Working Class Calendar

Passaic Textile Strike (1926)

Mon Jan 25, 1926

Image: Children of strikers in the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike used to picket outside the White House, Washington, D.C. [Wikipedia]

The Passaic Textile Strike was a walkout by 15,000 mill workers that began on this day in 1926 in New Jersey. It began as the one of the first communist-led strikes in the U.S., however the AFL took over on condition that radicals step aside.

Conducted in its initial phase by a "United Front Committee" organized by the Trade Union Educational League of the Workers Party (TUEL), the strike lasted more than a year, ending on March 1st, 1927, when the final mill being picketed signed a contract with the striking workers.

The Passaic Textile Strike was one of the first communist-led work stoppages in the United States, and notable left figures such as Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Norman Thomas, and Robert W. Dunn helped organize it. Although political radicals led the strike for the first several months, the American Federation of Labor (AFL) took over negotiations in the fall of 1926 on condition of communist activists stepping aside.

The strike was memorialized by a seven reel silent movie titled "The Passaic Textile Strike", intended to generate sympathy and funds for the striking workers. Six of the seven reels survive today.

• Date: 1926-01-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu, digitaltamiment.hosting.nyu.edu.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Fumiko Kaneko (1903 - 1926)

Sun Jan 25, 1903

Image: Fumiko Kaneko sits on her knees wearing a striped kimono with her hands clasped in front of her, staring intently ahead. c. 1925, author unknown [Wikipedia]

Fumiko Kaneko, born on this day in 1903, was a Japanese anarchist, nihilist, and opponent to Japanese imperialism in Korea. Fumiko is perhaps best remembered for her "The Prison Memoirs Of A Japanese Woman", written while imprisoned after being convicted of high treason against the Japanese government.

Together, Fumiko and her Korean partner Pak Yol published two magazines which highlighted the problems Koreans faced under Japanese imperialism and showed influences of their radical politics. Sometime between 1922 and 1923, they also established a group called "F"utei-sha (Society of Malcontents)", which Fumiko identified as a group for direct action against the government.

These activities soon brought Pak and Fumiko under government scrutiny. In September 1923, the Japanese government therefore made a number of arrests, mostly Koreans, on limited evidence, and among those arrested were Pak and Fumiko.

After lengthy judicial proceedings, Fumiko and Pak were convicted of high treason for attempting to obtain bombs with the intention of killing the emperor or his son. They were both sentenced to life in prison, however Fumiko allegedly committed suicide in her cell in 1926.

Here is a short excerpt from one of Fumiko's interrogations while imprisoned (text by Max Res from theanarchistlibrary.org):

Q: Your class?

A: A divine commoner.

Q: How are you employed?

A: My job is tearing down everything that currently exists.

• Date: 1903-01-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism, #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Kim Chwa-chin Assassinated (1930)

Fri Jan 24, 1930

Kim Chwa-chin (1889 - 1930) was a Korean general and anarchist independence activist who was assassinated by Park Sang-sil, an agent of the Japanese colonial government, on this day in 1930.

When Kim was 18, he released 50 enslaved families when he burned a 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, Kim was designated as its President.

After allying with an anti-Japanese group in China to prepare for war against the Japanese colonial government, Kim was assassinated by Park Sang-sil in Northern Manchuria, on January 24th, 1930.

• Date: 1930-01-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, web.archive.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Colonialism, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Atocha Massacre (1977)

Mon Jan 24, 1977

On this day in 1977, the Atocha Massacre took place when Spanish fascists assassinated five labor activists from the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and the workers' federation "Comisiones Obreras".

The night of January 24th, three fascists entered a legal office run by the PCE in support of workers' rights. Their target was Joaquín Navarro, the general secretary of the transport union of the Comisiones Obreras, who at that time was leading a transport strike in Madrid. The attackers searched the office, found the eight remaining staff, and, discovering Navarro had departed earlier, decided to kill all present.

Told to raise their "little hands up high", the remaining eight people present were lined up against a wall and shot, killing four people (the fifth victim was killed earlier) and injuring four more. One of the injured, Dolores Ruiz, was pregnant and lost her child as a result of the attack.

The assassinations took place within the wider context of far-right reaction to Spain's transition to constitutional democracy following the death of dictator Francisco Franco two years prior.

Intended to provoke a violent left-wing response that would provide legitimacy for a subsequent right-wing counter coup d'état, the massacre had an immediate and opposite effect, causing mass popular revulsion against the far-right and accelerating the legalization of the long-banned Communist Party.

The trial took place in February 1980 and the defendants were sentenced to a total of 464 years in jail. A number of them escaped custody, however, fleeing to South America. After more than 20 years on the run, one the perpetrators, García Juliá, was arrested in Brazil in 2018. Juliá was extradited to Spain in February 2020, and transferred to Soto del Real prison to serve the remainder of his sentence.

• Date: 1977-01-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Assassinations, #Massacre, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Nicaraguan General Strike (1978)

Mon Jan 23, 1978

On this day in 1978, more than 80% of businesses across Nicaragua closed as part of a general strike that demanded an end to the repressive Somoza regime.

Two weeks earlier, on January 10th, the editor of the Managua newspaper "La Prensa" and founder of the Union for Democratic Liberation (UDEL), Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, was murdered by suspected elements of the Somoza dictatorship, causing riots to break out in the capital city, Managua.

The strike lasted for two and a half weeks, but widespread resistance and anti-Somoza revolutionary activity persisted for more than a year afterward, resulting in many deaths, state abuses of power, and atrocities committed both by the Somoza regime.

After Somoza resigned in June of 1979, the FSLN took control of the state capital, however widespread fighting continued between the Sandinistas and the U.S.-backed Contras continued for years afterward.

• Date: 1978-01-23
• Learn More: www.cidh.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Begins (1963)

Wed Jan 23, 1963

The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence was an armed conflict between Pan-African revolutionaries and Portuguese colonizers that began on this day in 1963, lasting until 1974. The war is also known as "Portugal's Vietnam".

Fought between Portugal and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), the war is referred to as "Portugal's Vietnam" due to the large numbers of men and amounts of material expended in a long, mostly guerrilla war and the internal political turmoil it created in Portugal. Until his assassination in 1973, Pan-African socialist Amílcar Cabral played a key role in the revolutionary activity of PAIGC.

The first act of the revolution took place on January 23rd, when PAIGC guerrillas attacked a Portuguese garrison in Tite, near the Corubal River, south of Bissau. Similar guerrilla actions quickly spread across the colony. PAIGC had few weapons - perhaps only one submachine gun and two pistols per group - and so they attacked Portuguese convoys to gain more weapons.

The war ended when Portugal, after the Carnation Revolution of 1974, granted independence to Guinea-Bissau, with Cape Verde's independence following a year later.

• Date: 1963-01-23
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, uca.edu, jacobin.com, aaprp-intl.org, thetricontinental.org.
• Tags: #Pan-Africanism, #Assassinations, #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Russian Revolution (1905)

Sun Jan 22, 1905

Image: An engraving from an unknown author, depicting a crowd confronting soldiers outside the Narva Gates on the morning of January 22nd [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1905, troops at the Russian Winter Palace fired upon a huge procession of working class demonstrators, killing hundreds. The massacre, known as "Bloody Sunday", led to widespread uprisings and sweeping reforms in what is known as the Russian Revolution of 1905.

The revolt took place amidst widespread discontent with conditions under the Tsarist absolute monarchy, and a growing proliferation of political radicalism. Although mass strikes broke out weeks earlier in St. Petersburg, the beginning of the revolution is typically marked by the "Bloody Sunday" massacre on January 22nd, when unarmed protesters marching towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas were fired upon by soldiers, killing hundreds.

In response to the massacre, mass worker resistance exploded across the Russian empire. Half of European Russia's industrial workers went on strike in 1905, 93.2% in Poland. The Tsar's uncle was assassinated on February 17th.

On March 2nd, the Tsar agreed to the establishment of a legislature, the State Duma. However, with the body's powers remaining limited (initially only given consultative powers), the rebels were emboldened to push harder.

Summer saw peasant rebellion and mutinies (Russia being at war with Japan at the time), most famously the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin, triggered when sailors refused to eat borscht made from maggot-infested meat.

As strikes continued, the government announced a Manifesto on October 17th, enacting emergency civil reform to placate the masses, and successfully crushed remaining resistance in the following months, such as the Moscow Uprising in December.

The uprising is considered the predecessor to the Russian Revolution of 1917 which led to the establishment of the Soviet Union; Vladimir Lenin called it "The Great Dress Rehearsal", without which the "victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible".

• Date: 1905-01-22
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.bolshevik.info, www.thoughtco.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Assassinations, #Massacre, #Mutinies, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Itō Noe (1895 - 1923)

Mon Jan 21, 1895

Itō Noe, born on this day in 1895, was a Japanese anarchist, social critic, and feminist author. She was the editor-in-chief of the feminist magazine "Seitō", although the magazine eventually folded due to lack of funds because the government would not let distributors carry it.

Beginning in 1916, Itō lived and worked with her partner and fellow anarchist Sakae Ōsugi, and continued to gain prominence as a feminist and anarchist writer. She was highly critical of the existing political system in Japan, which led her to call for an anarchism to exist in "everyday practice", namely that people should in various small ways seek routinely to undermine the kokutai (a sense of national body politic). Itō also translated anarchist writings into Japanese, including works of Emma Goldman.

On September 16th, 1923, Itō, Ōsugi, and his 6-year-old nephew Munekazu were arrested, strangled to death, and thrown into an abandoned well by a squad of military police known as the "Kenpeitai". The killing of such high-profile anarchists, together with a young child, became a national controversy known as the "Amakasu Incident" (named after the leader of the squad).

Lt. Amakasu was arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison for the murders, however he was released after serving only three years.

• Date: 1895-01-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Irish War of Independence (1919)

Tue Jan 21, 1919

Image: Photocopy of image taken during the Irish War of Independence. Seán Hogan's (NO. 2) Flying Column, 3rd Tipperary Brigade, IRA. 1920-1921 [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1919, the republican party Sinn Féin declared Irish independence from Britain. After two years of guerilla warfare against British occupation and ~2,300 deaths, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, creating the Irish Free State.

In April 1916, Irish republicans had launched the Easter Rising against British rule, proclaiming an Irish Republic. Although the rebellion was suppressed, the incident led to greater popular support for Irish independence. In December 1918 elections, just a month prior to their independence declaration, republican party Sinn Féin won a landslide victory.

On January 21st, 1919 Sinn Féin formed a breakaway government (Dáil Éireann). The same day, two Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) officers were killed in the Soloheadbeg ambush by Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers.

Throughout 1919, the IRA went about capturing weapons and freeing republican prisoners while the Dáil began building up a state. In September, the British government outlawed the Dáil and Sinn Féin, and the conflict intensified.

Over the following two years, the IRA waged a campaign of guerilla warfare against British occupiers. In total, approximately 2,300 people were killed - 936 of the British-aligned forces, 491 of the Irish-aligned forces, and 900 civilians.

The British government bolstered the RIC with recruits from Britain, the "Black and Tans and Auxiliaries", who became notorious for ill-discipline and reprisal attacks on civilians.

On December 6th, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, bringing an end to the 1919 Irish War of Independence. The treaty formally recognized the Irish Free State and led to the creation of Northern Ireland, partitioning the island.

"If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs."

- James Connolly

• Date: 1919-01-21
• Learn More: www.theirishstory.com, www.theirishwar.com, www.marxists.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.neversuchinnocence.com.
• Tags: #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Wannsee Conference (1942)

Tue Jan 20, 1942

Image: The villa "Am Großen Wannsee 56–58", where the Wannsee Conference was held, now a memorial and museum [ushmm.org]

On this day in 1942, leading Nazi officials met at a villa in Wannsee, Berlin, to discuss the "Jewish question". Here, the policy of Jewish genocide was explicitly architected, although the "Final Solution" had been approved one year earlier.

The conference was attended by 15 high-ranking party and state officials, headed by Reinhard Heydrich, SS Lieutenant-General and head of the Reich Security Main Office. Other important attendees included Heinrich Müller, chief of the Gestapo, and Adolf Eichmann, who was executed in 1962 for war crimes in Jerusalem.

Because a policy of mass extermination had already been approved by Hitler in 1941 (especially as mass killings of Jews had already begun in occupied Europe), the historical importance of the meeting was not recognized by those present.

The purpose of formalizing the logistics behind the "Final Solution's" implementation was simply to emphasize that, once the deportations had been completed, the fate of the deportees became an internal matter of the SS, totally outside the purview of any other agency. Heydrich estimated that there were around 11 million Jews in Europe who would be targeted for extermination. Within a few months of the Wannsee Conference, the Nazis would begin installing the first poison-gas chambers in Polish extermination camps.

On January 20th, 1992, on the fiftieth anniversary of the meeting, the site was finally opened as a Holocaust memorial and museum known as the Haus der Wannsee-Konferenz (House of the Wannsee Conference).

"Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: 'Do you actually think there's a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?' For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together - on park benches or carousels?"

- Michael Parenti

• Date: 1942-01-20
• Learn More: encyclopedia.ushmm.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.britannica.com.
• Tags: #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Philip Agee (1935 - 2008)

Sat Jan 19, 1935

Philip Agee, born on this day in 1935, was an ex-CIA officer who became a prominent critic of CIA policies, detailing his experiences in the text "Inside the Company: CIA Diary". Agee ultimately defected to Cuba, dying there in 2008.

Philip Agee (1935 - 2008) served as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer for eight years, joining the organization in 1960. He was assigned posts in Montevideo, Mexico City, and Quito, Ecuador.

Agee resigned from the CIA in 1968 following the Tlatelolco massacre in Mexico City, in which the U.S.-supported government engaged in mass shootings and arrests of a crowd of more than ten thousand protesters. The same massacre also played a role in the political radicalization of Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas.

Agee moved to London and published "Inside the Company", a tell-all text that, among other things, detailed his work in spying on diplomats, engaging in illegal activity to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador and Cuba, naming President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica, President Luis Echeverría Álvarez of Mexico, and President Alfonso López Michelsen of Colombia as CIA collaborators, and exposing the identities of dozens of CIA agents.

For the exposure of agents, Agee was expelled from the United Kingdom. Agee was also eventually expelled from the Netherlands, France, West Germany and Italy, and was compelled to live under a series of socialist governments - Grenada under Maurice Bishop, then Nicaragua under the Sandinistas, and finally Cuba under Castro. Agee died in Cuba in January 2008.

"I don't think we have ever had real democracy in this country. Anyone who studies adoption of the constitution will understand quite clearly that; democracy - as we understand that on today; was the last thing the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution....it was: to establish strong central authority responding the elitist interests in United States.

That's private property. And those men who wrote the constitution were representatives of the elites. They were the lawyers, bankers, merchants, the land owners, slave owners and so forth. And they write the constitution for their own private interest$. That is how government has served ever since. And that is why we have so little democracy in United States."

• Philip Agee

• Date: 1935-01-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com, archive.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Baburova and Markelov Assassinated (2009)

Mon Jan 19, 2009

On this day in 2009, anarchist journalist Anastasia Baburova (1983 - 2009) and human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov (1974 - 2009) were assassinated by Russian neo-Nazis.

Baburova was a member of the Russian anarchist group "Autonomous Action" and a student of journalism at Moscow State University. Markelov was a lawyer who defended left-wing political activists, anti-fascists, journalists, and victims of police violence.

On January 19th, 2009, Markelov gave a press conference where he fiercely denounced the early prison release of a Russian army officer, convicted for the abduction and murder of a Chechen girl. After finishing, a masked assailant shot him in the back of the head, killing him instantly. Baburova, who was covering the press conference, was shot and killed after trying to stop the shooter.

In May 2011, the shooter Nikita Tikhonov was sentenced to life imprisonment, and his partner Eugenia Khasis was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has speculated that the Russian government was involved, noting that Tikhonov's use of a pistol fitted with a silencer was atypical for the neo-Nazi movement, which usually used knives and homemade explosives to commit violence.

• Date: 2009-01-19
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.frontlinedefenders.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Anarchism, #Journalism, #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Juan García Oliver (1901 - 1980)

Sun Jan 20, 1901

Juan García Oliver, born on this day in 1901, was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary, affiliated with the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), and Minister of Justice of the Second Spanish Republic.

He was a leading figure of anarchism in Spain and fought on the side of the republic against fascists in the Spanish Civil War. During the war, García organized "People's War Schools", set up work camps for political detainees, abolished court fees, and wiped criminal records.

With the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, he settled in Sweden, Venezuela, and finally Mexico. In 1978, two years before his death, García Oliver published his autobiography, "El eco de los pasos".

• Date: 1901-01-20
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Brisbane General Strike (1912)

Thu Jan 18, 1912

Image: Illustration from the Brisbane "Worker" newspaper condemning the brutality of the Queensland Police Service on Black Friday [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1912, tramway workers in Brisbane, Australia were fired after they wore union badges despite them being banned. Their dismissal led to a general strike with more than 50,000 workers. Union badges remained banned until 1980.

At the time, the tramways in Brisbane were owned by the General Electric Company of the United Kingdom and managed by an American, Joseph Stillman Badger, who refused to negotiate with the Australian Labour Federation or let his employees wear union badges on their uniform.

On January 18th, 1912, a large crowd of sightseers gathered to watch as tramway employees donned the union badges in defiance of this ban. Badger addressed the wearers at the depot and gave them the choice of removing the badges or not working; most chose the right to wear the badges, and later 10,000 workers marched to modern day King George Square to listen to labor organizers speak.

Forty-three Brisbane based Trade Unions subsequently formed the Combined Unions Committee and appointed a General Strike Committee. The General Strike Committee planned for a general strike on January 30th and began functioning as an alternative government in the area, whose approval became needed for work to be done.

As planned, trade unionists of Brisbane went out on a general strike January 30th, 1912, not just for the right to wear a badge but also for the basic right to join a union. Brisbane was brought to a standstill by the next day - trains didn't run, hotels were closed, most transport shut down, and most food shops were closed. Only shops with special permits issued by the Committee were opened in order to keep the Australian government running at the minimal margin.

Workers celebrated with parades, speeches, and sporting contests. The government began prohibiting these demonstrations, and, when 15,000 workers defied this ban on February 2nd, 1912, they were attacked by police. Strikers and their family members were beaten and arrested en masse.

Emma Miller, a 70-year old trade unionist and suffragist, stood her ground and stabbed the rump of the Police Commissioner's horse. The horse threw the Commissioner to the ground, giving him life-long limp.

The strike failed due to a lack of money and particularly food. It officially ended when the Employers Federation, supporting the strike, agreed on the March 6th, 1912 that there would be no victimization of strikers from Badger and the company.

Despite this, many workers who had participated were blacklisted by Badger until 1922, when the Queensland Government acquired the tram system and reinstated them. Wearing of union badges on uniforms remained forbidden until 1980.

• Date: 1912-01-18
• Learn More: nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Battle of Hayes Pond (1958)

Sat Jan 18, 1958

Image: Lumbee men Simon Oxedine and Charlie Warriax, both veterans, with captured KKK flag at VFW convention. Image published in Life Magazine, 1958. Page 26-28. [progressive.org]

On this day in 1958, armed Lumbee Native Americans broke up a KKK rally near Maxton, North Carolina, driving the white supremacists away and confiscating their flag. Four Klansmen were injured in the "Battle of Hayes Pond".

Grand Dragon James W. "Catfish" Cole was the organizer of the Klan rally. Sanford Locklear, Simeon Oxendine and Neill Lowery were Lumbee leaders who attacked the Klansmen and successfully disrupted the rally.

The year prior, Cole had initiated a campaign of harassment designed to intimidate the Lumbee Tribe to help organize the local Klan. He called a rally on January 18th, and 100 Klansmen arrived at the private field near Hayes Pond which Cole had leased from a sympathetic farmer. Cole managed to erect the cross, but before he could finish the ceremony, over 500 Lumbee men appeared and encircled the assembled Klansmen.

Four Klansmen were injured in the subsequent exchange of gunfire. Cole was later found guilty of inciting a riot and sentenced to two years in prison.

• Date: 1958-01-18
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, progressive.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Hawaiian Kingdom Overthrown (1893)

Tue Jan 17, 1893

On this day in 1893, a U.S.-backed coup d'état against Queen Lili'uokalani took place, establishing the Republic of Hawaii and beginning the process of U.S. annexation. The U.S. apologized for this in 1993, but did not give the islands back.

The majority of the insurgents were non-natives, and they successfully requested assistance from the U.S. government, who sent 162 sailors to occupy Oahu.

Although the coup forces established an independent republic, they did so with the ultimate goal of the United States annexing the islands, which occurred in 1898.

This revolution and the subsequent annexation of Hawaii signaled an expansion of U.S. imperialist interests. The same year, the U.S. fought and won the Spanish-American War, acquiring Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and establishing economic control of Cuba via the Platt Amendment.

In 1993, the U.S. government issued an "Apology Resolution", acknowledging that "the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii occurred with the active participation of agents and citizens of the United States and further acknowledges that the Native Hawaiian people never directly relinquished to the United States their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a people over their national lands".

Hawaiian scholar Dr. Keanu Sai has written about the illegality of the U.S. occupation and annexation, citing an 1893 Executive Agreement between President Grover Cleveland and Queen Lili'uokalani. On June 1st, 2010, Sai filed a lawsuit against President Obama on this basis, demanding the restoration of the Hawaiian Kingdom government.

• Date: 1893-01-17
• Learn More: www.nea.org, hawaiiankingdom.org, hawaiiankingdom.org, en.wikipedia.org, learning.blogs.nytimes.com.
• Tags: #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Zunyi Conference Ends (1935)

Thu Jan 17, 1935

The Zunyi Conference was a three day meeting of the Communist Party of China (CPC) that ended on this day in 1935, resulting in Mao Zedong's leadership within the party and a decreased influence from the Communist International. The Conference took place during the Long March (a military retreat of CPC forces from attacks by the Nationalists).

The Zunyi Conference involved a power struggle between the leadership of Bo Gu and the opposition, led by Mao Zedong. The result was in Mao's favor, and the conference concluded with Mao in position to take over military command and become the leader of the Communist Party.

The Red Army had been fleeing their overwhelmed base of operations at Jiangxi-Fujian for several months by this point in the Long March, and this conference involved the debate/accountability of CPC leadership for various tactical and strategic failures. The CPC went on to achieve a new base of operations in Shaanxi Province and continued its revolutionary activity from there.

The Conference was completely unacknowledged until the 1950s and still no detailed descriptions were available until the fiftieth anniversary in 1985. The site of the meeting has now become a popular tourist destination in China.

• Date: 1935-01-17
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, en.chinaculture.org.
• Tags: #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Herndon Addresses the Court (1933)

Mon Jan 16, 1933

Angelo Herndon (1913 - 1997) was a communist labor leader convicted of insurrection after attempting to organize black and white workers in Atlanta, Georgia. He addressed the court on this day in 1933, stating "You cannot kill the working class".

After nearly 1,000 unemployed workers, both black and white, demonstrated at the Atlanta federal courthouse on June 30th, 1932, local officials began to monitor known and suspected radicals. On July 11th, Herndon, an active labor organizer in the area, was arrested while checking on his mail. A few days later his hotel room was searched, and Communist Party publications were found.

Herndon was charged with insurrection under a Georgia Reconstruction era law. His case went to the Supreme Court twice, and Herndon was freed when the insurrection charge was finally ruled unconstitutional in 1937.

Here is an excerpt of what Herndon said to the court on January 16th, 1933, at 19 years of age:

"You may do what you will with Angelo Herndon. You may indict him. You may put him in jail. But there will come thousands of Angelo Herndons. If you really want to do anything about the case, you must go out and indict the social system. But this you will not do, for your role is to defend the system under which the toiling masses are robbed and oppressed...

You may succeed in killing one, two, even a score of working-class organizers. But you cannot kill the working class."

• Date: 1933-01-16
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.georgiaencyclopedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Draftee's Prayer Published (1943)

Sat Jan 16, 1943

On this day in 1943, the Baltimore Afro-American published the "Draftee's Prayer", an ode against imperialist war and call to fight domestic oppression. It reads:

"Dear Lord, today

I go to war:

To fight, to die,

Tell me what for?

Dear Lord, I'll fight,

I do not fear,

Germans or Japs;

My fears are here

America!"

• Date: 1943-01-16
• Learn More: books.google.com, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht (1919)

Wed Jan 15, 1919

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were prominent German communists who were assassinated on this day in 1919 by the German Freikorps, a group of government-sponsored paramilitary forces, after the Spartacist Uprising.

Luxemburg and Liebknecht had co-founded the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), groups that had been engaging in revolutionary political activity.

In 1919, Luxemburg and Liebknecht participated in the "Spartacist Uprising", an armed rebellion against the German state. The uprising was forcibly put down by the Freikorps and, for their role in it, both Luxemburg and Liebknecht were tortured and summarily executed by the government forces on this day that year.

Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg have since become celebrated martyrs of the German left. Since 1919, an annual Liebknecht-Luxemburg Demonstration has been held in Berlin, the world's largest funerary parade and the biggest meeting of the German left. The annual "L-L Demo" is held on the second Sunday in January. In 2016, 14,000 people attended the rally in Liebknecht's and Luxemburg's honor.

Epitaphs composed by German playwright Bertolt Brecht read as follows:

Epitaph for Karl Liebknecht Here lies Karl Liebknecht The fighter against war When he was struck down Our city still continued to stand.

Epitaph for Rosa Luxemburg Here lies buried Rosa Luxemburg A Jewess from Poland Champion of the German workers Murdered on the orders of The German oppressors. Oppressed; Bury your differences!

"Marxism is a revolutionary worldview that must always struggle for new revelations. Marxism must abhor nothing so much as the possibility that it becomes congealed in its current form. It is at its best when butting heads in self-criticism, and in historical thunder and lightning, it retains its strength."

- Rosa Luxemburg

• Date: 1919-01-15
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.versobooks.com, revolutionarydemocracy.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Marxism, #Assassinations.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

MLK Jr. (1929 - 1968)

Tue Jan 15, 1929

Martin Luther King Jr., born on this day in 1929, was an American Christian minister and activist who became one of the most visible leaders of the U.S. civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968.

King is best known for advancing civil rights through nonviolence and civil disobedience, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma Gandhi.

On October 14th, 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In 1965, he helped organize the Selma to Montgomery marches. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty, capitalism, and the Vietnam War.

For his activism, King was the target of multiple assassination attempts, arrested 23 times, and surveilled and harassed by the U.S. government. In particular, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover targeted by Dr. King by making him a target of COINTELPRO, a secret program where FBI agents spied on, infiltrated, and attempted to discredit "subversive" political movements.

In 1968, King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized the "Poor People's Campaign" to address issues of economic justice. King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created an "economic bill of rights" for poor Americans.

Before the plans for the march could come to fruition, however, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee while supporting striking black sanitation workers. James Earl Rey was convicted for the murder, but speculation of government involvement has persisted for decades after his death.

"I submit to you that if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

- MLK Jr.

• Date: 1929-01-15
• Learn More: crossculturalsolidarity.com, kinginstitute.stanford.edu, thekingcenter.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tunisian Revolution (2011)

Fri Jan 14, 2011

On this day in 2011, following twenty-eight days of mass uprising in Tunisia, President Ben Ali formally resigned, marking a new period of democratic reforms in the country. Ben Ali successfully evaded arrest by fleeing to Saudi Arabia.

The protests were sparked in part by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a disgruntled street merchant whose wares had been seized, on December 17th, 2010. In the month that followed, hundreds of thousands of Tunisians poured into the streets, clashing with police.

338 people were killed, including one journalist who was hit in the head with tear gas fired by police. 2,147 were injured, according to the Associated Press.

28 days after the protests began, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia and officially resigned from his post. Despite being tried in absentia, Ben Ali successfully evaded arrest in Saudi Arabia, dying there in 2019 at the age of 83.

After Ben Ali was ousted from power, the police and army defected from the state and sided with protesters. Labor unions, such as the UGTT, also played an integral role in organizing the mass protests.

Despite achieving a more democratic government, Tunisia remains in political crisis. On July 25th, 2021, amid ongoing anti-government protests, President Kais Saied suspended parliament, dismissed the Prime Minister, and withdrew immunity of parliament members.

• Date: 2011-01-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.aljazeera.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Adolph Reed (1947 - )

Tue Jan 14, 1947

Adolph Reed Jr., born on this day in 1947, is a Marxist American professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in the study of issues of racism and U.S. politics. He is a contributing editor to The New Republic and has been a frequent contributor to The Progressive and The Nation and other leftwing publications.

Reed's work on U.S. politics is noted for its critique of identity politics and anti-racism, particularly of their role in black politics. In his essay "The Limits of Anti-Racism", Reed wrote:

"As a basis for a politics, antiracism seems to reflect [a depoliticization of] the critique of racial injustice by shifting its focus from the social structures that generate and reproduce racial inequality to an ultimately individual, and ahistorical, domain of 'prejudice' or 'intolerance.'"

• Date: 1947-01-14
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, www.wsws.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Mombasa General Strike (1947)

Mon Jan 13, 1947

Image: Mombasa, 1947

On this day in 1947, 15,000 workers in Mombasa, Kenya initiated a general strike, demanding higher and equal wages for all races. Although the strike was declared illegal, workers persisted and won major concessions 12 days later.

In 1945, Kenya was a colony of Great Britain. Threats of a worker strike due to low wages led the British to create an investigatory "Phillips Committee", but, by the end of 1946, workers in Mombasa were upset with any meaningful change.

In December 1946, workers held mass meetings, rumors spread about a potential strike, and government officials worked to prevent any labor action. On January 7th, 1947, 3,000 workers met to organize a strike, which began on the 13th with more than 15,000 workers, approximately 75% of the workforce in Mombasa, engaging in a general strike.

The labor stoppage crossed many industries, including government, railroad, hotel, domestic workers, and dock workers. Taxi drivers went around the city spreading word of the strike and urging others to participate.

The government immediately declared the strike illegal, citing the "Defense Regulations", which mandated the port at Mombasa to stay open, as it was the only major access site to Kenya Colony and Uganda.

Despite this, workers persisted, meeting every day at a soccer field to organize. On the second day of the strike, 10,000 workers showed up to the daily meeting, which was run with no official leader, giving everyone an opportunity to speak.

After more than a week of the city being paralyzed, a government official promised to gain improvements in working conditions within three months if the people would end their strike. Workers agreed and, on January 25th, 1947, all workers returned to their jobs.

At the end of March, workers were given a 20-40% wage increase, housing allowances, paid holidays, paid overtime, and a higher minimum wage.

• Date: 1947-01-13
• Learn More: nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu, worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu.
• Tags: #Labor, #GeneralStrikes.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Farmer Jr. (1920 - 1999)

Mon Jan 12, 1920

James Farmer Jr., born on this day in 1920, was a civil rights activist who organized the first Freedom Rides, co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and fought for desegregation alongside MLK Jr.

In 1942, Farmer co-founded the Committee of Racial Equality (which later became CORE) in Chicago along with George Houser, James R. Robinson, and others The organization was dedicated to ending racial segregation in the United States through nonviolence.

In a 1964 interview for the book "Who Speaks for the Negro?", Farmer described the founding principles of CORE as involving the people themselves rather than "experts", rejecting segregation, and opposing it via nonviolent direct action.

In 1961, Farmer, then working for the NAACP and serving as the national director of CORE, organized the first set of Freedom Rides, direct action protests against segregated bus systems throughout the South.

• Date: 1920-01-12
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, jamesfarmer.umwblogs.org, jamesfarmerlectures.umwblogs.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org