Working Class Calendar

Poll Tax Riots (1990)

Sat Mar 31, 1990

Image: A couple kiss during the poll tax riots in 1990. Photograph: David Hoffman Photo Library

On this day in 1990, 180k-250k people gathered in Kennington Park, London to protest an unpopular poll tax imposed by the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher, leading to widespread police brutality and rioting. By 1991, the government promised to replace the tax, and the poll tax was repealed in 1993.

The proposed poll tax was a "Community Charge", a head tax that saw every adult pay a fixed rate amount set by their local authority according to Daily Telegraph correspondent Nick Collins.

The Charge proved extremely unpopular; while students and the registered unemployed had to pay 20%, some large families occupying relatively small houses saw their charges go up considerably, and the tax was thus accused of saving the rich money and moving the expenses onto the poor.

On March 31st, 1990, between 180,000 and 250,000 people gathered in Kennington Park. A police report completed a year after the riot estimated the crowd at 200,000.

The rally was met with a large police presence, and rioting broke out around 4pm. By midnight, around 113 people were injured, mostly members of the public and 339 people had been arrested.

Radical left-wing groups in the protest, anarchists and the UK Socialist Workers' Party (SWP) in particular, were blamed by various media and political figures for the violence and property destruction. A member of the SWP Central Committee told The Times: "We did not go on the demonstration with any intention of fighting with the police, but we understand why people are angry and we will not condemn that anger." A 1991 police report concluded there was "no evidence that the trouble was orchestrated by left-wing anarchist groups".

The large scale of opposition and resistance would facilitate Thatcher's fall from power as Prime Minister and Conservative leader later that year, and the poll tax itself would later be abolished entirely, replaced with a "Council Tax" in 1993.

• Date: 1990-03-31
• Learn More: www.rs21.org.uk, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Anarchism, #Riots, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Alexandra Kollontai (1872 - 1952)

Sun Mar 31, 1872

Image: A photo portrait of Alexandra Kollontai, unknown location and date. [Wikipedia]

Alexandra Kollontai, born on this day in 1872, was a Marxist feminist revolutionary who served as People's Commissar for Social Welfare in the Soviet Union and, later in life, as a diplomat for the USSR abroad.

Alexandra was born into a wealthy family of Ukrainian, Russian, and Finnish background, acquiring a fluency in both Russian and Finnish early on. This experience would later assist her in her career as a Soviet diplomat.

In 1895, Kollontai read August Bebel's "Woman and Socialism", which was a major influence on her thinking. In 1896, she helped fundraise in support of a mass textile strike in St. Petersburg, retaining connections with the women textile workers of St. Petersburg for the rest of her career.

In the years leading up to 1917, Kollontai was active as a Marxist theoretician, educator, and anti-war activist (opposing World War I, specifically). During this time, she established contact with Vladimir Lenin and gave a lengthy speaking tour in the U.S., sharing a stage with Eugene V. Debs and giving 123 speeches in 4 languages.

Following the 1917 February Revolution, Kollontai returned to Russia. Later that year, she voted in favor of the decision to launch an armed uprising against the government, also participating in the revolt. At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, she was elected Commissar of Social Welfare in the new Soviet government.

The Encyclopedia of Women's Autobiography describes her efforts within the Soviet government: "The changes that Kollontai tried to bring about were enormous, involving the complete destruction of the old system and the creation of a new one...Kollontai authorized decrees that committed the Soviet State to full funding of maternity care from conception through the first year of a child's life - an unheard of measure for the beginning of the 20th century. She attempted to establish full legal, political, and sexual equality for women and to redress the entire marriage code."

In 1920, Kollontai joined the left "Workers' Opposition", an opposition tendency in the Bolshevik Party opposed to what they saw as the increasing bureaucratization of the Soviet state. In March 1921, the Workers' Opposition was banned, along with all other factions.

In 1922, Kollontai was one of the signers of the "Letter of the 22" to the Communist International, protesting the banning of factions in Russia. The appeal failed, and a three-man commission, Stalin, Zinoviev and Dzerzhinsky, recommended her be expelled from the party, however she was ultimately allowed to remain.

Following this incident, Kollontai began to serve as a Soviet diplomat, becoming one of the first women to work in international diplomacy. Although she initially intended this venture to be temporary, she soon began to regard her work abroad as a kind of political exile, and would spend the rest of her political career in this role.

"Class instinct...always shows itself to be more powerful than the noble enthusiasms of 'above-class' politics. So long as the bourgeois women and their [proletarian] 'younger sisters' are equal in their inequality, the former can, with complete sincerity, make great efforts to defend the general interests of women.

But once the barrier is down and the bourgeois women have received access to political activity, the recent defenders of the 'rights of all women' become enthusiastic defenders of the privileges of their class, content to leave the younger sisters with no rights at all. Thus, when the feminists talk to working women about the need for a common struggle to realise some 'general women's' principle, women of the working class are naturally distrustful."

• Alexandra Kollontai

• Date: 1872-03-31
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Loray Mill Strike (1929)

Sat Mar 30, 1929

Image: Two women struggling with a state militia trooper during the textile workers' strike in Gastonia, North Carolina. From the article "Battle Songs of the Southern Class Struggle: Songs of the Gastonia Textile Strike of 1929", by Patrick Huber.

On this day in 1929, mill workers in Gastonia, North Carolina, led by communist labor organizer Fred Beal, voted in favor of striking to demand a 40 hour work week, higher wages, and union recognition, beginning the Loray Mill Strike.

On April 1st, 1,800 mill workers walked out on the job and formally made their demands. Workers lived in company homes and the mill owners promptly had them evicted. Workers created a tent city on the outskirts of town, guarded by armed strikers.

On June 7th, an altercation between strikers and police led to the police chief being shot to death, and several strikers and police were wounded. In the aftermath, 71 strikers were arrested, and mobs of anti-strike community members harassed and shot at striking workers, killing a young woman. Fred Beal and Clarence Miller, another leader of the strike, were indicted and convicted for the murder of the police chief. Both skipped bail and fled to the Soviet Union.

Though largely unsuccessful in attaining its goals of better working conditions and wages, the strike was considered very successful in a lasting way - it caused an immense controversy which gave the labor movement momentum, propelling the movement in its national development.

• Date: 1929-03-30
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.ourstate.com, www.youtube.com.
• Tags: #Labor, #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Land Day (1976)

Tue Mar 30, 1976

Image: Land Day, 1978 (Photo: Gidon Gitai)

On this day in 1976, Palestinians initiated a campaign of resistance, including a general strike, occupations, and violent confrontation with police, in opposition to Israeli settlement plans. The uprising is commemorated annually as Land Day.

Land Day was not a spontaneous uprising, but the result of months of planning. On May 21st, 1975, activists and Arab intellectuals held a meeting in Haifa to discuss a strategic response to Israel stepping up its campaign to appropriate Palestinian-owned land. This began a series of meetings over which the campaign was conceptualized, including a general congress that was the largest public gathering of Palestinians in Israel since 1948.

On February 14th, 1976, more than 5,000 residents rallied in the village of Sakhnin, calling for a general strike in response to Israeli repression. To prepare for the strike, local land defense committees and branches of the Communist Party distributed leaflets, organized demonstrations, and held meetings in several Arab towns and villages.

The first confrontations began on the eve of Land Day, March 29th as demonstrators in Arraba demanded the release of a local activist, closing the streets and setting fire to tires. Israeli soldiers fired on demonstrators with live ammunition, injuring many of them.

The following day, the general strike was initiated in Arab towns and villages, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and refugee camps in Lebanon. Israeli troops and border guards in military trucks and tanks raided Arab communities to arrest activist politicians and disperse demonstrators.

In total, six people were killed, approximately fifty were injured, and three hundred were arrested. When some of the injured applied for compensation, the Israeli Ministry of Defense categorized the Land Day confrontations as "combat activity".

The Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question describes Land Day's legacy this way: "Land Day was a turning point in the orientations and tools adopted for Palestinian struggle inside Israel. After Land Day the Palestinians in Israel gradually structured their presence as a national group inside Israel in a way that went beyond their local struggles."

During Land Day protests in 2018, seventeen Palestinians were killed, including five Hamas members, and more than 1,400 were injured in shootings by the Israeli Army during a march calling for the Palestinian right of return at the borders with Gaza.

• Date: 1976-03-30
• Learn More: www.palquest.org, jacobinmag.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #GeneralStrikes, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Wellington Trades Hall Bombing (1984)

Thu Mar 29, 1984

Image: Two investigators poring over the wreckage from the bombing

On this day in 1984, the Trades Hall in Wellington, New Zealand was bombed, killing the building's caretaker and badly injuring his dog. To this day, the perpetrator has not been identified.

The Trades Hall was the headquarters of a number of trade unions, and it is most commonly assumed that unions were the target of the bombing. Ernie Abbott, the building's caretaker, was killed when he attempted to move the suitcase, which is believed to have contained three sticks of gelignite triggered by a mercury switch.

To this day, the perpetrator has never been identified. It was revealed in a 2019 episode of Cold Case that police had a prime suspect, a retired marine engineer with explosives expertise and anti-union attitudes, however the evidence was considered circumstantial and insufficient to lay charges.

• Date: 1984-03-29
• Learn More: www.stuff.co.nz, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Terrorism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Storming of Connolly House (1933)

Wed Mar 29, 1933

Image: Connolly House, during an occupation by housing activists in 2022 [via @StreetlinkBAC on Twitter]

On this day in 1933, a crowd of 5,000-6,000 Catholic anti-communists stormed and burned the Connolly House in Dublin, the headquarters of the Communist Party. Attempts were also made to attack the Workers' College in Eccles Street and the Workers Union of Ireland office in Marlborough Street.

The Connolly House had been under siege for multiple days, and the incident was part of a larger series of events where anti-communist crowds attacked Dublin buildings associated with the far left.

The Catholic Church played a key role in fostering this anti-communist sentiment. In October 1931, the Church stated "You cannot be a Catholic and a Communist. One stands for Christ, the other for Anti-Christ". In his Lenten pastoral for 1933, the Bishop of Kildare warned his congregation "be prepared to fight...There is no reason why anyone who undertakes to propagate Communism should be allowed do so".

• Date: 1933-03-29
• Learn More: www.historyireland.com, www.workersrepublic.org.
• Tags: #Communism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Clara Lemlich (1886 - 1982)

Sun Mar 28, 1886

Clara Lemlich Shavelson, born on this day in 1886, was a Jewish communist and labor leader of the "Uprising of 20,000", a massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment industry in 1909. Later blacklisted from the industry for her labor union work, she became a member of the Communist Party USA and a consumer activist.

Before the shirtwaist strike began, Clara had been listening to men speak at a union meeting about the disadvantages and cautions about the shirtwaist workers going on a general strike. After four hours of this, she rose and declared in Yiddish that she wanted to say a few words of her own.

She declared that the shirtwaist workers would go on a general strike, which received a standing ovation from the audience. Clara then took an oath swearing that if she became a traitor to the cause she now voted for, then that the hand she now held high wither from her arm.

The strike was successful - under a "Protocol of Peace", factory owners and the union agreed to end the strike under improved wages, working conditions, and hours.

• Date: 1886-03-28
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, jwa.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #GeneralStrikes, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Arkansas Bans Anarchy and "Bolshevism" (1919)

Fri Mar 28, 1919

Image: Charles Brough, the Arkansas Governor who signed Act 512 into law, in 1919

On this day in 1919, Arkansas, joining the majority of U.S. states at the time, passed a law to explicitly "punish anarchy and to prevent the introduction and spread of Bolshevism and kindred doctrines" within its borders.

The law, known as Act 512, also banned advocating for the overthrow of the state of Arkansas or federal government, as well as any flag "which is calculated to overthrow present form of government".

Act 512 categorized these behaviors as a misdemeanor crime, punishable by a fine of between $10 and a $1,000, and the perpetrator could be imprisoned in the county jail for up to six months. On March 28th, 1919, the Act was signed into law by Governor Charles Brough (shown).

These anti-Bolshevik laws were used against socialist, communist, and union organizers in Arkansas a number of times in the 1930s, approximately the same time that the Communist Party of Arkansas reached its zenith. Examples of repression enabled by this law include the 1934 arrest of George Cruz, associated with the Original Independent Benevolent Afro-Pacific Movement of the World (OIBAPMW) and the 1935 arrest of Ward Rodgers, a member of the Southern Tenant Farmers' Union (STFU).

• Date: 1919-03-28
• Learn More: encyclopediaofarkansas.net, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Communism, #Labor, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Annie Mae Aquash (1945 - 1975)

Tue Mar 27, 1945

Image: **

Annie Mae Aquash (Mi'kmaq name "Naguset Eask"), born on this day in 1945, was a First Nations activist and Mi'kmaq tribal member from Nova Scotia, Canada who played a prominent role in the American Indian Movement (AIM).

In the 1960s, she moved to Boston and joined other First Nations and indigenous Americans who were focused on education and organizing against police brutality against urban indigenous peoples. Aquash participated in several key events, including the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the 1972 Trail of Broken Treaties, and the occupation of the Department of Interior headquarters in Washington, DC.

On February 24th, Aquash's body was found in Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, murdered by an execution-style gunshot. In his book "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse", Peter Matthiessen writes that the FBI and CIA had previously disseminated rumours that she had been an informant and that Aquash had claimed an FBI agent threatened her life.

On the matter of Aquash's death, Leonard Peltier stated, "I know that [the FBI's] behavior hasn't changed just as I know that Anna Mae was not an informant."

• Date: 1945-03-27
• Learn More: www.canadashistory.ca, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Food Not Bombs Serves First Meal (1981)

Thu Mar 26, 1981

Image: Food Not Bombs in Harvard Square, 1981 [foodnotbombs.net]

On this day in 1981, Food Not Bombs shared their first meals outside the Federal Reserve Bank during the stock holders meeting of the Bank of Boston to protest the exploitation of capitalism and investment in the nuclear industry.

Food Not Bombs is a loose-knit group of independent collectives, sharing free vegan and vegetarian food with others. Food Not Bombs' ideology is that corporate and government priorities are skewed to allow hunger to persist in the midst of abundance.

As evidence of this, a large amount of the food served by the group is surplus food from grocery stores, bakeries, and markets that would otherwise go to waste (or, occasionally, has already been thrown away).

• Date: 1981-03-26
• Learn More: foodnotbombs.net, en.wikipedia.org.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Sergei Kirov (1886 - 1934)

Sat Mar 27, 1886

Image: A photo portrait of Sergei Kirov, unknown date and location [Spartacus-Educational]

Sergei Kirov, born on this day in 1886, was Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician. In 1934, Kirov was assassinated by an ex-Party member, the catalyst for a series of purges and state repression led by Stalin, sometimes called the "Great Purge".

Sergei Kirov (1886 - 1934) began his career as an engineer, becoming after in politics after moving to the Siberian city Tomsk, where he became a Marxist and joined the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) in 1904.

After the RSDLP split, Kirov followed the Bolshevik faction. During the Russian Civil War, he became commander of the Bolshevik military administration in Astrakhan, and fought for the Red Army until 1920.

In 1921, Kirov became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan, the Bolshevik party organization in Azerbaijan. Kirov was a loyal supporter of Joseph Stalin, the successor of Vladimir Lenin, and in 1926 he was rewarded with command of the Leningrad party organization.

On December 1st, 1934, Kirov was shot dead in his office by Leonid Nikolaev, a disaffected and expelled ex-Party member. Kirov was buried in the Kremlin Wall necropolis in a state funeral, with Stalin and other prominent members of the CPSU personally carrying his coffin.

Stalin called for swift punishment of the traitors and those found negligent in Kirov's death, announcing that Nikolaev had been put up to the job by "Zinovievites" (supporters of Grigorii Zinoviev, who had been ousted as Leningrad party boss in 1926).

Nikolayev was swiftly found guilty and executed on December 29th, 1934. Arrests of Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev and many of their associates followed, as did summary executions of alleged White conspirators.

The circumstances of Kirov's death have been the source of great speculation and conspiracy, particularly by Soviet dissidents. One conspiracy, alleged by Nikita Khrushchev and anti-Soviet defectors such as Alexander Orlov and Alexander Barmine, is that Stalin himself secretly ordered the assassination, fearing Kirov as a political rival and requiring a justification to begin mass purges.

Despite these claims, at least two official investigations, one in the 1960s and another in 1989, failed to establish Stalin's or the NKVD's complicity in Kirov's assassination.

Many cities, streets, and factories were named or renamed after Kirov in his honor, including the town of Kirov (formerly Vyatka).

"Whenever there is a conflict between precept and example, the latter wins because deeds speak louder than our words."

- Sergei Kirov

• Date: 1886-03-27
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, soviethistory.msu.edu, spartacus-educational.com.
• Tags: #Marxism, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (1911)

Sat Mar 25, 1911

Image: A photo of the factory on fire, taken March 25th, 1911. First published on front page of The New York World 1911-03-26 [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took place in New York City. Managers had locked the exits to prevent theft and unauthorized breaks; the fire killed 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant girls. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.

The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers - 123 women and girls and 23 men - who either burned to death, choked on smoke, or jumped to their deaths from high windows. Most of the victims were recent Italian and Jewish immigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23.

The death toll was high in part because the doors to the stairwells and exits were locked (a then-common practice to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft). The incident led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU), which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.

The owners (who survived the fire by fleeing to the roof when it began), were acquitted of manslaughter charges, but found liable for wrongful death. Although they had to pay out $75 per victim killed, their insurance provider paid them out $400 per casualty. Two years later, one of the owners was arrested and fined $20 for again locking his doors during factory hours.

A week later, on April 2nd, 1911, Rose Schneiderman, a prominent socialist, feminist, and union activist, spoke to workers, saying this about the incident: "I would be a traitor to these poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you good people of the public and we have found you wanting...I know from my experience it is up to the working people to save themselves. The only way they can save themselves is by a strong working-class movement."

• Date: 1911-03-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, aflcio.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Rudolf Rocker (1873 - 1958)

Tue Mar 25, 1873

Image: **

Johann Rudolf Rocker, born on this day in 1873, was an anarchist theorist, historian, and activist, known for critical anarchist texts such as "Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice" (1938) and "Pioneers of American Freedom" (1949).

Though often described as an anarcho-syndicalist, Rocker was a self-professed anarchist without adjectives, believing that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social freedom of men".

Rocker was involved in helping organize a number of labor strikes and represented the federation at the International Anarchist Congress in Amsterdam in 1907. Rocker was well-read in his lifetime - his readers included figures Thomas Mann, Albert Einstein, Herbert Read, and Bertrand Russell.

"Anarchism is no patent solution for all human problems, no Utopia of a perfect social order, as it has so often been called, since on principle it rejects all absolute schemes and concepts."

- Rudolf Rocker

• Date: 1873-03-25
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, libcom.org, theanarchistlibrary.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Vine Deloria Jr. (1933 - 2005)

Sun Mar 26, 1933

Image: **

Vine Deloria Jr., born on this day in 1933, was an indigenous theologian, historian, professor, and activist who authored "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto" (1969). The book helped bring national attention to Native American issues, the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement.

Deloria also worked on the legal case that led to the historic "Boldt Decision" of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. This decision granted legal fishing rights to Native Americans in Washington state, and was used as legal precedent for other lawsuits that sought to restore rights granted in Native American treaties.

From 1964 to 1967, Deloria also served as executive director of the National Congress of American Indians, increasing tribal membership from 19 to 156. Beginning in 1977, Deloria was a board member of the National Museum of the American Indian, which now has buildings in both New York City and Washington, DC.

"Until America begins to build a moral record in her dealings with the Indian people she should not try to fool the rest of the world about her intentions on other continents."

- Vine Deloria Jr.

• Date: 1933-03-26
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.nytimes.com, archives.yale.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Indigenous.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia Begins (1999)

Wed Mar 24, 1999

Image: A man leads his daughter away from destroyed buildings after NATO air strikes hammered the center of Pristina, the Kosovo capital. Photo credit to Goran Tomasevic/Reuters. [rferl.org]

On this day in 1999, the first NATO airstrikes of Yugoslavia began, initiating a wave of violence that killed 1,500 people, damaging hospitals, schools, cultural monuments, and private businesses alongside military targets. The bombings lasted until June 10th of that year.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) bombing campaign was its first military action taken without the endorsement of the U.N. Security Council. James Byron Bissett, former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia, called the campaign a "war crime", and Noam Chomsky referred to it as an act of "terrorism".

Supporters for the campaign claimed the bombing was necessary to stop a genocide of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and to remove Slobodan Milošević from power, although claims made by the Clinton administration along these lines were later found to be highly exaggerated.

Approximately 500 of the people killed were civilians, and the bombs damaged many civilian structures alongside legitimate military targets. Chomsky has argued that the main objective of the NATO intervention was to integrate Yugoslavia into the Western neoliberal social and economic system.

In 2000, Michael Parenti authored "To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia", which argues that the bombing was predicated on capitalist rather than humanitarian interests.

• Date: 1999-03-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, chomsky.info.
• Tags: #Terrorism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Dorothy Height (1912 - 2010)

Sun Mar 24, 1912

Image: **

Dorothy Irene Height, born on this day in 1912, was an activist part of the "Big Six" of civil rights leaders (including MLK and John Lewis) who focused on issues facing black women, including unemployment, education, and voting rights.

Height is credited as the first leader in the civil rights movement to recognize inequality for women and African Americans as problems that should be considered as a whole, and was the president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) for forty years.

While working with both the Young Women's Christian Association and NCNW, Height participated in the civil rights movement and was considered a member of the "Civil Rights Six" (a group with up to nine members, including Martin Luther King, Jr., James Farmer, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young). In his autobiography, civil rights leader James Farmer noted that Height's role in the "Big Six" was frequently ignored by the press for sexist reasons.

"If the times aren't ripe, you have to ripen the times."

- Dorothy Height

• Date: 1912-03-24
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, naacp.org.
• Tags: #CivilRights, #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Norris-La Guardia Act (1932)

Wed Mar 23, 1932

Image: Photo collage of U.S. Congressman George W. Norris (left) and NYC Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia (right) [Wikipedia]

The Norris-La Guardia Act, passed on this day in 1932, is a U.S. labor law that bans yellow-dog contracts, federal injunctions against non-violent labor disputes, and employers from interfering in workers' attempts to form a union. Yellow-dog contracts are binding agreements where employers ban workers from unionizing as part of the hiring process.

The title comes from the names of the sponsors of the legislation: Senator George W. Norris of Nebraska (shown left) and Representative Fiorello H. La Guardia of New York (shown right). The law helped mitigate decades of anti-union activity, enabled in part by the precedent of court cases like In re Debs (1895), which affirmed the right of the federal government to end the Pullman Strike with an injunction.

The Norris-La Guardia Act was a precursor to the sweeping National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which established the National Labor Relations Board and is considered one of the most important pieces of labor legislation in the 20th century United States.

• Date: 1932-03-23
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Bhagat Singh Executed (1931)

Mon Mar 23, 1931

Image: Photograph of Bhagat Singh taken in 1929, when he was 21 years old [Wikipedia]

On this day in 1931, Marxist Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh was executed by the colonial British government at 29 years of age after assassinating a police officer and exploding two bombs in a government building.

Singh was an avid reader of Bakunin, Marx, Lenin, and Trotsky. He was also openly critical of Mahatma Gandhi, having become disillusioned with his non-violent tactics after Gandhi called off the non-cooperation movement.

In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and an associate fatally shot a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in retaliation for the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a popular Indian nationalist leader who died after being attacked by police. On the run from the police, Singh was arrested when he, along with Batukeshwar Dutt, exploded two improvised bombs inside the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi, showered leaflets onto the legislators below, and allowed the authorities to arrest them.

Awaiting trial, Singh gained public sympathy after he joined fellow defendant Jatin Das in a hunger strike, demanding better prison conditions for Indian prisoners. Das died from starvation in September 1929. Singh was convicted and hanged in March, 1931. Four days before his execution, Singh refused to sign a letter drafted for him that would appeal for clemency.

"Non-violence is backed by the theory of soul-force in which suffering is courted in the hope of ultimately winning over the opponent. But what happens when such an attempt fail to achieve the object? It is here that soul-force has to be combined with physical force so as not to remain at the mercy of tyrannical and ruthless enemy."

- Bhagat Singh

• Date: 1931-03-23
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org, www.marxists.org.
• Tags: #Assassinations, #Colonialism, #Marxism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

American Protective League Founded (1917)

Thu Mar 22, 1917

The American Protective League, founded on this day in 1917, was a volunteer organization of U.S. citizens that collaborated with the government to identify, raid, and spy on anarchist, anti-war, and other left-wing organizations.

On this day in 1917, the APL was granted formal approval to act a deputized, anti-communist agency from the Department of Justice, later receiving authorization from the Attorney General to carry on its letterhead the words "Organized with the Approval and Operating under the Direction of the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation."

Teams of APL members conducted numerous raids and surveillance activities aimed at those who failed to register for the draft and at German immigrants who were suspected of sympathies for Germany.

The APL was also accused of illegally detaining citizens associated with anarchist, labor, and pacifist movements. Thousands of APL members joined authorities in New York City for three days of checking registration cards, resulting in more than 75,000 arrests.

In 1918, the Attorney General gave a favorable statement about the APL, saying "it is safe to say that never in its history has the nation been so thoroughly policed as at the present time." The APL formally disbanded a few months after the conclusion of World War I.

• Date: 1917-03-22
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.whitehousehistory.org.
• Tags: #Labor, #Anarchism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Emilio Aguinaldo (1869 - 1964)

Mon Mar 22, 1869

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Emilio Aguinaldo, born on this day in 1869, was a Filipino revolutionary, politician, and military leader who became the first President of the Philippines (1899 - 1901), and the first president of an Asian constitutional republic.

In his mid-20s, Aguinaldo joined the "Katipunan", a secret organization dedicated to ousting Spanish colonizers. His military career against the Spanish began in August 1896 with the Katipunan-led Philippine Revolution.

Aguinaldo would go on to lead Philippine forces against multiple colonizing forces - first against Spain in the Philippine Revolution (1896 - 1898), again in the Spanish-American War (1898), and finally against the United States during the Philippine-American War (1899-1901).

Aguinaldo was involved in multiple controversies as a government leader, most notably his role in the execution of Andrés Bonifacio (1863 - 1897), the leader of the Katipunan group. Bonifacio was a prominent revolutionary and political dissident to Aguinaldo's authority. The trial in which he was convicted is now seen as dubious.

Although Aguinaldo was the first president of an Asian constitutional republic, this government was dissolved by invading U.S. forces, and he was forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the U.S. Aguinaldo was 77 when the United States finally recognized Philippine independence in the Treaty of Manila on July 4th, 1946, in accordance with the Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934.

• Date: 1869-03-22
• Learn More: www.britannica.com, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Pat Finucane (1949 - 1989)

Mon Mar 21, 1949

Image: A photo of Pat Finucane on the phone, unknown year and author [irishecho.com]

Pat Finucane, born on this day in 1949, was an Irish criminal defense lawyer who defended prominent IRA activists such as Bobby Sands. Finucane was assassinated in 1989 by loyalist forces acting in collusion with the British state. No member of state security forces has been prosecuted for his murder.

Patrick Finucane was born on March 21st, 1949 to a prominent Republican family in Belfast. Three of his brothers were Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, two of whom would be imprisoned by the British government.

Finucane himself was a criminal defense lawyer. Although he had represented both Republicans and loyalists, Finucane's most notable client was likely Bobby Sands, a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison Maze in Northern Ireland.

On February 12th, 1989, while eating a Sunday meal at home with his wife and three children, Finucane was shot fourteen times by two gunmen. Twelve shots were to his face. The loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association took credit for his murder, alleging without evidence that Finucane was a high-ranking member of the IRA.

Following a 2001 peace agreement, the British government promised to consider opening an inquiry into Finucane's death, appointing an international judge to review his case. The government declined to open an inquiry, however, after the judge found evidence of state collusion.

In 2004, Ken Barrett, a member of the Ulster Defence Association, pled guilty to Finucane's murder. The identity of the second gunman remains unknown.

In 2011, British Prime Minister David Cameron met with Pat Finucane's family and admitted to state collusion in his assassination, but as of February 2022 no member of the British security services has been prosecuted.

On November 30th, 2020, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, rejected calls for a public inquiry into Finucane's killing.

• Date: 1949-03-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, ir.lawnet.fordham.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Slavoj Žižek (1949 - )

Mon Mar 21, 1949

Image: Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek 2015 at the Bookfair of Leipzig presenting his new book "Some Blasphemic Reflexions" in 2015. Photo by Amrei-Marie [Wikipedia]

Slavoj Žižek, born on this day in 1949, is a Slovenian communist philosopher and public intellectual.

Žižek grew up in Ljubljana, PR Slovenia, Yugoslavia, born into a middle-class family. His father was an economist and civil servant, while his mother was an accountant in a state enterprise.

As a youth, Žižek was influenced by Western cultural, in particular film, English detective novels, German Idealism, French structuralism, and the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. He achieved a master's degree and Doctorate in philosophy in 1975 and 1981, respectively.

Žižek was politically active in Slovenia, co-founding the Slovenian Liberal Demorcratic Party and running for one of four seats that comprised the collective Slovenian presidency in 1990. He came in fifth.

Žižek is a public intellectual of international renown, famous for his political and cultural commentary. Among his works are "The Sublime Object of Ideology" (1989), "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" (2006), and "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology" (2012). Žižek's idiosyncratic presentation style and fame have led some to call him "the Elvis of cultural theory".

Žižek was also a participant in the Occupy Wall Street protests, addressing other protesters in a speech in Zuccotti Park given on November 2011.

"I already am eating from the trash can all the time. The name of this trash can is ideology. The material force of ideology makes me not see what I am effectively eating."

- Slavoj Žižek, in "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology" (2012)

• Date: 1949-03-21
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, egs.edu.
• Tags: #Birthdays, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Xiang Jingyu Arrested (1928)

Tue Mar 20, 1928

On this day in 1928, Xiang Jingyu, an early feminist pioneer and revolutionary in the Communist Party of China, was arrested by French officials and turned over to the Nationalist government, which executed her on May 1st that year.

Xiang Jingyu (1895 - 1928) was politically radicalized when she attended the Montargis Women's University in France. While studying there, Jingyu read many of Marx's works and became a communist. In 1923, Xiang Jingyu was elected as a Central Committee member and became the first secretary of the "Women's Movement Committee".

In 1924, she led a strike involving about 10,000 female workers from silk factories and later founded the "Committee of Women's Liberation", which trained many female cadres to oppose feudalism and imperialism.

On March 20th, 1928, Xiang Jingyu was arrested in the French Concession Sandeli in Wuhan, possibly due to the betrayal of members of her group to the police. The French officials turned her over to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in April. On May 1st, 1928, Xiang Jingyu was executed by Guomindang police. After her death, she became a martyr for the communist revolution in China.

• Date: 1928-03-20
• Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, books.google.com.
• Tags: #Communism, #Feminism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Ota Benga Passes (1916)

Mon Mar 20, 1916

Image: Photograph of Ota Benga at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 [Wikipedia]

Ota Benga was a Mbuti man brought from his African homeland as a teen and displayed like an animal at the Bronx Zoo. After World War I interfered with his plans to return to Central Africa, Benga shot himself on this day in 1916.

When Ota was a teenager, his entire village, including his wife and two children, was slaughtered by the Force Publique, a private army created by Belgian King Leopold to enforce rubber production quotas. Benga was then kidnapped by slave traders and put to work in an agricultural village.

In 1904, Benga was freed by an American businessman Samuel Verner, who was under contract from the St. Louis World Fair to bring back African pygmies to be part of a human exhibition. Verner found Benga and negotiated his release from the slave traders for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth. Verner recruited other Africans for the exhibit as well, and the group, including Benga, was brought to St. Louis in June 1904.

Two years later, Benga was hired by the Bronx Zoo to help take care of animals. After noticing that some visitors paid more attention to Benga than the animals, zoo officials "exhibited" him in the organization's Monkey House.

A group of black New York clergymen, led by Rev. James H. Gordon, demanded that he be freed. By the end of 1906, 23-year-old Benga was released to the custody of Rev. Gordon, who placed him in the New York City’s Howard Colored Orphan Asylum.

Benga began working at a local tobacco factory in Lynchburg, Virginia to pay for his journey back to Central Africa. After the outbreak of World War I, however, passenger ship travel became severely limited and he was unable to make the journey.

On March 20th, 1916, Ota Benga built a ceremonial fire and shot himself in the heart with a borrowed pistol. He was approximately 33 years old.

• Date: 1916-03-20
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Colonialism.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

Harlem Riot (1935)

Tue Mar 19, 1935

Image: Harlem Riot headline, New York Daily News, March 20th, 1935 [blackpast.org]

On this day in 1935, a riot in Harlem began, sparked by rumors that a black Puerto Rican teenager was beaten by employees at a "five and dime" store, leading to what historian Jeffrey Stewart called "the first modern race riot".

That evening, a demonstration organized by the Young Communist League and a black group called the Young Liberators was held outside the store and, after someone threw a rock through the window, police began arresting speakers and trying to disperse the crowd. More general destruction of the store and other white-owned properties ensued. In the subsequent violence, 3 black people were killed, 125 were arrested, and 100 more injured.

An estimated $2 million in damages was caused to properties throughout the district, although black-owned homes and businesses were spared the worst of the destruction.

Sociologist Allen D. Grimshaw identified the Harlem Riot of 1935 as "the first manifestation of a 'modern' form of racial rioting", which he characterized as having destruction directed almost entirely at property, and violent clashes taking place between black people and police, as opposed to racial groups fighting directly.

• Date: 1935-03-19
• Learn More: www.blackpast.org, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Riots.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org