-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.gq.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mungyeong Massacre (1949)

Sat Dec 24, 1949

Image: A map of Korea with the North Gyeongsang province highlighted

On this day in 1949, the South Korean Army slaughtered 86-88 unarmed civilians, including 32 children, in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang while disguised as communist guerillas. The government blamed the massacre on communists for decades.

The South Korean government had designated the village as communist-aligned after residents there did not welcome state presence. On December 24th, 1949, the South Korean Army went on a shooting rampage throughout the village, killing between 86-88 unarmed civilians, 32 of whom were children.

Soldiers disguised themselves as communist guerillas, and the South Korean government denied any role in the violence, blaming the massacre on communist forces for decades.

On June 26th, 2006, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Korea concluded that the massacre was committed by the South Korean Army. In July 2008, the victims' families filed for compensation from the government, however these claims were initially rejected by Korean courts on the basis that too much time had passed.

In June 2011, the South Korean Supreme Court ruled in favor of the victims' families, stating "It is difficult for people to claim compensation for the infringement of basic rights through the usual legal process when the infringement was systematically committed directly by the state or under the state's tacit rule. The plaintiffs had reason enough not to have exercised their rights to claim compensation".

• Date: 1949-12-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.koreatimes.co.kr.
• Tags: #Communism, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Disgruntled Employee Takes Citibank Offline (2013)

Mon Dec 23, 2013

Image: A Citibank location with a woman carrying an umbrella walking in front of it

On this day in 2013, disgruntled Citibank employee Lennon Brown took down 90% of their North American servers before leaving work that day.

Earlier that day, Brown's supervisor had had a conversation with him regarding his performance at work. Two minutes before leaving the office, Brown transmitted a command to ten Citibank Global Control Center routers, erasing their running configuration files and resulting in a loss of connectivity to ~90% of all Citibank networks across North America.

Brown pleaded guilty in February 2016 to an indictment charging one count of intentional damage to a protected computer. A text sent by Brown, read during his sentencing hearing, said the following:

"They was firing me. I just beat them to it. Nothing personal, the upper management need to see what the guys on the floor is capable of doing when they keep getting mistreated. I took one for the team. Sorry if I made my peers look bad, but sometimes it take something like what I did to wake the upper management up."

• Date: 2013-12-23
• Learn More: www.justice.gov, www.tripwire.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Luigi Fabbri (1877 - 1935)

Sun Dec 23, 1877

Luigi Fabbri, born on this day in 1877, was an anarchist writer, theorist, and educator from Italy. Starting from the age of sixteen, Fabbri spent many years in prison for his anarchist activism.

Fabbri was a prolific contributor to the anarchist press in Europe and later South America, including co-editing, along with Errico Malatesta, the paper "L'Agitazione". In 1936, he published "Dictatorship and Revolution", an anarchist response to Vladimir Lenin's work "The State and Revolution". In his work "Marxism and Anarchism", Fabbri makes distinct the political philosophies of anarchism and Marxism.

In 1929, Fabbri fled Europe to Uruguay with his family before settling in Buenos Aires and continuing his writing with the anarchist newspaper "The Protest". He was also a journalist in the Rio Plata region, where he dealt with the political and trade union problems of the local workers' movement, in which there was a strong anarchist presence.

"But in politics, the winner is in the right, even if he is wrong: and whoever leaves the field comes off worse."

- Luigi Fabbri

• Date: 1877-12-23
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Kenneth Rexroth (1905 - 1982)

Fri Dec 22, 1905

Kenneth Rexroth was an American poet, anarchist, and Wobbly born on this day in 1905. Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine.

Rexroth was born in Indianna to a family familiar with radical politics; his dad used to drink with Eugene V. Debs. Rexroth was almost completely self-educated, with only five years of formal schooling, and taught himself several languages. He became skeptical of the Soviet Union after the failed Kronstadt rebellion in 1921, which solidified his anarchist leanings.

Here is a poem composed by Rexroth on the subject of anarchists Bartomeleo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco who were executed by the state:

"I saw you both marching in an army

You with the red and black flag, Sacco with the

rattlesnake banner.

I kicked steps up the last snow bank and came

To the indescribably blue and fragrant

Polemonium and the dead sky and the sterile

Crystalline granite and final monolith of the summit.

These are the things that will last a long time,

Vanzetti,

I am glad that once on your day I have stood among them.

Some day mountains will be named after you and Sacco.

They will be here and your name with them,

When these days are but a dim remembering of the time

When man was wolf to man.

I think men will be remembering you a long time

Standing on the mountains

Many men, a long time, comrade."

• Date: 1905-12-22
• Learn More: libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Kuwasi Balagoon (1946 - 1986)

Sun Dec 22, 1946

Kuwasi Balagoon was a queer New Afrikan anarchist and a member of the Black Liberation Army born on this day in 1946. A veteran of the U.S. Army, the racism he experienced in the military led him to begin tenant organizing in New York City, where he joined the Black Panther Party. He was one of the defendants in the Panther 21 case.

Balagoon later escaped from Rahway State Prison in New Jersey and went underground with the Black Liberation Army (BLA) in 1978. On October 20th, 1981, he was captured while participating in an armored truck robbery (known as the Brinks Robbery of 1981) which killed two cops and a money courier. Balagoon was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.

Balagoon authored several texts while in prison, writings that have become influential among anarchists since first being published and distributed by anarchist prisoner support networks in the 1980s and 1990s. He died in prison of an AIDS-related illness on December 13th, 1986, aged 39.

• Date: 1946-12-22
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Thomas Sankara (1949 - 1987)

Wed Dec 21, 1949

Thomas Sankara, born on this day in 1949, was a Burkinabé revolutionary who was President of Burkina Faso from 1983 to 1987. A Marxist-Leninist and pan-Africanist, he was viewed by supporters as a charismatic and iconic figure of revolution and is sometimes referred to as "Africa's Che Guevara".

Sankara came into power when allies instigated a coup on his behalf in 1983. He immediately launched programs for social, ecological, and economic change, as well as renaming the country from the French colonial "Upper Volta" to Burkina Faso ("Land of Incorruptible People"), with its people being called Burkinabé ("upright people").

His administration was known for refusing foreign aid to remain politically independent, nationalizing the country's land and mineral wealth, and promoting literacy, women's rights, and public health. Among the achievements of his administration was vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever, and measles.

On October 15th, 1987, Sankara was assassinated by troops led by Blaise Compaoré, who assumed leadership of the state shortly after having him killed. A week before his assassination, Sankara declared: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas."

• Date: 1949-12-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.thomassankara.net.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Santa María School Massacre (1907)

Sat Dec 21, 1907

Image: A Communist Party mural that commemorates Santa Maria school massacre on the right, photo Rodrigo Fernandez/CC

On this day in 1907, a massacre took place at the Santa María School in Iquique, Chile when the Chilean Army fired on a crowd of striking workers, mostly nitrate miners, and their families, killing approximately 2,000 people.

Preceding the massacre, on December 10th, 1907, a general strike had broken out in Tarapacá Province. This was the start of the "18 Pence Strike" (Spanish: "la huelga de los 18 peniques"). A large contingent of strikers traveled to the provincial capital, the port city of Iquique, carrying the flags of Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina, and issued a set of pro-worker demands.

The site of the massacre was the Domingo Santa María School, where thousands of miners from different nitrate mines in Chile's far north had been camping for a week after converging on Iquique, the regional capital, to appeal for government intervention to improve their living and working conditions.

Rafael Sotomayor Gaete, the minister of the interior, decided to crush the strike, with violence if necessary. On December 21st, 1907, General Roberto Silva Renard, gave the strikers and their families one hour to leave or be fired upon.

After the mass of workers refused to leave, General Silva Renard gave his troops the order to fire, killing an estimated 2,000 people, including women and children present. Among the dead was Spanish worker Manuel Vaca, half-brother of the anarchist Antonio Ramón.

Ramón traveled to Iquique to find out what happened to his sibling. On December 14th, 1914, he approached General Renard on the street and stabbed him several times in the head. Renard survived the attack, but suffered severe injuries, losing his sight and all movement in half of his face, remaining an invalid until he died in 1920. Ramón was released from prison in 1919.

For decades after the massacre, the government repressed official acknowledgement of the incident. In 2007, the government conducted a highly publicized commemoration of its centenary, including an official national day of mourning and the reinternment of the victims' remains.

• Date: 1907-12-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.socialistparty.org.uk.
• Tags: #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Carrero Blanco Bombed by ETA (1973)

Thu Dec 20, 1973

Image: Policemen search among the damages caused by a bomb attack, in which Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco was killed. [STAFF/AFP/GettyImages]

On this day in 1973, Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, the hand-picked successor to fascist Francisco Franco, was killed in a car bombing by Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), a left-wing, Basque separatist group.

Blanco (1904 - 1973) had previously served as a naval officer on the Francoist side of the Spanish Civil War, eventually becoming Chief of Naval Operations in 1939. In 1973, he was appointed to the position of Prime Ministers. Six months into his term, he was assassinated by the ETA while returning from mass at San Francisco de Borja church.

For five months, the ETA members dug under the street from a rented out basement near his route. On the day of the attack, members disguised as electricians were present on the scene to trigger detonation.

In a collective interview justifying the attack, the ETA bombers said Carrero Blanco "symbolized better than anyone else the figure of 'pure Francoism' and without totally linking himself to any of the Francoist tendencies..." and called him "a man without scruples".

The assassination had far-reaching political implications, and is credited with helping Spain become more democratic. Carrero Blanco's successor, Carlos Arias Navarro, promised liberalizing reforms, including the right to form political associations. Franco himself died in 1975, and elections in Spain were held in 1977, with a new constitution being approved the following year.

• Date: 1973-12-20
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.irishtimes.com.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Fascism, #Terrorism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Marta Russell (1951 - 2013)

Thu Dec 20, 1951

Marta Russell was an American writer and disability rights activist born on this day in 1951. Her book, "Beyond Ramps: Disability at the End of the Social Contract published in 1998" analyzes the relationship between disability, social Darwinism, and economic austerity under capitalism.

Her political views, which she described as "left, not liberal", informed her writing on topics such as healthcare, the prison-industrial complex, physician-assisted suicide, poverty, ableism, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

"There is no Death with Dignity when people choose to die because health care economics and the social services system prevent life with dignity."

- Marta Russell

• Date: 1951-12-20
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, solidarity-us.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Treason Trial Begins (1956)

Wed Dec 19, 1956

On this day in 1956, the Treason Trial began in Johannesburg, South Africa when 153 people, including anti-apartheid activists Nelson Mandela and Ruth First, were accused of treason in court. All defendants were released or found not guilty.

A few weeks earlier, on December 5th, 1956, the South African Police's Security Branch raided and arrested 140 people from around the country on the charge of treason as they enforced the Suppression of Communism Act.

An attempt by the prosecutor to proceed with the case was interrupted three times by the noise of 5,000 black South Africans, who, hoping to attend the trial, surrounded the streets of the Drill Hall and sung the hymn "Nkosi Sikeleli Afrika".

The trial's defendants dwindled over the next several years. On March 29th, 1961, down to 28 defendants, the trial's verdict was released - all defendants were found not guilty of treason and discharged.

In 1960, the prosecution asked Mandela if he would accept gradual democratic concessions from the ruling class. He responded:

"We demand universal adult franchise and we are prepared to exert economic pressure to attain our demands, and we will launch defiance campaigns, stay-at-homes, either singly or together, until the Government should say, 'Gentlemen, we cannot have this state of affairs, laws being defied, and this whole situation created by stay-at-homes. Let's talk.'

In my own view I would say 'Yes, let us talk' and the Government would say, 'We think that the Europeans at present are not ready for a type of government where there might be domination by non-Europeans. We think we should give you 60 seats. The African population to elect 60 Africans to represent them in Parliament. We will leave the matter over for five years and we will review it at the end of five years.'

In my view, that would be a victory, my lords; we would have taken a significant step towards the attainment of universal adult suffrage for Africans, and we would then for the five years say, we will suspend civil disobedience; we won't have any stay-at-homes...I'd say we should accept it, but, of course, I would not abandon the demands for the extension of the universal franchise to all Africans."

• Date: 1956-12-19
• Learn More: www.anc1912.org.za, www.sahistory.org.za, overcomingapartheid.msu.edu, en.wikipedia.org, omalley.nelsonmandela.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Lepa Radić (1925 - 1943)

Sat Dec 19, 1925

Lepa Radić, born on this day in 1925, was a teenage communist executed by the SS after refusing to turn over information, shouting from the gallows "Fight, people, for your freedom! Do not surrender to the evildoers! I will be killed, but there are those who will avenge me!"

Under the influence of her uncle, a labor organizer, Radić joined the Communist Party of Yugoslavia at the age of 15. The same year, Radić and her family were arrested by the Ustaše, Nazi collaborators, however they escaped with the help of undercover partisan associates. Following this, she joined the 7th partisan company of the 2nd Krajiški Detachmen.

During a fight against the 7th SS Volunteer Mountain Division "Prinz Eugen", Radić was captured and sentenced to death by hanging after being tortured for several days in an attempt to extract information. She refused her interrogators, stating "I am not a traitor of my people. Those whom you are asking about will reveal themselves when they have succeeded in wiping out all you evildoers, to the last man."

Radić was posthumously awarded the "Order of the People's Hero" in 1951, the youngest recipient at the time at seventeen years of age.

• Date: 1925-12-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, ycl.org.uk.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Joseph Stalin (1878 - 1953)

Wed Dec 18, 1878

Image: **

Joseph Stalin, born on this day in 1878, was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary and politician who led the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. "Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished."

Born to a poor family in modern day Georgia, Stalin joined the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party as a youth. He edited the party's newspaper Pravda and raised funds for Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction via robberies, kidnappings, and protection rackets. After the Bolsheviks seized power during the 1917 October Revolution, Stalin joined its governing Politburo and assumed leadership over the country following Lenin's death in 1924.

Through the Five-Year Plans developed under his leadership, the Soviet Union collectivized its agricultural sector and rapidly industrialized, creating a centralized command economy. This rapid change caused disruptions in food production that were a factor in the famine of 1932 - 1933. Despite this setback, the first five-year plan greatly increased the country's productive capacity.

Although the Soviet Union under Stalin's leadership succeeded in rapidly industrializing Russia, helping end Russian monarchial rule, defeating fascist movements in Europe, and opposing American imperialism, Stalin's detractors hold him responsible for unjust political repression, suppression of labor movements, episodes of ethnic cleansing during the Great Purge of 1937-38, and the criminalization of homosexuality.

Shortly after Stalin's death, the Soviet Union went through a period of "de-Stalinization". His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, gave a series of remarks titled "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences" (also known as the "Secret Speech") to a closed session of the national congress, denouncing Stalin's political repression and the cult of personality that surrounded him.

Stalin remains popular in Russia, with 70% of Russians approving of Stalin’s role in Russian history, according to a poll published by the Levada Center in 2019. Sociologist Leonty Byzov stated: "Stalin begins to be perceived as a symbol of justice and an alternative to the current government, deemed unfair, cruel and not caring about people".

"It is difficult for me to imagine what 'personal liberty' is enjoyed by an unemployed person, who goes about hungry, and cannot find employment. Real liberty can exist only where exploitation has been abolished, where there is no oppression of some by others, where there is no unemployment and poverty, where a man is not haunted by the fear of being tomorrow deprived of work, of home and of bread. Only in such a society is real, and not paper, personal and every other liberty possible."

- Joseph Stalin

• Date: 1878-12-18
• Learn More: www.marxists.org, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com, www.themoscowtimes.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Sierra Leone Police Shoot Miners (2012)

Tue Dec 18, 2012

Image: Three workers sifting through water in Sierra Leone's Kono District

On this day in 2012, police shot and killed two miners in the Kono District of east Sierra Leone. Workers at the mine, acquired by Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz's Octea Diamond Group in 2003, had walked out against non-payment of bonuses, bad working conditions, and racist treatment.

Before the strike, Octea had promised a Christmas bonus the equivalent of three months wages, but withdrew the bonus at the minute, leading to the strike action. Following the two worker's deaths, miners stormed the hospital and carried their dead bodies through the streets, vowing revenge.

The labor strife took place in the context of a national period of unrest. On April 16th, a few months earlier, workers at African Minerals Limited (AML), a mining firm headquartered in London, went on strike in northern Sierra Leone after their demands to government officials went unanswered.

Marching protesters, the most heavily armed carrying rocks, were fired on by police in the town center, killing a 24-year-old woman and wounding eight others. Three officers were injured.

Police arrested at least 29 people who were held for a day before being released without charge; many alleged they were beaten during their arrest.

• Date: 2012-12-18
• Learn More: www.hrw.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mohamed Bouazizi Self-Immolation (2010)

Fri Dec 17, 2010

Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (1984 - January 4th, 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on this day in 2010, an act which became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the Arab Spring more broadly.

Bouazizi's self-immolation was in response to the confiscation of his wares by police, mistreatment by city officials, and desperation of his own economic condition. Anti-government protests in Tunisia began within hours of his self-immolation. In 2011, Bouazizi was posthumously awarded the Sakharov Prize for his contribution to "historic changes in the Arab world"

• Date: 2010-12-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.aljazeera.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Chelsea Manning (1987 - )

Thu Dec 17, 1987

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is an American activist and whistleblower who was born on this day in 1987. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 classified, or unclassified but sensitive, military and diplomatic documents.

Among the documents released was the infamous "Collateral Murder" video, which depicted two American helicopters firing on Reuters journalists and children. Manning was imprisoned from 2010 until 2017, when her sentence was commuted by Barack Obama.

"When I chose to disclose classified information, I did so out of a love for my country and a sense of duty to others."

- Chelsea Manning

• Date: 1987-12-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.theguardian.com.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Zhanaozen Massacre (2011)

Fri Dec 16, 2011

Image: Saturday, December 17th, 2011, a Kazakh riot police officer patrols in the center of Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan [thediplomat.com]

On this day in 2011, police opened fire on striking oil workers and their families in Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan, killing at least 17 and wounding dozens more. Anti-communist organizations such as Radio Free Europe supported the labor strife.

In the months leading up to the massacre, strikes had been taking place for several months in cities along the oil-rich Caspian Sea coast of Kazakhstan. A strike by workers from the Ozenmunaigas oil field was declared illegal by local courts and the state oil company fired nearly 1000 employees.

Some of the sacked workers then started a round-the-clock occupation of the town square in protest. Ahead of planned public celebrations for Kazakhstan's Independence Day on December 16th, riot police assembled as authorities formulated plans to clear the area.

As police moved to evict the strikers on the 16th, they opened fire on civilians, killing at least 17 people and injuring dozens more. Other estimates, provided by Rob Jones of International Socialist Alternative (ISA), put the death toll as high as 50 - 150.

In an interview with openDemocracy, Galym Ageleuov, a reporter with the CIA-associated Radio Free Europe, claimed he received reports of agent provocateurs at the event who started disturbances while posing as workers. Radio Free Europe gave favorable coverage to striking workers, noting that protests expanded with "demonstrators furious over what they saw as a stranglehold on collective bargaining and labor rights by the government."

Following the violence of December 16th, dozens of protesters were arrested. President Nazarbayev also subjected Zhanaozen to a 20-day curfew and state of emergency. Ageleuov has stated that 37 demonstrators were put on trial, and 13 were sentenced. 19 of those on trial claimed to have experienced torture under detention.

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair provided public relations advice to the government of Kazakhstan in the wake of the massacre, and helped President Nazarbayev craft an official statement on the matter.

Ten years later, the city of Zhanaozen would mark the point of origin of an unsuccessful nationwide uprising in January 2022.

• Date: 2011-12-16
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, thediplomat.com, www.opendemocracy.net, internationalsocialist.net.
• Tags: #Labor, #Riots, #Massacre, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Kim Chwa-chin (1889 - 1930)

Mon Dec 16, 1889

Kim Chwa-chin (also written Kim Chwa-jin), born on this day in 1889, was a Korean general, independence activist, and anarchist who played an early role in the development of anarchism in Korea.

When Kim was 18, he released 50 families of slaves when he burned the slave registry and provided each family with enough land to live on, resulting in the first emancipation of slaves in modern Korea.

In 1918, Kim was one of 40 Korean representatives to sign the Korean Declaration of independence. He then joined the Korea Justice Corps, later becoming the general commander of the Northern Military Administration Office Army and playing a key role in the "Battle of Cheongsanri" against Japanese forces.

In 1928, the Korea Independence Party was formed, and the following year, when the Korean General Association was established as the successor of the new people, Chwa-chin was designated as the President. During this process, conflicts between the nationalist and communist independence activists intensified.

On January 24th, 1930, Kim was assassinated by Park Sang-sil, an agent of the Japanese colonial government.

• Date: 1889-12-16
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, web.archive.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Chico Mendes (1944 - 1988)

Fri Dec 15, 1944

Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes, was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader, and environmentalist born on this day in 1944.

Born into the Brazilian rubber industry, Chico was known as both a radical unionist and an activist by the mid-1980s, also running for several local political positions such as state deputy and city councilor. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples.

In 1988, Mendes launched a campaign to stop a man named Darly Alves da Silva from logging the area that its inhabitants wanted demarcated as an extractive reserve. On the evening of December 22nd, 1988, Mendes was assassinated in his Xapuri home by Darci, the son of Darly Alves da Silva. He was the 90th rural activist murdered that year in Brazil.

• Date: 1944-12-15
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.theguardian.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mary Brooksbank (1897 - 1978)

Wed Dec 15, 1897

Mary Brooksbank, born on this day in 1897, was a Scottish mill worker, socialist, and musician. Inspired by John McLean, she was an active member of the Communist Party of Great Britain between 1920 and 1933, and imprisoned three times as a result of her political activism. Later, Brooksbank became critical of Stalin and more sympathetic to Scottish nationalism.

Today, Brooksbank is today as a prominent figure in Dundee's labor movement. She founded the Working Women Guild to fight for better health and social services in Dundee, securing a membership of over 300, and was heavily involved in October 1934 with the National Unemployed Workers Movement county march to Forfar, to lobby the County Council. She was also a songwriter, writing "mill songs" about the working-class mill workers of Dundee.

• Date: 1897-12-15
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, mainlynorfolk.info.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Daniel De Leon (1852 - 1914)

Tue Dec 14, 1852

Daniel De Leon, born on this day in 1852, was an American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather of the idea of revolutionary industrial unionism and was the leading figure in the Socialist Labor Party of America from 1890 until the time of his death.

De Leon is also notable for splitting with "Big Bill" Haywood on the matter of electoral politics. Haywood supported direct action - working outside the system - while De Leon supported political action via a socialist political party. Eventually, this disagreement caused De Leon to leave the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) entirely.

"We Socialists are not reformers; we are revolutionaries. We Socialists do not propose change forms. We care nothing for forms. We want a change of the inside of the mechanism of society, let the form take care of itself."

- Daniel De Leon

• Date: 1852-12-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org