Working Class Calendar

Donghak Peasant Rebellion Begins (1894)

Wed Jan 10, 1894

On this day in 1894, the anti-colonial Donghak Peasant Rebellion began with the "Gobu Uprising", where 1,000 peasants stormed the county of Gobu, freeing prisoners, occupying government buildings, and causing the county ruler to flee.

The Donghak Peasant Rebellion was an uprising that took place in late Joseon-era Korea during the 1890s. "Donghak" refers to a religious movement, founded in 1860, which preached for social equality and the uplifting of the peasantry. Choe Jeu was executed by the state in 1864.

Amidst a backdrop of growing foreign influence in Korea (which would eventually lead to colonization by Japan), Donghak peasants rebelled against oppression by feudal rulers. The uprising began in the county of Gobu in Jeolla province, where the magistrate had extorted vast amounts of wealth and forced the peasants to build a reservoir.

On January 10th, 1894, approximately 1,000 peasant rebels gathered at an empty horse ranch, from which they split off into two separate armies where they successfully destroyed three of Gobu's four gates, occupied government offices, and set about destroying prisons and freeing the people held in them.

As rebels successfully defeated government forces, unrest would spread across the country, and the panicked Joseon dynasty called for Chinese Qing dynasty for support. Doing this, however, aggrieved the Japanese government, which was competing with China for influence over Korea.

Japan invaded Korea, occupying Seoul, triggering the First Sino-Japanese War. Following a temporary truce, the peasant rebellion would resume in October, this time directed towards the Japanese occupation.

The Japanese proved successful in defeating the uprising, however, continuing to quell rebels through 1895. Korea would become increasingly absorbed into Japan's sphere of influence before official annexation in 1910.

• Date: 1894-01-10
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.jeongeup.go.kr.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Pemberton Mill Collapse (1860)

Tue Jan 10, 1860

On this day in 1860, the Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts collapsed, killing around 150 people, mostly Scottish and Irish women. Despite workers testifying that the building was unsafe, no one was punished for the disaster.

John B. Tuttle, superintendent of brickwork, told the architect Charles Bigelow he thought the walls insufficient, and another engineer testified in court he knew the building was not well-made.

The Pemberton Mill was rebuilt and still stands today.

• Date: 1860-01-10
• Learn More: www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com, historicipswich.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

UK Miners' Strike (1972)

Sun Jan 09, 1972

Image: A crowd of striking workers facing off with police on the street [BBC News]

On this day in 1972, all the coal miners in Britain went on strike, the first official national miners' strike since 1926. After the Battle of Saltley Gate rendered the last large stockpile of fuel inaccessible in February, workers won their demands.

The dispute arose from pay negotiations. Miners, led by Joe Gormley, initially asked for pay rises of between 35-47%, while the National Coal Board (NCB) was only prepared to offer 7.4%. After the strike began, all 289 coal mines in the country ceased production.

At the beginning of the strike, it was estimated that there were sufficient stockpiles of fuel to supply national requirements for about 8 weeks, however the fuel was unevenly distributed throughout the country. The success of the strike depended on ensuring the scarcity of fuel.

Accordingly, the miners enjoyed solidarity from other industries - engineers ceased working at collieries, train drivers refused to drive trains carrying fuel, and dockworkers refused to unload ships carrying coal.

Under guidelines agreed between the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the NCB, and the government, dispensation was given to allow fuel to be transported to "priority consumers", i.e., hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, and, later, schools.

By February, the last large accessible stockpile of solid fuel in the country was held by a West Midlands Gas Board (WMGB) coke plant in Birmingham, where up to 700 vehicles were collecting fuel each day for in miles-long queues. The WMGB argued that they could stay open because they did not employ miners directly.

Thousands of picketing workers descended on the open coke works, attempting to close it, but were initially repelled by a large police force. Arthur Scargill, a left-wing leader of the strike and NUM member, asked for solidarity from local engineering unions.

With their support, more than 10,000 workers managed to close the depot on February 10th, an event known as "The Battle of Saltley Gate". With the country facing massive power outages, the government conceded to worker demands.

"The victory on the 10 February was a battle between the working class and the government, which the working class won."

- Peter Jackson, of the Birmingham Trades Council

• Date: 1972-01-09
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, news.bbc.co.uk.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Senator Beveridge's Imperialist Speech (1900)

Tue Jan 09, 1900

On this day in 1900, Senator Albert J. Beveridge (1862 - 1927) gave a speech that made plain the United States' imperialist intentions for the Pacific region. It was given a few years after the U.S. had acquired Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. Here is a short excerpt:

"Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever...and just beyond the Philippines are China's illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either.

We will not renounce our part in the mission of our race, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world...The Pacific is our ocean...Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer...The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East..."

• Date: 1900-01-09
• Learn More: china.usc.edu, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Tags: #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

German Coast Uprising (1811)

Tue Jan 08, 1811

Image: **

On this day in 1811, the largest slave revolt in U.S. history began near modern day LaPlace, Louisiana when ~100 enslaved men began marching towards New Orleans, collecting more people and destroying slaveowners' property as they went.

On the first day, 64-125 enslaved men marched from sugar plantations in and near present-day LaPlace on the German Coast toward the city of New Orleans, collecting more men as they traveled. During their two-day, twenty-mile march, the men burned five plantation houses (three completely), several sugarhouses, and crops, armed with little more than hand tools.

The revolt ended when white planters, aided by Native American trackers, captured and executed Charles Deslondes (suspected leader of the revolt). In the following days, nearly one hundred enslaved people were either sentenced to death in unfair trials or summary executions, while only two white people were killed during the uprising.

• Date: 1811-01-08
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, ushistoryscene.com, www.blackpast.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Arturo Giovannitti (1884 - 1959)

Mon Jan 07, 1884

Arturo M. Giovannitti, born on this day in 1884, was an Italian-American IWW organizer, socialist political activist, and poet. Giovannitti was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), and is best remembered for his leadership and subsequent arrest in the 1912 Lawrence Textile Strike.

Along with "Smiling Joe" Ettor, Giovannitti was sent to Lawrence to help rally and organize striking workers there. When a striking worker was shot and killed, Ettor and Giovannitti were arrested as accomplices to the murder on little to no evidence.

While in jail, he wrote many poems, "The Walker" in particular becoming well-known. The trial made the textile strike a national controversy and resulted in "Big Bill" Haywood and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn coming in to lead the strike in their stead. Months after the strike itself ended, Ettor, Giovannitti, and a third co-defendant were acquitted of all charges.

"A man may lose his soul for just one day

Of splendor and be still accounted wise,

Or he may waste his life in a disguise

Like kings and priests and jesters, and still may

Be saved and held a hero if the play

Is all he knew. But what of him who tries

With truth and fails and then wins fame with lies?

How shall he know what history will say?

By this:

No man is great who does not find

A poet who will hail him as he is

With an almighty song that will unbind

Through his exploits eternal silences. Duce, where is your bard? In all mankind

The only poem you inspired is this."

• Arturo Giovannitti, "To Mussolini"

• Date: 1884-01-07
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Birthdays, #IWW.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Tragic Week (Argentina, 1919)

Tue Jan 07, 1919

Image: Photograph taken during the "Semana Trágica" in Argentina, in 1919. Depicts an overturned wagon on the street. [WikiCommons]

On this day in 1919, the "Semana Trágica" began in Argentina when police attacked striking metalworkers in Buenos Aires, killing five, after workers set the police chief's car on fire. The city was quickly placed under martial law.

The "Semana Trágica" (Tragic Week in English, not to be confused with the Spanish Tragic Week) was the violent supression of a general workers' uprising, beginning with the attack on January 7th. In addition to the actions of the police and military, right-wing vigilantes launched pogroms against the city's Jews, many of whom were not involved, in order to suppress the rebellion.

The conflict began as a strike at the Vasena metal works, an English Argentine-owned plant in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. On January 7th, workers overturned and set fire to the car of the police chief Elpidio González. Militant workers also shot and killed the commander of the Army detachment protecting González. Following this, police attacked, killing five workers and wounding twenty more.

On the same day, maritime workers of the port of Buenos Aires voted in favor of a general strike for better hours and wages. After the police attack at Vasena, a waterfront strike began: all ship movements, and all loading and unloading, came to a halt.

Rioting soon spread throughout Buenos Aires, and workers battled with both state and right-wing paramilitary forces. Police utilized members of the far-right Argentine "Patriotic League", who targeted the city's working class Russian Jewish population, which they associated with the rebellion, beating and murdering many uninvolved civilians.

On the 11th, the city was placed under martial law, and the military restored control over the city over the next several days. Estimates of the death toll range from between 141 to over 700. The United States embassy reported that 1,500 people were killed in total, "mostly Russians and generally Jews", and that many women were raped.

• Date: 1919-01-07
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.elhistoriador.com.ar.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Dundalli Executed (1855)

Fri Jan 05, 1855

Image: 1855 sketch of Dundalli by Silvester Diggles [Wikipedia]

Dundalli, executed by the state on this day in 1855, was an Aboriginal lawman who mediated conflict between European settlers and indigenous aboriginal peoples in the area of Brisbane in South East Queensland.

Characterized by colonial authorities as a criminal, Dundalli was an indigenous leader who coordinated decade-long resistance to the process of colonization.

As tensions escalated between indigenous people and settlers around Brisbane, Dundalli's role as a tribal leader led to widespread speculation that he instigated various violent conflicts. Despite this perception, modern historians note his restraint - he had not exacted revenge for his brother's murder at the hands of a settler and rival tribe and had saved at least one settler's life in a raid.

In 1854, Dundalli entered Brisbane to be paid for removing a felled tree and was arrested by the police. Tried and convicted for murder on flimsy evidence, he was hanged a few months later on this day in 1855. Historian Libby Connors writes that, from the gallows, Dundalli gave a speech addressed to his wife and Turrbal, Ningy Ningy, and Djindubari people gathered nearby, calling on them to avenge his death.

Connors states "In the end, the theatre of his own execution and gallows speech provides further evidence that a parallel system of justice was operating in the region which the colonial authorities refused to acknowledge."

• Date: 1855-01-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, eprints.usq.edu.au.
• Tags: #Colonialism, #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

SNCC Adopts Anti-War Position (1966)

Thu Jan 06, 1966

Image: People protesting the murder of Sammy Younge, January 1966, crmvet.org [snccdigital.org]

On this day in 1966, the SNCC adopted an official stance against the Vietnam War, connecting the struggle for liberation at home to Vietnamese liberation struggle. "We ask, where is the draft for the freedom fight in the United States?"

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s. The group emerged in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in Greensboro, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee and played a key role in helping black people in the South both register and exercise their right to vote.

In a November 1965 staff meeting, SNCC decided to issue a public statement about the Vietnam War, although some workers voiced concern about the political consequences. One worker wrote "While we care a great deal about both Vietnam and civil rights, we can’t do anything to help the Vietnam situation, and we can hurt ourselves by trying."

On January 3rd, 1966, twenty-one year old civil rights activist Sammy Younge was murdered by white supremacists in Tuskegee, Alabama. His death pushed SNCC to make a public stance on the war, regardless of the political consequences.

Three days later, on January 6th, SNCC’s Executive Committee released a statement on the Vietnam War, writing "the murder of Samuel Young in Tuskegee, Alabama, is no different than the murder of peasants in Vietnam, for both Young and the Vietnamese sought, and are seeking, to secure the rights guaranteed them by law." Here is an excerpt from their statement:

"We believe the United States government has been deceptive in its claims of concern for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, just as the government has been deceptive in claiming concern for the freedom of colored people in other countries as the Dominican Republic, the Congo, South Africa, Rhodesia, and in the United States itself.

...We question, then, the ability and even the desire of the United States government to guarantee free elections abroad. We maintain that our country's cry of 'preserve freedom in the world' is a hypocritical mask, behind which it squashes liberation movements which are not bound, and refuse to be bound, by the expediencies of United States cold war policies.

...We recoil with horror at the inconsistency of a supposedly 'free' society where responsibility to freedom is equated with the responsibility to lend oneself to military aggression...We ask, where is the draft for the freedom fight in the United States?"

• Date: 1966-01-06
• Learn More: snccdigital.org, en.wikipedia.org, snccdigital.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Imperialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Eisenhower Doctrine Declared (1957)

Sat Jan 05, 1957

Image: American Marine in a foxhole outside Beirut

On this day in 1957, President Eisenhower declared the "Eisenhower Doctrine", authorizing commitment of U.S. forces to any nation threatened by "international communism".

In 1958, 14,000 U.S. troops occupied Lebanon during a political crisis. On this basis,14,000 U.S. troops would occupy Lebanon to intervene in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis, an action named "Operation Blue Bat". Following the Lebanese intervention, some U.S. Senators accused Eisenhower of exaggerating the threat of communism to the region. Eisenhower later privately admitted that the real goal behind the policy was combating Arab nationalism.

• Date: 1957-01-05
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, millercenter.org.
• Tags: #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico Founded (1867)

Sun Jan 06, 1867

Image: An artistic depiction of the Grito de Lares by Leonardo Rivera

On this day in 1867, the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico was founded by exiled revolutionaries to fight for independence from Spain. These revolutionaries included Juan Ríus Rivera, Segundo Ruiz Belvis, Ramón Emeterio Betances, and José Francisco Basora.

The Committee began planning an armed revolution in Puerto Rico in early 1868, issuing several "Proclamas" criticizing Spanish exploitative practices and demanding rebellion against the government. On September 23rd, 1868, the Revolutionary Committee, led by Betances, declared independence in the city of Lares, Puerto Rico, calling it the Republic of Puerto Rico.

Several hundred rebels took over city hall, looted stores owned by "peninsulares" (Spanish-born men), and took some of the store owners prisoner. The revolutionary uprising was suppressed by the Spanish militia, and around 475 rebels were imprisoned. The event became known as "El Grito de Lares" (shown).

• Date: 1867-01-06
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.loc.gov.
• Tags: #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

CLR James (1901 - 1989)

Fri Jan 04, 1901

CLR James, born on this day in 1901, was a Trinidadian historian and journalist whose works include "The Black Jacobins", a history of the Haitian Revolution, and "World Revolution", detailing the rise and fall of the Communist International.

Born in Trinidad, James later moved to England to assist his friend, the West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine, with his autobiography. In 1933, he moved to London and begin organizing with Trotskyists. In the next few years, James wrote some of his most notable works, including both "World Revolution" and "The Black Jacobins".

In 1939, James visited Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, México. The two disagreed on the "Negro Question"; Trotsky saw the Trotskyist Party as providing leadership to the black community in a relationship similar to the Bolsheviks and ethnic minorities in Russia, while James suggested that the self-organized struggle of African-Americans would lead to a broader radical social movement.

"When history is written as it ought to be written, it is the moderation and long patience of the masses at which men will wonder, not their ferocity."

- CLR James

• Date: 1901-01-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org, libcom.org, www.blackpast.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Baixa de Cassanje revolt (1961)

Wed Jan 04, 1961

Image: Transporting Cotonang Equipment through flooded areas of the Baixa 1968 [journals.openedition.org]

On this day in 1961, cotton plantation workers in the Baixa de Cassanje region of Angola protested for better working conditions, an act which escalated into a period of open rebellion and war against Portuguese colonizers.

Employed by Cotonang, a Portuguese-Belgian cotton plantation company, several workers launched a protest on January 4th, demanding improved working conditions. The protest quickly evolved into a general uprising, with workers burning identification cards, attacking Portuguese traders, blocking roads, and destroying company buildings.

In response, the colonial government quickly suppressed the uprising with brutal military force, initiating a bombing campaign of nearby villages that killed anywhere from 400 - 10,000 people.

Despite the short-term failure of the uprising, it served as an important precursor to the Angolan Independence War, which would eventually lead to the end of colonial rule.

• Date: 1961-01-04
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, journals.openedition.org.
• Tags: #Colonialism, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ellsberg Charged With Espionage (1973)

Wed Jan 03, 1973

Image: Daniel Ellsberg, co-defendant in the Pentagon Papers case, talks to media outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles on April 28th, 1973. Photo credit Wally Fong, AP [nbcnews.com]

On this day in 1973, American whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg was charged with violating the Espionage Act for releasing the Pentagon Papers, carrying a maximum sentence of 115 years. Due to state misconduct, the charges were dismissed.

Daniel Ellsberg is an American economist, activist and former United States military analyst who, while employed by the RAND Corporation, precipitated a national political controversy in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret Pentagon study of the U.S. government decision-making in relation to the Vietnam War.

The Pentagon Papers revealed, among other things, that Lyndon B. Johnson had repeatedly lied about the nature of American involvement in Vietnam and that the United States had been undermining Vietnamese autonomy continuously since the Truman administration.

Due to governmental misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering, Daniel Ellsberg was dismissed of all charges on May 11th, 1973.

• Date: 1973-01-03
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.npr.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Lucretia Mott (1793 - 1880)

Thu Jan 03, 1793

Lucretia Mott, born on this day in 1793, was an American Quaker, abolitionist, women's rights activist, pacifist, and social reformer. She had formed the idea of reforming the position of women in society when she was amongst the women excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in 1840.

In 1848, Mott was invited by Jane Hunt to a meeting that led to the first public gathering about women's rights, the Seneca Falls Convention, during which Mott co-wrote the Declaration of Sentiments.

When slavery was outlawed in 1865, Mott advocated giving former slaves who had been bound to slavery laws within the U.S., whether male or female, the right to vote. She remained a central figure in the abolition and suffrage movement until her death in 1880.

• Date: 1793-01-03
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.womenshistory.org.
• Tags: #Feminism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

2nd Palmer Raids Begin (1920)

Fri Jan 02, 1920

On this day in 1920, the Department of Justice launched a series of attacks against leftists and labor organizers across more than 23 states, arresting more than 3,000. President Hoover later admitted that there were "clear cases of brutality".

The Palmer Raids were a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 during the First Red Scare by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. The raids targeted suspected leftists and labor activists, mostly Italian and Eastern European immigrants, especially if they were anarchists or communists, and generally sought to deport them from the United States.

The arrests occurred under the leadership of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, with more than 3,000 arrested. Though 556 people were deported, including prominent anti-capitalist thinkers like Emma Goldman, Palmer's efforts were largely frustrated by officials at the U.S. Department of Labor, which had authority for deportations and objected to DOJ methods.

Although the DOJ initially claimed to have taken possession of several bombs, no evidence of the bombs was produced. In their entirety, all of the raids confiscated just four pistols.

• Date: 1920-01-02
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.jacobinmag.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Anton Pannekoek (1873 - 1960)

Thu Jan 02, 1873

Antonie Pannekoek, born on this day in 1873, was a Dutch astronomer, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary.

A respected Marxist theorist, Pannekoek was one of the founders of council communism and a main figure in the radical left in the Netherlands and Germany, active in the Communist Party of the Netherlands, the Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands and the Communist Workers' Party of Germany.

Pannekoek is perhaps best known for his writing on workers' councils. He regarded these as a new form of organization capable of overcoming the limitations of the old institutions of the labor movement, the trade unions and social democratic parties.

Pannekoek was a sharp critic of anarchism, social democracy, and Leninism. During the early years of the Russian revolution, Pannekoek gave critical support to the Bolsheviks. In later analysis, however, Pannekoek argued that the Bolsheviks crippled the workers' soviets, and formed a new ruling class of their own party.

Unlike other progressive thinkers of his time, Pannekoek was also highly critical of Social Darwinism, derisively calling it "bourgeois darwinism".

"Public ownership is a middle-class program of a modernized and disguised form of capitalism. Common ownership by the producers can be the only goal of the working class."

- Antonie Pannekoek

• Date: 1873-01-02
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org, www.workerscontrol.net.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Haitian Independence (1804)

Sun Jan 01, 1804

Image: The painting "Attack and take of the Crête-à-Pierrot" (March 24th, 1802), by Auguste Raffet [blackpast.org]

On this day in 1804, the Haitian Republic was established by self-liberated slaves, the culmination of years of violent revolt against French colonizers. More than 200,000 Haitians died in the struggle for liberation.

The Haitian Revolution was the only uprising of enslaved people that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives.

The revolt began on August 21st, 1791, in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Thousands of people began to kill their masters, plunge the colony into civil war.

Within the next ten days, slaves had taken control of the entire Northern Province in an uprising of unprecedented scale. The fighting was particularly brutal, and more than 200,000 black people died in the years between the initial uprising and formal independence.

Although Toussaint Louverture established himself as a military leader of the revolution by 1801, he died shortly before independence was won. Jean-Jacques Dessalines, his former lieutenant, became the first leader of Haiti.

• Date: 1804-01-01
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, libcom.org, en.wikipedia.org, eji.org.
• Tags: #Independence.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Zapatista Uprising (1994)

Sat Jan 01, 1994

Image: Photo credit: Pedro Valtierra, Antonio Turok

On this day in 1994, the same day that NAFTA took effect, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation declared war on the Mexican state, demanding "work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace."

Following this war declaration, armed indigenous rebels seized four towns in Chiapas, Mexico, releasing nearly 200 predominantly indigenous prisoners and destroying land records. The fighting lasted eleven days and estimates of those killed range from 300-400. The EZLN remains active to this day.

• Date: 1994-01-01
• Learn More: libcom.org, www.internationalaffairs.org.au.
• Tags: #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Black Cat Tavern Raid (1966)

Sat Dec 31, 1966

Image: Outside the Black Cat on February 11th, 1967

On this day in 1966, undercover L.A. police raided the Black Cat Tavern when celebrating queer patrons kissed each other at midnight. A campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals on behalf of the arrested was launched, but lost when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case and convictions were sustained.

The Black Cat Tavern is an LGBT historic site located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, established just two months prior to the raid. PRIDE, short for "Personal Rights in Defense and Education", was a recently esbalished LGBT rights organization that also played a key role in the conflict.

On New Year's Eve in 1966, undercover police staked out the Black Cat Tavern, waiting for the moment that queer patrons would kiss each other at midnight. Cops poured into the bar, assaulting patrons and employees, smashing furniture, and arresting six people. The raid took place two years before the infamous conflict at Stonewall Inn.

PRIDE quickly responded with a campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals for the six arrested that night. On February 11th, 1967, PRIDE organized a peaceful demonstration protesting the LAPD's raid of the Black Cat Tavern, one of the first U.S. demonstrations protesting police brutality against LGBT people.

Two of the men arrested for kissing were later convicted under California Penal Code Section 647 and registered as sex offenders. The men appealed, asserting their right of equal protection under the law, but the U.S. Supreme Court did not accept their case and their convictions were upheld.

On November 7th, 2008, the Black Cat site was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

• Date: 1966-12-31
• Learn More: news.usc.edu, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Queer, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire (1986)

Wed Dec 31, 1986

On this day in 1986, striking hotel workers set fire to the Dupont Plaza Hotel in Puerto Rico in an attempt to scare off tourists. The fires burned out of control and killed more than 96 people.

In the weeks leading up to the fire, there was significant labor strife at the Dupont Plaza Hotel. The tension was so great that locals were advising tourists to stay away from the hotel and its casino.

On December 31st, hotel workers voted to go on strike, and three of the labor organizers used chafing fuel to set a storage room on the ground floor on fire.

Although their intent was to merely pressure management into agreeing to union demands, it quickly burned out of control, spreading to the adjacent ballroom and then casino. To prevent theft, hotel managers had locked emergency exits from the casino, and most of the deaths occurred there.

The fire claimed between 96 and 98 lives and caused 140 injuries, becoming the most catastrophic hotel fire in Puerto Rican history and the second deadliest in the history of the United States. The three labor organizers were convicted of murder and sentenced to varying prison terms.

• Date: 1986-12-31
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.nfpa.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Flint Sit-Down Strike (1936)

Wed Dec 30, 1936

Image: Sit-down strikers guarding window entrance to Fisher body plant number three. Photo by Sheldon Dick, 1937.

On this day in 1936, auto workers at the GM Fisher Number One Plant in Flint, Michigan began a highly organized 44-day occupation of their factory, winning a 5% wage increase.

The victory was an extremely successful recruitment tool for the just-formed United Automobile Workers (UAW), with approximately half a million workers signing up with the union over the next few years.

The UAW had formed in 1935 and decided to adjust its organizing strategy to target the most valuable auto factories and employers. They decided to target GM factories in Flint, which were essential to multiple lines of GM cars, and to the cars of GM's subsidiary companies like Chevrolet and Buick.

As Wyndham Mortimer, the first UAW officer put in charge of organizing the campaign in Flint, entered the town, he was surveilled by men from GM. The company had also infiltrated local union shops (which had very few of the local auto workers) with spies. The UAW was thus forced to organize in secret.

On December 30th, the union learned that GM was planning to move dies essential to the Fisher #1 plant's strategic value out of the factory. UAW lead organizer Bob Travis immediately called a lunchtime meeting at the union hall across the street from the plant, explained the situation, then sent the members across the street to occupy the plant, beginning the Flint Sit-Down Strike.

The state government refused to get involved, so GM attempted to break the occupation by cutting power and water, and interfering with food deliveries. Workers organized committees dedicated to defense, cleaning, organized recreation, and postal service.

On January 11th, 1937, the police, armed with guns and tear gas, attempted to enter the plant. They were successfully repelled by the workers, who pelted the cops with hinges, bottles, and bolts. Fourteen strikers were injured by gunfire during the battle.

GM obtained two injunctions against the strike, however these were ignored by the workers. One injunction was issued by a judge who owned over three thousand shares of GM, leading him to getting disbarred after the UAW discovered this information.

On February 11th, 1937, GM signed a one-page agreement that formally recognized the UAW as a bargaining representative. The UAW gained significant credibility - in the following year, its membership grew from 30,000 to 500,000 members. Employees of other car manufacturers such as Ford joined the organization, and the entire industry rapidly unionized.

• Date: 1936-12-30
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Idaho Governor Assassinated (1905)

Sat Dec 30, 1905

On this day in 1905, Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg, who had arrested striking workers en masse and detained them without trial, was assassinated by a bomb outside his home.

The event took place in the context of militant labor disputes in Idaho, in which the U.S. government crushed organizing by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Steunenberg took a hard line against these labor organizers, declaring martial law and asking President McKinley to send federal troops to assist him in crushing the union movement.

The unions, many of which had supported Steunenberg, felt betrayed. The unions, many of which had supported Steunenberg, felt betrayed. On the matter of labor, Steunenberg stated "We have taken the monster by the throat and we are going to choke the life out of it. No halfway measures will be adopted. It is a plain case of the state or the union winning, and we do not propose that the state shall be defeated."

Notable Pinkerton Agent James McParland was called in to investigate the murder. McParland arrested Harry Orchard, a stranger who had been staying at a local hotel, and helped him draft a confession, assuring Orchard that providing evidence against the WFM would prevent him from being executed. Orchard complied, naming William Hayward (general secretary of WFM), Charles Moyer (WFM president), and union member George Pettibone as accomplices.

During the three month trial, the prosecutor was unable to present any information against Hayward, Moyer and Pettibone except for the testimony of Orchard. All three were acquitted. Harry Orchard, because he had provided evidence against the other men, received life imprisonment rather than the death penalty.

• Date: 1905-12-30
• Learn More: spartacus-educational.com, libcom.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Assassinations.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Guy Debord (1931 - 1994)

Mon Dec 28, 1931

Guy Debord, born on this day in 1931, was a Marxist philosopher and filmmaker who co-founded the Situationist International and authored "The Society of the Spectacle" (1967).

Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931 and began his career as a writer after dropping out of the University of Paris, where he was studying law. Debord joined the Letterist International, a group of avant-garde French artists and intellectuals, when he was 18.

Debord was first to propose the concept of the "Spectacle", referring to the role of media, culture and advertising in post-World War II consumerist society, and the way it is able to commercially co-opt and repackage counter-cultural ideas and movements.

On the nature of media and the new-found emphasis on appearance, Debord stated "Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing."

The concept of "Spectacle" became central to the ideas of the Situationist International, which Debord co-founded in 1957. Ideas from the Situationists proved influential on protesters during the May 68 uprising in France, where quotes and slogans from Situationist work would appear on graffiti and posters.

Debord himself would disband the Situationist International in 1972, following internal tensions amongst its members, and would focus on creating experimental film and tabletop war games, publishing "A Game of War" in 1987.

Suffering from depression and alcoholism in his later years, Debord committed suicide at his home in 1994.

"The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist."

- Guy Debord

• Date: 1931-12-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, hazlitt.net, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Knights of Labor Founded (1869)

Tue Dec 28, 1869

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The Knights of Labor was an American labor federation founded on this day in 1869. At its height, K of L organized 1/5th of the U.S. labor force in the late 1800s. K of L was an important predecessor to labor unions such as the AFL and IWW.

The Knights of Labor operated in the U.S. as well in Canada, Great Britain, and Australia. K of L demanded an eight hour work day, an end to child and convict labor, and supported worker cooperatives. In some cases it acted directly as a labor union, negotiating with employers.

Jonathan Garlock of the Mapping American Social Movements Project states that, between 1869 and 1896, the Knights of Labor spanned the North American continent with 15,000 Local Assemblies. In the U.S., assemblies were organized in communities of every type, from mining camps and country crossroads to rural county seats; from small industrial towns to cities and metropolitan centers.

Of the three and a half thousand places in America with populations over 1,000 in the decade 1880-1890, half had at least one Local Assembly of the Knights of Labor sometime between 1869 and 1896. Of the communities with populations over 8,000, all but a dozen had Knights Assemblies. Many towns had several Assemblies, while important cities had more than one hundred.

K of L was notable in its ambition to organize across lines of gender and race and in the inclusion of both skilled and unskilled labor. Garlock describes numerous Assemblies as entirely formed of black, women workers, or workers of distinct ethnic origins, while in others, Assemblies membership cut across racial, gender, and ethnic lines.

An exception to this inclusiveness was discrimination against Chinese immigrant workers. The Knights strongly supported the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and violently targeted Chinese workers, such as in the 1885 Rock Springs Massacre, when white miners organized with the K of L killed scores of Chinese workers, hired as strikebreakers by their bosses, and drove the rest out of Wyoming.

After a rapid expansion in the mid-1880s, K of L went into decline, primarily losing members to the American Federation of Labor (AFL).

• Date: 1869-12-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.history.com, depts.washington.edu, www.lawcha.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org