Working Class Calendar

Marina Ginestà (1919 - 2014)

Wed Jan 29, 1919

Image: Iconic photo of Marina Ginestà i Coloma by Juan Guzmán on top of Plaça de Catalunya, 9, 08002 Barcelona, Spain in 1936 [Wikipedia]

Marina Ginestà, born on this day in 1919, was a French-born Spanish communist who served in the Spanish Civil War. She became famous due to the photo taken by Juan Guzmán on a Barcelona roof in 1936, when she was just 17 years old (shown).

Ginestà was born in Toulouse, France to a working-class leftist Jewish family that had emigrated to France from Spain. She moved to Barcelona with her parents at the age of 11. Ginestà later joined the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia.

As the war broke out, she served as a reporter and a translator assisting Mikhail Koltsov, a correspondent of the Soviet newspaper Pravda.

The famous photograph by Juan Guzmán was taken on July 21st, 1936. It shows the 17 year old Ginestà wearing an army uniform and posing with a M1916 Spanish Mauser rifle on the top of the original Hotel Colón in Barcelona. Because she was a reporter, it was the only time Ginestà had carried a gun.

Before the end of the war, Ginestà was wounded and evacuated to Montpellier. As France was occupied by the Nazis, she fled to the Dominican Republic and married a former Republican officer. Marina Ginestà died in Paris at the age of 94 in January 2014.

On the iconic photograph, Ginestà stated "It's a good photo. It reflects the feeling we had at that moment. Socialism had arrived, the hotel guests had left. There was euphoria. We retired in Columbus, we ate well, as if bourgeois life belonged to us and we would have changed category quickly."

• Date: 1919-01-29
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.rtve.es.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Birthdays, #Journalism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Fort Leavenworth Prison Strike (1919)

Wed Jan 29, 1919

On this day in 1919, 150 workers at Fort Leavenworth Prison stopped their assigned work in the middle of the day, beginning a labor strike that would quickly grow to more than 2,000 strong over the next few days and win reforms.

The same night, three prisoners started a fire and burned parts of the quartermaster's warehouse, causing $100,000 of damage, although it's unclear whether this was part of the labor action.

Although the initial group of prisoners were not settled on specific demands, 2,300 workers who went on strike the next day spent their day organizing, setting up committees and electing leaders from each wing of the prison. Out of this organization came a drafted a list of demands, including the immediate release of military prisoners, immunity from punishment for all men who had participated in the strike, and establishing a permanent grievance committee.

The strike was successful. Over the next few months, many improvements were made: committee members replaced some of the prison guards; prisoners were given charge of discipline in the kitchen, mess hall, and yard; meat, poultry, butter, and eggs came from a farm from inside the prison; new bathrooms were built; prison officials gave five members of the Prisoners Committee adjudication powers for fellow prisoners accused of breaking basic prison rules.

• Date: 1919-01-29
• Learn More: nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Plaza Bulnes Massacre (1946)

Mon Jan 28, 1946

Image: Elías Lafertte deposits an offering for the victims of incidents in Plaza Bulnes. [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1946, a group of labor organizers in Santiago, Chile were gunned down by police while holding a solidarity rally in Plaza Bulnes. Six were killed and several more were wounded. Among the workers killed was Ramona Parra Alarcón, a young communist activist who became an icon for the victims of this massacre.

After the incident, the Communist Party of Chile withdrew from the government. The next year, the concentration camp Pisagua (formerly used for detaining citizens of enemy nations during WWII) was re-opened, and a period of open state persecution of communists and anarchists began.

• Date: 1946-01-28
• Learn More: es.wikipedia.org, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Massacre.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

James Larkin (1874 - 1947)

Wed Jan 28, 1874

Image: Irish politician and Trade Unionist James (Jim) Larkin, circa 1910. [Wikipedia]

James Larkin, born on this day in 1874, was an Irish republican, revolutionary socialist, and trade unionist who co-founded the industrial Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU), the Irish Labour Party, and the Irish Citizen's Army (ICA).

Larkin, also known as "Big Jim", was born to Irish emigrants and began working from the age of seven years old. He took an interest in socialism at a young age, joining the Independent Labour Party as a teenager.

In 1905, while working on the docks, Larkin participated in a strike and was elected to the strike committee, losing his foreman's job as a result. The union was impressed with his organizing ability, and he later gained a permanent position with them, beginning his career as a labor organizer.

In 1908, Larkin began organizing in Dublin, working with other Irish socialists such as James Connolly and William O'Brien. He also initiated a worker's newspaper, The Irish Worker and People's Advocate, however it was subject to censorship and shut down in 1915.

In 1908, Larkin founded the industrial Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU). Under Larkin's leadership the union continued to grow, reaching approximately 20,000 members in the time leading up to the Dublin lock-out.

In 1913, led by union busting capitalist William Martin Murphy, over 400 of Dublin's employers began requiring their workers to sign a pledge not to be a member of the ITGWU and not to engage in sympathetic strikes, causing the Dublin lock-out, one of the most severe labor conflicts in Irish history.

Larkin and other labor leaders were arrested for sedition on August 28th while the lock-out continued. Striking workers were subject to police violence, leading Larkin to call for the formation of a workers' militia, the Irish Citizen's Army. During this period, Vladimir Lenin referred to Larkin as 'a remarkable speaker and a man of seething energy [who] has performed miracles amongst the unskilled workers'.

Following the lock-out's defeat, Larkin came to the United States to do a speaking tour on invitation of "Big Bill" Haywood of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). On November 7th, 1919, during a series of anti-Bolshevik raids, Larkin was arrested and charged with 'criminal anarchy' for helping publish socialist literature.

Larkin eventually returned to Ireland, allying with the newly formed Soviet Union, attending at the 1924 Comintern Congress in Moscow. His relationship with the Soviet Union became strained in the 1930s, as Larkin's syndicalist politics clashed with the Marxism-Leninism of the Comintern.

Larkin spent the rest of his life as a organizer, receiving fatal injuries from a fall while supervising repairs to the Worker's Union of Ireland's Thomas Ashe Hall in Dublin in 1946.

"No, men and women of the Irish race, we shall not fight for England. We shall fight for the destruction of the British Empire and the construction of an Irish republic."

- James Larkin

• Date: 1874-01-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, spartacus-educational.com.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Auschwitz Liberated (1945)

Sat Jan 27, 1945

Image: Prisoners being led out of the Auschwitz gates, possibly a re-enactment taken a few weeks after January 27th. The motto "Arbeit macht frei" (English: "Work sets you free") can be seen above the gate. [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, the largest such complex during the Holocaust. In 2005, the United Nations named today as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

As Soviet forces approached the camp, Nazis attempted to evacuate prisoners from the camp and to destroy evidence of their atrocities. Approximately 56,000 inmates were forced on a "death march" west away from the camp through the Polish winter.

Around 15,000 prisoners (about 1 in 4) perished during their forced march, and, by the time the Soviets had arrived, only 9,000 remained on-site, monitored by a handful of remaining SS guards and staff.

The buildings themselves were left largely intact, along with large amounts of clothing, seized items, and human hair, alongside the dying prisoners left behind.

One Red Army general, Vasily Petrenko, is quoted as saying, "I who saw people dying every day was shocked by the Nazis' indescribable hatred toward the inmates who had turned into living skeletons. I read about the Nazis' treatment of Jews in various leaflets, but there was nothing about the Nazis' treatment of women, children, and old men".

Efforts were made to document the atrocities, and to hospitalize the remaining inmates. Auschwitz remained in use as an ad hoc facility for German POWs until the end of the war in Europe later that year.

Since 2005, the day has been marked annually by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating all those targeted and killed by the Third Reich, including around six million Jews and five million others.

• Date: 1945-01-27
• Learn More: www.smithsonianmag.com, en.wikipedia.org, www.ushmm.org.
• Tags: #Fascism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Samuel Gompers (1850 - 1924)

Sun Jan 27, 1850

Samuel Gompers, born on this day in 1850, was a founder of the American Federation of Labor, serving as its president for 38 years. Gompers expelled radicals from the AFL, promoted trade unionism, and advocated for racist immigration policies.

Although Gompers began his career sympathetic to socialist and Georgist thought, he became increasingly conservative throughout his career, making "peace" with capitalist labor relations rather than seeking to abolish them. This led to a split in the labor movement, with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) representing the more radical advocacy of labor interests via industrial unionism.

As AFL President, Gompers promoted collaboration among the different craft unions that comprised the AFL and supported collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages for laborers.

Gompers also successfully promoted anti-immigrant and anti-socialist politics using the influence of the AFL, endorsing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and supporting the U.S. government and its entry into World War I as the state arrested anti-war union leaders.

Gompers was particularly critical of the IWW, stating "the IWWs...are exactly what the Bolsheviki are in Russia, and we have seen what the IWW Bolsheviki in Russia have done for the working people."

• Date: 1850-01-27
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, aflcio.org, gompers.umd.edu, depts.washington.edu.
• Tags: #Socialism, #Labor, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Angela Davis (1944 - )

Wed Jan 26, 1944

Image: **

Angela Davis, born on this day in 1944, is a Marxist and feminist activist, prison abolitionist, philosopher, and educator.

Ideologically a Marxist, Davis was a member of the Communist Party USA until 1991, after which she joined the breakaway "Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism". She is the author of over ten books, covering topics such as class, feminism, and the U.S. prison system.

Born to an African-American family in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis studied French at Brandeis University and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt in West Germany. Back in the U.S., she joined the Communist Party and, as a Marxist feminist, involved herself in a range of radical movements, including second-wave feminism, the Black Panther Party, and the campaign against the Vietnam War.

In 1969, Davis was hired as an acting assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1970 UCLA's governing Board of Regents fired her due to her Communist Party membership; after a court ruled this illegal, the university fired her again, this time for her alleged use of "inflammatory language".

Praised by Marxists and others on the left, Davis has received numerous awards, including the Lenin Peace Prize in 1980. Davis has also been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, and was Time magazine's "Woman of the Year" for 1971 in its 2020 "100 Women of the Year" edition.

"I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept."

- Angela Davis

• Date: 1944-01-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.theguardian.com, www.marxists.org, www.marxists.org, www.blackpast.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Marxism, #Feminism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Anti-Gulf War D.C. Protests (1991)

Sat Jan 26, 1991

On this day in 1991, between 75,000 - 250,000 placard-wielding students, veterans, farmers, and feminists marched past the White House in protest of the Gulf War initiated by President George Bush. The march stretched over a mile long, sweeping down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Chants included "Hey, Hey, Uncle Sam, we remember Vietnam" and "No blood for oil!". Representative Rangel (D-NY) was the only member of Congress among the speakers there, saying "We have no right to have a Clint Eastwood foreign policy".

• Date: 1991-01-26
• Learn More: www.baltimoresun.com, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Protests.
• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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